Zeng () was a historical state in

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 ...

. The state existed during the time of the

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 ...

(1046–256 BC) and had territory in the area around

Suizhou Suizhou ( zh, s= , t= , p=Suízhōu), formerly Sui County ( zh, s=, t=, p=Suí Xian, Suixian, links=no), is a prefecture-level city in northern Hubei province, People's Republic of China, bordering Henan province to the north and east. Etymolo ...

in modern

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 ...

province. Archaeological findings indicate that Zeng could have been the same state as Sui. The state of Zeng got attention partly because of the finding of Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng in 1978. The center of the territory of Zeng was in the western part of Suizhou and findings indicate that the area reached up to the south west border of

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 ...

province. Suizhou was an important military hub because of its strategic location towards the threatening state of Chu. The area was also an important transport route between Chinese Central Plateau and the

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

findings at the middle

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 ...

. All the tombs of the lords of Zeng state were found within 10 km from each other in Suizhou. A historical record indicate that the state of Zeng was founded during the time of

Western Zhou The Western Zhou ( zh, c=西周, p=Xīzhōu; 771 BC) was a period of Chinese history corresponding roughly to the first half of the Zhou dynasty. It began when King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty at the Battle of Muye and ended in 77 ...

(1045 – 771 BC) and had its peak of political ambitions in the beginning of

Eastern Zhou The Eastern Zhou (256 BCE) is a period in Chinese history comprising the latter two-thirds of the Zhou dynasty. The period follows the Western Zhou era and is named due to the Zhou royal court relocating the capital eastward from Fenghao ...

(770–256 BC). Zeng still existed in the beginning of the

Warring States period The Warring States period in history of China, 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 ...

that started in the early 5th-century BC. Zeng was mentioned in the historical chronicle Spring and Autumn Annals where also another state named Zeng was mentioned that was located in the

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

province.

Relations with the state of Sui

In most of the earliest Chinese historical annals, Sui was the only state mentioned in the actual area around Suizhou in Hubei during the time for Eastern Zhou. Based on a few relics in the 1930s where the state of Zeng was mentioned, historian started to speculate that another state also existed in the area at the same time. A large number of findings with inscriptions of "Zeng" were found after 1949 in the territory of former Sui; this confirmed the speculation. After the finding of Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng in 1978 together with a large number of other well-preserved artefacts from the same area led to discussions around the relationship between Zeng and Sui, and many theories figured. On October 4, 1978, the historian Li Xueqin published the article "The Riddle of the State of Zeng" in Guangming Daily where he stated that the state of Zeng and Sui were the same place. The professor Ren Wei from the Archaeology Department of Zhengzhou University had the theory that Zeng conquered and occupied the state of Sui, but the most supported theory is the one from Li Xueqin and it was common during the Eastern Zhou that one state use two names.

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* * * {{Zhou Dynasty topics Ancient Chinese states States of the Spring and Autumn period States of the Warring States period Zhou dynasty

Relations with the state of Sui

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