Duke of Zhou

Dan, Duke of Zhou 周公旦
Duke of Zhou
Portrait of the Duke of Zhou in Sancai Tuhui
Regent of Zhou Dynasty
Reign	1042 BC - 1035 BC alongside Duke of Shao and Jiang Ziya
Issue	Bo Qin Junchen, Duke Ping of Zhou Fan Bo Jiang Boling Yin Pengshu Mao Shu Zuo Bo Ji Bo
Names Ancestral name: Ji (姬) Given name: Dan (旦) Posthumous name Duke Wen of Zhou (周文公) King Baode (褒德王), honored by Wu Zetian King Wenxian (文憲王), honoured by Zhenzong of Song
Father	King Wen of Zhou
Mother	Tai Si

Duke of Zhou
Chinese	周公旦
Literal meaning	"Dàn, Duke of Zhou"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhōu Gōng Dàn Gwoyeu Romatzyh Jou Gong Dann Wade–Giles Chou1 Kung1 Tan4 IPA [ʈʂóʊ kʊ́ŋ tân] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Jāu Gūng Daan Jyutping Zau1 Gung1 Daan3 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Chiu Kong Tàn Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) *tiw C.qˤoŋ [d]ˤa[n]ʔ
Alternative Chinese name
Chinese	姬旦
Literal meaning	(personal name)
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Jī Dàn Wade–Giles Chi1 Tan4 Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Gēi Daan Jyutping Gei1 Daan3 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Ki Tàn Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) *[k](r)ə [d]ˤa[n]ʔ

Dan, Duke Wen of Zhou (Chinese: 周文公旦; pinyin: Zhōu Wén Gōng Dàn), commonly known as the Duke of Zhou (Chinese: 周公; pinyin: Zhōu Gōng), was a member of the royal family of the early Zhou dynasty who played a major role in consolidating the kingdom established by his elder brother King Wu. He was renowned for his politeness and chivalrous sense of courtesy, and was the first Chinese to codify the courtly politesse and etiquette for the masses. He wrote treatises to codify and institute social rites known as "li". As such, the social etiquette he established for the gentleman and the lady has become commonly known as "Zhou Gong Zhi Li" or "The Social Rites of Lord Zhou".

He was further known for acting as a capable and loyal regent for his young nephew King Cheng, and for successfully suppressing the Rebellion of the Three Guards and establishing firm rule of the Zhou dynasty over eastern China. He is also a Chinese culture hero credited with writing the I Ching and the Book of Poetry, establishing the Rites of Zhou, and creating the yayue of Chinese classical music.

Life

His personal name was Dan (旦). He was the fourth son of King Wen of Zhou and Queen Tai Si. His eldest brother Bo Yikao predeceased their father (supposedly a victim of cannibalism); the second-eldest defeated the Shang Dynasty at the Battle of Muye around 1046 BC, ascending the throne as King Wu. King Wu distributed many fiefs to his relatives and followers and Dan received the ancestral territory of Zhou near present-day Luoyang.

Only two years after assuming power, King Wu died and left the kingdom to his young son King Cheng. The Duke of Zhou successfully attained the regency and administered the kingdom himself, leading to revolts not only from disgruntled Shang partisans but also from his own relatives, particularly his older brother Guan Shu. Within five years, the Duke of Zhou had managed to defeat the Three Guards and other rebellions and his armies pushed east, bringing more land under Zhou control.

Statue of the Duke of Zhou who founded a city on the site of modern Luoyang c. 1038 BCE

The Duke of Zhou was credited with elaborating the doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven, which countered Shang spiritual paradigm and political ideology that as descendants of Shangdi, the highest celestial lords, that the Shang they should be restored to power.

In many ways, the Zhou were usurpers of the previous Chinese dynasty, however, the way Han Chinese history has been recorded in a syncretised and integrative mode, the Zhou were later sinicized as legitimate heirs of zhongyuan - the "Middle (fertile) Lands" of eastern Eurasian plate, and through propaganda created in this Dynasty, the rightful heirs to have subverted, and to have displaced the Shang, re-interpreted as an older Dynasty having lost its "chosen-ness" from the highest celestial powers, or the Lord of Above, the Shangdi.

