Da Ding

For other uses, see Dading (disambiguation).

Da Ding (Chinese: 大丁; pinyin: Dà Dīng) or Tai Ding (Chinese: 太丁; pinyin: Tài Dīng) was the eldest son of King Tang, but sources are conflicted as to whether he actually succeeded his father as the second king of the Shang dynasty or not.

Da Ding 大丁
Full name Family name: Zi (子) Given name: unknown Posthumous name Tài Dīng (太丁)
Father	King Tang

Records

In the Records of the Grand Historian he was said by Sima Qian to have died at an early age without succeeding his father King Tang. He was given the posthumous name Tai Ding (Chinese: 太丁) and the throne passed to his younger brother Wai Bing and later to his own son Tai Jia.^[1][2][3]

Inscriptions on oracle bones unearthed at Yinxu record that he was the second Shang king, given the posthumous name Da Ding (Chinese: 大丁), and succeeded by his sons Da Jia (Tai Jia) and Bu Bing (Wai Bing).^[2][3]

Historian Simon Sebag Montefiore in his book The World: A Family History of Humanity, refers to an inscription that refers to Da Ding's death: "Da Jia and Zu Yi, 100 cups of wine, 100 qiang prisoners, 300 head of cattle."^[4]

Notes

1. Bai, Shouyi (2002). An Outline History of China. Beijing: Foreign Language Press. ISBN 7-119-02347-0.
2. "The Shang Dynasty Rulers". China Knowledge. Retrieved August 7, 2007.
3. "Shang Kingship and Shang Kinship" (PDF). Indiana University. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 9, 2008. Retrieved August 7, 2007.
4. Sebag Montefiore, Simon (2023). The world: a family history of humanity. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 70 (Portuguese Edition). ISBN 978-0-525-65953-2.

Da Ding Shang dynasty
Regnal titles
Preceded by Tang	King of China	Succeeded by Da Jia