Yue (state)

History

A specific kingdom, which had been known as the "Yue Guo" (越國) in modern Zhejiang, was not mentioned until it began a series of wars against its northern neighbor Wu during the late 6th century BC. According to the Records of the Grand Historian and Discourses of the States, the Yue are descended from Wuyu, the son of Shao Kang, the sixth king of the Xia dynasty.

With help from Wu's enemy Chu, Yue won after several decades of conflict. The famous Yue King Goujian destroyed and annexed Wu in 473 BC. Yue then inherited Wu's good relations with Jin, and the two became allies. In 441 BC, Jin and Yue invaded Qi, whereupon Qi erected the Long Wall to prevent Yue attacks from southern Shandong.

Yue reached their apex in 404 BC, when they, along with their ally of Jin, invaded Qi and Lu. Qi and Lu made peace with Yue, with Qi ceding territory and allowing Yue to march triumphantly through the Lu capital. The Marquis of Lu drove King Yi's carriage, with the Marquis of Qi accompanying him.

During the reign of Wuqiang (無彊), six generations after Goujian, Yue was partitioned by Chu and Qi in 333 BC.

Yue was famous for the quality of its metalworking, particularly its swords. Examples include the extremely well-preserved Swords of Goujian and Zhougou.

The Yue state appears to have been a largely indigenous political development in the lower Yangtze. This region corresponds with that of the old corded-ware Neolithic, and it continued to be one that shared a number of practices, such as tooth extraction, pile building, and cliff burial. Austronesian speakers also still lived in the region down to its conquest and sinification beginning about 240 BC.

What set the Yue apart from other Sinitic states of the time was their possession of a navy. Yue culture was distinct in its practice of naming boats and swords. A Chinese text described the Yue as a people who used boats as their carriages and oars as their horses.