The Wu-Yue conflict, what it meant to China--and the world

The Wu was a kingdom that appeared in the Spring-Autumn period of the Waring States. It is located south of the Yangtze, along the shoreline facing the East China sea, in an area what is now known as parts of the Zhejiang province, including Shanghai and Ningbo. Originally "barbarians", populated by an aborigine people, the Wu became sinicized at around this period.

Similarly the Yue was a kingdom south of today's Zhejiang province and north of Fujian. It was populated by southern aboringines, which by the Warring States period, became sinicized.

As many of the fractured states that appeared and fought in the Warring States period, the conflict between the Wu and the Yue were inevitable, though happening in a smaller scale compared to the conflicts between Chu, Zhao and Qin. The Wu, with its major victories over the much larger Chu kingdom and the Qi kingdom, has cemented its place as among the most powerful rising powers of the mainland. The Yue on the hand, was becoming a contentious upstart. AS the leaders of the Yue and the Wu were not directly descended from the Chou Dynasty, they were not true dukes or Marquis, but true kings.

But in the space of two generations, a series of near legendary personalities in this conflict would leave lasting marks on history, culture and psyche of China and Chinese around the world. The appearance of Sun Tzu as the adviser and general to king of Wu alone would have cemented Wu's role in history alone, as it is the strategy and tactics of Sun Tzu that were instrumental in the Wu's victories over the numerically superior Chu state. But there was more to this, the personalities and the stories behind the kings of Wu and Yue that would make their stories commonly told in all schools in China over over two millennia till today. It is probably the closest thing in the East to King Arthur's legend, and even more intriguing, it was all probably ground in some historical facts.

The Wu and the Yue were legendary for their swordmakers, and here, is how China's most legendary swordmakers, Ou Yezi and his pupil Ganjiang made their mark. Between the two, ten legendary Jian were made, three for the King of Chu, five for the King of Yue, and two for the King of Wu. Here lies one of the stories behind the, the Taia. A combined army from the states of Jin and Zheng held the Chu captial in a state of siege. In the brink of defeat, the king of Chu held the Taia up high and this managed rouse his troops for one final desperate counterattack that succeeded in breaking the siege. Asked the king to his adviser how wa this possible, Feng Huzi replied, "when the spirit of a great sword combines with the spirit of a great king, the miraculous is possible."

Today, Longyuan, the place where Ou Yezi worked, is legendary in all of China for its sword making, and today, families still continue to uphold that tradition.

It all begins with one of the most famous assassinations in all of China's history. Prince Guang, tired of his cousin King Liu, hatched a plan where he hid a sword inside the belly of a fish that was presented as dinner to the king. The sword was said to be one of those made by Ou Yezi to the King of Yue and given by the King of Yue to him, and the inspiration of the idea, the Yuchang Jian (fish intestine). King Liu is said to have worn three layers of armor and yet the sword still managed to pierce through. After Prince Guang eliminated his cousin, he becomes the King of Wu, the one known as Holu.

As King Holu, Guang would later pick a man to be his adviser and general, a man that would become known as Sun Tzu. But it was not without the reluctance of Sun Tzu and some blood being shed---the famous story of the 180 concubines.

King Holu keeps a mighty hareem of 180 concubines. Sun Tzu wanted to know how much authority and thrust the king will give him to show how he can whip the kingdom and the army into shape with absolute discipline. The king gave him the authority to do what he wished. Sun Tzu ordered the 180 concubines to come out and had them lined up in military formations with the head concubines leading each company.

Sun Tzu ordered the concubines to turn left, and the concubines did was to giggle. He ordered them to turn right, and all they did was to giggle. So in order to impose discipline, he ordered two of the head concubines to be executed on the spot.

The King of Holu was horrified and begged Sun Tzu to change his decision. Sun Tzu said, if you renegated on your decision and the authority you gave upon me, what will the army and the rest of the kingdom think of you? The King cannot assail this logic, and sadly allowed the sentenced to be executed. Bloodied with two beheaded concubines on the floor, when Sun Tzu gave the next set of orders, the concubines performed their orders with the rightmost military precision.

The act did not endear Sun Tzu personally with the King, who is unhappy to have two of his favorite concubines dead, but he knew he had the right man for the job.

Though famed in the annals, one cannot say that King Holu was a virtuous man. One of the legendary jian given to him by the King of Yue, the Zhanlu, was said to have "disappeared", because it considered the King of Wu not to be a virtuous man, and instead, magically appeared in the bedside of the King of Chu.

