Career
Like other early Chu rulers, he held the hereditary noble rank of viscount first granted to his ancestor Xiong Yi by King Cheng of Zhou. Xiong Zhi succeeded his father Xiong Kang, but later abdicated due to illness. Ancient historian Sima Qian"s account of Xiong Zhi in his Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) is quite confused.
However, this account is contradicted by earlier historical texts Zuo Zhuan and Guoyu, as well as the recently discovered Tsinghua Bamboo Slips.
