State of Chu 楚國
Kingdom
circa 1030 BC–223 BC →
Capital	Danyang(丹阳/丹陽)[1] from ~1030-~680 BC Ying (郢) from ~680-278 BC Chen (陈/陳) from 278-241 BC Shouchun (寿春/壽春) from 241-224 BC
Religion	Chinese folk religion, ancestor worship, Taoism
Government	Monarchy
History
- Founded by Xiong Yi	circa 1030 BC
- King Wu of Chu declared king	706 or 703 BC
- Conquered by Qin	223 BC
Currency	Chinese coin

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

Chu (circa 1030–223 BC) (Chinese: 楚國; pinyin: Chǔ Guó) was an ancient state in present-day central and southern China during the Zhou Dynasty. Originally Chu's rulers were of the noble rank of Zi (子), comparable to viscount, but starting from King Wu of Chu in the early 8th century BC the rulers of Chu declared themselves kings. Its ruling house had the ancestral name Nai (嬭) and clan name Yan (酓), but this later evolved to the ancestral name Mi (芈) and clan name Xiong (熊).^[2]

Originally known as Jing (荆) and then as Jingchu (荆楚), at the height of its power the Chu state occupied vast areas of land, including most of the present-day provinces of Hubei and Hunan, and parts of Chongqing, Guizhou, Henan, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai. For more than 400 years the Chu capital Danyang was located at the junction region of Dan River and Xi River,^[3][4] near present-day Xichuan, Henan Province, but later moved to Ying.

History[link]

Origin and founding[link]

According to legends recorded in the Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian, the royal family of Chu descended from the mythical Yellow Emperor and his grandson and successor emperor Zhuanxu. Zhuanxu's great-grandson Wuhui (吳回) was put in charge of fire by Emperor Ku and given the title Zhurong. Wuhui's son Luzhong (陸終) had six sons, all born by Caesarian section. The youngest son Jilian adopted the ancestral surname Mi.^[5]

Jilian’s descendant Yuxiong was the teacher of King Wen of Zhou (reigned 1099-1050 BC). After Zhou overthrew the Shang Dynasty, King Cheng of Zhou (reigned 1042-1021 BC) awarded Yuxiong's great-grandson Xiong Yi the fiefdom of Chu and the hereditary title of zĭ (子), equivalent to viscount. Xiong Yi built the first capital of Chu in Danyang (丹阳) (modern day Xichuan County, Henan Province).^[5]

Early expansion[link]

In 977 BC, after an expedition into the State of Chu King Zhao of Zhou's boat sank and he drowned in the Han River. Due to the death of their king, Zhou did not expand further in the south thus allowing the southern tribes and Chu to cement their own autonomy and independence much earlier than the states to the north. The Chu ruler Xiong Qu overthrew the State of E^[6] in 863 BCE, later making its successor city Ezhou the alternate Chu capital. In either 703^[7] or 706^[8] Xiong Da, Viscount of Chu, assumed the title King Wu of Chu, implying an equality with the Zhou king and the independence of Chu.

Chu during the Spring and Autumn period[link]

In its early years, Chu was a successful expansionist and militaristic state that developed a reputation for coercing and absorbing its allies. Chu grew from a small state into a large kingdom. King Zhuang of Chu even attained the traditional title of one of the Five Hegemons. After a number of battles with neighbouring states, sometime between 695 and 689 BC, the Chu capital moved southeast from Danyang to Ying. Chu first consolidated its power by absorbing the lesser states within its immediate vicinity in today's Hubei Province; then, it expanded into the north towards the North China Plain. The threat from Chu resulted in multiple northern alliances under the leadership of the Jin state against Chu and its allies; these alliances successfully kept Chu in check, with their first major victory occurring at the Battle of Chengpu in 632 BC.

At the beginning of the sixth century BC, the Wu state grew in power with the support of the Jin state to counter Chu. Wu defeated the Qi state, invaded Chu in 506 BC and, following the Battle of Boju, occupied the Chu capital Ying, forcing King Zhao of Chu to flee to his allies, first to Yun then to the State of Sui in northern Hubei. Prominent historian Shi Quan (石泉) links the Sui state to the State of Zeng.^[9] King Zhao eventually returned to Ying but after a further Wu attack in 504 BC temporarily moved the capital into territory annexed from the former State of Ruo. At this time, the State of Yue also grew in power with the support of Chu to counter Wu's dominance in the east. However, Yue was subjugated by King Fuchai of Wu until he released the hostage King Goujian of Yue who took revenge and conquered Wu. The Yue state was one of the strongest states of the late Spring and Autumn Period.

Chu during the Warring States period[link]

Bronze from the Tomb of Chu in Xichuan.

