NPprFù Yuè 傅說 (11th cent.) is said to have been a corvee slave during the reign of >King Wuding 商王武丁(c. 1238-1179). [SY 11.10] His humble origins are commonly referred to in the literature. He was appointed prime minister to King Wuding as a result of the King having a dream about him. [MENG 6B15; XUN 5.47; HSWZ 7.6; SY 17.18; SJ 2].CH
NPprStandard Name: Jiāo Gé 膠鬲 Unger no. 321; name of a worthy Yīn official ????
伯夷 bó yí OC: praaɡ li MC: pɣɛk ji 1 AttributionWD
Syntactic words
NPprBó Yí 伯夷 and Shū Qí 叔齊 (11th century) were two sons of the ruler of the ancient polity of Guzhu 孤竹, both equally celebrated for their moral purity and loyal dedication in the opening piece for the section of biographies in SJ 61. When the younger brother, Shu Qi, was appointed heir by his father, he refused to take precedence over his elder brother and fled into retirement. The elder brother, Bo Yi followed Shu Qi into retirement. Finally, both brothers sought refuge with >King Wen of Zhou 周文王, only to find that he was dead and that the Shang dynasty had been overthrown by King Wen’s son, >King Wu of Zhou 周武王. They refused to change allegiance to the newly founded Zhōu dynasty and preferred to starve to death at the foot of Mount Shouyang 首陽, refusing public employment or any involvement with the new regime. “Bó Yí and Shū Qí were starving at the foot of Mount Shǒuyáng and the people praise them to this day.” (LY 16.12) It remains unclear whether their protest was against the use of military power against the ruling dynasty by King Wu or loyalty towards the old Shang dynasty. SJ 61 serves at the same time as an introduction to the section of biographies as a whole. [LY passim; CC passim HNZ 11; HSWZ passim; MENG passim; LSCQ passim]Unger no. 549.