Boyi and Shuqi

Boyi and Shuqi lived during the reign of the last Shang ruler Di Xin, who at this point had become given over to drinking, women, sex, and a disdain for morals. His country was misruled, with high taxes, mass hunger, and arbitrary acts of violence and cruelty. Sima Qian provides lurid details of prolonged orgies of drunken sex and acts of violence and torture, during which he refused to heed the advice of his ministers. At the same time the leader of the Zhou clan, posthumously known as King Wen of Zhou, was preparing to replace the Shang dynasty with the rule of his own clan (the subsequent Zhou dynasty), though at the time they were a vassal state to Shang. In contrast to Shang, the leadership of Zhou was famous for its provision of food and protection for its subjects, in part due to their advances in agricultural techniques.

Fiddlehead ferns, newly picked and washed.

Fiddlehead ferns, prepared dish.

Boyi and Shuqi, together with a third brother Yà Píng (亞憑/亚凭), were the sons of Ya Wei (亞微/亚微), the Ruling Lord of Guzhu State. Traditionally, the succession to the rulership would have gone to the elder son, namely Boyi; but, when Shuqi was preferred to succeed him as ruler, rather than engaging in conflict or disharmonious relationships, together they fled to the Zhou territory; which, at the time was actively encouraging immigration, particularly of skilled and talented persons. The moral sensitivities of Boyi and Shuqi were such that they would not abide by the violence and horror then rampant in Shang territory due to the misrule of emperor Di Xin. At first, the two brothers were welcomed by the Zhou. However, the ruler of the Zhou, Wen, died and his son Wu upon succeeding him, immediately proceeded to marshal his forces and lead them to conquer Shang: the brothers attempted to change the course of history by pulling on the chariot reins of the ruler, Wu, remonstrating with him for his lack of filial piety, both because rather than sufficiently mourning his recently deceased father he was going off to war and also that he was betraying his sacred allegiance to his sovereign lord, Di Xin, the ruler of the Shang. Wu's outraged guards would have killed the brothers, except for the intervention of general Jiang Taigong, who recognized the sincerity of their moral convictions. But, when instead of heeding their protests, the army continued on its way to eventual victory over the Shang, in the extremely violent slaughter known as the Battle of Muye. Boyi and Shuqi made their protest widely known through their refusal to eat the produce of Zhou, (the traditional "Five Grains"). They retired to the wilderness of Shouyang Mountain (in modern Yongji, Shanxi), and lived on fiddlehead ferns, until they were reminded that these plants too now belonged to Zhou, at which point they starved themselves to death. According to a version, which appears in the Heavenly Questions, the brothers were eventually warned not to eat the ferns by a maiden (or other unidentified woman), after which a white deer miraculously appeared, suckling them, nurturing them with her milk, and thus preventing immediate starvation; however, all known versions of the story end with the demise of Boyi and Shuqi, by starvation.

During the Song dynasty, in 1102, Boyi and Shuqi were both posthumously awarded the rank of marquis.

Boyi and Shuqi have been used as artistic references in painting, poetry, and literature, including a surviving painting by Li Tang and references in poems by Du Fu, and others. The Chuci anthology's Qi jian's second piece ("Drowning in the River") references Bo Yi and Shuqi with extravagant praise: in this case, metrical considerations have led to an artificial apparent separation between the brothers, with Boyi in line 29 being described as starving himself on Shouyangshan and in line 30 Shuqi described as having (thus) won eternally-spreading glory.