Gods Supplemental 003: Jiang Ziya
A quick look at Jiang Ziya the historical figure vs. Jiang Ziya the fictional character.
Transcript
Welcome to the Chinese Lore Podcast, where I retell classic Chinese stories in English. This is supplemental episode 3 for Investiture of the Gods.
In this episode, I’m going to take a look at the historical figure of Jiang Ziya in comparison with the fictional portrayal of him in the novel.
I will preface this episode by saying that the life of Jiang Ziya has become the stuff of such legends that it’s kind of hard to distinguish what’s fact and what’s fiction. But the basic outline of his career goes something like this: He was born poor, had accomplished little by the time he reached old age, entered the service of the Zhou kingdom at an age when most people would be in their dotage, played a key role in the Zhou’s overthrow of the Shang, and then went on to serve four generations of Zhou kings.
So let’s start at the beginning. Jiang Ziya was born in a state called Lü (3), so his real last name was Lü, and his actual name was Lü Wang (4). But you would also find him called Lü Shang (4) and a number of other names.
Anyway, as I mentioned, Jiang Ziya was born into poverty and he spent the first half of his life sucking at one trade or another. For instance, he was, at various points, a food vendor, a butcher, a house servant, and he was apparently no good at any of those jobs. One legend even had it that he was married but was kicked out of the house by his wife for not being able to make a living. And we see a version of this in the novel.
Other historical records slash legends had it, however, that he was actually quite learned and once served in the Shang court for something like 20 years. And we also saw a version of this in the novel. With King Zhou being a tyrant, however, Jiang Ziya left the Shang and began bouncing among the various vassal states, looking for a new master but not having any luck. But then, he landed in the West, in the kingdom of Zhou.
And of course, here we also have multiple versions of how he actually ended up in the service of the Zhou court. The most common version is that Jiang Ziya was fishing by a stream when Ji Chang, the Grand Duke of the West and virtuous ruler of the Zhou kingdom, came upon him, had a nice conversation, and was so impressed that he recruited Jiang Ziya into his service.
A second version, however, said that Ji Chang was actually serving his house arrest near the Shang capital at the time, and that it was two of his officials who had heard that Jiang Ziya was in their neck of the woods. They knew of his reputation and went to recruit him. Upon hearing their intent, Jiang Ziya supposedly said, “I’ve heard that the Grand Duke of the West is virtuous and takes care of the elderly, so why not go with you?” And then he and those two officials devised the scheme to purchase their lord’s freedom.
However it happened, once Ji Chang was back in his home kingdom and Jiang Ziya was in his service, they started planning the overthrow of the Shang. It was during Jiang Ziya’s tenure that Ji Chang started to really expand his domain and elevate his prestige. And after Ji Chang died, Jiang Ziya continued to serve his heir, Ji Fa, and was his key advisor during the campaigns that resulted in the destruction of the Shang and the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty.
For his great service in that cause, Jiang Ziya was granted his own fiefdom in the East, in part to ensure stability in that region. That fiefdom would be the foundation of the future feudal state of Qi (2), which would be a dominant player throughout the periods of division and strife in the final centuries of the Zhou Dynasty and the ensuing Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.
But when Jiang Ziya was given the fiefdom, it was a bit of a fixer-upper. There were a fair amount of unrest in the region, even after he had established the kingdom of Qi. So Jiang Ziya had a chat with the local official who was the key instigator of the unrest. This guy was claiming that he wanted to govern on the principles of compassion and honor. So Jiang Ziya first engaged the guy in a debate of political philosophy, and when that didn’t work, Jiang Ziya had him arrested and executed. And voila, problem solved. When he wrote to the capital to let the top minister there know that his state’s affairs were now settled, the minister asked him how he did it so quickly. Jiang Ziya replied, “I just simplified the locals’ rituals between lord and vassal; I didn’t try to change their customs or habits.” Oh, that and I killed the head troublemaker.
While he had his own fiefdom, Jiang Ziya actually spent most of his career with the Zhou in the capital, playing a key role in the government. The Martial King Ji Fa died just three years after he established the new dynasty, and Jiang Ziya was instrumental in supporting the two subsequent Zhou kings, helping to pacify two significant internal rebellions. It was only after he put down the second of those rebellions that he finally returned to his own state at extreme old age — supposedly more than 100 years old. It’s said that he died around 1015 BCE, around the age of either 103 or 113.
And honestly, that’s about as much historical information as we have on such a towering figure in the annals of Chinese history, but I guess that’s what happens when you lived three millennia ago. In any case, I hope you enjoyed this brief excursion into the life of the historical Jiang Ziya, and I’ll see you next time on the Chinese Lore Podcast. Thanks for listening!
Music in This Episode
- “Sao Meo” by Doug Maxwell / Zac Zinger