Historical Evaluation of Duke Zhou

Jia Yi, a great thinker in the early Han Dynasty, commented on Duke Zhou, saying, "The king of Wen has great virtue but does not work for it, and the king of Wu has great virtue but does not work for politics. Duke Zhou runs the country well. Before Confucius and after the Yellow Emperor, Duke Zhou was the only one in China who had a close relationship. " Duke of Zhou once helped Zhou Wuwang to destroy the business and Zhou Chengwang to govern the country. After the death of King Wu, he became a young king. He was the regent of this country. After the Three Prisons Rebellion was pacified, it became feudal, established the system of Zhou (Luoyi) and rites and music, and regained power as king, which played a key role in the consolidation and development of the Zhou Dynasty's rule and had a far-reaching impact on the historical development of China.

Duke Zhou was not only an outstanding politician and strategist at that time, but also a versatile poet and scholar. His brothers, Cai Shu and Huo Shu colluded with Shang Zhou's son Wu Genglu's father, Xu, Yan and other Oriental barbarians to rebel. He was ordered to start his career, suppressed the rebellion three years later and extended his power to the sea. After the construction of Luoyi. According to legend, the system of rites and music formulated and improved various systems such as the patriarchal system of enfeoffment, and further consolidated slavery in the Western Zhou Dynasty.

Since the Spring and Autumn Period, Duke Zhou has been regarded as a saint by rulers and scholars of all dynasties. He is regarded as the founder of Confucianism and one of the most revered ancient sages of Confucius. In The Analects of Confucius, Confucius said, "I am weak! For a long time, I stopped dreaming about Duke Zhou. " Mencius first called Zhou An an "ancient sage" and compared Zhou Gong with Confucius, which shows his respect for Zhou Gong. Xunzi regarded Duke Zhou as a great scholar and praised his virtue and political integrity in Xunzi's Confucian effect. Liu Xin and Wang Mang of the Han Dynasty renamed Zhou Guan Zhou Li, believing that it was written by Zhou Gong, which made the Western Zhou Dynasty prosperous and peaceful and put Zhou Gong above Confucius. Until the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, who had a strong desire for power, could not tolerate the "Zhao Zhou * * * and" after the death of King Wu, the young reign of King Wu, and the departure of Zhou Liwang in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, so he ordered the cancellation of the sacrificial qualification of Confucius Temple and changed it to Confucius. In the Tang Dynasty, Han Yu advocated Confucian orthodoxy and put forward the unified order of Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen, Wu, Confucius and Mencius.

Zhou Gongdan's "Rite and Music System" has formulated and implemented a set of laws and regulations to maintain the patriarchal clan system and hierarchical system. The established eldest son inheritance system, that is, taking blood as a link, stipulates that the throne of the Zhou Emperor is inherited by the eldest son. At the same time, other illegitimate children were made princes and great doctors. Their relationship with the Emperor of Heaven is the relationship between the local government and the central government, and the relationship between the small clan and the big clan, which strengthens the rule of the central government. This is the so-called ritual and music system. This kind of orderly society that Confucius pursued all his life has been influencing future generations for thousands of years.