Yuxiong (, reigned 11th century BC), also known as Yuzi or Master Yu (), was an early ruler of the

ancient Chinese state Ancient Chinese states () were typified by variously sized city-states and territories that existed in China prior to its unification by Qin Shi Huang in 221 BCE. In many cases these were vassal states and fiefs established in the '' fengjian'' ...

that was later known as Chu. He was an ally and teacher of King Wen of Zhou (reigned 1099–1050 BC), the first king of the

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by ...

. In the

Tsinghua Bamboo Slips The Tsinghua Bamboo Strips () are a collection of Chinese texts dating to the Warring States period and written in ink on strips of bamboo, that were acquired in 2008 by Tsinghua University, China. The texts were obtained by illegal excavation, pr ...

his name is written as Xuexiong (). Yuxiong's clan name was Mi (). His son and successor Xiong Li adopted the second character of his name – Xiong – as the royal lineage name of Chu, which is now the 72nd most common surname in China.

Ancestry

According to legends recorded 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 his ...

'' by Sima Qian, Yuxiong descended from the mythical

Yellow Emperor The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yellow Thearch or by his Chinese name Huangdi (), is a deity ('' shen'') in Chinese religion, one of the legendary Chinese sovereigns and culture heroes included among the mytho-historical Three Soverei ...

and his grandson and successor

Zhuanxu Zhuanxu ( Chinese: trad. , simp. , pinyin ''Zhuānxū''), also known as Gaoyang ( t , s , p ''Gāoyáng''), was a mythological emperor of ancient China. In the traditional account recorded by Sima Qian, ...

. Zhuanxu's great-grandson Wuhui was put in charge of fire by

Emperor Ku Kù (, variant graph ), usually referred to as Dì Kù (), also known as Gaoxin or Gāoxīn Shì () or Qūn (), was a descendant of the Yellow Emperor. He went by the name Gaoxin until receiving imperial authority, when he took the name Ku and th ...

and given the title

Zhurong Zhurong (), also known as Chongli (), is an important personage in Chinese mythology and Chinese folk religion. According to the '' Huainanzi'' and the philosophical texts of Mozi and his followers, Zhurong is a god of fire and of the south. Th ...

. Wuhui's son Luzhong () had six sons, all born by

Caesarian section Caesarean section, also known as C-section or caesarean delivery, is the surgical procedure by which one or more babies are delivered through an incision in the mother's abdomen, often performed because vaginal delivery would put the baby or ...

. The youngest son

Jilian Jilian () was the first recorded ruler of the ancient Chinese state that was later known as Chu. He adopted the clan name Mi () and was the founder of the House of Mi that ruled Chu for over eight centuries. Ancestry According to legends recor ...

adopted the ancestral surname Mi and had a son named Fuju (). Xuexiong was Fuju's son. However, Sima Qian mistakenly believed Xuexiong and Yuxiong were two different people and that Yuxiong was Xuexiong's descendant.

Enfeoffment

Yuxiong died during the reign of King Wen of Zhou, and was succeeded by his son Xiong Li. After Zhou overthrew 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 and ...

, King Wen's grandson King Cheng of Zhou (reigned 1042–1021 BC) awarded Yuxiong's great-grandson

Xiong Yi Xiong Yi (, reigned 11th century BC) was the first viscount and an early ruler of the State of Chu during early Zhou Dynasty of ancient China. Son of Xiong Kuang, he was a descendant of the Yellow Emperor and Zhuanxu through his great-grandf ...

the hereditary title of ''zĭ'' (子, roughly "

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicia ...

") and the

fiefdom A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of f ...

of Chu, which in the ensuing centuries developed into one of the most powerful kingdoms of the Spring and Autumn period.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuxiong Monarchs of Chu (state) 11th-century BC Chinese monarchs Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Deified Chinese people