Royals › Monarch / Emperor
King Li of Zhou
Western Zhou king driven out by the Guoren uprising
Mural of the event “Guoren Revolt & Gonghe”, which this person took part in.
In the late Western Zhou, King Li enforced royal monopoly policies on mountains and rivers and adopted brutal speech suppression. Class contradictions sharpened to unprecedented levels.
Also known as Ji Hu · King Li
- Roles
- Monarch / Emperor
King Li of Zhou, Ji Hu, a son of King Yi, favoured Rong Yigong and took the profits of mountains, forests and waters for the crown, a policy called zhuanli. He silenced criticism, and when the Duke of Shao warned that blocking the people's mouths was more dangerous than damming a river, he did not listen. In 841 BCE the people of the capital rose up and he fled to Zhi. The Records of the Grand Historian says the Duke of Zhou and the Duke of Shao then governed jointly, the Gonghe regency; another account names He, Earl of Gong. He died at Zhi in 828 BCE.
Life and times
Dates c. 877 BCE–841 BCE
- 841 BCEGuoren Revolt & GongheTook part
- 841 BCEGonghe Regency & National Uprising