Is “He created a pond of wine and a forest of meat, and used cruel punishments to oppress his subjects.” true?
based on fact
Later texts such as the 「Han Feizi」 attribute the wine pool and meat forest to Xia Jie, and later the 「Records of the Grand Historian」 shifts it to Di Xin; in official histories, Jie's tyranny mainly involves harming loyal officials and heavy taxation. The original text says: “桀不务德而武伤百姓，百姓弗堪。”（《史记·夏本纪》）
Xia Jie
In official histories, he is the last tyrant of the Xia dynasty, while in novels he often serves as a typical example of a fatuous ruler who lost his kingdom.
Other claims about Xia Jie
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