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Jingman
The term "Jingman" ()," also known as "Chuman ()", was used by the people of the Central Plains in ancient China to collectively refer to the inhabitants of Wu, Chu, Yue states, their former sites, and the broader southern regions of China. In a narrow sense, it refers specifically to the designation for the uncivilized ethnic groups in the four commanderies of Lingling (), Guiyang (), Changsha (), and Wuling () under the jurisdiction of ancient Jingzhou. Description According to the "Records of the Grand Historian: Annals of Zhou () ," "Taibo and Yuzhong () knew that Zhou King () intended to establish Jili () as his successor so that the throne could eventually be passed to Jichang (). Therefore, they fled to the land of the Jingman." Another interpretation suggests that it refers to the precursor of the Chu state, which became a feudal state in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. When the Chu state conquered Yue, its territory became part of Chu. Later, when the Qin Dyn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhongyuan
Zhongyuan (), the Central Plain(s), also known as Zhongtu (, lit. 'central land') and Zhongzhou (, lit. 'central region'), commonly refers to the part of the North China Plain surrounding the lower and middle reaches of the Yellow River, centered on the region between Luoyang and Kaifeng. It has been perceived as the birthplace of the Chinese civilization. Historically, the Huaxia people viewed Zhongyuan as 'the center of the world'. Human activities in the Zhongyuan region can be traced back to the Palaeolithic period. In prehistoric times, Huaxia, a confederation of tribes that later developed into the Han ethnicity, lived along the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. The term 'Zhongguo' (Central State) was used to distinguish themselves from the Siyi tribes that were perceived as 'barbaric'. For a large part of Chinese history, Zhongyuan had been the political, economic, and cultural center of the Chinese civilization, as over 20 dynasties had located their cap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Chinese States
Ancient Chinese states () were dynastic polities of China within and without the Zhou dynasty, Zhou cultural sphere prior to Qin's wars of unification. They ranged in size from large estates, to city-states to much vaster territories with multiple population centers. Many of these submitted to royal authority, but many did not—even those that shared the same culture and ancestral temple surname as the ruling house. Prior to the Battle of Muye, Zhou conquest of Shang, these ancient states were already extant as units of the preceding Shang dynasty, Predynastic Zhou or polities of other cultural groups. Once the Zhou had established themselves, they made grants of land and relative local autonomy to kinfolk in return for military support and tributes, under a system known as ''fengjian''. The rulers of the states were collectively the ''zhuhou'' (). Over the course of the Zhou dynasty ( 1046–256 ), the ties of family between the states attenuated, the power of the central gover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wu (state)
Wu () was a State (Ancient China), state during the Western Zhou dynasty and the Spring and Autumn period, outside the Zhou cultural sphere. It was also known as Gouwu () or Gongwu () from the pronunciation of the local language. Wu was located at the mouth of the Yangtze River east of the Chu (state), State of Chu and south of the Qi (state), State of Qi. Its first capital was at Meili (梅里, in modern Wuxi), then Helü's City (闔閭, in present-day Xueyan town near Wuxi), and later moved to Gusu (姑蘇, probably in modern Suzhou). History A founding myth of Wu, first recorded by Sima Qian in the Han dynasty, traced its royal lineage to Wu Taibo, Taibo, a relative of King Wen of Zhou. According to the ''Records of the Grand Historian'', Taibo was the oldest son of Gugong Danfu and the elder uncle of King Wen who started the Zhou dynasty. Gugong Danfu had three sons named Taibo, Zhongyong of Wu, Zhongyong, and King Ji of Zhou, Jili. Taibo was the oldest of three brothers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chu (state)
