King Kang of Zhou (周康王)

Overview

King Kang of Zhou was an Early Western Zhou king and successor to King Cheng.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal name	King Kang Zhao	康王釗	Kang Wang Zhao

Life and dates

Attested activity

legendary antiquity
Directly stated · Book of Han 6, passage 191; Records of the Grand Historian 99, passage 21
BC 1020 to BC 996 BC 1020-996
Strongly inferred · Book of Later Han 32, passage 100
BC 1020 to BC 996 康王
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 13, passage 117
c. BC 1020 康王
Directly stated · History of Ming 115, passage 24
BC 1020 to BC 996 成、康之道
Strongly inferred · Book of Han 89, passage 40
BC 1005 to BC 978 成康
Directly stated · Book of Han 25, passage 304

Family

Kin of King Cheng (成王)
Cheng and Kang 成康
Strongly inferred · Records of the Grand Historian 99, passage 21

Key source chapters

Places and affiliations

Zhou 周
Relation Ruled
Strongly inferred · Book of Han 25, passage 304
Polity Zhou 周 · Relation Ruled
Directly stated · Book of Han 6, passage 191; Records of the Grand Historian 13, passage 117

Events and relationships

punishments set aside in Cheng-Kang era 成康刑錯
Legal · Ruler · Set aside punishments
Directly stated · Book of Han 25, passage 304

Assessments and attributes

praised in the edict as supremely enlightened 詔中稱為至明
AD 955 · Mode narrator
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 115, passage 14

Source notes

Historicity legendary
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 99, passage 15
For more than forty years punishments were laid aside 刑錯四十餘年
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 13, passage 117

References in the histories

Search passages

History

10 passages

Book of Han, Chapter 6Volume 5: Annals of Emperor Jing · 1 passage

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周云成康，漢言文景，美矣！ Zhou is praised for Cheng and Kang, Han for Wen and Jing—what excellence!

Book of Han, Chapter 25Volume 23: Treatise on Punishment and Law · 1 passage

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成康刑錯，雖未可致，孝文斷獄，庶幾可及。 We may not reach the ideal era of Cheng and Kang, when punishment was scarcely needed, but we can still aspire to the humane judicial standard associated with Emperor Wen.

Book of Han, Chapter 74Volume 64a: Yan, Zhu, Wuqiu, Zhufu, Xu, Yan, Zhong, Wang, and Jia 1 · 2 passages

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名何必夏、子，俗何必成、康！ You need not yet rival Yu and Tang in fame, nor Cheng and Kang in the purity of your age.

雖然，臣竊以陛下天然之質，寬仁之資，而誠以天下為務，則不難侔，而成、康之俗未必不復興也。 Yet given your natural breadth of mind, if you make the people's peace your daily work, you may yet rival the sage founders, and the age of Cheng and Kang may rise again.

Book of Han, Chapter 89Volume 78: Xiao Wangzhi · 1 passage

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若此不怠，成、康之道其庶幾乎！ Persevere in this, and the age of Kings Cheng and Kang is not beyond reach.

Book of Later Han, Chapter 32Volume 28b: Biography of Feng Yan · 1 passage

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頌成、康之載德兮，詠《南風》之歌聲。 I hymn Cheng and Kang's virtue and the tune of the 'South Wind.'

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 115Volume 115 Book of Later Zhou 17: Shizong Annals 2 · 1 passage

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雖堯、舜、禹、湯之上聖，文、武、成康之至明，尚猶思逆耳之言，求苦口之藥，何況後人之不逮哉！ Yao, Shun, Yu, and Tang were supreme sages; Wen, Wu, Cheng, and Kang were supremely enlightened—yet they still welcomed unwelcome counsel and sought bitter medicine for the state. How much more must lesser rulers do so!

History of Ming, Chapter 115Volume 115 Biographies 3: Emperor Xingzong Xiaokang, Emperor Ruizong Xingxian · 1 passage

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昔周公教成王克詰戎兵，召公教康王張惶六師，此居安慮危，不忘武備。 The Duke of Zhou taught King Cheng to master arms; the Duke of Shao taught King Kang to keep the six hosts on alert—security that still remembers war.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 13Genealogical Tables of the Three Dynasties · 1 passage

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康王釗，刑錯四十餘年。 King Kang (Zhao): for more than forty years punishments were laid aside.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 99Biographies of Liu Jing and Shusun Tong · 1 passage

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今陛下起豐沛，收卒三千人，以之徑往而卷蜀漢，定三秦，與項羽戰滎陽，爭成皋之口，大戰七十，小戰四十，使天下之民肝腦涂地，父子暴骨中野，不可勝數，哭泣之聲未絕，傷痍者未起，而欲比隆於成康之時，臣竊以為不侔也。 Now Your Majesty arose from Feng and Pei, gathered three thousand soldiers, and with them swept through Shu and Han, pacified the Three Qins, battled Xiang Yu at Xingyang, and fought for the pass at Chenggao. In seventy great battles and forty small battles, the people of the realm had their livers and brains smeared on the ground, and fathers and sons exposed their bones in the fields beyond counting. The sound of weeping has not ceased, the wounded have not yet risen, and yet you wish to compare your flourishing age with the time of Cheng and Kang. I privately think they are not equal.