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17th and last Xia dynasty king

King Jie (; traditionally 1728–1675 BC) was the 17th and last ruler of the Xia dynasty of China. He is traditionally regarded as a tyrant and oppressor who brought about the collapse of a dynasty. Around 1600 BC, Jie was defeated by Tang of Shang, bringing an end to the Xia dynasty that lasted about 500 years, and a rise to the new Shang dynasty.

Jié 桀 (variant: 傑) (< Old Chinese: grad) (ZS) means "outstanding" and later "hero"; with regards to Chinese, it is cognate to qiè 朅 (< OC kʰrad) (ZS) "martial"; with regards to languages other than Chinese, it is cognate to either "strength; champion, athlete", or Mizo: hrât "brave, resolute". The rime dictionary Guangyun later associates this Xia king's name (or epithet) Jié 桀 with 磔 zhé "to dismember, to cut asunder". Kangxi dictionary states that 磔 (zhé) is synonymous with 疈辜 pìgū "to cut asunder and open up", in Rites of Zhou; and that "the ancients asserted that the fierce and devious (桀黠 jiéxiá) ones are brutal and violent (凶暴 xiōngbào), as if they were cutting [things] asunder (磔 zhé)." Historian Pei Yin (裴骃) cites Rules for Posthumous Names (謚法/諡法 Shìfǎ) (attributed to the Duke of Zhou), that Jié 桀 was meant for those who harmed and killed numerous people.

Jie is generally known as Xia Jie (夏桀) or Jie of Xia. His given name was Lü Gui (履癸). Jie ascended to the throne in the year of Renchen (壬辰). Initially, his capital was in Zhenxun. He lived there for three years and constructed his tilt palace. In the sixth year of Jie's regime, he entertained envoys from vassals and neighbors. He received an envoy from the Qizhong barbarian people (歧踵戎). In the 11th year, he summoned all his vassals to his court. The Youmin Kingdom (有緡) did not come, so Jie attacked and conquered it. About that time, he began using the Nian (輦), or sedan chair, on which he was carried by servants. Among other things, she liked to drink, enjoyed music, and also had a penchant for jugglers and sing song girls. Apparently, she had Jie order a lake of wine made. She then commanded 3,000 men to drink the lake dry, only to laugh when they all drowned.

A great deal of effort was spent on Jie's cuisine and his requirements. Vegetables had to come from the northwest, fish had to be from the East Sea, seasonings and sauces had to come from ginger that grew in the south, sea salt had to come from the north. Tang of Shang recognized that Jie mistreated the people and used this as a way to convince other supporters. In one speech Tang of Shang said that creating chaos is not something he wanted, but given the terror of Jie, he has to follow the Mandate of Heaven and use this opportunity to overthrow Xia. Despite this setback, Shang continued to expand on a number of fronts, gathering vassal troops in Jingbo (景亳).

In the 32nd year of Jie's reign, Tang of Shang dispatched troops from Er (陑) to simultaneously attack Xia and Kunwu. Kunwu was quickly defeated.