The kingdom's power continued even after the end of the Spring and Autumn period in 481 BC. Chu annexed Chen in 479 BC, and overran Cai to the north in 447 BC, continuing a policy of absorbing smaller states on its borders that continued until the last generation before the fall to Qin (Lu was conquered by King Kaolie ind 249 BC). However, by the end of the 5th century BC, the Chu government had become very corrupt and inefficient with much of the state's treasury used primarily to pay for a large official retinue. Many officials had no meaningful task except taking money. Thus, Chu's large army was of low quality due to the corrupt and cumbersome bureaucracy.

In the late 390s BC, King Dao of Chu made Wu Qi his chancellor. Wu's reforms began in 389 BC to transform Chu into an efficient and powerful state, lowering the salaries of officials and removing useless ones. He also enacted building codes to make the capital, Ying, seem less barbaric. Despite Wu Qi's massive unpopularity with the Chu government (except the king), his reforms made Chu very powerful until the late 4th century BC, when Zhao and Qin were ascendant. Chu's powerful army became once again successful in the internecine warfare that characterized the whole Warring States period, defeating the states of Wei and Yue (which latter state was annexed in either 334 or 333 BC; sources differ on the exact date). However, Wu Qi was assassinated by the Chu officials at the funeral of King Dao in 381 BC.

During the late Warring States Period, Chu was increasingly pressured by Qin to its west, especially after Qin enacted and preserved the legalistic reforms of Shang Yang. Chu's size and power made it the key state in alliances against Qin. As Qin expanded into Chu territory, Chu was forced to expand southwards and eastwards, absorbing local cultural influences along the way. In 333 BC, Chu and Qi partitioned and annexed the coastal state of Yue.

By the late Warring States Period (about the late 4th century BC), however, Chu's prominent status had fallen into decay. As a result of several invasions headed by Zhao and Qin, Chu was eventually subjugated by Qin.

According to the Records of the Warring States, a debate between School of Diplomacy strategist Zhang Yi and the Qin general Sima Cuo on unifying China led to two conclusions. Zhang Yi believed conquering the Han state and seizing the Mandate of Heaven from the figurehead resident Zhou king would be wise. Sima Cuo considered Chu as its main rival in the struggle to unite the Warring States. Sima Cuo decided it was essential to control the fertile Sichuan Basin to increase agricultural output and most importantly, to control the upper reaches of the Yangzi River that led to the Chu heartland.

According to Zhan Guo Ce, Sima Cuo remarked, "To conquer Shu is to conquer Chu. Once Chu is eliminated, the country will be united."

King Huiwen of Qin decided to support Sima Cuo. In 316 BC, the Qin army conquered the Shu (state) and Ba (state) and successively expanded to the east in the following decades. In 278 BC, Qin general Bai Qi conquered Chu's capital city of Ying. Following the fall of Ying, the Chu government moved to various locations in the east until settling in Shouchun (in present-day Anhui province) in 241 BC.

At this critical moment when Chu was nearing annihilation, Qin set its strategic aims to central China, especially the powerful Zhao state. After a massive two year struggle, Bai Qi lured out, surrounded, isolated, forced the surrender of and massacred the main Zhao force of 400,000 men at the Battle of Changping. After 260 BC, all major obstacles to Qin dominance ended and it was a matter of time until China's unification.

Qin's conquest of Chu 225-223 BC[link]

Bronze bells from the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, dated 433 BC, State of Chu.

In 225 BC, only three kingdoms (states) remained independent: Chu, Yan and Qi. Chu had recovered significantly enough to mount serious resistance after their disastrous defeats to Qin in 278 BC and losing their centuries-old capital of Ying. Despite its territorial size, resources and manpower, Chu's fatal flaw was its largely corrupt government that mostly overturned the legalistic-style reforms of Wu Qi 150 years earlier, when Wu transformed Chu into the most powerful state with an area of almost half of all the states combined. Ironically, Wu Qi was from the same state (Wei) as Shang Yang, whose legalistic reforms turned Qin into an invincible war machine at this stage.

The king of Qin, Ying Zheng, decided to finally defeat the remnants of the Chu state located in Huaiyang. According to Records of the Grand Historian, Ying Zheng had first asked his great general Wang Jian how many men he needed, and Wang requested 600,000 men. Another Qin general, Li Xin, said 200,000 men would suffice. The first invasion was a disaster when 200,000 Qin troops were defeated by a counterattack and ambush of 500,000 Chu troops under Xiang Yan. Xiang lured the Qin troops into a trap by allowing them a few initial victories. During the counterattack, Chu troops burned two large Qin camps, defeating the Qin generals Li Xin and Meng Wu. In 224 BC, Wang Jian was recalled and finally accepted leadership of the second invasion force, requesting and receiving a force of 600,000 men. Wang Jian even asked for a lake, house and land for his descendants, responding to the Qin king's laughter that his extra requests will eventually pale once the empire is secured. The general continued to request luxury items and other commodities during the campaign. Wang Jian said to his dumbfounded officers that only by requesting more from the king, will the king have confidence in his general.

