Zhong Hui 仲虺
Zhong Hui 仲虺, also called Zhong Lei 中{田田/一/田田} (according to some sources, his courtesy name was Zhong 仲, his personal name Hui 虺), was a high minister of Tang the Perfect 成湯, founder of the Shang dynasty 商 (17th-11th cent. BCE). He was a descendant of Chezheng Xi Zhong 车正奚仲 (or Lai Zhu 莱朱) who lived during the Xia period 夏 (17th-15th cent. BCE). He first lived in Xue 薛 (modern Tengxian 滕县, Shangong) and later moved to Dajiong 大坰. Zhong Hui was left counselor-in-chief (zuoxiang 左相), while Yi Yin 伊尹 was the right counselor in chief (youxiang 右相). When he became a servant of Tang the Perfect, he made a famous announcement (Zhong Hui zhi gao 仲虺之誥), in which he stressed his support for Tang in the conquest of the Xia. Unfortunately the original text of his announcement, that was a chapter of the Confucian Classics Shangshu 尚書 "Book of Documents", is lost, was was replaced later by a reconstrution in the so-called old text Shangshu 古文尚書.
Sources:
- Xiong Tieji 熊鐵基, Yang Youli 楊有禮 (ed. 1994). Zhongguo diwang zaixiang cidian 中國帝王宰相辭典, p. 365. Wuhan: Hubei jiaoyu chubanshe.