This may be compared to the replacement theology that Western European Christians created during the Crusades that they were the heirs of Israel, in Displacement Theology, through the myth of the Holy Grail. Descendants of Shang Dynasty-originated clan names still post pretenders to power, even to this day, to political power among the post-Xia Han Chinese. As word "Shang" means "merchant", and was not strong in military power, or in establishing moral codes and maintaining morality in ancient feudal Chinese society, historians after this period have viewed the Shang Dynasty as a minor and unimportant, if slightly superficial and corrupt period of government, that contributed only to the social rites and etiquette of China.

Japan was mesmerised by the way the Zhou managed to displace the former rulers of China. They studied the rites of Zhou greatly and imitated this more than subsequent descendant dynasties within China and developed a quintessentially Japanese sense of superficial courtesy and politeness called "the rites of Zhou".

However, unlike the Chinese, Japan was located far from continental China, and technology existent then did not bring about a political and intellectual rapprochement. As such, the seminal Confucian ideals that structured ancient feudal Chinese society and prevented communities from fraying, by emphasising care of the elderly, non-abandonment and no killing of elderly members who have become unproductive members of society, and the respect of elders, developed a different moral structure among the Chinese.

On the other hand, the Japanese emphasise politeness and courtesy as form of social etiquette modelled after Zhou rites. During WW2, in the Asian Holocaust, millions of Chinese were raped, murdered, executed and unborn babies sliced out of their mothers' wombs during the Invasion of China and Nanjing Massacre when Japan allied with the Aryan ideals of Neo-Nazi Germany.

Consequently, the Chinese referred to the followers of Zhou rites without adhering to the filial piety family regulations established by Confucius, a Moses-like figure in ancient Chinese feudalism, as disciples following the rites of Lord Zhou, but in reality, acting like the savagery of wild beasts. The saying applied to describe Japanese WWII brutalities and war crimes during the Asian Holocaust is Zhong Gong Zhi Li, Qin Shou Duo Wei.

It has become a popular mantra among modern Chinese to warn children against overly following the social codes of politeness and respect, to the point of sacrificing, abandoning or forgetting the true importance of Confucian values such as kindness and compassion for brethren and strangers, hospitality for the persecuted and foreign strangers, food for the poor and needy and most importantly filial respect for one's parents and elderly, and ancestral respect for one's clan ancestors and financial contribution to maintain the family, the elderly, the orphans, the young, carrying out rites for those dead and gone, but whose values remain with the Clan in spirit.

Unlike the Chinese, the Japanese were not as strongly influenced by Confucius at this point, but at a later period, the Yayoi of Japan embraced Confucianism and also showed respect for their elderly. However, ancestral respect and ancestral rites are not as emphasised or grand in Japan. Japanese families will visit the graves of ancestors once a year, but over time, due to the pressures in modern society, this practice is slowly becoming eradicated in favour of paying respects to the Japanese Emperor and the Imperial Family of Japan, who is believed to hold the Mandate from the Goddess Amaterasu.

According to this doctrine, Shang injustice and decadence had so grossly offended Heaven that Heaven had removed their authority and commanded the reluctant Zhou to replace the Shang and restore order.

On a more practical level, the Duke of Zhou expanded and codified his brother's feudal system, granting titles to loyal Shang clansmen and even establishing a new "holy" city at Chengzhou around 1038 BC. Laid out according to exact geomantic principles, Chengzhou was the home of King Cheng, the Shang nobility, and the nine tripod cauldrons symbolic of imperial rule, while the Duke continued to administer the kingdom from the former capital of Haojing. Once Cheng came of age, the Duke of Zhou dutifully gave up the throne without trouble.

Legacy

The duke's eight sons all received land from the king. The eldest son received Lu; the second succeeded to his father's fief.

In later centuries, subsequent emperors considered the Duke of Zhou a paragon of virtue and honored him with posthumous names. The empress Wu Zetian named her short-lived 8th-century Second Zhou Dynasty after him and called him the Honorable and Virtuous King (褒德王, Bāodé Wáng). In 1008, the Zhenzong Emperor gave the Duke the posthumous title King of Exemplary Culture (s 文宪王, t 文憲王, Wénxiàn Wáng). He was also known as the First Sage (s 元圣, t 元聖, Yuán Shèng).

