Pugu or Bogu was an ancient civilization or

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

ancient China The history of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area. Each region now considered part of the Chinese world has experienced periods of unity, fracture, prosperity, and strife. Chinese civilization first emerged in the Y ...

around the mouth of the

Yellow River The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...

History

The Pugu are recorded as existing during the

Shang The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou dyn ...

and were counted among the " Eastern Barbarians" or ''Dongyi'' of

Qingzhou Qingzhou () Wade–Giles: Tsing-chou, sometimes written as Ching-chow-fu, formerly Yidu County (Yitu) (), is a county-level city, which is located in the west of the prefecture-level city of Weifang, in the central part of Shandong Province, Chin ...

. They occupied the shore of the

Bay of Bohai Bohai Bay () is one of the three major bays of the Bohai Sea, the northwestern and innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea. It is bounded by the coastlines of eastern Hebei province (Tangshan and Cangzhou), Tianjin municipality and northern Shandong ...

around present-day

Binzhou Binzhou (, ), formerly Putai, is a prefecture-level city in northern Shandong Province in the People's Republic of China. The city proper sits on the northern bank of the Yellow River, while its administrative area straddles both sides of its ...

and

Boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

, an area which the silt deposition from the present course of the

has since made miles inland. In alliance with the Shang prince

Wu Geng Wu Geng or Wugeng (Chinese language, Chinese: ''Wǔgēng''), a.k.a. ''Lùfù'', was an ancient Chinese people, Chinese Chinese nobility, noble who was the son of King Zhou of Shang, King Zhou, the last chinese king, king of the Shang dynasty, Shan ...

, Pugu joined the ''Dongyi'' of Yan (, near present-day

Qufu Qufu ( ; zh, c=曲阜) is a county-level city in southwestern Shandong province, East China. It is located about south of the provincial capital Jinan and northeast of the prefectural seat at Jining. Qufu has an area of 815 square kilometers, ...

) and Xu in the

Huai The Huai River, formerly romanized as the Hwai, is a major river in East China, about long with a drainage area of . It is located about midway between the Yellow River and Yangtze River, the two longest rivers and largest drainage basins in ...

valley in opposing Shang's replacement by the Zhou after the

Battle of Muye The Battle of Muye, Mu, or Muh () was fought between forces of the ancient Chinese Shang dynasty led by King Zhou of Shang and the rebel state of Zhou led by King Wu. The Zhou defeated the Shang at Muye and captured the Shang capital Yin, ...

. This insurrection joined with the

Rebellion of the Three Guards The Rebellion of the Three Guards (), or less commonly the Wu Geng Rebellion (), was a civil war, instigated by an alliance of discontent Zhou princes, Shang loyalists, vassal states and other non-Zhou peoples against the Western Zhou governme ...

within Zhou itself, opposing the regency of the

Duke of Zhou Dan, Duke Wen of Zhou, commonly known as the Duke of Zhou, was a member of the royal family of the early Zhou dynasty who played a major role in consolidating the kingdom established by his elder brother King Wu. He was renowned for acting as ...

BC. The Duke undertook a successful campaign across the

North China Plain The North China Plain () is a large-scale downfaulted rift basin formed in the late Paleogene and Neogene and then modified by the deposits of the Yellow River. It is the largest alluvial plain of China. The plain is bordered to the north by th ...

, defeating Wu Geng and forcing the submission of the opposing Yi. Pugu's area was granted to the minister

Jiang Ziya Jiang Ziya ( century BC – 11th century BC), also known by several other names, also known by his posthumous name as the Duke Tai of Qi, was the founding monarch of the Qi state. He was a military general and strategist who as ...

as the fief of Qi. The ''

Bamboo Annals The ''Bamboo Annals'' ( zh, t=竹書紀年, p=Zhúshū Jìnián), also known as the ''Ji Tomb Annals'' ( zh, t=汲冢紀年, p=Jí Zhǒng Jìnián), is a chronicle of ancient China. It begins in the earliest legendary time (the age of the Yellow E ...

'' record that during the Duke of Zhou's expedition the "royal troops... attacked Yan and destroyed Pugu". The word used () means "destroy" and even implies "extermination". This was, however, patently hyperbolic since "belligerents" required a combined response from Qi, Lu, and Zhou ten years later and the Pugu are again said to have been "destroyed" in the autumn three years after that.. During the reign of King Yi, Duke Hu moved the Qi capital to the former site of Pugu. This prompted the residents of the former capital

Yingqiu Linzi () was the capital city of the Chinese Qi (state), Qi state. The ruins of the city lie in modern-day Linzi District, Shandong, China. The city was one of the largest and richest in China during the Spring and Autumn period. Upon occupying ...

revolt Rebellion is an uprising that resists and is organized against one's government. A rebel is a person who engages in a rebellion. A rebel group is a consciously coordinated group that seeks to gain political control over an entire state or a ...

under another member of his house, who defeated him in battle and restored the former capital.

Legacy

Its name survived as Putai and Putai County as late as the 20th century, although the former is now the subdistrict of Pucheng in

and the latter has merged with

Boxing County Boxing County is a county of Binzhou in Shandong Province in the People's Republic of China. History The area of Boxing County was mostly created within the last few millennia and long remained sparsely populated owing to the destructive f ...

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography