Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.4, 2013

 

On the 'Southern States' in the Western Zhou Period  

(Abstract)

 

Zhu Fenghan

 

The nature of what the Zhou termed the "southern states" (南国, nángúo)” in the Western Zhou period is an important topic for the study of the political geography and history of ethnic relations of the period. The Zhou thought of the "southern states" as being different from the "southern land" (南土, nántŭ). The latter referred to the southern territories of the Zhou kingdom in which high officials such as 侯( hóu) were placed in charge of border defense, whereas the former referred to areas further south, roughly including the present-day Huai River basin, the southern part of the Nangyang basin and the plain between the Huai and the Han rivers. In the early Western Zhou period, the Zhou tried to control and manage the western part of the southern states, i.e., the area between the Han and the Huai rivers, but this attempt ended with the failure of King Zhao’s southern expedition to Chu. The eastern part of the southern states was traditionally inhabited by the Huaiyi (淮夷). The Zhou used military forces to strip their territory of its economic and human resources, and the middle and later Western Zhou period saw many wars launched against them. Despite this, the Zhou never managed to bring this area under routine or effective administrative control. The "southern states" should therefore basically be regarded as a Zhou dependency rather than a part of Zhou territory.