In 2004, Chinese archaeologists reported that they may have found his tomb complex in Qishan County, Shaanxi.

God of Dreams

Duke of Zhou is also known as the "God of Dreams". Western academics have compared him to figures such as "Daniel" the dream interpreter. The Analects record Confucius saying, "How I have gone downhill! It has been such a long time since I dreamt of the Duke of Zhou." This was meant as a lamentation of how the governmental ideals of the Duke of Zhou had faded, but was later taken literally. In Chinese legends, if an important thing is going to happen to someone, the Duke of Zhou will let the person know through dreams: hence the Chinese expression "Dreaming of Zhou Gong". Zhou Gong's Explanations of Dreams (Chinese: 周工解梦, pinyin: Zhōu gōng jiěmèng) is attributed to his authorship. Some lesbian groups have interpreted having dreams from the Lord Zhou as an omen that they will be getting pregnant, or will be eventually (forcibly) married off, and eventually made to conform with social norms expected of a virgin woman, to marry off to another clan, to leave birth parents and clan of origin, communities, friends (including same-sex platonic or non-platonic sisters, admirers and lovers) from village of origin, to be married off to the son-heir of a richer, more powerful, more noble clan, and to end the life of a maiden, to enter into mid-life, the threshold of a young wife and future matriarch, in a more demanding and merciless period of life. Women who receive such dreams tend to weep, and fall into depression before being married off.

Descendants

東野家族大宗世系 Family Tree of the descendants of the Duke of Zhou in Chinese

The main line of the Duke of Zhou's descendants came from his firstborn son, the State of Lu ruler Bo Qin's third son Yu (魚) whose descendants adopted the surname Dongye (東野). The Duke of Zhou's offspring held the title of Wujing Boshi (五經博士; Wǔjīng Bóshì). One of the Duke of Zhou's 72 generation descendants family tree was examined and commented on by Song Lian.

In some Schools of Thought, Lord Zhou is being credited as being the proto-progenitor of Menciusism or the Mencius School of Thought, which though also rooted in Confucianism, gradually diverged from the original teachings of Confucius both emphasising benevolence and non-erotic love but with Confucius emphasising human ties, family, clan and social relations, while Mencius emphasised person to person relations, relations with the universe, more solipsism in relations with the self and human nature.

Confucius remains silent on same-sex marriage but contemporary proponents of Confucianism view homosexuals as being unfilial and undutiful, even selfish for over-reliance on financial and social support from families and other clans, especially in the elderly years or if infected with HIV needing costly medical treatments. The Confucianists of Taiwan mostly frown upon gay marriage and after evangelical Christians, are the second largest opponents of gay marriage and marriage equality.

In Japan, homosexuality is tolerated outside the corporate world as a sex fetish but gay marriage and marriage equality rankle nerves in conservative zaibatsu and [[[zeiretsu]]-led Japanese society. In South Korea, gay marriage is frowned upon as dissolute, both demonic, anti-Christian and doubly unfilial and an insidious influence from chaotic America.

In Communist China and North Korea, however, with a long military tradition and quiet same-sex relationships being tolerated in the military to boost military morale, and a heavily Marxist influenced society which has rejected Confucius and downplayed his teachings since the One Child Policy in China after the Cultural Revolution, the official policy follows Lord Zhou's teachings on "politeness", "courtesy", "etiquette" and "social rites" in this respect. The matter is not discussed openly but a tolerant attitude is expected.

Mencius however departs from the Duke of Zhou by posing questions about human nature, universal human nature, laws of the universe in operation, and argues for providing a good environment for moral growth in which homosexuality / heterosexuality does not even exist as a man or woman will not give in to sexual temptation, lust, sexual activity, concentrating instead of an individual's duties, social justice activities instead of sexual activities.

Duke Huan of Lu's son through Qingfu (慶父) was the ancestor of Mencius. He was descended from Duke Yang of the State of Lu 魯煬公 Duke Yang was the son of Bo Qin, who was the son of the Duke of Zhou. The genealogy is found in the Mencius family tree (孟子世家大宗世系).

