King You of Zhou
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King You of Zhou (reigned 781 BC - 771 BC) (ch. 周幽王 Zhōu Yōu Wáng) was the twelfth sovereign of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the last of Western Zhou Dynasty.
In 780 BC, an earthquake hit Guanzhong. A person named Bo Yangfu (伯陽甫) considered that the Zhou Dynasty would be doomed.
In 779 BC, a concubine named Baosi entered the palace and came into King You's favour. She bore him a son named Bofu(伯服). King You deposed Queen Shen (申后) and Crown Prince Yijiu. He made Baosi the new queen and Bofu the new crown prince.
It is said that Baosi did not like to laugh. After failing many methods, King You tried to impress his favourite queen by fooling the nobles with the beacon into thinking that the Quanrong(犬戎) were attacking. The nobles came to the castle only to find themselves being laughed at by Baosi. Once King You impressed Baosi, he kept abusing the beacon and lost the trust of the nobles.
Queen Shen's father was upset by the deposition of his daughter and grandson Crown Prince Yijiu and mounted an attack on King You's palace. King You called for the nobles with the already-abused beacon but none came. In the end, King You and Bofu were killed and Baosi was captured. King You's death marks the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty.
After King You died, the nobles supported deposed Prince Yijiu as King Ping of Zhou to continue the Zhou Dynasty. As the national capital was severely damaged, King Ping of Zhou moved the capital eastward and began the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.
King You's folly predates Aesop's classical tale of the The Boy Who Cried Wolf by more than a hundred years.
[edit] Personal information
| Family name | Ji (姬 jī) in Chinese |
| Given name | Gongsheng (宮湦 gōng shēng) or Gongnie (宮涅 gōng niè) in Chinese |
| Era name | none |
| Father | King Xuan of Zhou |
| Mother | unknown |
| Wives | 1) Queen Shen, daughter of Marquess of Shen 2) Concubine Baosi |
| Children | King Ping of Zhou from Queen Shen and prince Bofu from Baosi |
| duration of reign | 781 BC-771 BC |
| Tomb | unknown |
| Temple name | unknown |
| Courtesy name | unknown |
| Posthumous name | You 幽 (pinyin yōu) |
[edit] References
Sima Qian, Records of the Grand Historian, Volume 4
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King You of Zhou
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| Preceded by Xuan |
King of China 782 BC – 772 BC |
Succeeded by Ping |
