4. 800 to 699 BC

4.1. Keywords

  • autumn period

  • chu

  • king

4.2. Events

  • (722–481) Spring and Autumn Period

  • (704–223) The Chu Kingdom arose after the San Miao Kingdom from 704 BC until defeated by the Chinese in 223 AD through the strategy of divide and conquer. The Chu Kingdom was believed to have possibly been a Hmong Kingdom or belong to any number of other people [Par04]. Language analysis show the Chu language to be closer to the Hmong [20007i] since Hmong people have the nasal sounds as did the Chu people. In any event, the Chu language was mutually unintelligible with the court of Zhou [Cha04]. If the Chu Kingdom was Hmong, no subsequent Hmong Kingdom compared in size and greatness to the Chu Kingdom. During this time, the Chinese also began their process of assimilating minorities into the Chinese culture. This era also escalated the endless friction and wars between the Chinese and Hmong [Xio00]. Modern day character used to reference Chu Kingdom means ‘clear’. Hmong oral history recalls a kingdom called Tswb Tshoj, where tswb means pig and tshoj means nation. It has been speculated that Tswb Tshoj was Chu Chao. In Chinese, chao, means dynasty. Chu Kingdom boasted over 1 million soldiers (Qin State) Chu Kingdom was located where Han and Yangtze Rivers meet [Den99b] (Dongting Lake area). The use of iron first began with the Chu Kingdom around 400 BC [Pig99]. Capital of Chu was Jinan [Pig99], Ying [20007o], or Danyang [20007p]. Chu culture was said to be essential to the development and progress of Chinese culture [Gla04a]. Contrast to previous thought, it was Chu culture that spread upwards to the Chinese and not the other way around [Gla04a]. Chu was the first to organize newly conquered land into xian. A xian was not governed by hereditary feudatory lords, but by an official appointed by the ruler of the state [HK05]. The people of Chu believed in the power of Shamans and spirits [Wei86]. Chu used the difficult to read script called “Birds and Worms (鸟虫文}” style [20007p].

  • Duke of Chǔ (楚), Mǐ Xióng Tōng (羋熊通), saw the weakened power of the King of Zhou as an opportunity to break free from being a tributary state of the Zhou Dynasty and claimed the title of king himself. He announced the kingdom of Chǔ (楚國) and called himself King Wu of Chu (楚武王) [20007o].