Cheng (Zhou King)

King Cheng, depiction of an artist from the Qing Dynasty

Cheng , King of Zhou or Ch'eng, King of Chou ( Chinese : 周成王; Pinyin : Zhōu Chéng Wáng; Wade-Giles : Chou Ch'eng Wang) was the second king of the Chinese Zhou dynasty . He ascended the throne just a few years after the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty and ruled from 1042 BC. Until his death in 1006 BC. Chr.

Life

Cheng, whose personal name was Song (誦, sòng), was the son of King Wu , who lived around 1049 BC. The Shang dynasty had overthrown. After conquering the Shang capital, Wu appointed two or three of his younger brothers as administrators of the Shang area, appointed his brother Duke Dan of Zhou as his chief adviser, and retired to the capital of Zhou. He died there about two years later. With Song, Wu had named his eldest son heir to the throne, who also ascended the throne as King Cheng. Duke Dan chose himself as regent on the grounds that Cheng was too young to rule. The older brothers of Duke Dan (or the younger brothers of the deceased King Wu) named Guanshu Xian , Caishu Du and Huoshu Chu , who were in Shang, then allied themselves with the son of the last Shang king Wu Geng and rebelled against the king Cheng. A civil war broke out and a campaign by Cheng and Duke Dan against the Shang area. In the course of this second eastern campaign, Guanshu Xian and Wu Geng were killed and Caishu Du had to flee. The campaign continued eastward than only to Shang, where it resulted in a significant expansion of Zhou territory.

It's possible that this civil war wasn't just about sibling rivalry. The Book of Records reports that Cheng asked a turtle oracle whether to attack his uncles. The result of the oracle was that such an attack would be successful, but his advisors advised him against this step. Nonetheless, Cheng did not want to act against the foresight because he had the mandate from heaven - this is where the earliest known mention of this concept is.

After the end of the campaign, Cheng began a colonization program to keep the territory under control. He therefore gave fiefs to close relatives in strategically important locations. With the area around Chengzhou (today's Luoyang ), Duke Dan of Zhou was given a territory that was of great importance for the safety of Zhou because of the nearby ford in the Yellow River and the access to the valley of the Wei River . Cheng was already planning to make Chengzhou the eastern capital; one of his successors had to move his capital to Chengzhou after he was defeated in the Zhou heartland. Tangshu Yu , a younger brother of Cheng, was enfeoffed with Jin , which was located in the valley of the Fen River . With Ying Hou another younger brother was invested, he received Ying near the Pingding Mountains . Kangshu Feng was enfeoffed with Wey , which is located near the former Shang capital in what is now northeastern Henan . The eldest son of Duke Dan Bo Qin was enfeoffed with Lu , the center of which was near today's Qufu and, during the War of Succession, was the center of Pugu State, which had fought Zhou. Tai Gong Wang , the commander of the Zhou army against Shang, was given a fiefdom with Qi in what is today Shandong , the capital of which, Linzi , was near today's Zibo . Shao Gong Shi was enfeoffed with Yan , which was near what is now Beijing . All of these states subsequently strengthened and played an important role in the further history of the Zhou dynasty.

As a result, Cheng consolidated the empire. There is no mention of military activity in the chronicles until the end of Cheng's successor, Kang . The Shiji reports that for forty years there was no punishment in the kingdom. In his will, Cheng recommended that his successors should make those who are far away compliant and empower those who are close. The successors should pacify and encourage the many large and small states.

family

King Wen of Zhou
周文王

Tai Si
太姒

King Wu of Zhou
周武王

Yi Jiang
邑姜

Duke Dan of Zhou
周文公

King Cheng of Zhou
周成王

?

King Kang of Zhou
周康王

Individual evidence

^ Edward L. Shaughnessy: Calendar and Chronology . In: Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy (Eds.): The Cambridge History of Ancient China . Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8 , pp. 25 .
^ Edward L. Shaughnessy: Western Zhou History . In: Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy (Eds.): The Cambridge History of Ancient China . Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8 , pp. 311 .
^ Edward L. Shaughnessy: Western Zhou History . In: Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy (Eds.): The Cambridge History of Ancient China . Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8 , pp. 314 .
^ Edward L. Shaughnessy: Western Zhou History . In: Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy (Eds.): The Cambridge History of Ancient China . Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8 , pp. 312 .
^ Edward L. Shaughnessy: Western Zhou History . In: Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy (Eds.): The Cambridge History of Ancient China . Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8 , pp. 318 .
^ Edward L. Shaughnessy: Western Zhou History . In: Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy (Eds.): The Cambridge History of Ancient China . Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8 , pp. 317 .

predecessor	Office	successor
Wu	King of China 1042 BC Chr. – 1006 BC Chr.	Kang

personal data
SURNAME	Cheng
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	周成王 (Chinese); Zhōu Chéng Wáng; Chou Ch'eng Wang; from Chou, Ch'eng
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	second Chinese ruler of the Zhou dynasty
DATE OF BIRTH	11th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	1006 BC Chr.

[Shaughnessy25-1] Edward L. Shaughnessy: Calendar and Chronology . In: Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy (Eds.): The Cambridge History of Ancient China . Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8 , pp. 25 .

[Shaughnessy311-2] Edward L. Shaughnessy: Western Zhou History . In: Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy (Eds.): The Cambridge History of Ancient China . Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8 , pp. 311 .

[Shaughnessy314-3] Edward L. Shaughnessy: Western Zhou History . In: Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy (Eds.): The Cambridge History of Ancient China . Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8 , pp. 314 .

[Shaughnessy312-4] Edward L. Shaughnessy: Western Zhou History . In: Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy (Eds.): The Cambridge History of Ancient China . Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8 , pp. 312 .

[Shaughnessy318-5] Edward L. Shaughnessy: Western Zhou History . In: Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy (Eds.): The Cambridge History of Ancient China . Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8 , pp. 318 .

[Shaughnessy317-6] Edward L. Shaughnessy: Western Zhou History . In: Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy (Eds.): The Cambridge History of Ancient China . Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8 , pp. 317 .