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State of Wu 吳國 | |||||||
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| 12th century BC–473 BC | |||||||
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| Status | Kingdom | ||||||
| Capital | Wu (modern-dayWuxi andSuzhou,Jiangsu province) | ||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||
| Historical era | Zhou dynasty Spring and Autumn period | ||||||
• Foundation by Taibo | 12th century BC | ||||||
• Defeated byYue | 473 BC | ||||||
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| Wu | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.svg) "Wu" inseal script (top), Traditional (middle), and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 吳 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 吴 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Wu (Chinese:吳;pinyin:Wú) was astate during theWestern Zhou dynasty and theSpring and Autumn period, outside the Zhou cultural sphere. It was also known asGouwu (句吳) orGongwu (工/攻吳) from the pronunciation of the local language. Wu was located at the mouth of theYangtze River east of theState of Chu and south of theState of Qi. Its first capital was at Meili (梅里, in modernWuxi), thenHelü's City (闔閭, in present-day Xueyan town nearWuxi), and later moved to Gusu (姑蘇, probably in modernSuzhou).
Afounding myth of Wu, first recorded bySima Qian in theHan dynasty, traced its royal lineage toTaibo, a relative ofKing Wen of Zhou.[1] According to theRecords of the Grand Historian, Taibo was the oldest son ofGugong Danfu and the elder uncle of King Wen who started the Zhou dynasty.Gugong Danfu had three sons named Taibo,Zhongyong, andJili. Taibo was the oldest of three brothers, Jili being the youngest. Realizing that his youngest brother, Jili, was favored by his father to inherit the throne ofPredynastic Zhou, the older brothers Taibo and Zhongyong left Zhou to avoid conflict and settled southeast to Wu with a group of followers loyal to him and his brother Zhongyong. They established their first capital at Meili (梅里), believed to be today's Meicun inWuxi. Taibo's youngest brother Jili who was eventually the heir of the throne became the father of King Wen, who is considered the founder of theZhou Dynasty.
Little is known about the history of Wu before theSpring and Autumn period. Wu rose to power in the 6th century BC, after it was aided by theState of Jin as a useful ally against the State of Chu.
In 584 BC, Wu rebelled against Chu upon the advice of Wuchen, aJin minister, who defected from Chu. From then on, Wu would become a constant threat to the Chu Kingdom. Wu planted seeds of rebellion amongst Chu's vassals along the Yangtze valley.Wu Zixu, a highly influential Chu politician's father and brother were murdered byKing Ping of Chu and fled to Wu plotting revenge. Wu Zixu later became a trusted advisor of Prince Guang and helped him assassinate his cousinKing Liao of Wu in order to usurp the throne. After the successful assassination of King Liao, Prince Guang ascended the throne and became known asKing Helü of Wu.[2]
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In 506 BC, during the reign ofKing Zhao of Chu, King Helü decided to invade Chu. The king personally led the army, along with his younger brotherFugai, Wu Zixu, as well asSun Tzu, author ofThe Art of War. Although Chu had a strong army led byNang Wa andShen Yinshu, it suffered a heavy defeat at theBattle of Boju. King Zhao of Chu fled toSui and the Wu army capturedYing, Chu's capital. After entering Ying, Wu Zixu exhumed King Ping's corpse, and gave it 300 lashes to exact vengeance for his father and brother who were murdered by the Chu King.[2] The military victory led to Wu Zixu's elevation to Duke of Shen and his alias Shenxu. After these victories, Wu briefly became the most powerful state and turned to other campaigns, defeating theState of Qi in 484 BC.
