Chao () was a minor state of the

Chinese Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

, whose people belonged to the Shu tribes (群舒, literally "Many Shu") that lived south of the

Huai River The Huai River (), formerly romanized as the Hwai, is a major river in China. It is located about midway between the Yellow River and Yangtze, the two longest rivers and largest drainage basins in China, and like them runs from west to ea ...

. Chao's exact location is unknown; traditionally, it was assumed that the state had existed in the vicinity of modern-day

Chaohu Chaohu () is a county-level city of Anhui Province, People's Republic of China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Hefei. Situated on the northeast and southeast shores of Lake Chao, from which the city was named, Ch ...

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

, but more recent sinologists like He Hao and Barry Blakeley consider it more likely that Chao was located further north, near the Huai River.

History

According to the '' Book of Documents'', Chao was a satellite of the

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...

until the latter was overthrown by the

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by ...

, whereupon Chao voluntarily submitted to King Wu of Zhou around 1040 BCE. A few decades later during the reign of

King Kang of Zhou King Kang of Zhou, personal name Ji Zhao, was the third sovereign of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and son of King Cheng of Zhou. The dates of his reign are 1020–996 BC or 1005–978 BC. King Kang followed his father's policy and expanded the Zhou ...

, however, Chao rebelled and attacked Zhou territory. As result, the Zhou king sent the Six Armies of the West under Tung Kung to defeat Chao, though in the end it was the regional lord of E who defeated and captured Chao's rebellious ruler. Despite this, Chao remained restive, and when a massive war broke out between Xu and the Zhou dynasty in the 940s BCE, the people of Chao sided with Xu against their overlords. This rebellion, too, proved unsuccessful for Chao, and was crushed when the Duke of Mao captured Chao's capital. After the Zhou dynasty had largely collapsed in the 8th century BCE, Chao became fully independent, but soon came to be threatened by the expansionist state of Chu. Around 600 BCE, Chao and the other Shu states were forced to officially submit to Chu in order to avoid destruction. Nevertheless, the Shu states continued to maintain their desire for independence, which was supported and stirred by Chu's rival, Wu. In response, Chu began to fully conquer them one by one, beginning with Chao, whose fall is dated between 583-575 BCE by He Hao and sometime earlier by Blakeley. Even after the end of its independence, Chao's former capital continued to be a bone of contention between Chu and Wu: King Zhufan of Wu launched an attack on the city in 548 BCE, and was consequently killed during the fighting by a sniper.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{Zhou dynasty topics Ancient Chinese states Zhou dynasty States and territories disestablished in the 6th century BC 6th-century BC disestablishments 1st-millennium BC disestablishments in China History of Anhui