Li (Zhou King)

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Li ( Chinese : 周 厲王; Pinyin : Zhōu Lì Wáng; Wade-Giles : Chou Lih Wang) was king of the Chinese Zhou dynasty . He was from 857 BC. Until his death in the year 828 BC. On the Zhou throne, but only ruled from about 857 to 842 BC. Chr.

Li was the son of King Yi , and his personal name was Hu. He ascended the throne under the name Li at a very young age after his father died after only eight years of reign. He is considered a bad ruler in Chinese history who did not listen to the advice of the nobles or others and unilaterally relied on a minister named Rong Yi Gong .

In 842 Li was overthrown and had to leave the Zhou capital, near present-day Xi'an . His son Jing, then a toddler, had to be rescued from a mob that had trapped the palace. It is unclear whether this event was a peasant uprising (possibly the first in the country's history) or a nobility conspiracy. Li Zhi was looking in (彘, today Huozhou near Linfen , province of Shanxi ) refuge. A regent named Gong He ruled in his place for 14 years . For the time of Gong He, no special events are recorded in the chronicles apart from droughts. In 827, after Li's death, his son Xuan came to the throne. These events show how weak the royal family was already towards its feudal takers , because the colonies in the eastern part of the Zhou Empire no longer had any interest in supporting the king and had become more independent from the royal family. The chronicles write that "the gentlemen no longer came to the royal court."

The year 842 BC BC, Li's flight to Zhi, is the earliest generally recognized date in Chinese history; all previous years and numerous later dates are controversial or require interpretation.

Individual evidence

  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 .
  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. 331 .
  3. ^ A b c 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. 342-345 .
  4. ^ A b 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. 21-23 .
  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. 350-351 .
  6. ↑ Cho-yun Hsu : The Spring and Autumn Period . 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. 546 .
predecessor Office successor
Yi King of China
857 BC Chr. – 828 BC Chr. 		Xuan
personal data
SURNAME Li
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 周 成 王 (Chinese); Zhōu Lì Wáng; Chou Lih Wang; from Chou, Lih
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of the Zhou Dynasty
DATE OF BIRTH 9th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 828 BC Chr.