Jiang Ziya

Duke Tai of Qiredirects here. For the later Qi ruler appeared, only to resurface in the Zhou countryside at the
with the same title, see Duke Tai of Tian Qi.
apocryphal age of seventy-two, when he was recruited by
King Wen of Zhou and became instrumental in Zhou af*
Jiang Ziya (. 11th century BC), also known by several fairs. [4] It is said that, while in exile, he continued to
wait placidly, shing in a tributary of the Wei River (near
other names, was a Chinese noble who helped kings Wen
and Wu of Zhou overthrow the Shang in ancient China. todays Xi'an) using a barbless hook or even no hook at
Following their victory at Muye, he continued to serve all, on the theory that the sh would come to him of their
as Zhou's prime minister. He remained loyal to the re- own volition when they were ready.
gent Duke of Zhou during the Rebellion of the Three
Guards; following the Duke's punitive raids against the
restive Eastern Barbarians or Dongyi, Jiang was enfeoed
with their territory as the marchland of Qi. He established his seat at Yingqiu (within modern Zibo).

3 Hired by King Wen of the Zhou

Names

The rst marquis of Qi bore the given name Shang.

The nobility of ancient China bore two surnames, an
ancestral name and a clan name. His were Jiang and
L, respectively. He had two courtesy names, Shangfu
and Ziya, which were used for respectful address by his
peers. The names Jiang Shang and Jiang Ziya became
the most common after their use in the popular Ming-era
novel Fengshen Bang, written over 2,500 years after his
death.* [1]
Following the elevation of Qi to a duchy, his posthumous
name became the Great Duke of Qi, often mistakenly
translated as if it were a name (Duke Tai). It is under
this name that he appears in Sima Qian's Records of the
Grand Historian.* [2]* [3] He is also less often known as
Grand Duke Jiang, the Hopeful Great Duke, and
the Hopeful L".* [1]

Background

The last ruler of the Shang dynasty, King Zhou of

Shang (16th - 11th century BC) was a tyrannical and debauched slave owner who spent his days carousing with
his favourite concubine Daji and mercilessly executing or
punishing upright ocials and all others who objected
to his ways. After faithfully serving the Shang court
for approximately twenty years, Jiang came to nd King
Zhou insuerable, and feigned madness in order to es- Dai Jin, Dropping a Fishing Line on the Bank of the Wei River,
cape court life and the ruler's power. Jiang was an ex- National Palace Museum
pert in military aairs and hoped that someday someone
would call on him to help overthrow the king. Jiang dis- King Wen of Zhou, (central Shaanxi), found Jiang Ziya
1

2
shing. King Wen, following the advice of his father and
grandfather before him, was in search of talented people.
In fact, he had been told by his grandfather, the Grand
Duke of Zhou, that one day a sage would appear to help
rule the Zhou state.

