Is “Carried the ritual vessels to Zhou and was enfeoffed at Song” true?
The Records of the Grand Historian, in the Hereditary House of Weizi, records that Weizi, seeing that Shang was about to fall, took the sacrificial vessels and went to the camp of King Wu; after the Duke of Zhou quelled the rebellion, he enfeoffed Weizi in Song to continue the ancestral sacrifices of the Shang dynasty. (Original text: 「周武王伐纣克殷，微子乃持其祭器造于军门，肉袒面缚，左牵羊，右把茅，膝行而歬以告。于是武王乃释微子，复其位如故。」, source: data/raw/shiji/宋微子世家.txt)
In official history, he is a virtuous member of the Shang royal house and the founding ruler of the state of Song, while in the novel he is portrayed as a representative of internal opposition to King Zhou.
Other claims about Weizi
This page was extracted from classical texts with AI assistance and revised; errors remain possible. Spotted a mistake? Tell us →