View source for Zhoulai

{{Short description|Chinese state during Spring and Autumn period}}
{{Infobox country
|native_name = {{aut|州來}}
|conventional_long_name = State of Zhoulai
|common_name =Zhoulai
|era       = [[Spring and Autumn period]]
|status    = [[Client state|Client]] / [[puppet state]] of [[Chu (state)|Chu]]<br/><small>(c. 620–529 BC)</small>
|government_type = [[Monarchy]]
|year_start  = Unknown
|year_end    = 529 BC
|p1 =
|s1 = Wu (state)
|image_map    = Zhoulai (state).png
|image_map_caption  = Zhoulai in the early 7th century BC. Borders are approximate.
|capital          = Zhoulai (present-day [[Fengtai County]])<ref name="Cai" />
|common_languages = [[Old Chinese]]
|religion         =
|leader1      =
|leader2      =
|leader3      =
|year_leader1 =
|year_leader2 =
|year_leader3 =
|title_leader =
|event_start =
|event_end   = Conquered by [[Wu (state)|Wu]]
|event1      = Subjugated by [[Chu (state)|Chu]]
|date_event1 = c. 620 BC
|event2      =
|date_event2 =
|event3      =
|date_event3 =
|event4      =
|date_event4 =
|event5      =
|date_event5 =
|today       = [[China]]
}}
'''Zhoulai''' ({{zh|t=州來}}) was a small [[Ancient Chinese states|state]] of the [[Spring and Autumn period]] that ruled a crucial part of the middle [[Huai River]] valley. Its capital, known by the same name, was located in modern-day [[Fengtai County]] in [[Huainan]]. Due to its strategic location, Zhoulai controlled the most important route from [[Hubei]] to the [[Yellow Sea]].{{sfnp|Cook|Major|1999|pp=16, 17}} This made it a target of the expansionist state of [[Chu (state)|Chu]], which subjugated Zhoulai in the late 7th century BC in order to gain access to the east.{{sfnp|Cook|Major|1999|p=16}} While nominally allowed to maintain [[autonomy]] under its own dynasty, Zhoulai effectively became a [[puppet state]] under Chu military occupation and civil administration. It survived in this condition until 529 BC, when its capital city was conquered by [[Wu (state)|Wu]] and its ruling family was formally deposed.<ref name="Book 10 - Duke Zhao. Thirteenth year">{{cite web |url=http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/saxon/servlet/SaxonServlet?source=xwomen/texts/chunqiu.xml&style=xwomen/xsl/dynaxml.xsl&chunk.id=d2.16&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d2.16&doc.lang=bilingual |title=Book 10 – Duke Zhao. Thirteenth year |work=[[Zuo Zhuan]] |author=Zuo Qiuming |author-link=Zuo Qiuming |language=zh, en| access-date=26 January 2016}}</ref>
== History ==
As very little is recorded of Zhoulai in contemporary historical records, both its foundation date as well as its ruling family are unknown.<ref name="Book 10 - Duke Zhao. Thirteenth year"/> The whole Huai River valley, including the later location of Zhoulai, were originally occupied by the indigenous Huaiyi peoples. These tribes formed a confederation in c. 944 BC that was led by the eastern state of [[Xu (state)|Xu]] and opposed the [[Zhou dynasty]].{{sfnp|Shaughnessy|1999|p=324}} Hanmo Zhang considers it likely that Zhoulai was founded in the 8th century BC,{{sfnp|Zhang|2012|pp=272, 273}} during which the aforementioned confederation broke apart.
In the early 7th century BC, Zhoulai occupied a territory that stretched from [[Bozhou]] in the north<ref name="Book 10 - Duke Zhao. Ninth year">{{cite web |url=http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/saxon/servlet/SaxonServlet?source=xwomen/texts/chunqiu.xml&style=xwomen/xsl/dynaxml.xsl&chunk.id=d2.16&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d2.16&doc.lang=bilingual |title=Book 10 – Duke Zhao. Ninth year |work=[[Zuo Zhuan]] |author=Zuo Qiuming |author-link=Zuo Qiuming |language=zh, en| access-date=26 January 2016}}</ref> to Shouchun (central [[Anhui]]) in the south.{{sfnp|Zhang|2012|pp=272, 273}} In the west and north it bordered on several competing Zhou states, such as [[Chen (state)|Chen]] and [[Cai (state)|Cai]], to its south were Liu ({{lang|zh|六}}), [[Liao (Zhou dynasty state)|Liao]], and the Shu states,{{sfnp|Cook|Major|1999|pp=16, 182}}<ref name="Yi">{{cite web|url=http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Altera/yi.html |title=Chinese History – Yi 夷 |work=Ulrich Theobald|access-date=29 February 2016}}</ref> and in the east were [[Zhongli (state)|Zhongli]]{{sfnp|Kan|Zhou|Qian|2009|p=37}} as well as the remaining [[rump state]] of Xu.<ref name="Book 3 - Duke Zhuang. Twenty-sixth year">{{cite web |url=http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/saxon/servlet/SaxonServlet?source=xwomen/texts/chunqiu.xml&style=xwomen/xsl/dynaxml.xsl&chunk.id=d2.9&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d2.16&doc.lang=bilingual |title=Book 3 – Duke Zhuang. Twenty-sixth year |work=[[Zuo Zhuan]] |author=Zuo Qiuming |author-link=Zuo Qiuming |language=zh, en| access-date=26 January 2016}}</ref>
