King Wei of Chu

King Wei of Chu 楚威王
King of Chu
Reign	339–329 BC
Predecessor	King Xuan
Successor	King Huai
Died	329 BC
Issue	King Huai
Names Ancestral name: Mǐ (羋) Lineage name: Xióng (熊) Given name: Shāng (商) Posthumous name King Wei (威王)
House	Mi
Dynasty	Chu
Father	King Xuan

King Wei of Chu, personal name Xiong Shang, was a monarch of the Chu state, reigning from 339 BC to 329 BC. During his reign, the Chu state reached its peak in territorial size, encompassing the middle to lower stretches of the Yangtze and the basin of the Huai River.

Name

The precise nature of the Chu language is uncertain ^[1] but it was probably non-Sinitic. ^[2] This figure's personal name was calqued or translated into Old Chinese using the character now written 商 , pronounced Shāng in Standard Mandarin and with the proposed ancient pronunciation of *S-taŋ. ^[3] He belonged to the Chu royal house, the Xiong ( 熊 , *Gʷəm, ^[3] "Bear") branch of the Mi ( 羋 ) family, now conjectured to transcribe a Kam–Tai word for "bear". ^[4]

He was known posthumously as the Awesome King of Chu ( 楚 威 王 , ^[5] Chǔ Wēiwáng or Chǔ Wēi Wáng, *S.r̥aʔ ʔujɢʷaŋ), often mistreated as a personal name in English.

Life

Shang was the son of Xiong Liangfu, known posthumously as the Xuan King of Chu. Upon his father's death in 340 or 339 BC, Shang succeeded him as king of Chu.

During his reign, Chu and Qi defeated and partitioned the state of Yue to their southeast in 334^{[ citation needed ]} or 333 BC, ^[6] giving Chu control over Suzhou, the Yangtze River Delta, and Wu's canal network.

Shang died in 329 BC and was succeeded by his son Huai, known posthumously as the Huai King. ^[5]

In fiction and popular culture

• Portrayed by Winston Chao in The Legend of Mi Yue (2015)

References

Citations

1. Behr (2006), p. 6.
2. Behr (2006), p. 9.
3. Baxter & al. (2011).
4. Schuessler (2007).
5. Sima Qian. "楚世家 (House of Chu)". Records of the Grand Historian (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 10 March 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
6. Brindley (2015), p.  86.

Bibliography

• Baxter, William; et al. (20 February 2011), Baxter–Sagart Old Chinese Reconstruction , Paris: Centre de Recherches Linguistiques sur l'Asie Orientale.
• Behr, Wolfgang (19 January 2006), "Some Chǔ 楚 Words in Early Chinese Literature", 4th Conference of the European Association of Chinese Linguistics, Budapest: EACL, doi:10.5281/zenodo.1408885, TTW-3.
• Brindley, Erica Fox (2015), Ancient China and the Yue: Perceptions and Identities on the Southern Frontier, c, 400 BCE–50 CE, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Schuessler, Axel (2007), ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.

King Wei of Chu House of Mi  Died: 329 BC
Regnal titles
Preceded by King Xuan of Chu	King of Chu 339–329 BC	Succeeded by King Huai of Chu