NPprBĭ Gān 比干 (11th cent.), also known as Prince Bi Gan 王子比干. According to SHIBEN 267 he was an uncle of the last ‘tyrant’ Di Xin 帝辛 of the Shang who remonstrated against the the king’s excesses and cruelty and got his heart cut out in front of the king as punishment “in order to see whether the heart of a sage really does have seven apertures”.. Bi Gan is celebrated for his uncompromising moral fortitude throughout Warring States literature. // His horrible death became a standard topos. After his victory against the last king of the Shang, >King Wu of Zhou 周武王 is said to have erected a tumulus over the tomb of Bi Gan. [SHU 23.3; LIJI 19.3; HNZ 9 and HSWZ 3.13] CC 4 九章2 dramatised his death further: “Bi Gan was cut and made into pickles.” MO 1.3 diagnoses kang 抗 “obstreporousness; resilience” as the reason for Bi Gan’s tragic end, and for XUN 13,2 it was 爭 “combativeness”. HSWZ 1.8 provides a typical judgment: 王子比干殺身以成其忠 “The Prince Bi Gan sacrificed himself and thus completed his loyalty.” (tr. Hightower) HSWZ 1.26 provides the standard parallel for the classical texts: 昔桀殺關龍逢，紂殺王子比干，而亡天下。吳殺子胥，陳殺泄冶，而滅其國。The whole of HSWZ may be said to be obsessed with the story of the selfless loyal efforts of Bi Gan. CC 3, Tian wen 天問 asks: “How had Bǐ Gān offended that he should be suppressed?” Bi Gan’s story is frequently referred to in ancient literature. [CC 16; LSCQ 2,5; 13,5; 14,8; 15,1; 18,4; 23,1; 23.4; 24,1. Meng 2A1; 6A6]Unger no. 567