King Jie (; traditionally 1728–1675 BCE), also known by his temple name Di Gui (), was the 17th and last ruler of the Xia dynasty of China. He is traditionally regarded as a tyrant and oppressor who brought about the collapse of a dynasty.
Around 1600 BCE, Jie was defeated by Tang of Shang, bringing an end to the Xia dynasty that lasted about 500 years, and a rise to the new Shang dynasty.
Etymology
Jié (variant: ) (< Old Chinese: ) (ZS) means "outstanding" and later "hero"; with regards to Chinese, it is cognate to qiè (< OC ) (ZS) "martial"; with regards to languages other than Chinese, it is cognate to either "strength; champion, athlete", or Mizo: "brave, resolute".
The rime dictionary Guangyun later associates this Xia king's name (or epithet) Jié with zhé "to dismember, to cut asunder". Kangxi dictionary states that 磔 (zhé) is synonymous with pìgū "to cut asunder and open up", in Rites of Zhou; and that "the ancients asserted that the fierce and devious ( jiéxiá) ones are brutal and violent ( xiōngbào), as if they were cutting [things] asunder ( zhé)."
Historian Pei Yin (裴骃) cites Rules for Posthumous Names ( Shìfǎ) (attributed to the Duke of Zhou), that Jié was meant for those who harmed and killed numerous people.
In the Bamboo Annals, Jie is known as Di Gui (), Jie ascended to the throne in the year of Renchen (壬辰). Initially, his capital was in Zhenxun. He lived there for three years and constructed his tilt palace. However, Yuri Pines notes that the Rong Cheng Shi, a more recent excavation from 1994, depicts Jie's crimes in a fairly mild light. Comparing with other classics like the Bamboo Annals, he argues that these texts seemingly condemn Tang's overthrow of Jie through its description of a drought that occurred for several years.
In the sixth year of Jie's regime, he entertained envoys from vassals and neighbors. He received an envoy from the Qizhong barbarian people (歧踵戎). In the 11th year, he summoned all his vassals to his court. The Youmin Kingdom (有緡) did not come, so Jie attacked and conquered it. About that time, he began using the Nian (輦), or sedan chair, on which he was carried by servants.
Alcohol lake
thumb|Alcohol lake
According to Liu Xiang's book Lienü zhuan written much later, around 18 BC, Jie was corrupted by his infatuation with his concubine Mo Xi (妺喜 or 末喜), who was beautiful, but completely lacking in virtue. Among other things, she liked to drink, enjoyed music, and also had a penchant for jugglers and sing-song girls. Apparently, she had Jie order a lake of wine made. She then commanded 3,000 men to drink the lake dry, only to laugh when they all drowned.
The narrative of the wine pool and meat forest notably mirrors similar, more common accusations made towards Di Xin during the Western Zhou period. Song dynasty scholar Luo Mi noticed this in their text Lushi "Grand History," where they argue that the similarities between Jie and Di Xin are due to "copy-paste" forms of historiography, and that this resulted in their collective crimes being greatly exaggerated:
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大抵書傳所記桀紂之事多出模倣。如世紀等倒拽九牛、撫梁易柱、引鈎申索、握鐡流湯、傾宮瑤室、與夫璿臺三里、金柱三千、車行酒、騎行炙、酒池糟丘、脯林肉圃、宮中九市、牛飲三千、丘鳴鬼哭、山走石泣、兩日並出、以人食獸、六月獵西山、以百二十日為夜等事。紂為如是，而謂桀亦如是，是豈其俱然哉？<br>
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"Generally speaking, the affairs of Jie and Di Xin recorded in books and traditions mostly arise from imitation. For example, in works like Records of the Grand Historian, there are stories of dragging nine bulls backward, bracing beams and swapping pillars, stretching bronze hooks, grasping hot iron and flowing hot water, leaning palaces and jasper chambers, along with a jade tower three li around, three thousand golden pillars, carts that travel through wine, riders that travel over roast meat, pools of wine and mounds of lees, forests of dried meat and gardens of flesh, nine markets inside the palace, three thousand drinking like cattle, mounds that wail and ghosts that cry, mountains that run and stones that weep, two suns rising together, humans eating beasts, hunting on West Mountain in the sixth month, and making one hundred and twenty days into a single night. If Di Xin is said to have done these things, and Jie is also said to have done the same, how could it be that both were truly like this?"
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Jie's cuisine
A great deal of effort was spent on Jie's cuisine and his requirements. Vegetables had to come from the northwest, fish had to be from the East Sea, seasonings and sauces had to come from ginger that grew in the south, and sea salt had to come from the north. Zi, who became known as Tang of Shang, recognized that Jie mistreated the people and used this as a way to convince other supporters. In one speech Tang of Shang said that creating chaos is not something he wanted, but given the terror of Jie, he has to follow the Mandate of Heaven and use this opportunity to overthrow the Xia. Despite this setback, Shang continued to expand on a number of fronts, gathering vassal troops in Jingbo ().
Battle of Mingtiao
In the 32nd year of Jie's reign, Tang of Shang dispatched troops from Er (陑) to simultaneously attack Xia and Kunwu. Kunwu was quickly defeated.
Historicity
Due to a lack of direct, testable, archaeological evidence for the Xia dynasty's existence, its historicity, and by extension Jie's, are disputed, especially by western scholars. While the Erlitou culture has been argued to be a site for the Xia dynasty, it was seemingly not literate, with no writing uncovered, and thus no contemporary narratives can be connected to Jie, unlike Di Xin. Records of the Xia dynasty begin to appear during the Zhou dynasty and are not mentioned on Oracle bones dated to the Late Shang.
See also
- Mount Tai earthquake