Bu Bing or Wai Bing (born Zǐ Shèng), was the second

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

of 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 ...

, according to the ''

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 ...

''. In the ''

'', he was listed by

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 ...

as the second Shang king, succeeding his father Tang, following the earlier death of his elder brother Tai Ding. He was enthroned in the year of Yihai (Chinese: 乙亥), with

Yi Yin Yi Yin ( zh, c= 伊尹, 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 ...

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.

Oracle script Oracle bone script is the oldest attested form of written Chinese, dating to the late 2nd millennium BC. Inscriptions were made by carving characters into oracle bones, usually either the shoulder bones of oxen or the plastrons of turtl ...

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 (; ) is a Chinese archeological site corresponding to Yin, the final capital of the Shang dynasty (). Located in present-day Anyang, Henan, Yin served as the capital during the Late Shang period () which spanned the reigns of 12 Shang ki ...

, 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 the second king of the Shang dynasty or not. Records In the ''Records of the Grand Historian'' he was said ...

, 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.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bu Bing Kings of the Shang dynasty