Chu (, Old Chinese: ''*s-r̥aʔ'') was an Ancient Chinese states, ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. Their first ruler was King Wu of Chu in the early 8th century BC. Chu was located in the south of the Zhou heartland and lasted during the Spring and Autumn period. At the end of the Warring States period it was annexed by the Qin (state), Qin in 223 BC during the Qin's wars of unification. Also known as Jing () and Jingchu (), Chu included most of the present-day provinces of Hubei and Hunan, along with parts of Chongqing, Guizhou, Henan, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai. For more than 400 years, the Chu capital Danyang (Chu), Danyang was located at the junction of the Dan River (China), Dan and Xi Rivers near present-day Xichuan County, Henan, but later moved to Ying (Chu), Ying. The house of Chu originally bore the Chinese surname#Xing, ancestral temple surname Nai ( OC: /*rneːlʔ/) which was later written as Mi (surname), Mi ( OC: /*meʔ/). Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yue (state)
Yue (), also known as Yuyue ( or ), was a Ancient Chinese states, state in ancient China which existed during the first millennium BC the Spring and Autumn period, Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, Warring States periods of China's Zhou dynasty in the modern Provinces of China, provinces of Zhejiang, Shanghai and Jiangsu. Its original capital was Kuaiji (modern Shaoxing); after its conquest of Wu (state), Wu, Yue relocated its court north to the Wu (city), city of Wu (modern-day Suzhou). Yue was conquered by Chu (state), Chu in 333 BC. History A specific kingdom, which had been known as the "Yue Guo" () in modern Zhejiang, was not mentioned until it began a series of wars against its northern neighbor Wu during the late 6th century BC. According to the ''Records of the Grand Historian'' and ''Discourses of the States'', the Yue are descended from Wuyu, the son of Shao Kang, the sixth king of the Xia dynasty. With help from Wu's enemy Chu, Yue won after several ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern And Southern China
Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions that display certain differences in terms of their geography, demographics, economy, and culture. Extent The Qinling–Daba Mountains serve as the transition zone between northern and southern China. They approximately coincide with the 0 degree Celsius isotherm in January, the isohyet, and the 2,000-hour sunshine duration contour. The Huai River basin serves a similar role, and the course of the Huaihe has been used to set different policies to the north and the south. History Historically, populations migrated from the north to the south, especially its coastal areas and along major rivers. After the fall of the Han dynasty, The Southern and Northern Dynasties (420–589) ruled their respective part of China before re-uniting under the Tang dynasty. During the Qing dynasty, regional differences and identification in China fostered the growth of regional stereotypes. Such stereotypes often appe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commandery (China)
A commandery ( zh, s=郡, p=jùn) was a historical administrative division of China that was in use from the Eastern Zhou (c. 7th century BCE) until the early Tang dynasty (c. 7th century CE). Several neighboring countries adopted Chinese commanderies as the basis for their own administrative divisions. History and development China Eastern Zhou During the Eastern Zhou's Spring and Autumn period from the 8th to 5th centuries BCE, the larger and more powerful of the Zhou dynasty, Zhou's Chinese feudalism, vassal states—including Qin (state), Qin, Jin (Chinese state), Jin and Wei (state), Wei—began annexing their smaller rivals. These new lands were not part of their original fiefs and were instead organized into Counties of the People's Republic of China#History, counties (''xiàn''). Eventually, commanderies were developed as marchlands between the Warring States period, major realms. Despite having smaller populations and ranking lower on t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jingzhou (ancient China)
Jingzhou or Jing Province was one of the Nine Provinces of ancient China referenced in early Chinese texts such as the '' Tribute of Yu'', '' Erya'', and '' Rites of Zhou''. Jingzhou became an administrative division during the reign of Emperor Wu (r. 141–87 BCE) in the Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE). It usually corresponded with the modern-day provinces of Hubei and Hunan until the Sui dynasty, after which it referred to the city of Jingzhou. History Pre-Qin era In the Warring States period, the Chu state covered most of present-day Hubei and Hunan, the areas that would form Jingzhou in a later era. The Qin state dropped the name "Chu" (楚) (literally " chaste tree") and used its synonym "Jing" (荊) instead to avoid a naming taboo, since the personal name of Qin's King Zhuangxiang (281–247 BCE) was "Zichu" (子楚; lit. "son of Chu") because his adoptive mother, Lady Huayang, was from Chu. Chu was conquered by Qin in 223 BCE in the final stages of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shiji
