Zhongyong () was the second ruler of the ancient Chinese
State of Wu according to traditional Chinese history.
His
ancestral name was
Ji (姬), given name was Yong, and Zhong refers to his rank as the second son of
King Tai of
Zhou. According to traditional Chinese history, the youngest son of King Tai
Jili was so renowned for his wisdom that Zhongyong and his elder brother
Taibo voluntarily renounced their claims to the throne of Zhou and left instead to found the
state of Wu near the mouth of the
Yangtze
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...
.
They settled at
Meili
In Norse mythology, Meili (Old Norse: , "the lovely one"Simek (2007:210).) is a god, son of the god Odin and brother of the god Thor. Meili is attested in the '' Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and t ...
and improved the agriculture and irrigation systems of the local tribes. Taibo became the first king of Wu, but he left no children and was succeeded by his brother Zhongyong. The future
kings of Wu were his descendants.
[ Sima Qian. '']Records of the Grand Historian
''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese his ...
''.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhongyong of Wu
Monarchs of Wu (state)
12th-century BC Chinese monarchs
Shang dynasty people
Burials in Suzhou