周文王
Born Ji Chang (姬昌), Wen was the son of Tai Ren and Ji Jili, the king of a small state along the Wei River in present-day Shaanxi. His father was betrayed and executed by the Shang emperor Wen Ding in the late 12th century British Columbia.
A large number of the hymns of the Classic of Poetry are praises to the legacy of King Wen. Some consider him the first epic hero of Chinese history. At one point, King Zhou of Shang, fearing Wen"s growing power, imprisoned him in Youli (present-day Tangyin in Henan).
Burial
A burial mound in Zhouling town, Xianyang, Shaanxi was once thought to be the final resting place of King Wen.
In the Qing dynasty the tomb was fitted with a headstone bearing Wen"s name and incorporated into a temple complex in his honor, which is still open to tourists. Nearby tombs were thought to be those of Wen"s successors King Wu, King Cheng and King Kang.
Modern archeology has since concluded that the five tombs are not old enough to be from the Zhou dynasty, and are more likely to be those of Han dynasty royals. The true location of King Wen"s tomb is therefore unknown, although it is likely to be in the Xianyang-Xi"an area.
Divination
King Wen is credited with having stacked the eight trigrams in their various permutations to create the sixty-four hexagrams of the I Ching.
He is also said to have written the judgments which are appended to each hexagram. The most commonly used sequence of the 64 hexagrams is attributed to him and is usually referred to as the King Wen sequence. Posthumous Honors
In 196 British Columbia, Han Gaozu gave King Wen the title "Greatest of All Kings".