Despite the gifts of swords given to the Wu by the King of Yue, the Wu and the Yue were embroiled in war, which the Wu came ahead victorious. Although the king Goujian was taken prisoner, King Holu died soon enough due to his wounds in battle. Holu's son, Fu Chai, spared the life of Goujian and his family so long as Goujian and the state of Yue are pledged to become vassals of the Wu.

The terms allowed Goujian to remain a king, though vassal of the Wu, and retain the lifestyle of a king. However, Goujian vowed he would avenge his and his kingdom's humiliation secretly. A life of kingly luxury would have softened his edge and resolve, so Goujian took steps to remind himself daily of this humiliation. Everyday, he took bitter bile to eat, and slept in the stables with the animals and will continue to do so until he and his kingdom's honor was restored.

While he remained a vassal, Goujian plotted. There are legends and stories how he prepared against the Wu.

One of them involved the legendary Maiden of Yue. Her name remains unknown to this day, for she is only referred to as Yue Nu. She was a legendary swordswoman and Goujian appealed for her to teach him her skills and techniques, so he can impart these to his army. Today, the Maiden is considered the mother founder of all Jian based martial arts. In the ballad of Hua Mulan, Mulan credits the Maiden as one of her inspirations.

Another legend and story involves that of the maiden Xi Shi, now regarded as one of the four legendary beauties of China. Goujian and his adviser plots a scheme to send the most beautiful women of all of Yue as gifts to the king of Wu. The King Fuchai was delighted with the gifts and was particularly smitten by the beauty of Xi Shi. He begins to spend more and more time with the women, and neglecting his duties of state. Xi Shi acted as a spy for Goujian and did her worst to slide the Wu and their king into degeneration. This became one of China's most celebrated stories of spies and tragic love affairs.

According to one story, Sun Tzu was unhappy with the state of affairs and complained about the king and his concubines, that they should be removed and the orders of the state be put back in order. Fuchai would have none of this and had Sun Tzu executed.

(Lesson: Seduction > Strategy)

So as Wu languished, Yue strengthened till the day was right. Goujian stormed the Wu capital and defeated the Wu king. Fuchai, regretful of all the things he did and neglected, committed suicide. With that, the Wu state was no more, and will not be until the end of the Han Dynasty where it resurrected in one of the Three Kingdoms.

These were all stories, near-legends to impart lessons to all Chinese. But these stories have become one step closer to being fact, with a series of archeological discoveries, all now Class A national treasures of the People's Republic.

The first is the Sword of Goujian, with markings engraved on the sword pertaining to the king that says "Made for Goujian, King of Yue for his Peronsal Use". Strangely enough it was unearthed in Hubei, where in ancient times, the kingdom of Chu would have resided, not Yue. While the location of its discovery gave some experts doubts, it seems to coincide with the story with the disappearance of the Zhanlu sword given by Goujian to Holu, and the sword suddenly appearing in the hands of the King of Chu. The second is the Spear of Fuchai, which is said to have been casted for the King of Wu, and the third is the Sword of Guang. It is interesting that the handle o the Sword of Guang has the same pattern of gem inlays as the Sword of Goujian. The inscription of the last sword says "Wu King Guang sword, used in the war against the people of the Yue Kingdom".

It is interesting that the story of the death of Sun Tzu and the Fall of
Wu have been preserved throughout China, even in legendary form, to this day. Especially considering that so much of the "main action", so to speak, was occurring to the north and west in the centuries leading up to the unification of China under the forces of Qin (even if the latter had formerly been considered something of a backwater). It is even more remarkable, given early Qin dominance of the then-newly unified China, that Sun Tzu (who lived centuries before Qin Shi Huangdi) and the story of the Kingdom of Wu have assumed such a stature in Chinese (not to mention world) history and military thought.

The Yue themselves would be conquered the Kingdom of Chu. Perhaps that provides an explanation why the Sword of Goujian is found in Hebei, which would have been the site of the Chu kingdom. By the time on Qin Shi Huangdi, the manual Sun Tzu wrote would have been well disseminated, even read by Huangdi himself, and the Goujian stories already popular stories.

it is not clear if this Yue kingdom has connections with the Yuet people, though likely to be. The Yuet people would eventually settle south of China, and the southern part of their territories would become a separate kingdom called Nam Yuet or Southern Yuet. Reversed, this is the name of Vietnam.

