Shang

King Zhou was infatuated with the beauty of Daji (originally a fox spirit, that is, a marten transformed into a human). Daji deceived King Zhou, saying that once the Baloc Tower was completed, the celestial beings would descend to the mortal world. The king genuinely believed her. Daji informed her fox kin. Those who could transform between immortal and human forms came to attend the feast. The king appointed Prince Bi Can to serve the wine; Bi Can was displeased but did not dare to argue because of the king’s order. The fake immortals became intoxicated from the food and drink, their magical powers fully exhausted; their tails appeared, and the marten smell lingered in the air.

Bi Can, because of his strong tolerance to wine, did not get drunk, so he secretly returned to discuss with General Huang Phi Hu to have the army watch the impostor immortals. Being overly drunk, the impostors could not fly and had to help each other walk. Huang Phi Hu waited until the impostors entered the cave, then gave the order to fill the cave entrance with wood and burn them all. When the fire died down, digging through the ashes revealed they were all marten corpses. The two men stripped the skins to make fox-fur garments and offered them to the king.

Open Wikipedia

The Shang dynasty (Chinese: 商朝; pinyin: Shāngcháo), also known as the Yin dynasty (殷代; Yīn dài), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the 2nd millennium BC, traditionally succseeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou dynasty. The classic account of the Shang comes from texts such as the Book of Documents, Bamboo Annals and Shiji. Modern scholarship dates the dynasty between the 16th and 11th centuries BC, with more agreement surrounding the end date than beginning date.

The verse refers to the Shang dynasty which had been at its nadir gave rise to a new era where the bright King emerged as a saviour of the country. The ancient Chinese classics used the image of a phoenix as a propitious herald of peace and prosperity.

Since ancient times, whenever there was a period of turmoil, the phoenix would not appear. During times of peace, if a Holy Lord was born, the phoenix would crow to welcome the Holy Lord. For example, during the reigns of Emperor Yao and Emperor Shun, people could hear the crowing of the phoenix resounding across the fields. But by the time of King Wu, the phoenix disappeared. By the end of the Shang dynasty, transitioning to the era of King Wu of Zhou, the phoenix once again crowed on Mount Qizhou to announce that the Holy Lord was about to appear.