The Chu forces were confident in resisting a Qin invasion. However, Wang decided to dissipate Chu's morale by appearing inactive in his fortifications but secretly training his troops to fight in Chu territory. After a year, Chu decided to disband the bulk of its force levy due to inaction. Wang Jian then invaded and overran Huaiyang and the remaining Chu forces. Chu was finally conquered in 223 BC. During their peak sizes, both armies of Chu and Qin combined numbered over 1,000,000 troops, more than the massive Battle of Changping between Qin and Zhao 35 years before. The excavated personal letters of two Qin regular soldiers, Hei Fu (黑夫) and Jing (惊), tell of a protracted campaign in Huaiyang under general Wang Jian. Both soldiers wrote letters requesting supplies of clothing and money from home to sustain the long waiting campaign.^[10]

Chu under Qin rule and the Western Han period[link]

The Chu realm at its most powerful was vast with many ethnicities and various customs. Despite their diversity, the Chu people were united by a common respect for nature, the supernatural, their heritage and loyalty to their ruling house and nobility, epitomized by the famed Chu statesman-poet Qu Yuan and the Songs of Chu. The Chu populace in areas conquered by Qin openly ignored the stringent Qin laws and governance, which was recorded in the excavated bamboo slips of a Qin administrator in Hubei. Chu was one of the last states to fall, only 11 years before the death of Qin Shi Huang, and its people aspired of overthrowing the painful yoke of Qin rule and reestablishing the Chu state.

There was a famous saying that "Even if Chu has only three clans (or "families") left, it will still eventually destroy Qin." (楚雖三戶, 亡秦必楚).^[11] Historians believed that the "three clans" referred to the three biggest clans in Chu; Qu, Jing and Zhao (屈、景、昭). Hence, the quote was commonly interpreted as: "The people of Chu hate Qin so much such that even if there are only three clans left in Chu, their hatred is powerful enough to destroy Qin." (楚人怨秦, 雖三戶足以亡秦也).^[12]

After Qin Shi Huang's very short reign, peasants, soldiers and relatives of nobles and the ruling house of Chu quickly organized into violent insurrections against the repressive Qin governance, initializing the anti-Qin rebellion that spread to the rest of China. The people of Chu, whose culture was a naturalistic and Taoist one, were resentful of the forced labor under Qin, and folk poems recorded the mournful sadness of the Chu families of men who worked in the frigid north to construct the Great Wall of China.

The Daze Village Uprising against the Qin Dynasty erupted in 209 BC, under the leadership of a peasant leader from the former Chu state, Chen Sheng, who proclaimed himself "King of Zhangchu" (King of Rising Chu). The uprising was crushed by Qin forces but other rebellions started as well. One of the rebel leaders, Jing Ju, a native of Chu, proclaimed himself king of Chu. Jing Ju was defeated by Xiang Liang's rebel force and Xiang installed Xiong Xin, a descendant of the Chu royal family, on the throne of Chu, with the title of "King Huai II of Chu". In 206 BC, after the fall of the Qin Dynasty, Xiang Yu, nephew of Xiang Liang, proclaimed himself "Hegemon-King of Western Chu" and promoted King Huai II to the more honorific title of "Emperor Yi of Chu", but he had the emperor assassinated later. Xiang Yu engaged Liu Bang, another prominent rebel leader native to Chu, in a long power struggle for supremacy over China, known as the Chu-Han Contention. The conflict ended with victory for Liu Bang, who proceeded to found the Han Dynasty, while Xiang Yu committed suicide after his defeat.

The Chu people and customs were major influences in the new era of the Western Han Dynasty. Liu Bang immediately initialized the Taoist Wu wei governance, made peace with the Xiongnu through Heqin intermarriages, quickly rewarding his allies and giving them pseudo-fiefdoms, and allowing the population to rest from centuries of warfare. Eventually, by the time of Emperor Wu of Han, Chu folk culture in everyday lifestyles and Chu aesthetics were gradually amalgamated with state-sponsored Confucian ideals and Qin-styled centralized governance to create a distinct and unified "Chinese" culture, visible during the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Culture[link]

Based on archaeological finds, Chu's culture was initially quite similar to that of other Zhou states. Later on, Chu culture absorbed indigenous elements as the state expanded to the south and east, developing a distinct culture from the traditional Northern Zhou states.

Early Chu burial offerings consisted primarily of bronze vessels in the Zhou style. Later Chu burials, especially during the Warring States Period, featured distinct Chu burial objects, such as colorful lacquerware, iron and silk, accompanied by a reduction in bronze vessel offerings.

A common Chu motif was the vivid depiction of wildlife, mystical animals and natural imagery, such as snakes, mystical dragons, phoenixes, tigers and free-flowing clouds and serpent-like beings. Some archaeologists speculate that Chu may have had cultural connections to the vanished Shang dynasty, since many motifs used by Chu appeared earlier at Shang sites, such as motifs depicting serpent-tailed gods.

In terms of philosophy, the Chu culture and government strongly supported Taoism and native shaman folk beliefs supplemented with some Confucian ideals. The naturalistic and flowing art, the Songs of Chu, historical records (Records of the Grand Historian), excavated bamboo documents (Guodian bamboo slips) and other artifacts reveal heavy Daoist and native folk influence in Chu culture. The disposition to a spiritual, often pleasurable and decadent lifestyle and the confidence in the size of the Chu realm led to the inefficiency and eventual destruction of the Chu state to the ruthless Legalist state of Qin. Even though the Qin realm lacked the vast natural resources and waterways of Chu, the Qin government maximized its output and created a system of ruthless efficiency under the minister Shang Yang, installing a meritocracy focused solely on agricultural and military might.

Later Chu culture was known for its affinity for employing shamanistic rituals. Chu was also known for its distinct music; archaeological evidence shows that Chu music was annotated differently from Zhou music; Chu music also showed an inclination for using different performance ensembles, as well as unique instruments; In Chu, the se was preferred over the qin, while both instruments were equally preferred in the northern Zhou states.

Chu came into frequent contact with other peoples in the south, most notably the Ba, Yue and the Baiyue. Numerous burials and burial objects in the Ba and Yue styles were discovered throughout the territory of Chu, co-existing with Chu-style burials and burial objects.

The early rulers of the Han Dynasty romanticized the culture of Chu, sparking a renewed interest in Chu cultural elements such as the Songs of Chu. Evidence of heavy Chu cultural influence during the early years of Han Dynasty appears in Mawangdui. After the Han dynasty, some Confucian scholars considered Chu culture with distaste, criticizing the "lewd" music and shamanistic rituals associated with Chu culture.

Chu artisanship shows a mastery of form and color, especially the lacquer woodworks. Red and black pigmented lacquer were most used. Silk-weaving also attained a high level of craftsmanship, creating lightweight robes with flowing designs. These examples were preserved in waterlogged tombs (this preserved lacquerware, which is vulnerable to peel off in dry conditions) and coal/white clay sealed tombs (this preserved everything extremely well, since fine white clay is highly compressible and forms a tight seal). One such tomb at Mawangdui is a perfect example of a well-sealed tomb.

Chu used the difficult to read^{[to whom?]} script called "Birds and Worms" style, which was borrowed by the Wu and Yue states. It has an intricate design that embellishes the characters with motifs of animals, snakes, birds and insects. This is another representation of the Chu reverence of the natural world and its liveliness. Chu produced broad bronze swords that were similar to Wuyue swords, but not as intricate.

Chu was in the region of many rivers, so it created an efficient riverine boat transport system augmented by wagons. These are detailed in bronze tallies with gold inlay regarding trade regulations around the capital, Ying.

List of states annexed by Chu[link]

This list is not complete.

863 BC E; 704 BC Quan; 688-680 BC Shen; 684-680 BC Xi; 678 BC Deng; after 643 BC Dao; 623 BC Jiang; 622 BC Liao; after 622 BC Ruo; after 506 BC Sui; 512 BC Xu; 479 BC Chen; 445 BC Qi; 447 BC Cai; 431 BC Ju; after 418 BC Pi; 334 BC Yue; 249 BC Lu;

Rulers[link]

List of Chu rulers (House of Mi) according to the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji)^[5] and the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips:^[13]

Early rulers

1. Jilian (季連), married Bi Zhui (妣隹), granddaughter of Shang Dynasty king Pangeng; adopted Mi (芈) as ancestral name
2. Yingbo (𦀚伯), son of Jilian
3. Yuxiong (鬻熊), ruled 11th century BC: also called Xuexiong (穴熊), teacher of King Wen of Zhou
4. Xiong Li (熊麗), ruled 11th century BC: son of Yuxiong, first use of clan name Yan (酓), later written as Xiong (熊)
5. Xiong Kuang (熊狂), ruled 11th century BC: son of Xiong Li

