Biography

By the time of King Zhao's coronation, his father King Kang and grandfather King Cheng had conquered and colonized the Central Plains of China, forcing most of the northern and eastern tribal peoples into vassalage. Only the Dongyi of eastern Shandong continued their resistance, but they were no longer a threat to Zhou rule. As result, King Zhao inherited a prospering kingdom, and could afford to build a new ancestral temple for his father. This temple, known as 「Kang gong」, was built in line with ritual reforms of the time and would grow into 「one of the two central temples of dynastic worship」, the other being the much older 「jinggong」 temple.

With the north and east pacified and a large military force under his control, King Zhao turned his attention to the Yangtze basin. This region of great mineral wealth was under the control of the confederation of Chu, with whom the Zhou kingdom had been on good terms for almost two centuries. Under King Zhao, the relationship between Zhou and Chu deteriorated, however, as Chu continued its aggressive expansion and Zhou's demand for gold, copper and tin grew. As hostilities grew, border clashes ensued that eventually escalated into open war. No longer tolerating Chu's perceived defiance, Zhao invaded the Chu confederation in 961 BC. He initially conquered the region to the north of the Yangtze, and then defeated and subdued the 26 states of the Han River valley, including Chu. Most likely unable to permanently occupy the latter region, Zhao eventually retreated with much loot.

In 957 BC, Zhao launched another major military campaign into the middle Yangtze region. Employing half of the royal forces, organized into the "Six Armies of the West", he probably aimed to permanently bring the Yangtze basin under his control. This campaign, however, ended in disaster as the Zhou forces were defeated and almost entirely wiped out. King Zhao and his remaining troops allegedly drowned while retreating across the Han River.

Legacy

Zhao's death and defeat greatly damaged the Zhou dynasty's reputation and ended its early expansion, resulting in several foreign invasions of the kingdom. His successor and son King Mu of Zhou was able to restabilise the kingdom, but the Yangtze basin became the permanent southern limit of Western Zhou's direct control. Despite his 「humiliating end」, however, King Zhao was still commemorated for his southern campaigns during the Western Zhou dynasty, as he had at least established political dominance over the region to the north of the Yangtze and east of the Han River. After his death, he was also given a sacrificial site at the 「Kang gong」 temple he had himself built. As the first Zhou ruler to be enshrined this way, he eventually became a key figure for ancestor veneration of the middle Zhou dynasty. One major reason for the initially positive appraisal of his reign was possibly that later Zhou rulers did not want their ancestor being remembered for a defeat that cast shame upon the dynasty.

Later moralistic renditions of King Zhao's life were much more unfavorable, as they portrayed him as a ruler who loved pleasure and disregarded politics, dying on a hunting trip to the south. Later Chu poets also wrote about King Zhao in the Classical Chinese poetry collection "Heavenly Questions", mocking him for his perceived arrogance. An especially bizarre incident relating to King Zhao happened in the seventh century BC: When a coalition of Zhou states attacked the state of Chu, the latter sent a delegation to ask what reasons they could have for invading. The northern lords gave the feeble pretext that 「King Zhao had failed to return from his southward expedition (which took place some three centuries earlier) and they had 『come to investigate』."

Family

Queens:

• Queen Fang, of the Qi clan (房後 祁姓), the mother of Crown Prince Man

Sons:

• Crown Prince Man (太子滿; 992–922 BC), ruled as King Mu of Zhou from 976 to 922 BC

Ancestry

簡介

《竹書紀年》載周昭王三次南征，第一次「伐荊楚，涉沙，遇大兕」，第二次攻荊楚之戰「昭王十九年，天大曀，雉兔皆震，喪六師於漢」，第三次則「昭王南征而不複」。昭王十九年，他南巡荊楚不返，死於漢水之中。死因史書隱諱不言，傳說為所坐船為膠船，行至水中膠解，溺死。衛兵辛游靡長臂且多力，於水中取得昭王遺體，返回鎬京。

夏商周斷代工程研究者據現代日食計算理論推得，「天大曀」可能是發生于公元前978年12月17日的日食，並把昭王在位時間定為前995年至前977年。

陵墓

相傳周昭王的陵墓在河南省登封市。