The Battle of Muye is a famous specific example of initial-stage chariot battles in ancient China. It took place in the ancient Muye Battle Region (the present Xinxiang Region in Henan Province, China) about 1100 BC.

The Battle of Muye is a decisive battle in the course of King Wu’s punitive expedition against the despotic King Zhou. At that time, the Shang Dynasty was under the rule of King Zhou who implemented tyranny and resulted in corruptive politics, sufferings of common people, intra-aristocrat conflict, and turbulence of the whole society. In the meantime, Zhou, a principality of Shang was increasingly powerful. King Wen of the Western Zhou Dynasty and his son King Wu then launched a battle of “Expedition against Zhou“ in the name of King Zhou’s cruelty. Under this circumstance, King Zhou had no choice but to head for Muye in person to meet enemies from the neighboring principalities. Before the battle, the army of Zhou went into camps in Muye and took a mass pledge which is called “Mu Pledge“ in history. During the battle, slaves and prisoners of war in the army of Shang supported King Wu inwardly and turned around their daggers and spears successively to assist the army of Zhou. Under their joint effort, over ten thousand soldiers in the army of Shang had fallen apart. Realizing that nothing could be done to save the situation, King Zhou escaped in a panic to the capital Chaoge on the same night and mounted onto the hathpace, burning himself to death. The Shang Dynasty thus came to an end and the Zhou Dynasty was officially established, with its capital located in Gaojing in the Weihe River basin (in the neighborhood of current Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province).

The Gui (round basket of bamboo) of King Wu’s punitive expedition against Shang was unearthed in Lintong, Shaanxi Province in 1976. The bottom of the inner part of the basket is casted with posies in four lines with 12 characters, narrating the victorious event of the expedition. As a single remaining cultural relic regarding the historical fact, Gui of King Wu’s punitive expedition against Shang is presently preserved in Lintong Museum of Shaanxi Province.