King Hui of Wei
| King Hui of Wei 魏惠王 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||
| King of Wei | |||||||||
| Reign | 344–319 BC | ||||||||
| Predecessor | New title | ||||||||
| Successor | King Xiang | ||||||||
| Marquess of Wei | |||||||||
| Reign | 369–344 BC | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Marquess Wu | ||||||||
| Successor | Crowned as king | ||||||||
| Born | 400 BCE | ||||||||
| Died | 319 BCE | ||||||||
| Issue | Crown Prince Shen King Xiang of Wei Prince He | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| House | Ji | ||||||||
| Dynasty | Wei | ||||||||
| Father | Marquess Wu of Wei | ||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Chinese | 魏惠王 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
King Hui of Wei (Chinese: 魏惠王; 400–319 BC), also known as King Hui of Liang (Chinese: 梁惠王),[1] personal name Wei Ying, was a monarch of the Wei state, reigning from 369 BC to 319 BC.[1] He initially ruled as marquess, but later elevated himself to kingship in 344 BC. He was a grandson of Marquess Wen, the founder of the state, and a son of his predecessor, Marquess Wu. He was succeeded by his son, King Xiang.[1]
He came to the throne after a war of succession during which Wei was nearly partitioned by the Zhao and Han states.
He is notable for four policies:[2]
- In 361 BC, he moved the capital from Anyi to Daliang to get it out of the reach of the Qin state. Anyi was on the plateau south of the Fen River not far from where the Fen River and Wei River join the Yellow River. Daliang was to the far southeast of Wei near the border with the Song state. Thereafter, the Wei state was briefly called Liang.
- In 362–359 BC, he made exchanges of territory with Zhao to the north and Han to the south. This gave Wei more rational borders, secured the new capital and gave Wei more control over trade routes.
- In 361–355 BC, he held several face-to-face meetings with the rulers of the neighboring states.
- In 344 BC, he promoted the Wei state from a march to a kingdom.
During the time in which Wei was called Liang, King Hui also conducted several dialogues with the renowned Confucian scholar Mencius. At first, Mencius notably speaks out against King Hui's use of the word "profit," which, according to Sima Qian, was in the presence of Zou Yan and Chunyu Kun, and after several defeats.[3] Mencius later contends with the State of Liang's centralisation of food and wealth, causing widespread famine whilst losing territory to Qi, Qin, and Chu. There is additionally a dialogue regarding why common people take pleasure in watching animals. In the second chapter, Mencius regarded King Hui as "the opposite of benevolent," given his penchant for profit-seeking and warmongering, even sending his own son to losing battles.[4]
It is written in Fengsu Tongyi by Ying Shao that King Hui of Liang appointed Mencius as a high official at some point.[5]
King Hui of Wei, and his minister, Hui Shi, appear frequently in Zhuangzi. Among these is within the parable Nourishing the Lord of Life, where he bears witness to the Butcher Ding's use of Wu Wei to effortlessly cut an ox with a 19-year old knife. Hui asks Ding of how he managed to achieve such skill, but is met with the reply that as one's skill approaches the Dao, it goes beyond mere "skill".[6] Sima Qian adds context to this passage, stating that King Hui was a contemporary of Zhuang Zhou himself.[7]
Chinese Wikisource has original text related to this article:庖丁為文惠君解牛，手之所觸，肩之所倚，足之所履，膝之所踦，砉然向然，奏刀騞然，莫不中音。合於《桑林》之舞，乃中《經首》之會。文惠君曰：「嘻！善哉！技蓋至此乎？」庖丁釋刀對曰：「臣之所好者道也，進乎技矣。始臣之解牛之時，所見無非牛者。三年之後，未嚐見全牛也。方今之時，臣以神遇神。 ，不以目視，官知止而神欲行。解數千牛矣，而刀刃若新發於硎。 ，怵然為戒，視為止，行為遲。
English Wikisource has original text related to this article:His cook was cutting up an ox for the ruler Wen Hui. Whenever he applied his hand, leaned forward with his shoulder, planted his foot, and employed the pressure of his knee, in the audible ripping off of the skin, and slicing operation of the knife, the sounds were all in regular cadence. Movements and sounds proceeded as in the dance of 'the Mulberry Forest' and the blended notes of the King Shou.' The ruler said, 'Ah! Admirable! That your art should have become so perfect!' (Having finished his operation), the cook laid down his knife, and replied to the remark, 'What your servant loves is the method of the Dao, something in advance of any art. When I first began to cut up an ox, I saw nothing but the (entire) carcase. After three years I ceased to see it as a whole. Now I deal with it in a spirit-like manner, and do not look at it with my eyes. The use of my senses is discarded, and my spirit acts as it wills. Observing the natural lines, (my knife) slips through the great crevices and slides through the great cavities, taking advantage of the facilities thus presented. My art avoids the membranous ligatures, and much more the great bones. A good cook changes his knife every year; (it may have been injured) in cutting - an ordinary cook changes his every month - (it may have been) broken. Now my knife has been in use for nineteen years; it has cut up several thousand oxen, and yet its edge is as sharp as if it had newly come from the whetstone. There are the interstices of the joints, and the edge of the knife has no (appreciable) thickness; when that which is so thin enters where the interstice is, how easily it moves along! The blade has more than room enough. Nevertheless, whenever I come to a complicated joint, and see that there will be some difficulty, I proceed anxiously and with caution, not allowing my eyes to wander from the place, and moving my hand slowly. Then by a very slight movement of the knife, the part is quickly separated, and drops like (a clod of) earth to the ground. Then standing up with the knife in my hand, I look all round, and in a leisurely manner, with an air of satisfaction, wipe it clean, and put it in its sheath.' The ruler Wen Hui said, 'Excellent! I have heard the words of my cook, and learned from them the nourishment of (our) life.' -- James Legge translation, 1891.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Shaughnessy 1999, p. 21.
