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King of Yue from 496 to 465 BC
Goujian 句踐 Reign 496–465 BC Predecessor Yunchang Successor Luying Issue Luying Yue Ji Father Yunchang
Goujian temple in Shaoxing
Goujian (Chinese : 句踐 ) (reigned 496–465 BC) was the king of the Kingdom of Yue (越國, present-day northern Zhejiang ) near the end of the Spring and Autumn period (春秋). He was the son of Marquis Yunchang .
Goujian's reign coincided with arguably the last major conflict of the Spring and Autumn period, the struggle between Wu and Yue, wherein he eventually led his state to victory, annexing the rival. As such, King Goujian is sometimes considered the last of the Five Hegemons .
War between Wu and Yue [ edit ]
T h e w a r b e t w e e n W u a n d Y u e c o m p r i s e d s e v e r a l s e p a r a t e p h a s e s . I t b e g a n w h e n a Y u e p r i n c e s s , w h o w a s m a r r i e d t o o n e o f t h e p r i n c e s o f t h e n e i g h b o r i n g s t a t e o f Wu , l e f t h e r h u s b a n d a n d f l e d b a c k t o t h e S t a t e o f Y u e . T h i s b e c a m e t h e s p a r k f o r t h e w a r t o c o m e . A l s o , a s Y u n c h a n g d e v e l o p e d Y u e ' s s t r e n g t h , h e c a m e i n t o c o n f l i c t w i t h K i n g H e l ü o f W u , c a u s i n g a f e u d b e t w e e n t h e t w o s t a t e s .
U p o n t h e d e a t h o f Y u n c h a n g a n d t h e a c c e s s i o n o f G o u j i a n , H e l ü s e i z e d t h e o p p o r t u n i t y a n d l a u n c h e d a n a t t a c k o n Y u e . A t t h e B a t t l e o f Z u i l i ( 槜 李 之 战 ) , h o w e v e r , Y u e d e f e a t e d W u , a n d K i n g H e l ü w a s m o r t a l l y w o u n d e d . B e f o r e h i s d e a t h , h e i n s t r u c t e d h i s s o n , t h e l a t e r K i n g F u c h a i o f W u , " N e v e r f o r g e t Y u e ! " Y u e w o u l d b e d e f e a t e d t h r e e y e a r s l a t e r b y a r e s u r g e n t W u , a n d G o u j i a n c a p t u r e d , t o s e r v e a s F u c h a i ' s s e r v a n t f o r t h r e e y e a r s b e f o r e h e w a s e v e n t u a l l y a l l o w e d t o r e t u r n t o h i s n a t i v e s t a t e .
U p o n r e s u m i n g h i s r u l e , K i n g G o u j i a n q u i c k l y a p p o i n t e d s k i l l e d p o l i t i c i a n s a s a d v i s o r s , s u c h a s W e n Z h o n g a n d F a n L i , t o h e l p b u i l d u p t h e k i n g d o m . D u r i n g t h i s t i m e , h i s m i n i s t e r s a l s o w o r k e d t o w e a k e n t h e S t a t e o f W u i n t e r n a l l y t h r o u g h b r i b e s a n d d i p l o m a t i c i n t r i g u e .
W h i l s t r u l i n g h i s k i n g d o m , G o u j i a n n e v e r r e l i s h e d k i n g l y r i c h e s , b u t i n s t e a d a t e f o o d s u i t e d f o r p e a s a n t s , a s w e l l a s f o r c i n g h i m s e l f t o t a s t e b i l e , i n o r d e r t o r e m e m b e r h i s h u m i l i a t i o n s w h i l e s e r v i n g u n d e r t h e S t a t e o f W u . T h e s e c o n d h a l f o f a C h i n e s e i d i o m , w ò x ī n - c h á n g d ǎ n ( 臥 薪 嚐 膽 , " s l e e p i n g o n s t i c k s a n d t a s t i n g g a l l " ) , r e f e r s t o G o u j i a n ' s p e r s e v e r a n c e .
