King Li of Zhou

King Li of Zhou 周厲王
King of China
Reign	877–841 BC
Predecessor	King Yí of Zhou
Successor	Gong He
Died	828 BC
Issue	King Xuan of Zhou
Full name Ancestral name: Jī (姬) Given name: Hú (胡)
House	Zhou Dynasty
Father	King Yí of Zhou

King Li of Zhou (died in 828 BC) (Chinese: 周厲王; pinyin: Zhōu Lì Wáng) was the tenth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty. Estimated dates of his reign are 877–841 BC or 857–842 BC (Cambridge History of Ancient China).^[1]

King Li was a corrupt and decadent king. To pay for his pleasures and vices, King Li raised taxes and caused misery among his subjects. It is said that he barred the commoners from profiting from the communal forests and lakes. He enstated a new law which allowed him to punish anyone, by death, who dared to speak against him. King Li’s bad rule soon forced many peasants and soldiers into revolt, and Li was sent into exile at a place called Zhi near Linfen (842 BC). His son was taken by one of his ministers and hidden.^[2] When Li died in exile in 828 BC, power was passed to his son.^[3]

Sources

1. Feng, Li (2006), Landscape and Power in Early China: The Crisis and Fall of the Western Zhou 1045–771 BC, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-85272-2.
2. Sources of Western Zhou History: Inscribed Bronze Vessels by Edward L. Shaughnessy
3. Sima Qian. Records of the Grand Historian 4.