Kings Wen and Wu are the two founders of the Zhou Dynasty. King Wen was the father of King Wu. Kings Wen and Wu as well as the Prince Regent Duke Dan of Zhou were seen as the ideal monarchs and even as patrons and inventors of every kind of arts. The Confucians venerated these rulers as guided by morality, humanity and righteousness

King Wen of Zhou, with his original name Ji Chang was the founder of the Zhou Dynasty. He was the son of King Ji of Zhou, the third son of King Tai of Zhou, and the favored grandson of his grandfather. He was the nephew of Wu Taibo and Zhongyong, who were both rulers of the State of Wu at one point.

He married Taisi and had at least ten sons, two of which were Zhou Gong Dan and Zhou Gong Wu. His second son became King Wu of Zhou and completed his father’s wishes by defeating the Shang army at their capital. King Wu eventually became the first king of the new Zhou dynasty.

The Zhou state was located in the Wei River valley in today’s Shaanxi Province. King Zhou of Shang was a tyrant, and fearing King Wen’s growing power decided to imprison him in Youli (today’s Tangyin in Henan Province). However, many officials respected Wen for his honorable governing, and so gave King Zhou many gifts and requested Wen’s release. King Zhou agreed and Wen was released.
King Wen was a just, able and enlightened leader. He valued agriculture and used many wise government officials. The most outstanding one was Prime Minister Jiang Ziya, a man evidentially declared as “the master of strategy”. As a result, the Zhou government grew far stronger as the years elapsed.
King Wen is also known for his contributions to the “I Ching”, a manual of divination. King Wen is attributed with having stacked the eight trigrams in their various permutations, to create the 64 hexagrams. He is also said to have written the judgments which are appended to each hexagram.
King Wen planned the conquest of Shang Dynasty, the current dynasty in power. But he died before he could accomplish this. His career was resumed by his successor King Wu, his second son. At last, King Wu overthrew the Shang Dynasty and established Zhou Dynasty.

King Wu (1087-1043 BC)

King Wu of Zhou, born as Ji Fa, was the second son of King Wen and the first sovereign of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty. He ruled the country for 19 years.

After ascending to the throne, King Wu tried to accomplish his father’s dying wish, the defeat of the Shang Dynasty. King Wu was also an able and enlightened administrator. He made the Kingdom of Zhou further developed

assisted by Jiang Ziya and his uncle Duke Zhou.

The last monarch of the Shang Dynasty, King Zhou, is said to have been a cruel leader, who neglected state affairs and responsibilities, chosing to indulge himself instead. In 1048 BC, King Wu called for a meeting of the surrounding dukes at Meng Jin. More than 800 dukes came to the meeting. In 1046 BC, seeing that the Shang government was in a shambles, King Wu launched an attack along with many neighboring dukes. In the Battle of Muye in today’s Henan Province, Shang forces were destroyed, and King Zhou of Shang set his palace on fire and burned himself to death. It is a famous incident called “King Wu attacks King Zhou” in history.
King Wu founded the Zhou Dynasty in 1046 BC, and located his capital in Hao (southwest of today’s Xi’an, Shaanxi Province). This era, until the capital was moved eastward to Luoyang in 770 BC, is known as that of the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Kings Wen and Wu were the founders of Zhou Dynasty. They are admired by people for thousands of years as the symbol of enlightened and righteous rulers.