King Wu of Zhou (? – 1043 BCE) was the founder of the Western Zhou dynasty. His personal name was Ji Fa, and he was the second son of King Wen of Zhou. Because his elder brother, Bo Yikao, had been executed by the tyrannical King Zhou of Shang, Ji Fa became heir and succeeded to leadership of the Zhou people.
He reigned from 1046 to 1043 BCE, fulfilling his father’s unfinished mission to overthrow the corrupt Shang regime. In 1046 BCE, King Wu forged a coalition of disaffected vassal states and tribal allies, launching a decisive military campaign against the Shang.
The climax came at the Battle of Muye (located southwest of modern Qi County, Henan), where King Wu’s forces – though reportedly outnumbered – achieved a crushing victory over the Shang army, whose troops allegedly defected en masse or refused to fight for their despised ruler. This battle led directly to the collapse of the Shang dynasty and the establishment of the Western Zhou dynasty.
King Wu established his capital at Haojing (commonly referred to as Hao, near present-day Xi’an, Shaanxi), laying the institutional and ritual foundations for Zhou rule. Though his reign lasted only about three years before his death in 1043 BCE, his conquest marked a pivotal moment in Chinese history – the transition from Shang theocracy to Zhou’s “Mandate of Heaven” political philosophy, which justified dynastic change based on moral governance.
According to later Confucian historiography (e.g.,Records of the Grand Historian), King Wu ruled with virtue and humility, though actual power during the early regency of his young son King Cheng soon passed to his brother, the Duke of Zhou, who stabilized the new regime.
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