[2] This figure's personal name was calqued or translated into Old Chinese using the character now written 商, pronounced Shāng in Standard Mandarin and with the proposed ancient pronunciation of *S-taŋ.
[3] He belonged to the Chu royal house, the Xiong (熊, *Gʷəm,[3] "Bear") branch of the Mi (羋) family, now conjectured to transcribe a Kam–Tai word for "bear".
Shang was the son of Xiong Liangfu, known posthumously as the Xuan King of Chu.
Upon his father's death in 340 or 339 BC, Shang succeeded him as king of Chu.
During his reign, Chu and Qi defeated and partitioned the state of Yue to their southeast in 334[citation needed] or 333 BC,[6] giving Chu control over Suzhou, the Yangtze River Delta, and Wu's canal network.