Who were the ancestors of the kings?

Mondo Culture Updated on 2024-02-25

Today, I saw a netizen asking: "Who is the ancestor of King Xu?" As the last king of the Shang Dynasty, all the kings of the Shang Dynasty were his ancestors.

In detail, the original ancestor of the Shang Dynasty can be traced back to a bird, which is the story described in the Book of Songs, Shang Song, and Xuanniao, "Heavenly Destiny Xuanniao, descending to give birth to Shang", that is, Shang's ancestral deed was born from a divine bird named "Xuanniao". Since "Xuan" means black in ancient texts, it is generally believed that Xuanniao means a black swallow.

The legend goes like this:

On the shore of the ancient Yellow River, when the sun was shining and the sky was blue, a "Xuanniao" sang and flew from the sky. The bird is considered to be a messenger of heaven and is worshipped by the primitive tribesmen. A woman named Jian Di, after devouring the eggs laid by the Xuanniao, became pregnant and gave birth to a son, which is the deed. Qi, also known as Yan Bo, is the legendary ancestor of Shang.

Of course, this can only be seen as a myth and legend. Without a sacred bird, it would be impossible for humans to get pregnant after eating a bird's egg. But the ancestors of the Shang Dynasty can be traced back to Jian Di and her son Qi. After the deed, it went through many generations, and the Shang Dynasty was established by the time of Chengtang. In addition, the more famous monarchs of the Shang Dynasty also moved the capital to Pangeng, Anyang, Henan, and expanded the territory of Wu Ding, in addition to Zu Yi, Zu Xin, Wo Jia, Zu Ding and other monarchs are also more famous monarchs.

These people are the ancestors of the King of Zhou. - Of course, swallows don't count.

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