King Mu of Zhou- Chinese FigureMortal"Fifth King of Zhou"
Also known as: 周穆王, Mu Wang, and 穆天子
Titles & Epithets
Symbols
Description
Eight divine steeds gallop toward the western horizon, carrying the Zhou king beyond the edge of the known world to Kunlun, where Xiwangmu waits at the Jade Pool with songs of longing no mortal journey can fully answer.
Mythology & Lore
The Westward Journey
The Mù Tiānzǐ Zhuàn (Account of the Son of Heaven Mu), a text recovered from a tomb in Jī commandery in 281 CE, preserves the most detailed account of King Mu's legendary journey to the western reaches of the world. Riding a chariot drawn by his eight divine steeds, each named and distinguished by extraordinary qualities of speed and endurance, King Mu set out from the Zhou capital on a grand progress through the lands beyond the western frontier. The text describes his passage through deserts, mountain ranges, and the territories of peoples unknown to the central states, recording distances, gifts exchanged, and encounters with local rulers.
The climax of the journey was his arrival at Mount Kunlun, the axis mundi of Chinese cosmology. There he met Xiwangmu, the Queen Mother of the West, at the Jade Pool (Yáo Chí). They feasted together, and Xiwangmu sang songs for King Mu, who responded with verses of his own. Their exchange of poems, preserved in the text, carries notes of longing and farewell: Xiwangmu invited him to return, and King Mu promised he would, though the weight of his obligations to his kingdom drew him back east. Whether he ever returned is left unresolved.
The Dream and the Mortal King
The Lie Zi presents a different dimension of King Mu's legend. In the chapter bearing his name, a magician from a western land invites King Mu into a dream journey to celestial palaces of such beauty and pleasure that the real world seems dull by comparison. When King Mu awakens, he is so disoriented that his ministers must remind him that the mortal realm is his responsibility. This episode positions King Mu as a figure caught between the transcendent and the mundane, a king who glimpsed what lies beyond human experience and struggled to return to ordinary governance.
The eight steeds of King Mu became a lasting subject in Chinese art, painted repeatedly across the centuries as symbols of royal ambition and the desire to transcend earthly limits. The names of the steeds varied across sources, but the image of the eight horses galloping toward the western horizon endured as one of the defining images of Chinese legendary kingship.