King Helü of Wu is considered to be one of theFive Hegemons of China during the Spring and Autumn period due to his military successes at this time with the help of his famous commander/strategistSun Tzu. Wu is also generally regarded as developing the first Chinese navy. This navy was quite complex and had different classes of ships. Its "classes" of ships were the great wing (da yi - 大翼), the little wing (xiao yi - 小翼), the stomach striker (tu wei - 突冒), thecastle ship (lou chuan - 楼船), and the bridge ship (qiao chuan - 桥船). These were listed in theYuejueshu (越绝书 -Lost Records of theState of Yue) as a written dialogue betweenKing Helü of Wu (r. 514 BC–496 BC) andWu Zixu (526 BC–484 BC) in which the latter stated:
Nowadays in training naval forces we use the tactics of land forces for the best effect. Thus great wing ships correspond to the army's heavychariots, little wing ships to light chariots, stomach strikers tobattering rams, castle ships tomobile assault towers, and bridge ships tolight cavalry.
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Ironically, Wu was later threatened by an upstart state to its own south,Yue; Chu then aided Yue's rise as a counter to Wu. Although Wu won a majority of battles against the Yue and captured their king,Goujian, Wu failed to completely subjugate Yue, in part because of KingFuchai of Wu's willingness to let King Goujian live in Wu as his servant. King Goujian suffered for years as Fuchai's servant/slave and planned his revenge. Fuchai under the promise of peace, let Goujian return to Yue, his homeland which later proved to be a fatal mistake for Wu. While Wu was engaged in a military campaign in the north, Goujian enacted his revenge and launched a surprise attack on Wu in 482 BC and conquered the capital. Over the next decade, Wu was unable to recover and Yue absorbed the state in 473 BC.
Wu, Yue, and Chu all proclaimed themselveskings in the 6th century BC, showing the drastic weakening of the Zhou court's authority during theSpring and Autumn period.
Wu and Yue were masters of metallurgy, fabricating excellent swords with incised messages, geometric patterns, and inlaid gold or silver. Wu and Yue swords tend to use much more tin than copper compared to those of other states. Wu often sent swords as gifts to northern states, such asQi andCai. Examples include the spearhead ofKing Fuchai and the sword ofPrince Guang.
Chinese historical texts linked the kings of Wu toTaibo, the uncle ofKing Wen of Zhou. Theirancestral name was Ji and theirclan name was Gufa.[3] The last king of Wu, King Fuchai had at least four sons, three of whom were named You, Hong and Hui. You was his heir but was killed in one of the battles leading to the defeat of Wu, and Hong became the new heir. After the collapse of the state, the other three sons of Fuchai were exiled. Themselves, their blood relatives and descendants took Wu as their clan name in honor of their fallen kingdom.
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TheRecords of the Grand Historian states that the people in Wu wore their hair short and sported tattoos. ForSima Qian this would have illustrated their supposed barbarism, as in his time Chinese men and women were not allowed to cut their hair or otherwise modify their body - doing so was considered an offence against the ancestors from which one had inherited one's physical features.
Wu rulers did not receiveposthumous names after death.
The famed military strategistSun Tzu, renowned for his military treatiseThe Art of War, served as a general under King Helü of Wu.
The rulers of Wu are said to be descendants of the earlyZhou; however, the indigenous language of the Wu region is distinct from theOld Chinese spoken by the central Chinese states. Historians have attempted to link the language withAustronesian languages,[4]Kra–Dai or a non-ChineseSino-Tibetan language.[5] A substrate of Kra–Dai languages has been detected in Wu dialects.
"Wu" continues to be used as a name for the region aroundSuzhou andShanghai and their regional speech,Wu Chinese. It was employed by other states and princes holding power in the region, most notablyEastern Wu of theThree Kingdoms, andWu andWuyue of theTen Kingdoms.
Ambassadorial visits toJapan by the later Chinese dynastiesWei andJin recorded that theWajin of Japan claimed to be descendants of Taibo of Wu, traditionally believed to be the mythical founder of Wu.[6] Several scholars suggest that theYamato people and theImperial House of Japan are descendants of the Wu and possibly Taibo.[7][8] Many Japanese historians also link the early JapaneseYayoi people to theBaiyue tribes.[9][10][11]
Wu, together withYue, is represented with the starZeta Aquilae in asterismLeft Wall,Heavenly Market enclosure (seeChinese constellations).[12]
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