WEN-WANG

flourished 12th century BC, , China also called Hsi Po, Pinyin Wenwang, or Xi Bo father of Wu-wang, the founder of the Chou dynasty (c. 1111255 BC) and one of the sage rulers regarded by Confucian historians as a model king. Wen was the ruler of Chou, one of the semibarbaric states on the western frontier of China, long a battleground between the civilized Chinese and nomadic invaders. By 1144 he had assumed the title Hsi Po (King of the West) and had begun to threaten the Shang dynasty (18th12th century BC). In 1144 he was captured and imprisoned by Chou, the last Shang ruler. During the three years of his imprisonment, according to tradition, he wrote the Confucian Classic /a>I Ching (q.v.); the eight trigrams (pa kua) on which the I Ching divinations are based, however, were probably conceived much earlier. Wen-wang gained his freedom when the people of Chou paid a ransom of a beautiful girl, a fine horse, and four chariots. He returned to Chou, where he spent the rest of his life remonstrating against the cruelty and corruption of his age. Upon his death, his son and successor, Wu-wang, destroyed the Shang and founded the Chou dynasty.