Royals › Monarch / Emperor
King Zhuang of Chu
Spring and Autumn king of Chu who asked the weight of the Zhou cauldrons, crushed the Jin army at Bi, and is the ruler of the bird that would startle the world when it sang
In a side chamber of a palace, a yellow ceremonial robe embroidered with a dragon hangs on a wooden stand, its hem worked with waves and rocks, before a carved folding screen, while a black lacquer chest sits on a low table by a lattice window and no person is in view.
Also known as Xiong Lu · Ming Lu
- Roles
- Monarch / Emperor
King Zhuang of Chu, personal name Lu, son of King Mu, took the throne in 613 BC, before reign titles existed. The Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) says that he feasted for three years without issuing orders, until Wu Ju asked him a riddle about a bird that had not sung for three years, and he answered that when it sang it would startle men; he then set Wu Ju and Su Cong to reform the court. In 606 BC he paraded his army outside the Zhou capital and asked the weight of the nine cauldrons, to which Wangsun Man replied that rule rested on virtue, not cauldrons. In 605 BC he crushed the revolt of Dou Yuejiao and destroyed the Ruo'ao clan, later appointing Sunshu Ao chief minister. He routed Jin at Bi in 597 BC and in 594 BC forced Song to terms after a nine-month siege. He died in 591 BC; Liu Xiang's Shuoyuan tells of him ordering his guests to break their hat strings.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–591 BCE (r. 613–591 BCE)