- ^ Lewis 1999, pp. 618–619.
- ^ Sima, Qian. "魏世家". In Sturgeon, Donald (ed.). 史記 [Records of the Grand Historian] (in Literary Chinese) (Digitised ed.). China: Chinese Text Project. Archived from the original on 14 July 2025. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
惠王數被於軍旅，卑禮厚幣以招賢者。鄒衍、淳於髡、孟軒皆至梁。梁惠王曰：「寡人不佞，兵三折於外，太子虜，上將死，國以空虛，以羞先君宗廟社稷，寡人甚醜之，叟不遠千里，辱幸至獘邑之廷，將何利吾邑之廷國？ 」孟軒曰：「君不可以言利若是。
- ^ Meng, K. (Legge, J. & Shi, Y.H. Transl.). 2016. 孟子 [The Works of Mencius]. 中州古籍出版社 [Zhongzhou Ancient Books Publishing House]. ISBN: 978-7-5348-6421-6.
- ^ Ying, Shao. "孟轲". In Sturgeon, Donald (ed.). 風俗通義 [Fengsu Tongyi] (in Literary Chinese) (Digitised ed.). China: Chinese Text Project. Archived from the original on 14 October 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
又絕糧於鄒、薛，困殆甚，退與萬章之徒序《詩》、《書》、仲尼之意，作書中、外十一篇，以為："聖王不作，諸侯恣行，處士橫議，楊朱、墨翟之言盈於天下。天下之言不歸楊，則歸墨。楊氏為我，是無君也；墨氏兼愛，是無父也。無父無君，是禽獸也。楊、墨之道不息，孔子之道不著，是邪說誣民，充塞仁義也。仁義充塞，則率獸食人，人將相食也。吾為此懼，閑先王之道，距楊、墨，放淫辭，正人心，熄邪說，以承三聖者。予豈好辯哉？予不得已也。"梁惠王復聘請之，以為上卿。
- ^ a b Zhuang, Z. (2016). 庄子 [The Chuang Tzu] (J. Legge, J. Liu, & Y. Wang, Trans.; 1st ed.). 中州古籍出版社 [Zhongzhou Ancient Books Publishing House].
- ^ Sima, Qian. "老子韓非列傳". In Sturgeon, Donald (ed.). 史記 [Records of the Grand Historian] (in Literary Chinese) (Digitised ed.). China: Chinese Text Project. Archived from the original on 14 July 2025. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
莊子者，蒙人也，名週。週嘗為蒙漆園吏，與梁惠王、齊宣王同時。其學無所不闚，然其要本歸於老子之言。故其著書十馀萬言，大抵率寓言也。作漁父、盜蹠、胠篋，以詆訿孔子之徒，以明老子之術。畏累虛、亢桑子之屬，皆空語無事實。然善屬書離辭，指事類情，用剽剝儒、墨，雖當世宿學不能自解免也。其言洸洋自恣以適己，故自王公大人不能器之。
Bibliography
[edit]- Lewis, Mark Edward (1999). "Calendar and Chronology". In Loewe, Michael; Shaughnessy, Edward L. (eds.). The Cambridge history of ancient China : from the origins of civilization to 221 B.C.. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 587–651. ISBN 0-521-47030-7. OCLC 37361770.
- Shaughnessy, Edward L. (1999). "Calendar and Chronology". In Loewe, Michael; Shaughnessy, Edward L. (eds.). The Cambridge history of ancient China : from the origins of civilization to 221 B.C.. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 19–30. ISBN 0-521-47030-7. OCLC 37361770.