A f t e r t e n y e a r s o f e c o n o m i c a n d p o l i t i c a l r e f o r m s , t h e l a s t p h a s e o f t h e w a r b e g a n , b y w h i c h t i m e t h e S t a t e o f Y u e h a d c o m e a l o n g w a y f r o m i t s p r e v i o u s d e f e a t ; a s d e s c r i b e d i n t h e S h i j i , T e n y e a r s o f r e f o r m s ; t h e s t a t e i s r i c h , t h e w a r r i o r s w e l l - r e w a r d e d . T h e s o l d i e r s c h a r g e i n t h e f a c e o f a r r o w s l i k e t h i r s t y m e n h e a d i n g f o r d r i n k . . . ( 修 之 十 年 , 國 富 , 厚 賂 戰 士 , 士 赴 矢 石 , 如 渴 得 飲 ) . [ 1 ]
T a k i n g a d v a n t a g e o f F u c h a i ' s e x p e d i t i o n t o h i s n o r t h t o d e f e a t Qi , G o u j i a n l e d h i s a r m y a n d s u c c e s s f u l l y a t t a c k e d t h e W u c a p i t a l , k i l l i n g t h e W u c r o w n p r i n c e , Y o u . I n t h e 2 4 t h y e a r o f h i s r e i g n ( 4 7 3 B C ) , G o u j i a n l e d a n o t h e r e x p e d i t i o n a g a i n s t W u , l a y i n g s i e g e t o t h e c a p i t a l f o r t h r e e y e a r s b e f o r e i t f e l l . W h e n a s u r r e n d e r f r o m F u c h a i w a s r e f u s e d , F u c h a i c o m m i t t e d s u i c i d e a n d W u w a s a n n e x e d b y Y u e . A f t e r h i s v i c t o r y , G o u j i a n r u t h l e s s l y k i l l e d F u c h a i ' s s c h o l a r s , e v e n t h o s e w h o h e l p e d h i m ( i n c l u d i n g B o P i ) , n o t a l l o w i n g h i m s e l f t o m a k e t h e s a m e m i s t a k e F u c h a i h a d m a d e b y s p a r i n g t h e l i v e s o f h i s e n e m i e s . H o w e v e r , G o u j i a n w o u l d n o t s t o p t h e r e ; h e w o u l d l a t e r f o r c e W e n Z h o n g t o c o m m i t s u i c i d e ; F a n L i , k n o w i n g t h a t G o u j i a n w a s a m a n w h o c a n s h a r e w o e b u t n o t w e a l t h t o g e t h e r , l e f t G o u j i a n a f t e r t h e d e f e a t o f W u .
K i n g G o u j i a n ' s a r m y i s k n o w n f o r a c o m m o n m i s c o n c e p t i o n : s c a r i n g i t s e n e m i e s b e f o r e b a t t l e w i t h a f r o n t l i n e f o r m e d b y c r i m i n a l s s e n t e n c e d t o d e a t h w h o c o m m i t t e d s u i c i d e b y d e c a p i t a t i n g t h e m s e l v e s . [ 2 ] H o w e v e r , i n t h e p a s s a g e , " 越 王 句 踐 [ 3 ] 使 死 士 挑 戰 , 三 行 , 至 吳 陳 , 呼 而 自 剄 。 " , t h e l i t e r a l t r a n s l a t i o n o f ﹃ 死 士 ﹄ i s " s o l d i e r s ( w h o a r e ) w i l l i n g t o d i e " , n o t " c r i m i n a l s s e n t e n c e d t o d e a t h " . ﹃ 自 剄 ﹄ m e a n s t o " c o m m i t s u i c i d e b y c u t t i n g o n e ' s t h r o a t , " w h i c h w a s a c o m m o n w a y t o e n d o n e ' s o w n l i f e i n A n c i e n t C h i n a . [ 4 ]
The Sword of Goujian
Sons:
Luying (鹿郢 ; d. 458 BC), ruled as the King of Yue from 463–458 BC
Daughters:
Today, Goujian's descendants survive as members of the Gu (顾) family.
Futan Yunchang (d. 497 BC) Goujian (d. 464 BC)
The war between the states of Yue and Wu is the subject of three television series:
The story is explored at depth in historian Paul Cohen's book [5] Speaking to History: The Story of King Goujian in Twentieth Century China]
The virus order Goujianvirales is named in honor of Goujian, and the parent class Yunchangviricetes is named in honor of his parent Yunchang .[6]
Battlefield 4's China Rising trailer opens with a Chinese soldier quoting the idiom attributed to Goujian tasting bile: "越王勾践卧薪尝胆,最后灭了吳国。” However, the subtitles erroneously translate it as a quote from Confucius instead.
Notes and references [ edit ]
^ Shiji (史記), Ch. 129, 貨殖列傳 (in Chinese (Taiwan)).
^ Sima Qian , Shiji (史記), Ch. 41, 中華書局, 2006, p. 272.
^ https://www.edb.gov.hk/attachment/tc/curriculum-development/kla/pshe/references-and-resources/chinese-history/SpringAutumn_WarringStates_1_S.pdf
^ Shiji, second sentence of second paragraph in Chapter 41
^ Yeophantong, Pichamon (2009). "Reviewed work: Speaking to History: The Story of King Goujian in Twentieth-Century China, Paul A. Cohen". The China Journal (62): 233–235. doi :10.1086/tcj.62.20648167 . JSTOR 20648167 .
^ Wolf, Yuri; Krupovic, Mart; Zhang, Yong Zhen ; Maes, Piet; Dolja, Valerian; Koonin, Eugene V.; Kuhn, Jens H. "Megataxonomy of negative-sense RNA viruses" . International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) . Archived from the original (docx) on January 13, 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2019 .
Regnal titles
Preceded byYunchang
King of Yue 496–465 BC
Succeeded byLuying (Yuyi)
Traditional List (SJ )
Alternative Lists