Viscounts

1. Xiong Yi (熊繹), ruled 11th century BC: son of Xiong Kuang, enfeoffed by King Cheng of Zhou
2. Xiong Ai (熊艾), ruled circa 977 BC: son of Xiong Yi, defeated and killed King Zhao of Zhou
3. Xiong Dan (熊䵣), ruled circa 941 BC: son of Xiong Ai, defeated King Mu of Zhou
4. Xiong Sheng (熊勝), son of Xiong Dan
5. Xiong Yang (熊楊), younger brother of Xiong Sheng
6. Xiong Qu (熊渠), son of Xiong Yang, gave the title king to his three sons
7. Xiong Kang (熊康), son of Xiong Qu. Shiji says Xiong Kang died early without ascending the throne, but the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips recorded him as the successor of Xiong Qu.^[13]
8. Xiong Zhi (熊摯), son of Xiong Kang, abdicated due to illness^[14][13]
9. Xiong Yan (elder) (熊延), ruled ?–848 BC: younger brother of Xiong Zhi
10. Xiong Yong (熊勇), ruled 847–838 BC: son of Xiong Yan
11. Xiong Yan (younger) (熊嚴), ruled 837–828 BC: brother of Xiong Yong
12. Xiong Shuang (熊霜), ruled 827–822 BC: son of Xiong Yan
13. Xiong Xun (熊徇), ruled 821–800 BC: youngest brother of Xiong Shuang
14. Xiong E (熊咢), ruled 799–791 BC: son of Xiong Xun
15. Ruo'ao (若敖) (Xiong Yi 熊儀), ruled 790–764 BC: son of Xiong E
16. Xiao'ao (霄敖) (Xiong Kan 熊坎), ruled 763–758 BC: son of Ruo'ao
17. Fenmao (蚡冒) (Xiong Xuan 熊眴) ruled 757–741 BC: son of Xiao'ao

Kings

1. King Wu of Chu (楚武王) (Xiong Da 熊達), ruled 740–690 BC: either younger brother or younger son of Fenmao, murdered son of Fenmao and usurped the throne. Declared himself first king of Chu.
2. King Wen of Chu (楚文王) (Xiong Zi 熊貲), ruled 689–677 BC: son of King Wu, moved the capital to Ying
3. Du'ao (堵敖) or Zhuang'ao (莊敖) (Xiong Jian 熊艱), ruled 676–672 BC: son of King Wen, killed by younger brother, the future King Cheng
4. King Cheng of Chu (楚成王) (Xiong Yun 熊惲), ruled 671–626 BC: brother of Du'ao, defeated by the state of Jin at the Battle of Chengpu. Husband to Zheng Mao. He was murdered by his son, the future King Mu
5. King Mu of Chu (楚穆王) (Xiong Shangchen 熊商臣) ruled 625–614 BC: son of King Cheng
6. King Zhuang of Chu (楚莊王) (Xiong Lü 熊侶) ruled 613–591 BC: son of King Mu. Defeated the State of Jin at the Battle of Bi, and was recognized as a Hegemon.
7. King Gong of Chu (楚共王) (Xiong Shen 熊審) ruled 590–560 BC: son of King Zhuang. Defeated by Jin at the Battle of Chengpu.
8. King Kang of Chu (楚康王) (Xiong Zhao 熊招) ruled 559–545 BC: son of King Gong
9. Jia'ao (郟敖) (Xiong Yuan 熊員) ruled 544–541 BC: son of King Kang, murdered by his uncle, the future King Ling.
10. King Ling of Chu (楚靈王) (Xiong Wei 熊圍, changed to Xiong Qian 熊虔) ruled 540–529 BC: uncle of Jia'ao and younger brother of King Kang, overthrown by his younger brothers and committed suicide.
11. Zi'ao (訾敖) (Xiong Bi 熊比) ruled 529 BC (less than 20 days): younger brother of King Ling, committed suicide.
12. King Ping of Chu (楚平王) (Xiong Qiji 熊弃疾, changed to Xiong Ju 熊居) ruled 528–516 BC: younger brother of Zi'ao, tricked Zi'ao into committing suicide.
13. King Zhao of Chu (楚昭王) (Xiong Zhen 熊珍) ruled 515–489 BC: son of King Ping. The State of Wu captured the capital Ying and he fled to the State of Sui.
14. King Hui of Chu (楚惠王) (Xiong Zhang 熊章) ruled 488–432 BC: son of King Zhao. He conquered the states of Cai and Chen. The year before he died, Marquis Yi of Zeng died, so he made a commemorative bell and attended the Marquis's funeral at Suizhou.
15. King Jian of Chu (楚簡王) (Xiong Zhong 熊中) ruled 431–408 BC: son of King Hui
16. King Sheng of Chu (楚聲王) (Xiong Dang 熊當) ruled 407–402 BC: son of King Jian
17. King Dao of Chu (楚悼王) (Xiong Yi 熊疑) ruled 401–381 BC: son of King Sheng. He made Wu Qi chancellor and reformed the Chu government and army.
18. King Su of Chu (楚肅王) (Xiong Zang 熊臧) ruled 380–370 BC: son of King Dao
19. King Xuan of Chu (楚宣王) (Xiong Liangfu 熊良夫) ruled 369–340 BC: brother of King Su
20. King Wei of Chu (楚威王) (Xiong Shang 熊商) ruled 339–329 BC: son of King Xuan. Defeated and partitioned the Yue state with Qi state.
21. King Huai of Chu (楚懷王) (Xiong Huai 熊槐) ruled 328–299 BC: son of King Wei, was tricked and held hostage by the State of Qin until death in 296 BC
22. King Qingxiang of Chu (楚頃襄王) (Xiong Heng 熊橫) ruled 298–263 BC: son of King Huai. As a prince, one of his elderly tutors was buried at the site of the Guodian Chu Slips in Hubei. The Chu capital of Ying was captured and sacked by Qin.
23. King Kaolie of Chu (楚考烈王) (Xiong Yuan 熊元) ruled 262–238 BC: son of King Qingxiang. Moved capital to Shouchun.
24. King You of Chu (楚幽王) (Xiong Han 熊悍) ruled 237–228 BC: son of King Kaolie, possibly illegitimate son of Lord Chunshen (春申君)
25. King Ai of Chu (楚哀王) (Xiong You 熊猶 or Xiong Hao 熊郝) ruled 228 BC: brother of King You, killed by Fuchu
26. Fuchu (楚王負芻) (熊負芻 Xiong Fuchu) ruled 227–223 BC: brother of King Ai. Captured by Qin troops and deposed
27. Lord Changping (昌平君) ruled 223 BC (Chu conquered by Qin): brother of Fuchu, killed in battle against Qin

