Jiuzhou

Jiuzhou (zh-cp|c=九州|p=Jiǔzhōu, literally "The Nine Provinces" ["Nine Provinces" may also refer to the island of Kyūshū, Japan] ) is a term used in ancient Chinese histories to refer to territorial divisions during the Xia and Shang dynasties, and has now come to symbolically represent China. However, the current definition of the nine "zhou" may be that of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period, as it was not until the Eastern Han Dynasty that the nine "zhou" were treated as actual administrative regions.

Different interpretations of Jiuzhou

Before the Tang Dynasty, a "zhou" was equivalent to a province, the largest division at the time. After the Tang Dynasty however, "zhou" were much smaller and the term was used for prefectures. ("See Zhou for details.")

According to the "夏书·禹贡" section of the "Classic of History", Yu the Great divided the world into nine provinces, namely Jizhou (冀州), Yanzhou (兖州), Qingzhou, Xuzhou, Yangzhou, Jingzhou, Yuzhou (豫州), Liangzhou (梁州) and Yongzhou (雍州). The geography section ("释地") of the ancient encyclopedia "Erya" also has nine provinces, but with Youzhou (幽州) and Yingzhou (营州) instead of Qingzhou and Liangzhou. In the "Rituals of Zhou" ("职方" section), the provinces include Youzhou and Bingzhou (并州) but not Xuzhou and Liangzhou. "Lü Family's Spring and Autumn Annals" ("有始览" section) mentions Youzhuo but not Liangzhou.

Traditionally, the "Classics" is thought to represent the divisions during the Xia Dynasty, and "Erya" the Shang Dynasty; "Rituals" the Zhou Dynasty, and "Lü's Annals" the concept and actual territorial distribution of the Nine Prefectures during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period. The "Annals" provided the following passage on the location of the nine provinces and their general correspondence with the states of the time:

Later on, an adherent of the Ying Yang School (阴阳家), Zou Yan (邹衍), proposed a brand-new theory of the "Greater Nine Provinces." According to him, the nine provinces in "Classics" were only "minor" provinces, which combined together to form the "Red County/Divine Province" (赤县神州), ie. China (cf. Shenzhou). Nine such provinces then form another "medium" Jiuzhou surrounded by a sea. There are nine such medium provinces, which were surrounded by a Great Ocean, forming the Greater Jiuzhou. Therefore, according to this theory, China would comprise only 1/81 of the entire world, markedly different from the Sinocentrist point of view that was prevalent at the time.

ee also

*Huaxia

Notes and references

* [http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?showtopic=14183 What were the ancient 9 provinces ?] on www.chinahistoryforum.com