Yuxiong (, reigned 11th century BC), also known as Yuzi or Master Yu (), was an early ruler of the ancient Chinese state that was later known as

Chu Chu or CHU may refer to: Chinese history * Chu (state) (c. 1030 BC–223 BC), a state during the Zhou dynasty * Western Chu (206 BC–202 BC), a state founded and ruled by Xiang Yu * Chu Kingdom (Han dynasty) (201 BC–70 AD), a kingdom of the Ha ...

. He was an ally and teacher of

King Wen of Zhou King Wen of Zhou (; 1152–1050 BC, the Cultured King) was Count of state of Zhou, Zhou during the late Shang dynasty in ancient China. Although frequently confused with his fourth son Duke of Zhou, also known as "Lord Zhou", they are different hi ...

(reigned 1099–1050 BC), the first king of the

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by th ...

. In the

Tsinghua Bamboo Slips The Tsinghua Bamboo Strips () are a collection of Chinese texts dating to the Warring States period and written in ink on strips of bamboo, that were acquired in 2008 by Tsinghua University, China. The texts were obtained by illegal excavation, pr ...

his name is written as Xuexiong (). Yuxiong's clan name was Mi (). His son and successor

Xiong Li Xiong Li (, reigned 11th century BC) was an early ruler of the state of Chu during the early Zhou Dynasty of ancient China. He succeeded his father Yuxiong, who was the teacher of King Wen of Zhou, the first king of Zhou. Xiong Li's ancestral ...

adopted the second character of his name – Xiong – as the royal lineage name of Chu, which is now the 72nd most common surname in China.

Ancestry

According to legends recorded in the ''

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 hist ...

'' by

Sima Qian Sima Qian (; ; ) was a Chinese historian of the early Han dynasty (206AD220). He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his ''Records of the Grand Historian'', a general history of China covering more than two thousand years b ...

, Yuxiong descended from the mythical

Yellow Emperor The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yellow Thearch or by his Chinese name Huangdi (), is a deity ('' shen'') in Chinese religion, one of the legendary Chinese sovereigns and culture heroes included among the mytho-historical Three Soverei ...

and his grandson and successor

Zhuanxu Zhuanxu (Chinese: trad. , simp. , pinyin ''Zhuānxū''), also known as Gaoyang ( t , s , p ''Gāoyáng''), was a mythological emperor of ancient China. In the traditional account recorded by Sima Qian, Zhu ...

. Zhuanxu's great-grandson Wuhui was put in charge of fire by

Emperor Ku Kù (, variant graph ), usually referred to as Dì Kù (), also known as Gaoxin or Gāoxīn Shì () or Qūn (), was a descendant of the Yellow Emperor. He went by the name Gaoxin until receiving imperial authority, when he took the name Ku and th ...

and given the title Zhurong. Wuhui's son Luzhong () had six sons, all born by Caesarian section. The youngest son

Jilian Jilian () was the first recorded ruler of the ancient Chinese state that was later known as Chu. He adopted the clan name Mi () and was the founder of the House of Mi that ruled Chu for over eight centuries. Ancestry According to legends recor ...

adopted the ancestral surname Mi and had a son named Fuju (). Xuexiong was Fuju's son. However, Sima Qian mistakenly believed Xuexiong and Yuxiong were two different people and that Yuxiong was Xuexiong's descendant.

Enfeoffment

Yuxiong died during the reign of King Wen of Zhou, and was succeeded by his son

. After Zhou overthrew the

Shang Dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...

, King Wen's grandson

King Cheng of Zhou King Cheng of Zhou (), personal name Ji Song (姬誦), was the second king of the Chinese Zhou dynasty. The dates of his reign are 1042–1021 BCE or 1042/35–1006 BCE. His parents were King Wu of Zhou and Queen Yi Jiang (邑姜). King Cheng w ...

(reigned 1042–1021 BC) awarded Yuxiong's great-grandson

Xiong Yi Xiong Yi (, reigned 11th century BC) was the first viscount and an early ruler of the State of Chu during early Zhou Dynasty of ancient China. Son of Xiong Kuang, he was a descendant of the Yellow Emperor and Zhuanxu through his great-grandfathe ...

the hereditary title of ''zĭ'' (子, roughly "

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

") and the fiefdom of

, which in the ensuing centuries developed into one of the most powerful kingdoms of the

Spring and Autumn period The Spring and Autumn period was a period in Chinese history from approximately 770 to 476 BC (or according to some authorities until 403 BC) which corresponds roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou period. The period's name derives fr ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuxiong Monarchs of Chu (state) 11th-century BC Chinese monarchs Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Deified Chinese people