A Study of the Date of Writing A Green Housefly by Wei Wu Gong──The 5th Study of the Date of Writing Some Poems in The Book of Songs of the "Two Kings Side by Side" Period of the Zhou Dynasty

A Green Houselyf is a poem written by Wei Wu Gong, with Q view of satirizing king You of Zhou on hisinjdring able ond virtuous officials and pndsfung loyal, honest and competent ones on the ground of all sorts of calumnies.The poem describes king You's disostrous position at Mt. Li and the dying Westem Zhou Dynasty on the brink of completecollapse. It also gives on account of the whole-hearted dedication of on old right-hand minister to King Ping of Zhou,Yijiu alluding to this importont official's enthusioshc expetation that king Ping of Zhou would make the bot use ofhistorical lessons so os to bring dsut a resopnce af the Zhou Dynasty. From the above analysis, therefore, it might beconcluded that the poem must have ben written at the time when Wei Wu Gong led the military forces in rushing to theZhou Dynusty's rescue, or at the beginning of the two kings by side period, that is, approximately th first yearof the reign of Kjng Ping of Zhou.