Prince Bigan (), surname "Zi" (子),
History
Prince Bigan was the prime minister of the Kingdom of Shang during the late Shang dynasty, and a member of the Shang royal family. His
surname was "Zi" (子). He was the son of King Wen Ding and served his nephew, King Zhou. Zhou, the last king of the Shang dynasty, has been traditionally regarded as notoriously cruel, immoral, and wasteful. According to the account recorded by
Sima Qian in his
Records of the Grand Historian, King Zhou's minister Prince Weizi admonished him to reform his ways several times, but his admonitions fell on deaf ears. Prince Weizi then decided to withdraw from the court, but Prince Bigan argued that to serve as minister meant doing what was right even if it meant death. Prince Bigan continued to strongly criticise his ruler's conduct, and an enraged King Zhou ordered his execution, proclaiming that he wanted to see if it was true that a sage's heart had seven apertures.
David Schaberg has argued that the tendency for later politicians to adopt an indirect style of critique when disagreeing with their rulers was influenced by the gruesome fate of figures like Prince Bigan.
Reputation
In the
Analects, Prince Bigan was honored by
Confucius as one of "the three sages" of the Shang dynasty, together with Prince Weizi and Prince
Jizi.
Prince Bigan later became an exemplar of the loyal advisor willing to lose his life for giving truthful advice. When the Spring and Autumn-era general and politician of Wu,
Wu Zixu, was ordered to commit suicide, his last words were, "After my death, later generations will definitely think that I was loyal. They will indeed match me up to the
Xia dynasty and Yin eras, making me a companion of Longfeng and Bigan”.
When Hu Yuan, who served King Min of Qi, was about to be executed, he referenced both Prince Bigan and Wu Zixu: "Yin had its Bigan, Wu had its Zixu, and Qi has its Hu Yuan. not only didn't make use of apt words, it also executed their speaker at its eastern gate. By being executed, I will form a triad with those two masters."
The historian ranked Prince Bigan alongside Guan Longfeng,
Qu Yuan,
Zhuge Liang, and
Wei Zheng as one of the great frank and courageous patriots of Chinese history.
God of Wealth
Later accounts of the life of Prince Bigan added details, including that his execution came at request of King Zhou's notorious concubine
Daji, because she objected that Prince Bigan had remonstrated with King Zhou for wasting money meant for the common good. These depictions were an influence on Prince Bigan's later deification as a
Caishen, or God of Wealth.
A notable example of this version of Prince Bigan's story can be seen in the famous
Ming dynasty novel
The Investiture of the Gods. In the end,
Jiang Ziya appointed him as
Wenquxing (文曲星, 'Star of Literature').
Notes