The Duke of Zhou and his emphasis on politeness and respect in large has been distorted, dismantled and used as propaganda to fit political goals of descendant dynasties and subsequent periods of scholars and literati. During the Zhou period, society in ancient feudal China was simpler and not as complex, with technology being less advanced. It is thought that his rites were codified and established to prevent new barbarians being absorbed into the civilised culture of the Huaxia from disrupting quotidian social interactions with their barbaric behavior such as "grabbing", "looting", "assaulting", "drunkenness" and "extortion from merchants" whose products and services they benefited from but whom they refuse to pay for.

In many ways, the Duke of Zhou focused on putting into practice and promoting good social behavior to create a more cohesive and orderly society which was at risk of being ruined by previous political conflicts and enmities, and social barbarity in general. When the society in ancient feudal China started to harmonise and coalesce, and rites followed even by the everyman, Mencius further developed ideals from Confucius that the orderly and harmonious social behavior should not only follow action by action, rite after rite but to be accompanied most importantly with a true inner benevolence and kindness, and be sincere, from the heart. Together with Confucius, Duke of Zhou and Mencius are credited by later intellectuals as being the founders of Chinese Civilisation which became a highly organised, harmonious, developed and civilised society with an exquisite social, artistic and literary culture by the time the Marco Polo arrived, astounded.

However, after the Qing period of brutal oppression, vulgarisation of Han Chinese culture under the Manchus and dissection of China by the Eight Colonial powers, and the final British-led Opium War, the magnificence of Old Chinese culture was utterly decimated and its pillars thoroughly demolished. The Chinese faced an Existential crisis after the Asian Holocaust where more than double the number of Jewish victims of Hitler's death camps were executed and killed during WWII by Japanese-led purges and genocides.

The new Marxist and Maoist Chinese culture that predominated after that focused on cleansing China of old corrupt and outdated feudal ideologies, clan organisations and practices. Any remnant of a genteel Old China culture was thoroughly destroyed, and ancestral rites are no longer predominant in the Mainland as in diaspora communities, and citizens are to be subservient to the new Marxist state as agents of labour. This led the Chinese peasantry to be quickly converted as units of cheap labour for world capitalism upon China's entry into the WTO, thoroughly exploited by U.S. and Western companies in connection with the state to mass-produce cheap subsidised products to flood the world and enrich the world's CEOs that shifted operation to China.

With the increased wealth of Chinese consumers, more peasant families sending children to universities, and the growth of a middle class in urban centres, the ancient writings of Duke of Zhou are coming back into fashion once more as a growing society of modern citizens reflect on how to create a more civi-minded, benevolent and gentler modern society based on ancient principles. With the Hanfu Revival, many middle-class urban and rural Chinese are also spending more time examining ancient texts to glean wisdom from them, "imitating the ancients". This is similar to the neo-classical revival in Western Europe during the Renaissance period. It is also sometimes equated with the Neo-Renaissance fairs in America since the Global Final Crisis period fractured society into a materialist dichotomy of "haves" and "have-nots" leaving a social and cultural vaccuum.

The Zhikou (Chikow) Chiangs such as Chiang Kai-shek were descended from Chiang Shih-chieh who during the 1600s (17th century) moved there from Fenghua district, whose ancestors in turn came to southeastern China's Zhejiang (Chekiang) province after moving out of Northern China in the 13th century AD. The Chiangs were known as the most hypocritical, greedy and selfish political clans in the history of China, and the worst sort of hypocritical Confucianists who distorted Confucianism to victimise the weak in China and to extract power and wealth for oneself on the official excuse of paying filial respects and promoting filial piety in society through one's clan. The 12th-century BC Duke of Zhou's (Duke of Chou) third son was the ancestor of the Chiangs.

See also

Family tree of ancient Chinese emperors

References

Works cited

• Shaughnessy, Edward (1999). "Western Zhou History". In Loewe, Michael; Shaughnessy, Edward (eds.). The Cambridge History of Ancient China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 292–351. ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8.

External links

• Tomb of Zhou Gong