Royals › Monarch / Emperor
King Xuan of Zhou
Western Zhou king Jing, son of King Li, who took the throne after the Gonghe regency and sent Yin Jifu and others against the Xianyun and the Huaiyi in a revival of royal power
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 Ji Jing
- Roles
- Monarch / Emperor
King Xuan of Zhou, personal name Jing, was a son of King Li. The Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) relates that when the people of the capital rose against King Li and he fled to Zhi, the Duke of Shao hid the young prince in his house and let his own son die in his place. After King Li died in exile in 828 BCE, the prince took the throne the next year with the dukes of Shao and Zhou as ministers. Odes in the Book of Songs (Shijing) describe Yin Jifu's campaign against the Xianyun in the north and the Duke of Shao's war on the Huaiyi, and later writers called his reign a revival. He also neglected the royal ploughing rite. In his thirty-ninth year his army was beaten by the Jiang Rong at Qianmu, and he died in 782 BCE. The bronze Xi Jia basin, recording a campaign against the Xianyun, is generally dated to his reign.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–782 BCE