Pretenders

• Chen Sheng (陳勝) as King Yin of Chu (楚隠王) ruled 210–209 BC
• Jing Ju (景駒) as King Jia of Chu 楚假王 (Jia for fake) ruled 209–208 BC
• Xiong Xin (熊心) as Emperor Yi of Chu (楚義帝) (originally King Huai II 楚後懷王) ruled 208–206 BC: grandson or great-grandson of King Huai
• Xiang Yu (项羽) as Hegemon-King of Western Chu (西楚霸王) ruled 206–202 BC

Famous people[link]

• Poet Qu Yuan hailed from Chu. A government minister and a patriot, he had advocated uniting with the other states to combat the rising hegemon Qin, yet to no avail; he was banished by the king of Chu. According to tradition, such was his grief upon learning of the Qin invasion, he committed suicide in the Miluo River. The Duanwu Festival honors his death for his country.
• Huang Xie, known more commonly as Chunshen Jun (Lord of Chunshen), was one of the Four Lords of the Warring States.
• Xiang Yu, also known as "Hegemon-King of Western Chu"; he defeated the Qin armies at the Battle of Julu and was also a rival to Liu Bang. He was fearsome in the battlefield but his arrogance lead to his downfall.
• Han Dynasty founder Liu Bang. He was born in Pei County, in present-day Xuzhou, which is in northern Jiangsu. An intelligent statesman and ruler, he defeated Xiang Yu through his ability to attract and command talented generals and allies. After the formation of Western Han Dynasty, a blossoming of interest in Chu culture arose under Liu Bang's patronage.

Chu in astronomy[link]

There are two opinions about the representing star of Chu in Chinese astronomy. The opinions are :

• Chu is represented by the star Phi Capricorni in asterism Twelve States, Girl mansion.^[15] and also represented with the star Epsilon Ophiuchi in asterism Right Wall, Heavenly Market enclosure(see Chinese constellation).^[16]
• Chu is represented with the star 24 Capricorni (A Capricorni).^[17] and also represented with the star Epsilon Ophiuchi.^[18]

See also[link]

• Chu Ci
• Guodian Chu Slips
• Prime minister (Chu State)
• Song Yu
• Wu Qi
• Mawangdui
• Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng
• Chu Silk Manuscript
• Lord Chang Ping of Chu
• Tsinghua Chu Slips

References[link]

• Sima, Qian. Records of the Grand Historian (史記).
• Zuo Qiuming,Zuo Zhuan (左传）
• 张淑一 《先秦姓氏制度考察》
• Defining Chu: Image And Reality In Ancient China, Edited by Constance A. Cook and John S. Major, ISBN 0-8248-2905-0
• So, Jenny F., Music in the Age of Confucius, ISBN 0-295-97953-4

Further reading[link]

• Cook, Constance. Death in Ancient China: The Tale of One Man's Journey. Leiden: Brill, 2006 ISBN 90-04-15312-8