6 IN POPULAR CULTURE
(modern day Anyang, Henan Province).

Jiang Taigong charged at the head of the troops, beat the

battle drums and then with 100 of his men drew the Shang
troops to the southwest. King Wu's troops moved quickly
and surrounded the capital. The Shang King had sent relThe rst meeting between King Wen and Jiang Ziya is atively untrained slaves to ght. This, plus the fact that
recorded in the book that records Jiang's teachings to many surrendered or revolted, enabled Zhou to take the
King Wen and King Wu, the Six Secret Teachings ( capital.
/ ). The meeting was recorded as being char- King Zhou set re to his palace and perished in it, and
acterized by a mythic aura common to meetings between King Wu and his successors as the Zhou dynasty estabgreat historical gures in ancient China.* [4] Before going lished rule over all of China. As for Daji, one version
hunting, King Wen consulted his chief scribe to perform has it that she was captured and executed by the order of
divination in order to discover if the king would be suc- Jiang Taigong himself, another that she took her own life,
cessful. The divinations revealed that, "'While hunting another that she was killed by King Zhou. Jiang Taigong
on the north bank of the Wei river you will get a great was made duke of the State of Qi (todays Shandong
catch. It will not be any form of dragon, nor a tiger or province), which thrived with better communications and
great bear. According the signs, you will nd a duke or exploitation of its sh and salt resources under him.
marquis there whom Heaven has sent to be your teacher.
If employed as your assistant, you will ourish and the As the most notable Prime Minister employed by King
benets will extend to three generations of Zhou Kings.'" Wen and King Wu, he was declared the master of
Recognizing that the result of this divination was similar strategyresulting in the Zhou government growing far
to the result of divinations given to his eldest ancestor, stronger than that of the Shang Dynasty as the years
King Wen observed a vegetarian diet for three days in or- elapsed. Thus making him known well as the most fader to spiritually purify himself for the meeting. While mous Prime Minister of all in China.
on the hunt, King Wen encountered Jiang shing on a
grass mat, and courteously began a conversation with him
concerning military tactics and statecraft.* [5] The sub5 Personal views and historical insequent conversation between Jiang Ziya and King Wen
uence
forms the basis of the text in the Six Secret Teachings.
When King Wen met Jiang Ziya, at rst sight he felt that
this was an unusual old man, and began to converse with
him. He discovered that this white-haired sherman was
actually an astute political thinker and military strategist.
This, he felt, must be the man his grandfather was waiting
for. He took Jiang Ziya in his coach to the court and appointed him prime minister and gave him the title Jiang
Taigong Wang (The Great Duke's Hope, orThe expected of the Great Duke) in reference to a prophetic
dream Danfu, grandfather of Wenwang, had had many
years before. This was later shortened to Jiang Taigong.
King Wu married Jiang Ziya's daughter Yi Jiang, who
bore him several sons.

An account of Jiang Taigong's life written long after his

time says he held that a country could become powerful only when the people prospered. If the ocials enriched themselves while the people remained poor, the
ruler would not last long. The major principle in ruling
a country should be to love the people; and to love the
people meant to reduce taxes and corve labour. By following these ideas, King Wen is said to have made the
Zhou state prosper very rapidly.
His treatise on military strategy, Six Secret Strategic
Teachings, is considered one of the Seven Military Classics of Ancient China.

Today, Jiang Ziya is regarded as one of the greatest strategists in both Chinese history and the world, and is hon4 Attack of the Shang
ored as the rst famous general and progenitor of strategic studies. In the Tang Dynasty he was even accorded
After King Wen died, his son King Wu, who inherited the his own state temple as the martial patron and thereby
throne, decided to send troops to overthrow the King of attained ocially sanctioned status approaching that of
Shang. But Jiang Taigong stopped him, saying: While Confucius.
I was shing at Panxi, I realised one truth - if you want
to succeed you need to be patient. We must wait for the
appropriate opportunity to eliminate the King of Shang
. Soon it was reported that the people of Shang were so 6 In popular culture
oppressed that no one dared speak. King Wu and Jiang
Taigong decided this was the time to attack, for the people Jiang Ziya is a prominent character in the Chinese epic
had lost faith in the ruler. The bloody Battle of Muye then fantasy novel Fengshen Yanyi ( ), sometimes
ensued some 35 kilometres from the Shang capital Yin translated as Creation of the Gods. In this novel he has

3
In Final Fantasy XI, the item Lu Shang's Fishing Rod
is awarded to players for catching 10,000 carp. It is noteworthy for its ability to catch both small and large sh,
and is notoriously hard to break.
In the online game War of Legends, Jiang Ziya is a
playable monk, with 45 ability.
In the popular game Eiyuu Senki, Tai Gong Wan is one
of the ancient heroes player will encounter in the game.

7 See also
Boyi and Shuqi
Zhou Wang (Shang Dynasty)
Statue of Jiang Ziya at Haw Par Villa, Singapore.

been known well as Daji's arch-rival, and the one who

ordered her execution personally.

