The Deer Terrace Pavilion () was a structure believed to have been built during the

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou d ...

. Its location was believed to be in

Zhaoge Zhaoge (), in modern Qi County, Hebi, Henan province, was the capital of the State of Wey in the Zhou dynasty. According to traditional histories, it had been the last capital of the Shang dynasty, from king Geng Ding or Wu Yi through the final ...

(near the present-day Jinniuling mountain ridge in

Qi County, Hebi Qi County or Qixian () is a county in the north of Henan province, China. It is under the administration of the Hebi city. Qi County is the location of Zhaoge, the former capital of the Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as ...

). It was the site of a very luxurious pool, named the "Lake of Wine and Forest of Meat" (). Meat would be hung alongside the pool, which would be filled with

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

for the personal pleasure of

King Zhou of Shang King Zhou (; ) was the pejorative posthumous name given to Di Xin of Shang () or Shou, King of Shang (), the last king of the Shang dynasty of ancient China. He is also called Zhou Xin (). In Chinese, his name Zhòu ( 紂) also refers to a horse ...

. The phrase (''Jiǔchí Ròulín'') is now a

Chinese idiom ''Chengyu'' ( zh, t=, s=, first=t, p=chéngyǔ, tr=set phrase) are a type of traditional Chinese idiomatic expressions, most of which consist of four Chinese characters. ''Chengyu'' were widely used in Literary Chinese and are still common in ...

for excessive extravagance and debauchery. In 1999, the pool was uncovered in an archaeological survey and was found to be long, wide, and deep. Contemporary water wells were also found close to the pool, leading archaeologists to conclude that its primary function was not to supply

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

to the pavilion. On 20 January 1046 BC, King Wu of Zhou launched a violent attack on the Shang capital,

, as part of the

Battle of Muye The Battle of Muye, Mu, or Muh () was fought between forces of the ancient Chinese Shang dynasty led by King Zhou of Shang and the rebel state of Zhou led by King Wu. The Zhou defeated the Shang at Muye and captured the Shang capital Yin, ...

. Zhou quickly defeated Shang, and the last king of Shang, King Zhou, retreated to the pavilion and set it on fire, burning it and himself along with his jewels as the result of the defeat. This event marked the end of the

and the beginning of the

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ) was a royal dynasty of China that existed for 789 years from until 256 BC, the longest span of any dynasty in Chinese history. During the Western Zhou period (771 BC), the royal house, surnamed Ji, had military ...

. The charred remains of the pavilion have yet to be identified.

References

Shang dynasty 11th century BC in China Buildings and structures completed in the 11th century BC Buildings and structures in Hebi 11th-century BC disestablishments {{China-struct-stub