The ''Shiji'', also known as ''Records of the Grand Historian'' or ''The Grand Scribe's Records'', is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st centuries BC by the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian, building upon work begun by his father Sima Tan. The work covers a 2,500-year period from the age of the legendary Yellow Emperor to the reign of Emperor Wu of Han in the author's own time, and describes the world as it was known to the Chinese of the Western Han dynasty. The ''Shiji'' has been called a "foundational text in Chinese civilization". After Confucius and Qin Shi Huang, "Sima Qian was one of the creators of Imperial China, not least because by providing definitive biographies, he virtually created the two earlier figures." The ''Shiji'' set the model for all subsequent dynastic histories of China. In contrast to Western historiographical conventions, the ''Shiji'' does not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taibo
Taibo () (circa 1150 BCE), or Wu Taibo, was the eldest son of King Tai of Zhou and the legendary founder of the State of Wu. His exact birth and death dates are unknown. Biography According to Sima Qian, Taibo was the founder of the State of Wu. Born into the Jī clan () of predynastic Zhou, Taibo was the eldest son of King Tai of Zhou. He had two younger brothers, Zhongyong and Jili. The King of Zhou wished to make his youngest son Jili to inherit the reins of power, so Taibo and Zhongyong traveled southeast and settled in Meili in present-day Jiangsu province. There, Taibo and his followers set up the State of Wu, and made Meili its capital. Taibo's grand-nephew, King Wu of Zhou, overthrew the Shang dynasty and started the Zhou dynasty. However, the tale of Taibo being the founder of the State of Wu is disputed. During his reign, Taibo developed irrigation, encouraged agriculture, and dug Taibo River (泰伯瀆) which is called Bodu River (伯瀆河) today. When Taibo d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Tai Of Zhou
King Tai of Zhou () or Gugong Danfu () was a leader of the Predynastic Zhou during the Shang dynasty in ancient China. His great-grandson Fa would later conquer the Shang and establish the Zhou dynasty. Name "King Tai" was a posthumous name bestowed upon him by his descendants. He was never a king during his lifetime. He was earlier known as Gu Gong Danfu (Ancient Patriarch Dan), for instance, in the ''Classic of Poetry''. Occasionally, a few scholars refer to him as Ji Danfu, referencing his surname Ji (). History In the family hymns recorded in the ''Classic of Poetry'', the Ji family is traced from the miraculous birth of the Xia dynasty culture hero and court official Houji caused by his mother's stepping into a footprint left by the supreme god Shangdi. The ''Records of the Grand Historian'' instead makes Houji the son of the Emperor Ku, connecting his family to the Yellow Emperor who was sometimes also given the Zhou's surname. Sima Qian goes on to record Houji's son Bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ji, King Of Zhou
Jili was a leader of the Predynastic Zhou during the Shang dynasty of ancient China. His son King Wen and grandson King Wu would defeat the Shang to establish the Zhou dynasty. He was posthumously granted the title of king, and often referred to as Ji, King of Zhou. Jili's ancestral name was Ji. He was the youngest son of King Tai. Sima Qian recorded that Jili and his son were both renowned for their wisdom and this reputation caused his elder brothers Taibo and Zhongyong to renounce voluntarily their claims to the throne and to leave in exile to Wu.Sima Qian. ''Records of the Grand Historian'"Annals of Zhou"/ref> Surviving historical records portray him travelling to the Shang capital to submit to Wu Yi and being rewarded with land, jade, and horses in 1118 BC.Bamboo Annals. In 1117, he captured 20 "kings" of the Guirong tribes. During the reign of the Shang king Wen Ding, he was defeated by the Yanjing Rong but managed to subdue the Yuwu (), Hu (), and Xitu () Rong. Aft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
