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Emperor Yu’s surname was Si (姒), and his given name was Wenming (文命). His father was Gun (鯀).
As mentioned earlier, his achievement was flood control. He reorganized the region, which had consisted of twelve provinces, into nine: Ji Province, Yu Province, Qing Province, Xu Province, Yang Province (揚州), Jing Province, Yan Province, Liang Province (梁州), and Yong Province. Of the twelve provinces from Emperor Shun’s time, Bing Province, You Province, and Ying Province were omitted.
The Xia (夏) dynasty took its name from the fact that Emperor Yu’s fief was a land called “Xia.” Thereafter, whenever a regional feudal lord seized the central government, it became customary to take the name of his fief as the name of the state. The state names Shang (商: Yin), Zhou (周), Qin (秦), Han (漢), Wei (魏), Sui (隋), Tang (唐), Song (宋), and others all followed this custom.
Emperor Yu reigned for ten years. The one who succeeded him as Son of Heaven was his son Qi (啓). This, too, was the first instance of passing the imperial throne down to a son. From then on, hereditary succession became the tradition for every dynasty in China, and the precedent was set by none other than Emperor Yu and his son Qi.
It is said that the Xia dynasty, China’s first state, founded by Yu, was ruled by seventeen kings for roughly three hundred years.
At this point, however, one thing must be noted: modern historians exclude this Xia dynasty from “Chinese history.” They say it cannot be trusted. Thus they include the Xia dynasty among myths. In the past, even the Yin dynasty (殷王朝), which followed the Xia, was dismissed as a legendary dynasty. This was because no evidence had emerged that could prove the existence of either the Xia or the Yin. For historians, whose lifeblood is evidence, this was only natural.
Then, in 1928, at a place called Xiaotun Village northwest of Anyang City in Henan Province, Yin ruins were discovered together with oracle bone inscriptions. This place is called Yinxu (殷墟), meaning the ruins of the Yin.
The excavation of Yinxu was a groundbreaking achievement that brought the legendary Yin dynasty down into history. However, artifacts presumed to be relics of the Xia dynasty have still not been discovered. Therefore, the Xia dynasty is still regarded as a fictional dynasty.
In any case, the last king of Xia was a king called Jie (桀). King Jie is the very model of a tyrant, known even to people today as a brutal and immoral ruler.
When one speaks of a tyrant, one thinks of a woman. Naturally, King Jie also had a woman. King Jie was cruel by nature and exceedingly strong. Trusting in his own military might, he recklessly invaded the tribes around him. When he invaded one of those tribes, the You Shi clan (有施氏), King Jie saw a woman there. She pleased him greatly. Her name was Mo Xi (妺喜). King Jie took Mo Xi and returned to the palace. After that, he became infatuated with her. Needless to say, he neglected affairs of state. The people began to fall into misery. The hearts of the people had already turned away from King Jie.
At that time, Cheng Tang (成湯), the feudal lord of the region called Shang (商), governed with benevolence, and the hearts of all under Heaven turned toward him.
“I shall receive the mandate of Heaven [天命], punish sin, and bring stability to all under Heaven!”
At last, Tang declared this and led his army to attack King Jie.
King Jie resisted, but all the other feudal lords had already taken Tang’s side. He fled to a place called Mingtiao (鳴條), where he fought a decisive battle. The outcome was all but decided. King Jie suffered a crushing defeat, was taken prisoner, and was exiled to Nanchao (南巢), where he ultimately lost his life. It was China’s first fallen state. This was in 1751 BC.
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Tang, who had overthrown the Xia dynasty, ascended to the position of Son of Heaven. He also changed the state name.
—Shang (商).
The Shang dynasty is also called the Yin (殷) dynasty. Cheng Tang’s ancestor was a man named Xie (契), who had been in charge of morality and ethics during Emperor Shun’s time, and because his fief was the land of Shang (商), the state name “Shang” was used. The reason it is called “Yin” (殷) is that, later, the capital was moved to the Yin region, where it remained for more than 270 years. In present-day China, it is generally called “Shang.” However, historians of earlier times mainly used the name “Yin.” Sima Qian also recorded it as Yin. Here, too, we shall use the name Yin.
Yin is the first dynasty officially recognized by history. Chinese history had now entered from the realm of fiction into the realm of reality.
The surname of King Tang, who founded Yin, was Zi (子), and his given name was Lü (履). He was a man who understood what politics was. There are several anecdotes that reveal his view of governance.
—Just as one can see one’s own reflection by looking into clear water, one can know how a country is governed by observing its people.
These were the words Tang cried out before attacking King Jie of Xia.
There was also this incident. One day, Tang went out into the fields and saw a man who had set nets on all four sides and was praying to the gods in hopes of catching birds.
