Da Ji

Also known as Ji Da · Su Daji

Da Ji was the favourite consort of Zhou, the last king of Shang. The Discourses of the States (Guoyu) says the king attacked the Yousu clan, who gave her to him, which is why later writers call her Su Da Ji. The Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) says the king loved wine and pleasure, doted on her and did whatever she said; he had new, languid music composed, made a pool of wine and a forest of hanging meat, and introduced the punishment of the heated bronze pillar. The same chapter says that after defeating Shang at Muye, King Wu of Zhou cut off the head of the king, who had burned himself on the Deer Terrace, and put Da Ji to death. Liu Xiang's Biographies of Exemplary Women (Lienu zhuan) adds scenes of her laughing at the burning pillar and of Bi Gan's heart being cut out. The Ming novel Investiture of the Gods (Fengshen yanyi), in which a fox spirit possesses her, is later fiction.