Steven Chu
12th United States Secretary of Energy
Incumbent
Assumed office January 21, 2009
President	Barack Obama
Deputy	Daniel Poneman
Preceded by	Samuel Bodman
Personal details
Born	(1948-02-28) February 28, 1948 (age 64) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Political party	Democratic Party[1][2]
Spouse(s)	Lisa Chu-Thielbar (Divorced) Jean Fetter (1997–present)
Alma mater	University of Rochester (BA, BS) University of California, Berkeley (PhD)
Website	Official website

Steven Chu (Chinese: 朱棣文; pinyin: Zhū Dìwén)^[3] is an American physicist and the 12th United States Secretary of Energy. Chu is known for his research at Bell Labs in cooling and trapping of atoms with laser light, which won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997, along with his scientific colleagues Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and William Daniel Phillips.^[3] At the time of his appointment as Energy Secretary, he was a professor of physics and molecular and cellular biology at the University of California, Berkeley and the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where his research was concerned primarily with the study of biological systems at the single molecule level.^[4] Previously, he had been a professor of physics at Stanford University. He is a vocal advocate for more research into renewable energy and nuclear power, arguing that a shift away from fossil fuels is essential to combating climate change.^[5][6][7] For example, he has conceived of a global "glucose economy", a form of a low-carbon economy, in which glucose from tropical plants is shipped around like oil is today.^[8]

Personal life[link]

Chu, a Chinese American,^[9] was born in St. Louis, Missouri, with ancestry from Taicang, in Jiangsu province,^[10] and graduated from Garden City High School.^[11] He received both a B.A. in mathematics and a B.S. in physics in 1970 from the University of Rochester. He went on to earn his Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1976, during which he was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.^[12]

Chu comes from a family of scholars. His father earned an advanced chemical engineering degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and taught at Washington University in St. Louis and Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, while his mother studied economics. His maternal grandfather, Dr. Shu-tian Li earned a Ph.D. degree from Cornell University and his mother's uncle, Li Shu-hua, a notable physical scientist, studied physics at the Sorbonne before they returned to China.^[3] His older brother Gilbert Chu is a professor and researcher of biochemistry and medicine at Stanford University. His younger brother, Morgan Chu, is a partner and the former Co-Managing Partner at the law firm Irell & Manella LLP.^[13] According to Chu, his two brothers and four cousins earned three M.D.s, four Ph.D.s, and a J.D. among them. In 1997, he married Jean Fetter, a British American and an Oxford-trained physicist.^[9] He has two sons, Geoffrey and Michael, from a previous marriage to Lisa Chu-Thielbar.^[3]

Beside his scientific career, Chu has also developed interest in various sports, including baseball, swimming and cycling. He taught himself tennis by reading a book in the eighth grade, and was a second-string substitute for the school team for three years. He also taught himself how to pole vault using bamboo poles obtained from the local carpet store.^[3] Chu said he never learned to speak Chinese because his parents always talked to him and his brothers in English, although he said (in 1997) that he was trying to learn Mandarin, believing that if he could stay in China for "at least six months", he would become fluent.^[9]

Career and research[link]

Steven Chu lecturing.

After obtaining his doctorate degree, Chu remained at Berkeley as a postdoctoral researcher for two years before joining Bell Labs, where he and his several co-workers carried out his Nobel Prize-winning laser cooling work. He left Bell Labs and became a professor of physics at Stanford University in 1987,^[3] serving as the chair of its Physics Department from 1990 to 1993 and from 1999 to 2001. While at Stanford, Chu, together with three other professors, initiated the Bio-X program, which focuses on interdisciplinary research in biology and medicine,^[14] and played an important role in securing the funding of the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology.^[15] In August 2004, Chu was appointed as the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory, and joined UC Berkeley's Department of Physics and Department of Molecular and Cell Biology.^[16] Under Chu's leadership, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has been a center of research into biofuels and solar energy technologies.^[5] He spearheaded the laboratory's Helios project, an initiative to develop methods of harnessing solar power as a source of renewable energy for transportation.^[16]

Chu's early research focused on atomic physics by developing laser cooling techniques and the magneto-optical trapping of atoms using lasers. He and his co-workers at Bell Labs developed a method of cooling atoms by employing six laser beams opposed in pairs and arranged in three directions at right angles to each other. Trapping atoms with this method allows scientists to study individual atoms with great accuracy. Additionally, the technique can be used to construct an atomic clock with great precision.^[17]

While at Stanford, Chu's research interests expanded into biological physics and polymer physics at the single molecular level. In the field of biological physics, he studied enzyme activity and protein and RNA folding using techniques such as fluorescence resonance energy transfer, atomic force microscopy, and optical tweezers. Chu's research in polymer physics made use of individual molecules of DNA to study polymer dynamics and phase transitions associated with these dynamics. He further continued his research in atomic physics as well, developing new methods of laser cooling and trapping.^[18]

