Ancient China · Royal Family Member and Statesman

Duke of Zhou 周公

Zhou Gong

Attested BC 1042 - BC 1036

Passages: 1
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

Duke of Zhou was a Royal Family Member and Statesman.

Life and dates

Attested activity

BC 1042 to BC 1036 周、孔之才
Strongly inferred · Old Book of Tang 112, passage 214

Places and affiliations

Polity Western Zhou 西周 · Relation Served
Strongly inferred · Old Book of Tang 112, passage 214

Assessments and attributes

Assessment invoked as exemplar of talent insufficient to rescue a doomed polity · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 112, passage 214

References in the histories

Old Book of Tang, Chapter 112Volume 108 Biographies 58: Wei Jiansu, Cui Yuan, Cui Huan, Du Hongjian · 1 passage

蓋禍胎已成，政柄久紊，見素入相余年，言不從而難作，雖有周、孔之才，其能匡救者乎？ The seeds of disaster were already sown and government had long been corrupt. Jiansu served as chief minister for more than a year, but his counsel went unheeded and catastrophe followed. Even a man with the talents of the Duke of Zhou or Confucius could not have saved the dynasty.