Di Xin
| King Di Xin of Shang 帝辛 | |||||||||||||
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King Zhòu of Shang illustrated in the Ehon Sangoku Yōfuden (c. 1805) | |||||||||||||
| King of Shang dynasty | |||||||||||||
| Reign | 1075–1046 BCE (29 years) | ||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Di Yi (Father) | ||||||||||||
| Born | 1105 BCE | ||||||||||||
| Died | 1046 BCE | ||||||||||||
| Spouse | Consort Daji Jiuhou Nü | ||||||||||||
| Issue | Wu Geng | ||||||||||||
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| Father | Di Yi | ||||||||||||
| Di Xin | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Chinese | 帝辛 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | "Thearch VIII" | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 商紂王 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | "Zhou of Shang" | ||||||||||||||||||
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Di Xin of Shang (商帝辛; Shāng Dì Xīn) or Shou, King of Shang (商王受; Shāng Wáng Shòu), was the last king of the Shang dynasty of ancient China. He is also known by a pejorative title, King Zhòu of Shang ([ʈ͡ʂoʊ]; Chinese: 商紂王; pinyin: Zhòu Wáng) in Zhou dynasty texts and beyond. He is contemporaneously recorded in bronze relics, where his temple name, Di Xin, is used.
In later times, the story of “King Zhòu” became a cautionary tale on what could befall a kingdom if its ruler gave into corruption and moral depravity. However, owing to the small number of artifacts found from his rule, his actual life and deeds are not well understood beyond posthumous accounts.