Zu Jia (祖甲) or Di Jia (帝甲), personal name Zǐ Zǎi (子載), was a

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 of China The Chinese sovereign was the ruler of a particular monarchical regime in the historical periods of ancient China and imperial China. Sovereigns ruling the same regime, and descended from the same paternal line, constituted a dynasty. Several t ...

Records

His capital was at

Yin Yin may refer to: *the dark force in the yin and yang from traditional Chinese philosophy and medicine *Yīn (surname) (), a Chinese surname *Yǐn (surname) (), a Chinese surname *Shang dynasty, also known as the Yin dynasty **Yinxu or Yin, the S ...

(殷). In the 12th year of his reign, he sent troops to fight Rong people in the west until winter. In the 13th year of his reign, after being defeated, the West Rong people sent an envoy to Shang. In the same year he ordered the vassal of Fen (邠) to establish an army at Gan (绀). In the 24th year of his reign, he reproduced the Penalties that were used by Tang of Shang to repress the rebellion. In the 27th year of his reign, he named his twin sons as prince Zi Xiao (子嚣) and Zi Liang (子良).

Oracle bones Oracle bones () are pieces of ox scapula and turtle plastron, which were used for pyromancy – a form of divination – in ancient China, mainly during the late Shang dynasty. ''Scapulimancy'' is the correct term if ox scapulae were used for th ...

from his reign show that he changed tradition. He tried to make government more rational by discontinuing sacrifices to mythical ancestors, mountains and rivers and increasing sacrifices to historical figures like

Wu Ding Wu Ding (); personal name Zi Zhao, was a king of the Shang dynasty who ruled China around 1200s BC. He is the earliest figure in Chinese history mentioned in contemporary records. The annals of the Shang dynasty compiled by later historians were o ...

.Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, ''The World: A History'', (Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: 2007), p 84.

References

Shang dynasty kings 12th-century BC Chinese monarchs {{Portal, Biography, History, Monarchy , 5 = china