King Zhou of Shang, named Xin, was so extremely debauched and cruel that people refused to speak his name, calling him "Zhou of Shang" instead—"Zhou" meaning ruthless and unjust.
King Zhou of Shang indulged in boundless extravagance and pleasure. He built numerous palaces and gardens on a massive scale—for instance, the Deer Terrace in the capital measured "three li wide and a thousand chi high." He gathered treasures, rare dogs, fine horses, exotic birds, and strange beasts from across the realm to fill his parks, spending his days immersed in feasting and debauchery. To supply drink for his revelers, he dug a wine pool at his "Sand Dune" garden, large enough for boats, filled with fine liquor, while the leftover lees piled up like a small hill stretching seven li. He also ordered countless strips of meat hung up, looking from afar like a forest, dubbed the "Meat Forest." Thousands of young men and women attended the king day and night, serving his wild pleasures.
To fund his extravagant and decadent lifestyle, King Zhou of Shang endlessly raised taxes, using a massive granary called the "Jùqiáo" to store grain. He suppressed dissent with brutal punishments, one of which was "Páoluò": heating a greased bronze pillar over charcoal fire and forcing people to walk barefoot on it; unable to bear the scorching heat, they would fall into the flames and burn to death, while King Zhou and his favorite concubine laughed heartily at the spectacle.
King Zhou of Shang's tyrannical rule cost him the people's support
Later, the idiom "Forest of Meat and Pool of Wine" came to describe a life of extreme luxury and extravagance.
Source: *Records of the Grand Historian*, "Basic Annals of Yin"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "酒池肉林" came to describe a life of extreme luxury and extravagance.