As we all know, the mainland is rich in things, has a long history, and is rich in culture, and the thick history precipitates not only our spiritual qi and material strength, but even many nouns and titles have been changed several times, which makes people can't help but sigh at the vicissitudes of the white cloud and the dog. Even a "Zhonghua" has the titles of Huaxia, Shenzhou, Kyushu and so on.
So the question is, which nine states are Kyushu? Why not "eight states" and "ten states" but Kyushu? Where is Kyushu today?
Origin of Kyushu
"The moon bends and bends to illuminate Kyushu, a few joys and a few sorrows." When we see such a verse, we can understand almost without thinking about the far-reaching and vast meaning of this poem. And the word Kyushu is also imperceptibly, and has long been deeply rooted in the minds of every Chinese son and daughter, so that even if we don't know which nine Kyushu refers to, we can know that this refers to the land of Huaxia.
Why has Kyushu become synonymous with Huaxia?
The emergence of this word can actually be traced back to the pre-Qin period, some people say that this is because after Dayu ruled the water, the land of China was divided into nine states, and some people said that it was the Kyushu that was divided during the Yellow Emperor period. There is also a theory that divides the entire continent into nine continents, and China is only one of them, also known as "Shenzhou".
Of course, the currently generally accepted division of Kyushu is still the saying that the Great Yu Division "Kyushu" recorded in the "Book of Shang" in the Warring States period has emerged- Yu, Qing, Xu, Yang, Jing, Liang, Yong, Ji, and Yan.
What is a "state" is explained in the "Explanation of Words" - the water can live in the state. As we all know, during the flooding period of Dayu, everyone naturally attached great importance to "states", so when the floods were well managed, several states were divided according to the area where everyone lived.
This is said to be a continuation of a regional management system in order to facilitate management during the Yellow Emperor period - the Yellow Emperor at that time traveled all over the place, dividing one "state" every hundred miles, and after Dayu ruled the water, he continued to use the Yellow Emperor's set of obvious unsuitability, which re-divided nine, and Kyushu was also established.
As for why it is nine, not eight or ten? In fact, this nine actually has two meanings, on the one hand, it is a real reference, and naturally it is said that it is the nine of Da Yu Fen. On the other hand, it is a virtual finger, because in traditional culture, nine is the largest number, so it is often used to refer to many very extensive things, such as Jiuchuan, Jiuze, Jiuyuan, etc., and Kyushu has become synonymous with Chinese civilization. Corresponding to Jiuyi, Badi, Qirong, Liuman...
According to legend, in order to gather the luck of Kyushu, Dayu also ordered people to cast nine dings to worship the gods of heaven and earth, and future generations also used this system for jurisdiction.
What is Kyushu called now
Although the "Book of Shang" clearly divided Kyushu, but in the following many years, the specific jurisdiction of each state was actually not clear enough, especially after the Spring and Autumn Warring States period of chaos, by the time of Qin Shi Huang's unification, Kyushu has evolved into many different versions.
For example, the "Shangshu Yugong" says that Jizhou was the core area of the Jin Dynasty during the Spring and Autumn Period, which is probably the hukou waterfall of the yellow river that continues to the lower edge of the yellow river now, including the part of the Yellow River basin flowing through Shanxi, Hebei and Henan. Yanzhou is between Jishui and the Yellow River, that is, the western part of the present-day shanxi and the junction of Jilu and Hebei. Qingzhou is a part of the north of Mount Tai and the south of the Bohai Sea...
However, in the "Erya", the part north of Mount Tai and the south of the Bohai Sea has become Yingzhou, and the liangzhou in the "Book of Shang" is not mentioned in other ancient books, such as "Zhou Li" and "Spring and Autumn", and even the three books of "Zhou Li", "Spring and Autumn", and "Erya" are very unified in calling Liangzhou in "Shang Shu" Youzhou. In the Western Han Dynasty, Kyushu was redivided and changed to thirteen states...
The problem of non-uniformity makes future generations look confused, and they don't know which is right, but since everyone has a higher degree of recognition of the "Book of Shang", let's still look at it according to Kyushu here. Ji, Yan, and Qing have already been mentioned earlier, so the remaining six corresponding are:
Yuzhou: It is also the most central area of Kyushu, so it is also called "Zhongzhou", which includes most of the area in present-day Henan, so Henan Province is also referred to as "Yu";
Xuzhou: Probably north of the Huai River, south of Mount Tai, west of the Yellow Sea, including the present-day southeast of Shandong and north of Jiangsu and part of the northern part of Anhui, characterized by the abundant red clay;
Yangzhou: refers to the Yangtze River basin south of the Huai River and even many areas in the Lingnan area, which are extremely vast;
Jingzhou: Talking about the area from Jingshan to Hengshan. Nowadays, hubei and hunan provinces are the main two provinces;
Liangzhou: This is also an extremely vast area, including Shaanxi, Sichuan-Chongqing and Yunnan-Guizhou regions;
Yongzhou: The Book of Shang records that "Heishui Xihe Wei Yongzhou", corresponding to today's point of view, refers to the Gansu area of Qinghai, including parts of Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia in Xinjiang.
The old Kyushu name is still in use
In fact, looking at these names, many people are not unfamiliar, and even when we see the words "Yangzhou", we will subconsciously think of some small areas with this name today. For example, Yangzhou, which is now in jiangsu, is a prefecture-level city, and many celebrities have also created many fruitful results.
So, in addition to Yangzhou, are the names of the other eight states now used as small place names and continue to be used? We can look at them one by one:
Yuzhou: Ancient place name, now unused.
Qingzhou: Now the name of a county-level city, it belongs to the jurisdiction of Weifang City in Shandong Province, and in 2021, it was also named one of the "2021 China Smart Cities Top 100 Counties and Cities".
Xuzhou: Similar to Yangzhou, it is a prefecture-level city in Jiangsu Province, which makes many southern friends envious and jealous of "being a southern city, but enjoying heating".
Jingzhou: This place name is also a prefecture-level city in use and is under the jurisdiction of Hubei, because many stories in history have occurred in Jingzhou, and now it is also a key tourist city in Hubei Province.
Liangzhou: This state has been controversial in several ancient books, and it is reasonable that it is no longer used.
Yongzhou: Ancient place name, now unused.
Jizhou: Used as a district name, it is similar to Qingzhou and belongs to the jurisdiction of Hengshui, Hebei.
Yanzhou: Also used as a district name, it belongs to jining in shandong.
epilogue
It is worth mentioning that although everyone often uses the words in the "Shang Shu Yu Gong" to define Kyushu, some people say that the Yu Gong is likely to be written by people in the Warring States period in the name of Dayu, and it is not completely authoritative.
So now, the specific reference to Kyushu is still controversial, but the use of Kyushu to refer to Huaxia has been deeply integrated into the hearts of every Chinese with the precipitation of history, which is no longer controversial. However, just as the place names of Kyushu have changed greatly after a thousand years, in fact, there is no point in exploring where it is, but more as an emotional sustenance for everyone.
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