Xuan (Zhou King)

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King Xuan of Zhou, depiction from the Ming or Qing dynasty
The Guo Ji Zi Bai pan, cast during the reign of Xuan, with reports from the time of King Yi , National Museum of China

Xuan ( Chinese : 周 宣王; Pinyin : Zhōu Xuān Wáng; Wade-Giles : Chou Hsüan Wang) was king of the Chinese Zhou dynasty from 827 BC. Until his death in 782 BC. Chr.

Xuan was the son of King Li , and his personal name was Jing. In his infancy, Shao Gong's courageous intervention saved him from a mob that attacked the royal palace and forced his father to flee. During his childhood a regent named Gong He ran the business for 14 years. After King Li's death in 828 BC. The powerful relatives of the royal family, Shao Gong and Zhou Gong , urged the regent to abdicate. Jing ascended the throne as King Xuan.

During the 46 years of his reign, Xuan temporarily strengthened royal authority. In the fifth year of his rule, he let an army under Yin Jifu (also known as Xi Jia) go into battle against the western barbarians - probably the Xianyun - at Tuyu . They represented a latent danger for the Zhou and had around 840 BC. The Zhou capital was devastated. An inscription on a bronze vessel reports that the campaign had had an impeccable result, that Yin Jifu was rewarded with four horses and a chariot, and that he was appointed lord of tax collection in a region stretching from Chengzhou to the Huaiyi people's settlements . This indicates that Xuan hoped to control trade with regions far east.

Between 816 and 815 BC There were further successful campaigns against the Xianyun. Several non-Chinese tribes were destroyed on the northern border under Xuan's government, and Xianyun and Rong areas and parts of the population were annexed to the Zhou Empire. Another dispute, which is about songs from the classic Book of Songs , is also located by many historians in the reign of Xuan. A battle in which 3,000 Zhou chariots were involved, and which probably took place in the immediate vicinity of the political center of the Zhou dynasty, is portrayed in Shijing with the expression of great drama and relief as to the victorious outcome.

In the sixth year of Xuan's rule, Shao Gong led a force to the Huai River to restore the sovereignty of the Zhou House.

Xuan's successful policies in the outskirts of Zhou territory are juxtaposed with succession disputes and wars in important vassal states of Zhou. The events in the state of Lu were particularly momentous . The Shiji Chronicle reports that King Xuan had great affection for the younger son of the Lord of Lu ( Lu Wu Gong ) named Xi. So he ordered Wu Gong to replace his older brother Kuo with Xi as the heir. Ten years later, when Xi was on the throne of Lu as Lu Yi Gong , he was overthrown by the residents of Lu. Kuo's son Bo Yu became the ruler of Lu in his place. Eleven years later, Zhou House troops invaded Lu, killed Bo Yu, and installed Yi Gong's younger brother on the throne. The Shiji sees these events as the reason for the increase in rebellions of the feudal states against the Zhou royal family.

Xuan died in 782 BC. The Chronicle Guoyu reports that he was shot in the heart by the spirit of the nobleman Du Bo during a hunting party with some of his vassals . Du Bo, whose estate was in what is now the Great Wild Goose Pagoda , had been killed by Xuan three years earlier. It is not clear how Xuan's death really happened. However, the death of Du Bo at King Xuan's hand is often alluded to in Chinese literature in connection with impending disasters.

His son Gongshen took the throne as King You . Under You, the decline of the Zhou dynasty, the causes of which had been created long before Xuan's reign, continued.

Xuan's younger brother took over in 806 BC. A fiefdom near Huaxian , which he called Zheng Huan Gong from 806 to 771 BC. Ruled. From this fiefdom arose the powerful state of Zheng , which played an important role in the survival of the Zhou dynasty under Xuan's successors.

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. ^ A b 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. 346 .
  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. 347 .
  4. ^ Nicola di Cosmo : The Northern Frontier in Pre-imperial China . 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. 921 .
  5. ^ Nicola di Cosmo : The Northern Frontier in Pre-imperial China . 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. 920 .
  6. ^ A b 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. 348 .
  7. 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. 551 .
predecessor Office successor
Li King of China
827 BC 782 BC Chr.
You