Whatever other technical distinctions the Yue had, they were responsible for inventing wet style rice paddy cultivation that spread from anywhere to early Japan to Vietnam. This suggests that the Yue or Yuet were among those that traveled to early Japan.

The Wu would resurrect after the fall of the Han to become one of the primary combatants in the Three Kingdoms era. The most notable clan or family name of the Wu people is the Sun. This is where Sun Tzu came from. Many of the famous leaders of the Wu in the Three Kingdoms period also had the Sun surname, like Sun Quan and Sun Ce. The Sun name still carries to this day, from this region. The founder of the Republic, Sun Yat Sen is also of this region.

Unlike other of the Warring States, the dialects of the Wu and the Yue somehow survived to this very day, as the Wu or Shanghainese dialect, and the Yue as the Minnan or Hoklo or Hokkien dialect.

The Wu kept its fame for swordmaking. Ganjiang remains a patron for Japanese swordmakers as late as the 12th Century, and early Japanese annals refer highly to the swords from Go, which is the Japanese cognate for Wu.

Wiki has an interesting entry for Wu.



"The first Wu Kingdom was united by Taibo during the Spring and Autumn Period. Originally considered a barbarian state, the people of the Wu Kingdom became Sinicized during the Warring States Period. Ambassadoral visits to Japan by the later Northern Chinese dynasties Wei and Jin Dynasty (265-420) recorded that the Wō people of Japan claimed to be descendants of the Grand Count (Tàibó) of the Kingdom of Wu.[1] Historical records also show that the ancient Japanese had similar lifestyles and customs as pre-Sinicized inhabitants of the Wu Kingdom, including tattooing, ritual teeth-pulling, and baby-carrying on backs. The Japanese tradition of eating raw fish is common in the Wu area of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, as well as in Manchuria. Tattooing examples are found on Haniwa statues with red paint on hands and faces. However, the Japanese language can be directly linked neither to the Wu dialect nor to any other Chinese language. It is probable that the Japanese language may have originated from a mixture of various ancient languages, including ancient Korean-related languages, native languages in Japan, and ancient Chinese dialects.[citation needed]"

What the author of this article did not realize is that indeed there are direct links in the Japanese language and the Wu language. This is most particularly that the first layer of Chinese language importation to Japan was of Wu origin.

Japanese are noted for multiple readings of the same Kanji, although in Chinese language, the same character now only has one reading. The multiple readings of a character are due to Onyomi (chinese reading) and kunyomi (native Japanese reading). Thus for example, the character of a person, which would be ren for Chinese, would be for Japanese, hito for kunyomi, nin and jin for onyomi. In here you can see that even onyomi has multiple readings.

Why? Thats because chinese language wasn't introduced to Japan in one single spurt but in multiple waves. There are three known waves, classed now as Go-On, Kan-On and Tou-On. Go-On or Go Onyomi refers to the first wave of readings that were introduced by Wu migrants to Japan. This is where readings such as -nin would come from, and in fact, that's how person is still pronounced today in Wu dialect. The second wave is Kan-On or Han Onyomi, and this is the second wave of readings that came from the Tang Dynasty, with no less than the Japanese emperor sending scholars to the capital of the Tang Dynasty in Xian/Chang'an to learn the language. Chinese scholars that went to Japan also felt a need to rid of the "improper" Wu originated corruption and teach the proper Tang dynasty dialect. Thus the reading of "-jin" is Kan-On. The third wave, Tou-On have a much more recent nature, often Ming to post Ming, e,g. words like "ramen".

The habit of chestnut snacking in Japan can be attributed to the Wu or Go people.

A series of islands in Southern Kyushu, called the Goto archipelago, is known as an ancient and traditional pathway that links and imports Chinese culture to Japan. No surprise it is named for the Wu.

thats weird story, sun tzu retired rather than beheaded, and it was the king of Wu that asked sun tzu to take command of the concubines, since he does not trust sun tzu's ability. also it lacks the reference to several people that is essential to the plot, Wu ZiXu was missing and he was more important to the king of Wu then Sun Tzu, and also the two advisors wen zhong, fan zi for the king of yue were missing. this whole story was based more on legend rather than historical fact.

There is no story, only a series of legends that may or may not be true and often modified.

Fan Zi is the adviser to Goujian that claims to put the idea of seducing the King Fuchai with women.

yea but still there is a whole chapter from the grand history on yue, and both advisors appeared in it.