Yue (), also known as Yuyue ( or ), was a

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 ...

in ancient China which existed during the first millennium BC the Spring and Autumn and

Warring States The Warring States period in Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and struggles for gre ...

periods of China's

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ) was a royal dynasty of China that existed for 789 years from until 256 BC, the longest span of any dynasty in Chinese history. During the Western Zhou period (771 BC), the royal house, surnamed Ji, had military ...

in the modern

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

and

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

. Its original capital was Kuaiji (modern

Shaoxing Shaoxing is a prefecture-level city on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay in northeastern Zhejiang province, China. Located on the south bank of the Qiantang River estuary, it borders Ningbo to the east, Taizhou, Zhejiang, Taizhou to the south ...

); after its conquest of Wu, Yue relocated its court north to the city of Wu (modern-day

Suzhou Suzhou is a major prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. As part of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, it is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce. Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou rapidly grew in size by the ...

). Yue was conquered by Chu in 333 BC.

History

A specific kingdom, which had been known as the "Yue Guo" () in modern

, 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 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 ce ...

'' and ''

Discourses of the States The ''Guoyu'', usually translated as ''Discourses of the States'', is an ancient Chinese text that consists of a collection of speeches attributed to rulers and other men from the Spring and Autumn period (771–476 BC). It comprises a total ...

'', the Yue are descended from Wuyu, the son of Shao Kang, the sixth king of the

Xia dynasty The Xia dynasty (; ) is the first dynasty in traditional Chinese historiography. According to tradition, it was established by the legendary figure Yu the Great, after Emperor Shun, Shun, the last of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, Fiv ...

. With help from Wu's enemy Chu, Yue won after several decades of conflict. The famous Yue King Goujian destroyed and annexed Wu in 473 BC. Yue then inherited Wu's good relations with Jin, and the two became allies. In 441 BC, Jin and Yue invaded Qi, whereupon Qi erected the Long Wall to prevent Yue attacks from southern Shandong. Yue reached their apex in 404 BC, when they, along with their ally of Jin, invaded Qi and Lu. Qi and Lu made peace with Yue, with Qi ceding territory and allowing Yue to march triumphantly through the Lu capital. The Marquis of Lu drove King Yi's carriage, with the Marquis of Qi accompanying him. During the reign of Wuqiang (), six generations after Goujian, Yue was partitioned by Chu and Qi in 333 BC. Yue was famous for the quality of its metalworking, particularly its swords. Examples include the extremely well-preserved Swords of Goujian and Zhougou. The Yue state appears to have been a largely indigenous political development in the lower

Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...

. This region corresponds with that of the old corded-ware Neolithic, and it continued to be one that shared a number of practices, such as

tooth extraction A dental extraction (also referred to as tooth extraction, exodontia, exodontics, or informally, tooth pulling) is the removal of teeth from the dental alveolus (socket) in the alveolar bone. Extractions are performed for a wide variety of reas ...

, pile building, and cliff burial. Austronesian speakers also still lived in the region down to its conquest and sinification beginning about 240 BC. What set the Yue apart from other Sinitic states of the time was their possession of a navy. Yue culture was distinct in its practice of naming boats and swords. A Chinese text described the Yue as a people who used boats as their carriages and oars as their horses.

Rulers of Yue family tree

Their

ancestral name In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

is rendered variously as either Si () or Luo ( or ).

Aftermath

After the fall of Yue, the ruling family moved south to what is now northern

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

and set up the

Minyue Minyue (; Pinyin: ''Mǐnyuè, Mínyuè'') was an ancient kingdom in what is now the Fujian province in southern China. It was a contemporary of the Han dynasty, and was later annexed by the Han empire as the Southward expansion of the Han dynas ...

kingdom. This successor state lasted until around 150 BC, when it miscalculated an alliance with the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

. Mingdi, Wujiang's second son, was appointed minister of Wucheng (present-day

Huzhou Huzhou (, ; Huzhou dialect: Romanization of Wu Chinese, ''ghou² cieu¹'') is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province (Hangzhou–Jiaxing–Huzhou Plain, China). Lying south of the Lake Tai, it borders Jiaxing to the east, Hangzho ...

's Wuxing District) by the king of Chu. He was titled Marquis of Ouyang Ting, from a pavilion on the south side of Ouyu Mountain. The first

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ) was the first Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China. It is named for its progenitor state of Qin, a fief of the confederal Zhou dynasty (256 BC). Beginning in 230 BC, the Qin under King Ying Zheng enga ...

emperor

Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang (, ; February 25912 July 210 BC), born Ying Zheng () or Zhao Zheng (), was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of China. He is widely regarded as the first ever supreme leader of a unitary state, unitary d ...

abolished the title after his conquest of Chu in 223 BC, but descendants and subjects of its former rulers took up the surnames Ou,

Ouyang Ouyang () is a Chinese surname. It is the most common two-character Chinese compound surname, being the only two-character name of the 400 most common Chinese surnames, according to a 2013 study. Variations/transliterations * Chinese languages : ' ...

, and Ouhou () in remembrance. When the religious leader Xu Chang launched a rebellion against the

in 172 CE, he declared the state of Yue restored and appointed his father Xu Sheng as "King of Yue". The rebels were crushed in 174.

Astronomy

Chinese astronomy Astronomy in China has a long history stretching from the Shang dynasty, being refined over a period of more than 3,000 years. The Ancient China, ancient Chinese people have identified stars from 1300 BCE, as Chinese star names later categori ...

, there are two stars named for Yue: *Yue (along with Wu) is represented by the star Zeta Aquilae in the "Left Wall" of the Heavenly Market enclosure. *Yue is also represented by the star Psi Capricorni or 19 Capricorni in the "Twelve States" of the mansion of the

Girl A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. While the term ''girl'' has other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.com, "Girl"'' Retrieved January 2, 2008. '' daughter'' or '' girlfriend'' regardless of age ...

Biology

The

virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living Cell (biology), cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Viruses are ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

'' Yuyuevirus'' and the virus

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

'' Yueviridae'' are both named after the state.

People from Yue

* Yuenü, swordswoman & author of the earliest-known exposition on swordplay * Xi Shi, a famous beauty of the ancient Yue Guo.

Language

Possible languages spoken in the state of Yue may have been of Tai-Kadai and Austronesian origins. 126 Tai-Kadai cognates have been identified in Maqiao Wu dialect spoken in the suburbs of

out of more than a thousand lexical items surveyed. According to the author, these cognates are likely traces of ' old Yue language' ().

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

*Eric Henry
The Submerged History of Yuè
(''Sino-Platonic Papers'' 176, May 2007) {{DEFAULTSORT:Yue 334 BC 4th-century BC disestablishments in China History of Jiangsu History of Shanghai History of Zhejiang Shaoxing States and territories disestablished in the 4th century BC States of the Spring and Autumn period States of the Warring States period Ancient Chinese states