In Chinese history, there were two brothers whose thoughts, words, and actions were so alike that, though not twins, they understood each other better than twins ever could. They were Bo Yi and Shu Qi, two princes of the Guzhu Kingdom during the Shang and Zhou dynasties.
The Guzhu State was located in what is now the eastern Hebei region, making it one of the earliest slave-holding vassal states along the Luan River in eastern Hebei. During the Shang Dynasty, the Guzhu State was a small state situated on the northern frontier. In the early years of the Shang Dynasty, around 1600 BCE, the Shang enfeoffed vassal states of the same surname, and the Guzhu State was one of them.
According to legend, Bo Yi and Shu Qi were the eldest and third sons of the ruler of the Guzhu Kingdom, during the final years of the Shang Dynasty. While the Guzhu ruler was alive, he deeply felt the tyranny of King Zhou of Shang's rule and, given the small size of Guzhu, believed that to preserve the kingdom's integrity, a wise and virtuous monarch was especially needed. Both the eldest son, Bo Yi, and the third son, Shu Qi, possessed such talents and could shoulder this responsibility, but the ruler leaned toward having Shu Qi succeed him. After the Guzhu ruler's death, Shu Qi felt that Bo Yi, as the elder brother, should inherit the throne according to ritual law, and thus wanted to yield the kingship to him. However, Bo Yi declined, saying, "Your inheritance of the throne is our father's dying wish and cannot be arbitrarily changed." To allow Shu Qi to ascend the throne with peace of mind, Bo Yi fled the Guzhu Kingdom. Despite this, Shu Qi still refused to become ruler and also fled shortly afterward. Fortunately, the deceased ruler had a second son, and the people elected him as their new king.
The fleeing Bo Yi and Shu Qi met by the shores of the Bohai Sea, and both felt that this was fine—by not becoming rulers, they could avoid being controlled by the cruel King Zhou of Shang. So they decided to live in seclusion there, dwelling among the Dongyi people, waiting for an era of peace and clarity to arrive. Later, they heard that the Zhou tribe in the west had grown strong, that King Wen of Zhou was virtuous and noble, and that under his governance the people of the Western Zhou lived in peace and contentment; they believed this was the place they longed for, ideal for spending their remaining years in comfort. Thus, the two brothers, undeterred by hardship, crossed mountains and rivers to reach the Zhou territory of Mount Qi.
At this time, King Wen of Zhou had already passed away, and King Wu ascended the throne. When King Wu heard that two virtuous talents had arrived, he sent the Duke of Zhou, Ji Dan, to welcome them. The Duke of Zhou promised that they would surely receive treatment commensurate with their abilities. However, the two brothers felt that this was not the benevolent way they had envisioned, and thus they were deeply disappointed about joining the Western Zhou.
Later, King Wu of Zhou led a massive army, carrying the memorial tablet of his father King Wen of Zhou on a chariot, and marched in great force to attack King Zhou of Shang. The two men blocked King Wu's horse and admonished him, saying, "Your father has passed away, yet you do not attend to his funeral but instead raise an army to wage war—this is unfilial. As a subject, you seek to kill your sovereign and usurp the throne—this is unrighteous!" However, the campaign against King Zhou was widely supported and already inevitable—how could the words of two old men stop it? The soldiers beside King Wu wanted to kill Boyi and Shuqi, but the military strategist Jiang Shang stopped them, saying, "These two are righteous men; they must not be killed." He then ordered them to be escorted aside.
In 1046 BCE, King Wu of Zhou's army clashed with the slave forces hastily assembled by King Zhou of Shang at the Battle of Muye. King Zhou was abandoned by his allies, and the slave soldiers, unwilling to fight for him, turned their weapons against him on the battlefield. King Wu's army swept through the Shang forces like autumn wind stripping leaves, destroying the Shang dynasty. After conquering the Shang, King Wu established the Zhou dynasty and became the supreme ruler of all under heaven.
However, Boyi and Shuqi believed that the Zhou dynasty took advantage of the chaos in the Shang court, using schemes and strategies, promoting virtue to win over the people, relying on military force to conquer and kill, and even invoking the names of ghosts and gods to beautify war. Although King Zhou of Shang was cruel, they felt that seizing the world in this way was utterly shameful. Boyi and Shuqi were ashamed to be subjects of the Zhou dynasty and swore never to eat the grain of Zhou again. But although the world was vast, there was no land that was not Zhou's territory, so all grain belonged to Zhou. Thus, the two supported each other and went into seclusion on Mount Shouyang, surviving by gathering wild herbs for food. King Wu of Zhou once sent people to invite them to take office, even offering to let them rule the world, but they refused. Later, while gathering herbs, they met a woman who said, "You uphold your integrity and refuse to eat Zhou's grain, but these wild herbs are also from Zhou's land—why can you eat them?" They thought the woman was right, so they decided to stop eating even the herbs. After seven days like this, they were starving and on the verge of death. Then they sang a song: "Climbing that Mount Shouyang, gathering the ferns here. The Western Zhou uses violence to replace violence, changing the situation, yet unaware this is wrong. The sage emperors Shennong, Yu, and Shun—such golden ages, I fear, will never return. Where is our place to rest? Alas, how lamentable, we leave this world." Soon after, they starved to death on Mount Shouyang.
Bo Yi and Shu Qi's act of yielding the kingdom and starving to death rather than eating Zhou grain was praisedConfuciusGreatly admired.ConfuciusHe referred to Boyi and Shuqi as "worthy men of antiquity," believing that their actions fully embodied the moral standard of "benevolence"; although they ultimately starved to death, they "sought benevolence and attained it," leaving nothing to regret.