| King Mu of Zhou 周穆王 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| King of the Zhou dynasty | |||||||||
| Reign | 976 BC–922/18 BC | ||||||||
| Predecessor | King Zhao of Zhou | ||||||||
| Successor | King Gong of Zhou | ||||||||
| Born | Ji Man (姬滿) | ||||||||
| Died | 922/18 BC | ||||||||
| Spouse | Wang Zu Jiang Sheng Ji | ||||||||
| Issue | Ji Yihu, King Gong of Zhou Ji Bifang, King Xiao of Zhou Baozong, Viscount of Xu Shuqie | ||||||||
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| House | Ji | ||||||||
| Dynasty | Zhou (Western Zhou) | ||||||||
| Father | King Zhao of Zhou | ||||||||
| Mother | Queen Fang | ||||||||
| King Mu of Zhou | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Posthumous name | |||||||||
| Chinese | 周穆王 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | The Solemn King of Zhou | ||||||||
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King Mu of Zhou (Chinese:周穆王;pinyin:Zhōu Mù Wáng), personal nameJi Man, was the fifthking of theZhou dynasty of China. The dates of his reign are 976–922 BC or 956–918 BC.[1][2]
King Mu came to the throne after his fatherKing Zhao’s death during his tour to the South. King Mu was perhaps the most pivotal king of the Zhou dynasty, reigning nearly 55 years, from ca. 976 BC to ca. 922 BC. Mu was more ambitious than wise, yet he was able to introduce reforms that changed the nature of the Zhou government, transforming it from a hereditary system to one that was based on merit and knowledge of administrative skills.[3]
During Mu’s reign, the Zhou dynasty was at its peak, and Mu tried to stamp out invaders in the western part of China and ultimately expand Zhou’s influence to the east. In the height of his passion for conquests, he led an immense army against theQuanrong, who inhabited the western part of China. His travels allowed him to contact many tribes and swayed them to either join under the Zhou banner or be conquered in war with his army. This expedition may have been more of a failure than a success, judging by the fact that he brought back only four white wolves and four white deer. Unintentionally and inadvertently, he thus sowed the seeds of hatred which culminated in an invasion ofChina by the same tribes in 771 BC. In his thirteenth year the Xu Rong, probably thestate of Xu in the southeast, raided near the eastern capital ofFenghao. The war seems to have ended in a truce in which the state of Xu gained land and power in return for nominal submission.
However, despite his success, traditional historiography viewed him with controversy. While some praise his victories against the Quanrong, others criticized him for from his time, the fourth border state no longer entered into a relationship with the Zhou dynasty. Even still, the Shang Shu credited him with establishing the first systematic legal code in China.
Mu was reputed in narratives to have lived until the age of 105 and to have traveled to the mythical mountain known asKunlun - a popular later work is theTale of King Mu, Son of Heaven.
His successor was his sonKing Gong of Zhou.
OneChinese myth tells a story about Mu, who dreamed of becoming animmortal.[4][5][6] He was determined to visit the divine paradise of Kunlun and taste thePeaches of Immortality. A brave charioteer namedZaofu used his chariot to carry the king to his destination.[7] TheTale of King Mu, Son of Heaven, a fourth-century BC romance, describes Mu’s visit to the Queen Mother of the West.[8][9] Late Tang dynasty poetLi Shangyin retold the story in a poem of four lines.[10]
In the 3rd century BC text of theLiezi, there is a curious account on automata involving a much earlier encounter between Mu of Zhou and a mechanical engineer known as Yan Shi, an 'artificer'. The latter proudly presented the king with a life-size, human-shaped figure of his mechanical 'handiwork':
The king stared at the figure in astonishment. It walked with rapid strides, moving its head up and down, so that anyone would have taken it for a live human being. The artificer touched its chin, and it began singing, perfectly in tune. He touched its hand, and it began posturing, keeping perfect time... As the performance was drawing to an end, the robot winked its eye and made advances to the ladies in attendance, whereupon the king became incensed and would have had Yen Shih (Yan Shi) executed on the spot had not the latter, in mortal fear, instantly taken the robot to pieces to let him see what it really was. And, indeed, it turned out to be only a construction of leather, wood, adhesive and lacquer, variously coloured white, black, red and blue. Examining it closely, the king found all the internal organs complete—liver, gall, heart, lungs, spleen, kidneys, stomach and intestines; and over these again, muscles, bones and limbs with their joints, skin, teeth and hair, all of them artificial... The king tried the effect of taking away the heart, and found that the mouth could no longer speak; he took away the liver and the eyes could no longer see; he took away the kidneys and the legs lost their power of locomotion. The king was delighted.[11]
| King Cheng of Zhou (1060–1020 BC) | |||||||||||||||
| King Kang of Zhou (1040–996 BC) | |||||||||||||||
| Wang Si | |||||||||||||||
| King Zhao of Zhou (1027–977 BC) | |||||||||||||||
| Wang Jiang | |||||||||||||||
| King Mu of Zhou (992–922 BC) | |||||||||||||||
| Queen Fang | |||||||||||||||
King Mu of Zhou Died: 922 BC | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
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| Preceded by | King of China 977–922 BC | Succeeded by |