Zhou1

ZHOU GENEALOGY

(Pre-Dynastic times)

 

Yǒutái Jiāngyuán, wife of Emperor Kù, Third of the Five Emperors (see CHINA 1).

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Jī Qì, First Zhou State Lord of Agriculture.

Miraculously born when his mother stepped in a giant footprint in the wilderness. He was a skilled  farmer, and Fourth Emperor Yao therefore appointed him Master of Agriculture. Fifth Emperor Shun made him Lord of Agriculture and gave him Zhou state.

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Jī Bùzhú, Second Zhou State Lord of Agriculture.

He lost his position when he fled the Xia State and joined the nomads. This supposedly occurred towards the end of Xia, which ought to be more than three generations after Emperor Ku and is therefore chronologically problematic.

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Jī Jū, Third Lord of Zhou

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Jī Gōngliú, Fourth Lord of Zhou.

A talented farmer who returned to civilisation.

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Jī Qìngjié, Fifth Lord of Zhou.

He moved his capital to Bīn

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Jī Huángpú, Sixth Lord of Zhou.

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Jī Chafú, Seventh Lord of Zhou.

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Jī Huǐyú, Eighth Lord of Zhou.

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Jī Gōng Fēi, Ninth Lord of Zhou.

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Jī Gāoyǔ, Tenth Lord of Zhou.

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Jī Yàyǔ, Eleventh Lord of Zhou.

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Jī Gōngshū Zǔlèi, Twelfth Lord of Zhou.

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Jī Gǔgōng Dǎnfù, Thirteenth Lord of Zhou, known as Taiwang (the Great King).

(with whom we treat)

 

LORDS OF ZHOU

Jī Gǔgōng Dǎnfù, Thirteenth Lord of Zhou, posthumously styled Tài-wáng (the Great King). Living during the late Shang Dynasty, he brought the people of Zhou from nomadic lands to civilisation. He established cities and a local government. He married Tàijiāng. He had issue:

 

Jī Gōngjì Jìlì, Fourteenth Lord of Zhou. He was posthumously styled Jì-wáng and was a good ruler. He married Tàirèn and had issue:

Wén-wáng Jī Chāng, usually known as Xībǎi, the Lord of the West. He was a sagacious ruler, based at the city of Fēng. The corrupt Emperor Zhòu of Shang, envious of his virtue had him imprisoned, but he was released. He ruled for about fifty years, during which he refused to rebel against Shang, but more and more, the nobles came to Xībǎi for advice, arbitration and instruction rather than Emperor Zhòu of Shang. For the final decade of his rule he was styled King and was defacto sovereign of the western half of Shang. He invented the Ba Gua, a system of eight Daoist symbols. He had issue:

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