Energy and climate change[link]

Chu has been a vocal advocate for more research into renewable energy and nuclear power, arguing that a shift away from fossil fuels is essential to combat global warming.^[5][6][7] He also spoke at the 2009 and 2011 National Science Bowl about the importance of America's science students, emphasizing their future role in environmental planning and global initiative. Chu said that a typical coal power plant emits 100 times more radiation than a nuclear power plant.^[19]

Chu warns that global warming could wipe out California farms within the century.^[20]

He has joined the Copenhagen Climate Council,^[21] an international collaboration between business and science, established to create momentum for the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

Chu was instrumental in submitting a winning bid for the Energy Biosciences Institute, a BP-funded $500 million multi-disciplinary collaborative project between UC Berkeley, the Lawrence Berkeley Lab and the University of Illinois. This sparked controversy on the Berkeley campus, where some fear the alliance could harm the school’s reputation for academic integrity.^{[22][23][24][25]}

Based partially on his research at UC Berkeley, Chu has speculated that a global "glucose economy", a form of a low-carbon economy, could replace the current system. In the future, special varieties of high-glucose plants would be grown in the tropics, processed, and then the chemical would be shipped around like oil is today to other countries. The St. Petersburg Times has stated that Chu's concept "shows vision on the scale needed to deal with global warming."^[8]

Chu has also advocated making the roofs of buildings and the tops of roads around the world white or other light colors, which could possibly reflect a lot of sunlight back into space and significantly mitigate global warming. The effect would be, according to Chu, similar to taking every car in the world off the roads for about 11 years.^[8] Samuel Thernstrom, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and co-director of the AEI Geoengineering Project, expressed support in The American and remarked "Chu has done the nation a service" since "the idea has an important role to play in the climate debate."^[26]

Honors and awards[link]

Steven Chu is a co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997 for the "development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light", shared with Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and William Daniel Phillips. He is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and the Academia Sinica, and is a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and of the Korean Academy of Science and Engineering.^[27] He was also awarded the Humboldt Prize by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in 1995.

Dr. Chu received an honorary doctorate from Boston University when he was the keynote speaker at the 2007 commencement exercises.^[28] He is a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council.^[29] Diablo magazine, based east of Berkeley in Walnut Creek, California, honored Dr. Chu with one of its annual Eco Awards in its April 2009 issue,^[30] shortly after he was nominated as energy secretary. Washington University in St. Louis and Harvard University awarded him an honorary doctorate during their 2010 and 2009 commencement exercises, respectively.^[31][32] He was awarded an honorary degree from Yale University during its 2010 commencement. ^[33] He was also awarded an honorary degree from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, the same institution at which his father taught for several years, during its 2011 commencement. ^[34]

Secretary of Energy[link]

Steven Chu meeting with President Barack Obama on February 5, 2009.

His nomination to be Secretary of Energy was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 20, 2009.^[35] On January 21, 2009, Chu was sworn in as Secretary of Energy in the Barack Obama administration. Chu is the first person appointed to the US Cabinet after having won a Nobel Prize.^[36] He is also the second Chinese American to be a member of the US Cabinet after Elaine Chao.^[37]

His scientific work continues, however, including a paper on gravitational redshift published in Nature (463, 926–929) in Feb 2010^[38] and a second one co-authored in July 2010.^[39][40]

Under his leadership in 2010 the Department of Energy updated the water usage regulations on toilets and showers.^[41]

In March 2011 Chu said that federal regulators should not delay approving construction licenses for planned U.S. nuclear power plants because of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. "I think those things can proceed," Chu told reporters on Capitol Hill, referring to construction license applications pending at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.^[42]

In August 2011 Chu praised an advisory panel’s report on curbing the environmental risks of natural-gas development. Chu responded to the panel’s report on hydraulic fracturing, the controversial drilling method that is enabling a U.S. gas boom while bringing fears of groundwater contamination and other harms along with it. The report called for greater data collection of air and water data, as well as “rigorous” air pollution standards and mandatory disclosure of chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process, among other steps. “The report ... recommends a range of tools for implementing these measures, including regulation, continuous improvement in best practices by industry, and ongoing research and development,” Chu said in a statement. “I will be working closely with my colleagues in the Administration to review the recommendations and to chart a path for continued development of this vital energy resource in a safe manner,” he added.^[43]

See also[link]

	Government of the United States portal
	Biography portal
	Energy portal
	Asian Americans portal

• United States Department of Energy
• Timeline of low-temperature technology
• Energy policy of the United States

References[link]