Lin Xin

Lin Xin 廩辛
Ruler of the Shang Dynasty
Predecessor	Zu Jia
Successor	Geng Ding
Born	c. 11-12th Century BCE
Died	c. 1100 BCE
Names Family name: Zi (子) Temple name Lin Xin (廩辛) or Feng Xin (馮辛)

Lin Xin
Chinese	廩辛
Literal meaning	"Granary VIII"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin lǐn xīn Bopomofo ㄌㄧㄣˇ ㄒㄧㄣ Wade–Giles lin3-hsin1 Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization lam5 sam1 Middle Chinese Middle Chinese limX sin Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) /*p.rimʔ [s]i[n]/ Zhengzhang /*b·rɯmʔ siŋ/
Alternative Chinese name
Chinese	馮辛
Literal meaning	"Surname VIII"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin féng xīn Bopomofo ㄈㄥˊ ㄒㄧㄣ Wade–Giles fêng2-hsin1 Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization fung4 sam1 Middle Chinese Middle Chinese bjuwng sin Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) /*[Cə.b]əŋ [s]i[n]/ Zhengzhang /*bɯŋ siŋ/

Lin Xin (廩辛) was a king of the Shang dynasty of China. He succeeded Zu Jia and was succeeded by Geng Ding. Little is known about him outside of succession records in historical annals, and whether he is mentioned in oracle bone inscriptions is unclear.

Names

The name Lin Xin comes from Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian. In the Bamboo Annals, the name Feng Xin appears and succeeds Zu Jia, the same sequence, and they are thus thought to be the same person. This is reflected in Taiping Yulan, which merges the two into the same chapter.

Reign

Lin ascended the throne in the year of Gengyan (庚寅) in the capital of Yin (殷). He ruled for four years. In the Taiping Yulan, Lin Xin is said to have reigned for six years, citing a passage from Records of the Grand Historian, but said passage is not seen in the received text.

Oracle bone evidence suggests Lin Xin's reign promulgated early forms of education for Shang dynasty religious practitioners, with more than several examples of beginner's handwriting appearing on bones dated to his reign, particularly from the diviner Peng.