Tai Si (, – 11th century BC) was the wife of King Wen of Zhou and is revered as a highly respected woman of

ancient China The history of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area. Each region now considered part of the Chinese world has experienced periods of unity, fracture, prosperity, and strife. Chinese civilization first emerged in the Y ...

. She was a descendant of Yu the Great – founder of the

Xia dynasty The Xia dynasty (; ) is the first dynasty in traditional Chinese historiography. According to tradition, it was established by the legendary figure Yu the Great, after Emperor Shun, Shun, the last of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, Fiv ...

– and was the mother of ten sons, including King Wu of Zhou – founder 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 ...

– and his younger brother the

Duke of Zhou Dan, Duke Wen of Zhou, commonly known as the Duke of Zhou, was a member of the royal family of the early Zhou dynasty who played a major role in consolidating the kingdom established by his elder brother King Wu. He was renowned for acting as ...

. Particularly respected by

Wu Zetian Wu Zetian (624 – 16 December 705), personal name Wu Zhao, was List of rulers of China#Tang dynasty, Empress of China from 660 to 705, ruling first through others and later in her own right. She ruled as queen consort , empress consort th ...

, China's only Empress regnant, Tai Si and King Wen were posthumously given the temple names "Shizu" () in 690 AD.

Life

Tai Si is said to be born in the Youxin clan () of the ancestral name Si, from what is now Heyang County,

Shaanxi Province Shaanxi is a province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to the west. Shaanxi ...

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

historian

Sima Qian Sima Qian () was a Chinese historian during the early Han dynasty. He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for the ''Shiji'' (sometimes translated into English as ''Records of the Grand Historian''), a general history of China cov ...

wrote that she was originally from the older

State of Qi Qi, or Ch'i in Wade–Giles romanization, was a ancient Chinese state, regional state of the Zhou dynasty in History of China#Ancient China, ancient China, whose rulers held Zhou dynasty nobility, titles of ''Hou'' (), then ''Gong (title), Go ...

or State of Zeng, both in and around modern-day

Henan Province Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Luo ...

.''

Records of the Grand Historian The ''Shiji'', also known as ''Records of the Grand Historian'' or ''The Grand Scribe's Records'', is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st ce ...

'' The traditional story regarding Tai Si's rise to queen says that the future King Wen of Zhou, born Chang, was walking along the banks of the Wei River one day when he first met Tai Si. Her beauty so captivated Chang that he initially thought she was a goddess or angel. Tai Si proved a woman of benevolence, wisdom, and simple tastes, and Chang decided to take her as his wife. Because the Wei River was not bridged, Chang set out to build one by constructing a number of boats that were arranged end-to-end to form a floating path across the river. Tai Si was impressed, and they were married.''De Yu Ke Ben'' 《得育课本》 After Tai Si joined her husband's family, she is said to have quickly gained favor with the other women of the royal family through her diligent work ethic and demeanor. She and the king had ten sons together, and Tai Si is said to have been an exceptional teacher and mother, such that all of the sons were men of upright virtue and wisdom.

In literature

'' Guan ju'', the famous opening song of the Book of Songs, with its opening description of a beautiful maiden plucking plants along a river bank who is loved by a young prince, is said by some to be originally about Tai Si and the prince's first meeting along the Wei River.

References

{{reflist Ancient Chinese women 11th-century BC Chinese people 11th-century BC Chinese women Zhou dynasty nobility Shang dynasty people