Xiang Tu (; ? – ?) was an ancient Chinese noble, an ancestor of the

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Dynasties in Chinese history, Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally suc ...

. His family name is Zi (子), and his other name is Cheng Du (乘杜). His hometown is in

Shangqiu Shangqiu (), alternately romanized as Shangkiu, is a city in eastern Henan province, Central China. It borders Kaifeng to the northwest, Zhoukou to the southwest, and the provinces of Shandong and Anhui to the northeast and southeast respectiv ...

(商丘),

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

(河南), and he was the third leader of the Shang nation.

History

He was the son of

Zhao Ming of Shang According to the ancient writings, Zhao Ming(; ? – ?) was a Chinese noble man and an ancestor of the Shang dynasty. Sima Qian. ''Records of the Grand Historian''. His family name was Zi (子). His father was Xie of Shang, born in Shangqiu (商� ...

and thus the grandson of

Xie of Shang Xie () also appearing as Qi or Xie () was an ancient Chinese nobleman, an ancestor of the kings of the Shang dynasty. He is the first known Shang ancestor. His consort is unknown, but it is known he was a father of Zhao Ming of Shang and grandfa ...

, being also an ancestor of the King

Tang of Shang Cheng Tang (), personal name Zi Lü (), recorded on oracle bones as Da Yi (大乙), was the first king of the Shang dynasty in Chinese history. Traditionally considered a virtuous ruler, he overthrew Jie, the last ruler of the Xia dynasty. Ris ...

. In the beginning, people still did not know the horse drawn cart is used for travel. It was said that he raised horses. The horse is tamed and trained, so the horse can pull the car and become one of the important means of transportation. It can be seen that in the time of Xiang Tu, the Shang people have migrated from the nomadic life to the life of animal husbandry and agricultural cultivation. He developed forces in the east by force, on the coast of the

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. It is one of four seas named after common colour term ...

(黃海) and in the nearby islands.《索隱》相土佐夏，功著於商，詩頌曰“相土烈烈，海外有截”是也。左傳曰“昔陶唐氏火正閼伯居商丘，相土因之”，是始封商也。

Family

*Grandfather: Xie (契) – a son of the

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 ...

of ancient China **Father: Zhao Ming (昭明) ***Son: Chang Ruo (昌若)

Bibliography

* Sima Qian. ''

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 ...

'' (史記)
Volume 3.

Notes

{{Reflist Shang dynasty kings