Royals › Monarch / Emperor
King Yan of Xu
Semi-legendary ruler of Xu in the Western Zhou, famed for benevolent rule until Zhou or Chu forces destroyed his state.
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 King Yan · Lord Yan of Xu
- Roles
- Monarch / Emperor
King Yan of Xu was a semi-legendary ruler of the Ying-surnamed state of Xu. Tradition holds that he governed with benevolence and righteousness, that thirty-six states east of the Han River submitted to him, and that he took the title of king. Accounts of his fall differ: one says King Mu of Zhou had Chu attack him, another that King Wen of Chu destroyed him, and later legend has him fleeing north toward Pengcheng. The 'Five Vermin' chapter of the Han Feizi cites his fall to argue that benevolence suited antiquity but fails in the present.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; traditionally placed in the reign of King Mu of Zhou (c. 10th c. BCE), by another account in the Spring and Autumn period