Bu Bing or Wai Bing, personal name Zǐ Shèng, was a
Shang dynasty
The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...
King of China
The Chinese sovereign was the ruler of a particular monarchical regime in the historical periods of ancient China and imperial China. Sovereigns ruling the same regime, and descended from the same paternal line, constituted a dynasty. Several t ...
.
In the ''
Records of the Grand Historian
''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese hist ...
'', he was listed by
Sima Qian
Sima Qian (; ; ) was a Chinese historian of the early Han dynasty (206AD220). He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his ''Records of the Grand Historian'', a general history of China covering more than two thousand years b ...
as the second Shang king, succeeding his father
Tang
Tang or TANG most often refers to:
* Tang dynasty
* Tang (drink mix)
Tang or TANG may also refer to:
Chinese states and dynasties
* Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...
, following the earlier death of his elder brother
Tai Ding
Da Ding () or Tai Ding () was the eldest son of King Tang but sources are conflicted as to whether he actually succeeded his father as a Shang dynasty King of China or not.
Records
In the ''Records of the Grand Historian'' he was said by Sima ...
. He was enthroned in the year of Yihai (Chinese: 乙亥), with
Yi Yin
Yi Yin (, born Yī Zhì ( 伊 挚), also known as A Heng ( 阿 衡)), was a Chinese politician who served as a minister of the early Shang dynasty, and one of the honoured officials of the era. He helped Tang of Shang, the founder of the Shang dyna ...
as his prime minister and Bo (亳) as his capital. He ruled for about 2 years before his death. He was given the posthumous name Wai Bing and was succeeded by his younger brother.
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Oracle script
Oracle bone script () is an ancient form of Chinese characters that were engraved on oracle bonesanimal bones or turtle plastrons used in pyromantic divination. Oracle bone script was used in the late 2nd millennium BC, and is the earliest kno ...
inscriptions, on
bones
A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, an ...
unearthed at
Yinxu
Yinxu (modern ; ) is the site of one of the ancient and major historical capitals of China. It is the source of the archeological discovery of oracle bones and oracle bone script, which resulted in the identification of the earliest known Chine ...
, alternatively record that he was the fourth Shang king, the second son of
Da Ding
Da Ding () or Tai Ding () was the eldest son of King Tang but sources are conflicted as to whether he actually succeeded his father as a Shang dynasty King of China or not.
Records
In the ''Records of the Grand Historian'' he was said by Sima ...
, given the posthumous name "Bu Bing" (Chinese:卜丙), and succeeded by
Da Geng.
The substitution of ''Wai'' (外) for ''Bu'' (卜) is a scribal transmission error dating to antiquity.
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bu Bing
Shang dynasty kings