King Wu of Zhou (Zhou Dynasty)

Chinese mythology
Six Secret Teachings

There are two xiehouyu about him:

Grand Duke Jiang shes those who are willing 8 Notes
jump at the bait ( ),
which means put one's own head in the noose [1] Long Jianchun () (2003). Discussion on Taigong's
.
surname, clanname, given name and titles" "
Grand Duke Jiang investiture the gods omitting
himself ( ), which
means leave out oneself.
In the scenarioChinese Unicationof the Civilization
IV: Warlords expansion pack, Jiang Ziya is the leader of
the State of Qi.
The protagonist of Hoshin Engi, Tai Kou Bou (Tai Gong
Wang), is based on Jiang Ziya. But however, his personality is quite comical.
He is also playable in video games Aizouban Houshin
Engi, Hoshin Engi 2 and Mystic Heroes. He is kind, humble and just.
Jiang Ziya is also Daji's arch-rival (Jiang Ziya never
thought of Daji as his rival while Daji herself actually
thought that Jiang Ziya was her rival) as Jiang Ziya can
easily see through Daji's plans.
Jiang Ziya is a playable character in Koei's Warriors
Orochi 2. In the game he is alternatively referred to as
Taigong Wang. A stark contrast to the historical accounts
however, would be that he is portrayed as a handsome
young man, who is quite arrogant, although he is still a
divinely gifted strategist and a good man at heart. He is
often referred to by others, namely Fu Xi, Nwa and Daji
asboy. The reason for his radically improvised design
may be to emphasize his rivalry with Daji, whose character design depicts her as being young and beautiful as
well. Their clashes are loosely inspired by the Fengshen
Yanyi.

. < > . Taizhou

Academy Newspapers ( ) 2nd semester,
2003.
[2] Sima Qian. [House of Duke Tai of
Qi]. Records of the Grand Historian (in Chinese).
Guoxue.com. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
[3] Han Zhaoqi (), ed. (2010). Shiji () (in Chinese). Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company. pp. 2495
2510. ISBN 978-7-101-07272-3.
[4] Sawyer, Ralph D. The Seven Military Classics of Ancient
China. New York: Basic Books. 2007. p. 27.
[5]T'ai Kung's Six Secret Teachings. Trans. Ralph D.
Sawyer. In Sawyer, Ralph D., The Seven Military Classics
of Ancient China. New York: Basic Books. 2007. p. 40.

9 External links
Jiang Taigong: The Supreme Strategist
Welcome to Taoistsecret.com

10

10
10.1

TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Text

Jiang Ziya Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiang_Ziya?oldid=735021823 Contributors: Mxn, Lowellian, Topace12, Bobo192,

Craigy144, Zander, Mcy jerry, Grenavitar, Instantnood, MickWest, Rjwilmsi, Angusmclellan, Yug, Chobot, Chensiyuan, K.C. Tang, Nlu,
Saravask, Lds, Bluebot, Neo-Jay, Underbar dk, Ricky@36, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Captain Walker, A-cai, Veyklevar, SohanDsouza, Iokseng, Cydebot, Doug Weller, Aldis90, TonyTheTiger, WinBot, Settersr, Ekabhishek, Philg88, Edward321, .nix, Erkan Yilmaz, J.delanoy,
Nohansen, Balthazarduju, Sunying, DWP17, BotKung, SieBot, ToePeu.bot, Stout256, Dcattell, EveryDayJoe45, ClueBot, Meiguoren,
Auntof6, Shishishin, Catalographer, Kwjbot, Addbot, Benjamin Trovato, HerculeBot, Mps, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Adamsguo, Tavatar, Espalino, Zhang Zifang, LlywelynII, Citation bot, Ferox Seneca, Xqbot, Yu the Great, TechBot, Shanghainese.ua, Infokazu74023god, Zanhe,
ZhBot, Difu Wu, Homunculus, Denver & Rio Grande, Aegoceras, ClueBot NG, Widr, Mnmjnm, BG19bot, Numbermaniac, Thng L..Q.,
Wassermaus, Monkbot, KasparBot and Anonymous: 87

10.2

Images

File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

File:Dai_Jin-Dropping_a_Fishing_Line_on_the_Bank_of_the_Wei_River.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/e/e6/Dai_Jin-Dropping_a_Fishing_Line_on_the_Bank_of_the_Wei_River.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://
tech2.npm.gov.tw/cheschool/zh-tw/index.aspx?content=c_1_09 Original artist: Dai Jin
File:Haw_Par_Villa_6,_Dec_14.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Haw_Par_Villa_6%2C_Dec_14.
jpg License: CC BY-SA 4.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Lds

10.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0