Zhoulai's situation became critical from 623 BC onwards, when Chu advanced from the Upper Huai River into the former's direct vicinity. While contemporary historical chronicles report that Chu conquered many of the local polities during this time, nothing is recorded of Zhoulai's fate. Blakeley considers it likely, however, that it was subjugated between 620–600 BC.{{sfnp|Cook|Major|1999|p=16}} Instead of fully extinguishing it, Chu formally made Zhoulai one of its vassal states. In fact, however, Zhoulai appears to have become little more than a puppet state, as its capital was from then on regarded as a Chu city and military base.<ref name="Book 10 - Duke Zhao. Thirteenth year"/>
Beginning in 584 BC, the state of Wu challenged Chu's hegemony in the Huai valley and Huainan (south of the Huai). In the following decades, Zhoulai was repeatedly attacked by Wu forces,{{sfnp|Cook|Major|1999|p=16}} causing Chu to strengthen the puppet state's fortifications in 537 BC.<ref name="Book 3 - Duke Zhuang. Fourth year">{{cite web |url=http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/saxon/servlet/SaxonServlet?source=xwomen/texts/chunqiu.xml&style=xwomen/xsl/dynaxml.xsl&chunk.id=d2.9&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d2.16&doc.lang=bilingual |title=Book 3 – Duke Zhuang. Fourth year |work=[[Zuo Zhuan]] |author=Zuo Qiuming |author-link=Zuo Qiuming |language=zh, en| access-date=26 January 2016}}</ref> Five years later, Zhoulai was forced by Chu to cede its northern territories to the state of [[Xǔ (state)|Xǔ]], which had by then relocated to Bozhou.<ref name="Book 10 - Duke Zhao. Ninth year"/> In 529 BC, the powerless puppet state was eventually conquered by Wu, which extinguished Zhoulai by deposing its ruling dynasty.<ref name="Book 10 - Duke Zhao. Thirteenth year"/> Afterwards, Zhoulai becamer part of the fief of Prince Ji Zha, brother of King Zhufan of Wu.{{sfnp|Ma et al.|2016|p=46}}
The city of Zhoulai remained under Wu's direct control until 493 BC, when its staunch ally Cai came under Chu attack. Wu allowed Cai to move east and resettle in Zhoulai, and Cai was reduced to Wu's client state.{{sfnp|Cook|Major|1999|p=17}} From then on, Zhoulai was known as Xiacai (lit. "Lower Cai").<ref name="Cai">{{cite web|url=http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Zhou/rulers-cai.html|title=Chinese History – The Feudal State of Cai 蔡|work=Ulrich Theobald|access-date=28 February 2016}}</ref> After the state of [[Yue (state)|Yue]] destroyed Wu in 473 BC, Chu recaptured Zhoulai from Cai in 447 BC.{{sfnp|Cook|Major|1999|p=17}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
=== Works cited ===
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book
|last1= Cook
|first1= Constance A.
|last2= Major
|first2= John S.
|title= Defining Chu: Image And Reality In Ancient China
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=C_F4Y93n3l0C&pg=PA16
|date=1999
|publisher=[[University of Hawaii Press]]
|location= [[Honolulu]]
|isbn=0-8248-2905-0
}}
* {{Cite journal
|url = http://www.kaogu.cn/uploads/soft/Chinese%20Archaeology/10/Spring%20and%20Autumn%20Tomb%20No.1%20at%20Shuangdun,Bengbu%20City,Anhui.pdf
|title = Spring and Autumn Tomb No. 1 at Shuangdun, Bengbu City, Anhui
|last1= Kan
|first1= Xuhang
|last2= Zhou
|first2= Qun
|last3= Qian
|first3= Renfa
|editor1=Niclas Vogt
|date = 2009
|journal = [[Kaogu]]
|issue = 7
|volume = 10
|pages = 62–85
}}
*{{cite book
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SvjPDgAAQBAJ
|last1=Ma
|first1=Yong
|last2=Su
|first2=Hongxia
|last3=Jin
|first3=Qian
|last4=Feng
|first4=Wei
|last5=Liu
|first5=Jianuo
|last6=Huang
|first6=Wenying
|title=The General History Of Chinese Tourism Culture
|date= 2016
|publisher= SCPG Publishing
|location= New York City
|doi=10.1142/z012
|isbn=978-1-938368-39-4
|ref = {{harvid|Ma et al.|2016}}
}}
*{{cite book
|last=Shaughnessy
|first=Edward L.
|chapter=Western Zhou History
|editor1=Michael Loewe
|editor2=Edward L. Shaughnessy
|author-link=Edward L. Shaughnessy
|title=The Cambridge History of ancient China – From the Origins of Civilization to 221 B.C
|url= https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory00loew
|url-access=limited
|date=1999
|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]
|location=[[Cambridge]]
|isbn=9780521470308
|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory00loew/page/n322 292]–351}}
*{{cite book
|last= Zhang
|first= Hanmo
|title=Models of Authorship and Text-making in Early China
|date= 2012
|publisher= [[University of California]]
|location= [[Los Angeles]]
}}
{{refend}}
{{Zhou dynasty topics}}
[[Category:Huai River]]
[[Category:History of Anhui]]
[[Category:Huainan]]