Bo Yi and Shu Qi Dying for their Beliefs 伯夷叔齐不食周栗 | Chinese History - The Western Zhou Dynasty E13

Hello and welcome to the show. My name is Api Ngo. I'm that Chinese history guy. Here we share the myths, legends, and histories of the Chinese people from the first creator to the last imperial dynasty, more than 6,000 years of stories, one video at a time. So if you're looking to learn more about the rich culture and history of the Chinese people, you are definitely in the right place. In today's episode, we're going to talk about Puyi and Shu Qi, known to be the last loyal subjects of the Shang dynasty. The two brothers were born on nobility, but ended up dying of starvation on the cold Shouyang mountains. Now even Confucius himself hailed them as true martyrs who stayed true to their beliefs to the end, even though that belief was the resistance of Zhou Ru. Now the state of Guzhu or Guzhu Guo was a vassal state of the Shang kingdom located roughly in the Eastern parts of today's Hebei. Now it was said to be established during Shang Tang's rule by a distant branch of the early Shang royal family. And it was a relatively wealthy vassal state due to their strong economy built upon agriculture and livestock farming. Now the ruler of Guzhu Guo towards the end of the Shang dynasty was a man named And he had three sons. His eldest son was named Puyi and his third son was named Shu Qi. Now Puyi was known to be a courteous and well-mannered man, while Shu Qi had a reputation of being clever and quick-witted. The brothers had an extremely good relationship with each other and they were well loved by the people. When their father Zizhao knew that he was dying, he left a will naming Shu Qi as due to his outstanding intelligence and quickness of mind. However, Shu Qi felt that it was improper for him to take on the role of leadership over his eldest brother and therefore refused the position after his father's passing. Puyi on the other hand felt that it would be unfair for him to assume the position when his late father left specific instructions regarding his succession plans. So the two brothers were stuck in a quagmire with both of them refusing to take over as the new ruler of Guzhu, insisting that the other was more qualified for the role and they refused to bounce on their position no matter what the other said. And this resulted in a pretty serious stalemate. It was at this point that Puyi felt that if he continued to stay, Shu Qi would continue to refuse the position out of his deep seated respect for his eldest brother and that would put the state of Guzhu in quite a succession crisis. And so he decided to leave the capital, leave the city quietly for the sake of Shu Qi and for the sake of the state of Guzhu. Unbeknownst to him, Shu Qi also had a similar idea at this time, thinking that if he continued to stay on, Puyi would continue to refuse the position out of obedience and respect to their late father's will. And therefore, he also decided to leave the capital and leave the state quietly. So imagine the situation the officials of the Guzhu could found themselves in when they woke up one day to find that the two most qualified person to take over as ruler of the state had left. So being left with no other choices, they had to install Puyi and Shu Qi's second brother as the new ruler of Guzhu to ensure that they at least still had someone to lead them. Now, this act of yielding the position of leadership to each other or yielding the throne was widely praised by people of the time as an ultimate show, an ultimate display of virtue and morality, with Confucian scholars in the Warring States period appraising them as follows. Ah, to have the capacity to yield the throne of a state, isn't that the greatest display of virtue? Puyi did it out of obedience to his father and Shu Qi did it out of respect for his brother. Now, as luck would have it, the two brothers met again very soon in the And now that their second brother was the new ruler of the state, they both decided that they would not return to the state of Guzhu. And so they embarked on a journey across the realm for a period of time before settling down amongst the Tongyi people near the shores of the North Seas, which I presume would be most probably along the northern shores of today's Bohai Seas. It was while they were living amongst the Tongyi people that the two brothers heard of a man who ruled wisely and benevolently in the West, and his name was Ji Chang. The people living under his leadership led lives of prosperity, and talents from across the land were accorded the highest level of respect when they visited the state of Zhou. So the two brothers decided to make the long trek, the long journey to the other end of the realm to see this oasis of peace and prosperity with their own eyes. Unfortunately, when they finally arrived in the West, King Wen had already passed away, and King Wu was by now on the march towards the military rally at Mengjin. Now thinking that King Wu was launching a full-scale military invasion into Shanglands, the two brothers stopped the King's royal carriage and admonished him publicly in front of everyone. Your father has passed away, and instead of burying and mourning him, you embark on this extravagant military campaign. Now, is that the action of a filial son? As a subject and vessel of the Shang, you are marching on your way to commit regicide. Is that the action of a benevolent and righteous man? Now, hearing these words being literally spat into his face, the enraged King Wu raised his dagger axe and was about to kill them there and then, on the spot, when Jiang Shang rushed forward to stop his King. These are righteous men, my lord! Jiang Shang cried before helping the two brothers onto their feet and letting them go along their way. Now, it was recorded in both Zhuangzi and Lüsi Chunqiu, or Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals, that when King Wu finally toppled the Shang dynasty and was recognized as the son of heaven or Tianzi, he tried to recruit both Bo Yi and Shu Qi, offering them high positions and rich rewards. However, both brothers rejected these offers and in fact, considered them to be greatly humiliating to them. Now, when the two brothers embarked on their long and arduous journey to the West, they were looking forward to joining the court of a wise and benevolent ruler. However, they were deeply disappointed when what they found was in their mind, an unfilial King Slayer. Now, with nothing left to look forward to, the two brothers decided to make their way back East and it was during their travels back to the Eastlands that news arrived, informing them of the fall of the Shang dynasty and the death of the King. Now, losing all hope, they decided that they should live out the rest of their lives as hermits on this mountain known as Shouyang Mountain, preferring to remain as the last subjects of a fallen dynasty rather than recognizing the legitimacy of the new rulers. And to completely draw the line between themselves and the treasonous Zhou people, Bo Yi and Shu Qi made a vow to never consume a single grain produced by these usurpers and instead, they will sustain themselves by picking and eating any Osmunda ferns that they could find or they could scavenge in the mountains. Now, as the weather turned colder and colder in the autumn and winter months, it got harder and harder to find ferns and leaves to fill their stomachs. And so expectedly, the two brothers started to waste away due to starvation and malnutrition. And one day while they were out scavenging for ferns and leaves to fill their stomachs, they came across a woman who was out picking firewood in the mountains. Now seeing them in their sorry state, the woman naturally asked them why they were eating ferns and leaves. When she heard their story and their reasoning, she naturally felt sorry for them and she tried to reason with them in an attempt to change their minds, to help them find a reason to continue living, I guess. Now it is admirable that you are refusing to eat grains produced by the Zhou out of principle, and it is admirable that you are willing to go this far for your beliefs, but aren't the ferns and the leaves that you are eating grown on Zhou soil as well? Please, there's no need to be so doggedly stubborn. Please look after yourselves. Unfortunately, her words produced the complete opposite effect of what she intended. Upon hearing her arguments, the two brothers, Boyi and Shuqi, stopped eating even the ferns and the leaves that had been sustaining them or keeping them alive so far. Shivering from the cold and weakened through a long period of starvation and malnourishment, the two brothers wept while they hum a song that they wrote, climbing up Western Mountain in the chilly autumn winds, to pick osmonda leaves, to sate our hunger, to fix a violent world with violent actions. I do not see the righteousness in it. Oh, the golden age of Shen Nong, Emperor Shun, and the Xia people. They are gone forever. Alas, where can we go? Alas, our lives are ending. And with that last lament, the two brothers finally succumbed and died of cold and starvation on the chilly Shouyang Mountain. 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