Kong Jia
Kǒng Jiǎ 孔甲 | |
|---|---|
| King of China | |
| Reign | 1789 BC – 1758 BC |
| Consort | Many concubines |
| Issue | Gao of Xia |
| Father | Bu Jiang |
| Mother | Wife of Bu Jiang |
Template:Chinese text Kǒng Jiǎ (孔甲) was a king of ancient China,[1] the 14th ruler of the semi-legendary Xia dynasty. He possibly ruled 31 years.[2]
Family
Kong Jia was a son of King Bù Jiàng[3] and unknown woman and grandson of King Xie of Xia.
His uncle was King Jiong of Xia and his cousin was King Jǐn.[4]
He had many beautiful concubines. He fathered Gāo and was a grandfather of King Houjin.[5]
Biography
According to the Bamboo Annals, Kong Jia lived in the Xia capital of Xi River (西河).[6]
In the third year of his regime, he hunted at the Fu Mountains (萯山) in Dongyang (东阳).
He composed song called Eastern Sound (东音), which is also called Song of Broken Axe (破斧之歌).
Kong Jia was very superstitious and all he cared about was alcohol. From his time on, the power of Xia started to decline and the vassal kings (诸侯) of Xia grew more powerful. During his regime, he stripped power from one of the nobles, Shiwei (豕韦).[7]
Sources
- ^ China at War: An Encyclopedia by Xiaobing Li
- ^ Milton Walter Meyer: China: A Concise History, page 126.
- ^ Xia Dynasty
- ^ Chinese archaeological abstracts: prehistoric to Western Zhou by Albert E. Dien, Jeffrey K. Riegel, Nancy Thompson Price. Online version.
- ^ Records of the Grand Historian, vol. Han Dynasty I, translated by Burton Watson (Columbia University, Revised Edition, 1993)
- ^ James Legge (1865), The Chinese Classics, Volume 3, part 1.
- ^ Franke, Herbert and Rolf Trauzettel, Das chinesische Kaiserreich, Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 1968, ISBN 3-596-60019-7