Foundation
Zheng was founded in 806 BC when King Xuan of Zhou, the penultimate king of the Western Zhou, made his younger brother Prince You (王子友) Duke of Zheng and granted him lands within the royal domain at the eponymous Zheng in modern day Hua County, Shaanxi on the Wei River east of Xi'an. Prince You, known posthumously as Duke Huan of Zheng (鄭桓公), established what would be the last bastion of Western Zhou going on to serve as Minister over the Masses (司徒) under King You of Zhou. When the Quanrong tribes sacked the Zhou capital Haojing in 771 BC, Duke Huan was killed along with his nephew King You of Zhou.
Duke Huan was succeeded by his son Duke Wu (鄭武公). Along with Marquis Wen of Jin, Duke Wu supported King Ping of Zhou against a rival, thereby helping to establish the Eastern Zhou. He reestablished the state of Zheng in modern day Xinzheng (meaning New Zheng), Henan, and annexed the states of Eastern Guo and Kuai. The Zheng rulers served as high ministers of the Zhou kings for several generations.
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Famous quotes containing the word foundation:
“A face is too slight a foundation for happiness.”
—Mary Wortley, Lady Montagu (1689–1762)
“In strict science, all persons underlie the same condition of an infinite remoteness. Shall we fear to cool our love by mining for the metaphysical foundation of this elysian temple? Shall I not be as real as the things I see? If I am, I shall not fear to know them for what they are.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“If all political power be derived only from Adam, and be to descend only to his successive heirs, by the ordinance of God and divine institution, this is a right antecedent and paramount to all government; and therefore the positive laws of men cannot determine that, which is itself the foundation of all law and government, and is to receive its rule only from the law of God and nature.”
—John Locke (1632–1704)