Xi'e ( Chinese: , p ''Xī'è'') was a region of ancient

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in present-day

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

and

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

. Under the Qin and Han

dynasties A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. Historians ...

and during the

Three Kingdoms period The Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu dominated China from AD 220 to 280 following the end of the Han dynasty. This period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and followed by the Western Jin dynasty. Academically, the ...

, Xi'e County ( t , s , ''Xī'èxiàn'') was also a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the

Nanyang Nanyang is the romanization of two common Chinese place names. It may refer to: Written as * Nanyang (region), a Chinese term denoting the Southeast Asian lands surrounding the South China Sea ;China * Nanyang Fleet, Qing dynasty naval fleet bas ...

Commandery In the Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the European landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and G ...

. __NOTOC__

Name

Xi'e (lit. "Western E") took its name from the E, a Shang-dynasty vassal state probably originally located in modern

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

. The name is now pronounced as a brief, hard schwa (IPA: ), but the ancient pronunciation of the name has been reconstructed as closer to ''*Ngˤak''. Around the time of the Qin, therefore, "Xi'e" would have been pronounced something like ''*Snˤər Ngˤak''. By the Jin, it would have been

Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese language, Chinese recorded in the ''Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expande ...

''Ser Ngak''."Middle Chinese readings for 9000 Guangyun characters in Baxter’s notation"
pp. 30 & 133
. 2011. Accessed 14 November 2013.

History

During the Zhou, E was forced to relocate at least twice under pressure from Jin and

Chu Chu or CHU may refer to: Chinese history * Chu (state) (c. 1030 BC–223 BC), a state during the Zhou dynasty * Western Chu (206 BC–202 BC), a state founded and ruled by Xiang Yu * Chu Kingdom (Han dynasty) (201 BC–70 AD), a kingdom of the H ...

. Absorbed by Chu in 863 BC, E was adopted as the state's capital by a number of Chu kings prior to their final conquest by

Shi Huangdi 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 dynasty in Chine ...

in 223 BC.

Ezhou Ezhou ( zh, s= ) is a prefecture-level city in eastern Hubei Province, China. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 1,079,353, of which 695,697 lived in the core Echeng District. The Ezhou - Huanggang built-up (''or metro'') area w ...

then became a province under the Qin and Han. Thereafter, Xi'e was a

in the

during the Qin and Han

and the

Famous residents

It was the birthplace of

Zhang Heng Zhang Heng (; AD 78–139), formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized Chang Heng, was a Chinese polymathic scientist and statesman who lived during the Han dynasty#Eastern Han (25–220 AD), Eastern Han dynasty. Educated in the capital citi ...

(AD 78–139), a famous Chinese

polymath A polymath or polyhistor is an individual whose knowledge spans many different subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Polymaths often prefer a specific context in which to explain their knowledge, ...

of 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 ...

Du Xi Du Xi ( 190s–231), courtesy name Zixu, was an adviser to the warlord Cao Cao during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He was a subordinate of Cao Cao's general Xiahou Yuan. Du Xi proposed to the troops that Zhang He take command after X ...

served as its chief () around the end of the 2nd century.

Luo Xian Luo Xian (died 270), courtesy name Lingze, was a Chinese military general and politician of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period of China. After the fall of Shu in 263, he continued serving under the Cao Wei state, then the succeeding Jin dynas ...

(d. 270) was proclaimed Marquis of Xi'e () late in life as part of the creation of the Jin at the end of the

References

Regions of China Historical geography of China {{china-hist-stub