“All birds that descend from the heavens, rise from the earth, and gather from the four directions—may you all be caught in my net.”
Hearing this, Tang sighed.
“How sorrowful. If that happens, will not all the birds in this world be caught and disappear?”
Then he took away the nets on three sides and prayed to the gods.
“Birds that wish to go left, go left. Birds that wish to go right, go right. Only those birds that do not wish to heed my words, be caught in this net!”
When the feudal lords under Heaven heard these words, they were all deeply moved and submitted to King Tang.
To call it merely political technique somehow fails to capture the emotion of it, an emotion that seems to make the hair at the crown of one’s head stand on end.
To Tang’s view of governance was added the strategist known as Yi Yin (伊尹). Some say Yi Yin was a palace cook, while others say he was a recluse living hidden away in a remote village. In any case, it seems he was a man of extraordinary strategy. There is also an anecdote saying that he entered the palace of Xia, extracted all of Xia’s weaknesses through Mo Xi, then returned to Tang and advised him to punish King Jie. If that is true, he must have been an exceedingly meticulous strategist. At any rate, Tang and Yi Yin were like fish and water.
The Yin dynasty ruled for about seven hundred years over twenty-eight generations. Yet if there is a beginning, there must also be an end. The end came for the Yin dynasty as well.
The last ruler of the Yin dynasty was a king called Zhou (紂). King Zhou, together with King Jie, the last ruler of the Xia dynasty, is known as a byword for tyranny. The two were even combined to give rise to the term “Jie and Zhou” (桀紂). As expected, a woman appears with King Zhou as well. She was a woman named Daji (妲己).
Daji was the daughter of the feudal lord of the You Su clan (有蘇氏). When King Zhou threatened You Su, You Su offered up Daji and had her made King Zhou’s concubine. Since she was presented as tribute, Daji was naturally quite beautiful. King Zhou, who loved women, doted on Daji to the point of drowning in affection. To “drown in affection” means that he favored her so much he could not escape from it. Whatever Daji wanted, he granted. For Daji, he built a tower called Lutai (鹿臺), one thousand chi high, and filled it with treasures. He built a storehouse called Juqiao (鉅橋) and piled it full of grain. All of these came from taxes collected from the people. One can well imagine the suffering of the people at the time.
He also created a garden called Yuantai (苑臺) at a place called Shaqiu (沙丘), captured all manner of beasts, and released them there. In modern terms, it was something like a natural zoo.
There is an expression, jiuchi roulin (酒池肉林)—“a pond of wine and a forest of meat.” It means indulging in every kind of pleasure. This phrase, too, originated from an anecdote about King Zhou. King Zhou filled the pond at his detached palace in Shaqiu with wine, hung meat from every branch of the surrounding trees, and had naked men and women revel without end. This is the origin of the phrase “a pond of wine and a forest of meat.” One can easily imagine what the scene must have been like.
There is another theory about jiuchi roulin. The Yin dynasty held an exceptional number of sacrifices to Heaven and to spirits, and the sacrifices that King Zhou came to perform as he pleased were precisely jiuchi roulin. According to this view, the offering of wine and meat to spirits was merely excessive; it was not for pleasure. The point is that making men and women strip naked and dance was also only a means of communicating with spirits, but this needs to be examined from another perspective.
King Zhou was also cruel beyond measure. His punishments in particular were so. As one example, he had a pillar made of bronze, coated it with oil, and laid it horizontally over blazing charcoal. Then he made criminals walk across it. Since it was hot and coated in oil, it could only be slippery. Naturally, the criminal would become desperate not to fall. But of course, he could not help but fall. It is said that King Zhou, together with Daji, took great pleasure in watching the desperate writhing and the sight of the criminal burning to death. This was the punishment called the “Paoluo punishment” (炮烙之刑).
Even a tyrant has loyal ministers. Weizi (微子), King Zhou’s half-brother, often admonished him. But King Zhou did not heed Weizi’s loyal advice. In the end, Weizi left the capital and secluded himself in the mountains.
Bigan (比干) was King Zhou’s uncle. He was such a benevolent man that he was revered at the time as a sage. He continued to admonish the king for three days. His advice must have been more persistent and piercing than Weizi’s. King Zhou must have hated Bigan enough to want him dead. Before long, he found a pretext.
“I have heard that the heart of a sage has seven openings. I must see whether that is true.”
Then, it is recorded, he dissected Bigan’s body and took out his heart.
Jizi (箕子), too, was a benevolent man and King Zhou’s uncle. Unable to bear the sight of such things any longer, he pretended to be mad and became another man’s slave, but King Zhou found him in the end and had him imprisoned.
Later generations praised these men—Weizi, Bigan, and Jizi—as the “Three Benevolent Men of Yin” (三仁). At this point, one can readily imagine what the political state of Yin must have been like.