The Formation and Evolution of the Image of Emperor Wen of Zhou Dynasty

From the historical figure to the typical artistic model created in the book The Legend of Deification,the image of Emperor Wen of Zhou Dynasty went through a long historical evolution.Taking a panoramic view of the process,it is not hard to trace its route of the evolution: Emperor Wen's fullness of the image as the politician being unified,his rebellious qualities against King Chou of the Shang Dynasty gradually reduced,his personal moral cultivation perfected as highlighted in the extreme embodiment in the book of The Legend of Deification.This tendency of evolution was closely related to the cultural context of the time when the book was written,especially to the propagation of ethical doctrine of the Confucian School in the Song and Ming Dynasties as well as the emphases on the strategy of planning of the emperors and the designing of ideal personality of the lords.In addition,it was also closely connected with the political environment of the late Ming Dynasty.