Royals › Monarch / Emperor
Wei Zi
Elder half-brother of the last Shang king who, by the Shiji's account, left court when his warnings went unheeded and was later installed at Song to keep the Shang rites
Mural of the event “Tyranny of King Zhou”, which this person took part in.
In the late Shang, King Di Xin (Zhou) inherited a dynasty at its financial and military peak. But he gradually sank into personal indulgence, sharpened conflict with the rising western Zhou, and exiled honest counsel from his court.
Also known as Zi Qi · Song Weizi · Songwei Ziqi
- Roles
- Monarch / Emperor
According to the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), Weizi, personal name Qi (written Kai in the Shiji to avoid the name of Emperor Jing of Han), was the eldest son of King Di Yi of Shang and an elder half-brother of the last king, Zhou. When his repeated protests against the king's excesses were ignored, he took counsel with the grand tutor and the junior tutor and left the court, an exchange given in the "Weizi" chapter of the Book of Documents (Shangshu). The Shiji says that when King Wu of Zhou conquered Shang, Weizi came to the camp gate carrying the ritual vessels, stripped and bound, and was pardoned and restored to his rank. After the revolt of Wugeng and the princes Guan and Cai was put down, the Duke of Zhou, acting for King Cheng, set him up at Song to carry on the Shang sacrifices. His younger brother Weizhong succeeded him. In the Analects (Lunyu), Confucius names him first of the three humane men of Yin.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; late Shang to early Zhou
- 1075 BCETyranny of King ZhouTook part
- 1048 BCEBigan Executed for Remonstrance