Wen Wu Ding () or Wen Ding (), personal name Zi Tuo (), was a king of the

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 a ...

Ancient China The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapt ...

. His reign was from 1116 to 1106 BC.

Records

According to ''

Bamboo Annals The ''Bamboo Annals'' (), also known as the ''Ji Tomb Annals'' (), is a chronicle of ancient China. It begins in the earliest legendary time (the age of the Yellow Emperor) and extends to 299 BC, with the later centuries focusing on the history ...

'', his capital was at Yin (殷) or Zimou. In the second year of his reign, his vassal Jili of Zhou attacked the

Yanjing Ji or Jicheng was an ancient city in northern China, which has become the longest continuously inhabited section of modern Beijing. Historical mention of Ji dates to the founding of the Zhou dynasty in about 1045BC. Archaeological finds in sou ...

Rong Rong or RONG may refer to: Places China * Rong County, Guangxi, Yulin, Guangxi, China * Rong County, Sichuan, Zigong, Sichuan, China Nepal * Rong, Ilam, a rural municipality in Ilam District, Nepal Norway * Rong, Norway, a village in Øygard ...

(), but they defeated him.

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 be ...

, ''

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 his ...

'' During his third year, the Huan River () dried up. In his fourth year, Jili attacked the Yuwu Rong () and was victorious, making Yuwu into a Zhou client. In his seventh year, Jili attacked the Hu Rong () and was again victorious. Several years later, Jili defeated the Xitu Rong () and captured three of their generals. Worried that Zhou was growing too powerful, Wen Ding sent Jili to a city called Saiku () and had him assassinated there.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wen Wu Ding Shang dynasty kings 12th-century BC Chinese monarchs 1100s BC deaths