KangjuKangju (; Eastern Han Chinese: khɑŋ-kɨɑ < *khâŋ-ka (c. 140 BCE)) was the Chinese name of a kingdom in Central Asia during the first half of the first millennium CE. The name Kangju is now generally regarded as a variant or mutated form of the name Sogdiana. According to contemporaneous Chinese sources, Kangju was the second most powerful state in Transoxiana, after the Yuezhi. Its people, known in Chinese as the Kāng (康), were evidently of Indo-European origins, spoke an Eastern Iranian language, and had a semi-nomadic way of life.
DayuanDayuan (or Tayuan; ; Middle Chinese dâiC-jwɐn < LHC: dɑh-ʔyɑn) is the Chinese exonym for a country that existed in Ferghana valley in Central Asia, described in the Chinese historical works of Records of the Grand Historian and the Book of Han. It is mentioned in the accounts of the Chinese explorer Zhang Qian in 130 BCE and the numerous embassies that followed him into Central Asia. The country of Dayuan is generally accepted as relating to the Ferghana Valley, controlled by the Hellenistic polis Alexandria Eschate (modern Khujand, Tajikistan), which can probably be understood as "Greco-Fergana city-state" in English language.
NanyueNanyue (), was an ancient kingdom founded by the Chinese general Zhao Tuo, whose family (known in Vietnamese as the Triệu dynasty) continued to rule until 111 BC. Nanyue's geographical expanse covered the modern Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, Macau, southern Fujian and central to northern Vietnam. Zhao Tuo, then Commander of Nanhai Commandery of the Qin dynasty, established Nanyue in 204 BC after the collapse of the Qin dynasty. At first, it consisted of the commanderies of Nanhai, Guilin, and Xiang.
Shu (kingdom)Shu (; Sichuanese Pinyin: Su^2; former romanization: Shuh), also known as Ancient Shu () in historiography, was an ancient kingdom in what is now Sichuan Province. It was based on the Chengdu Plain, in the western Sichuan basin with some extension northeast to the upper Han River valley. To the east was the Ba tribal confederation. Further east down the Han and Yangtze rivers was the State of Chu. To the north over the Qinling Mountains was the State of Qin. To the west and south were tribal peoples of little military power.
SuzhouSuzhou (suːˈdʒoʊ; ; Suzhounese: sou1 tseu1 səu˦ tsøʏ˦, Mandarin: su1.zhou1), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the most populous city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce. Administratively, Suzhou is a prefecture-level city with a population of 6,715,559 in the city proper, and a total resident population of 12,748,262 as of the 2020 census in its administrative area.
Wu (shaman)Wu () is a Chinese term translating to "shaman" or "sorcerer", originally the practitioners of Chinese shamanism or "Wuism" (巫教 wū jiào). The glyph ancestral to modern is first recorded in bronze script, where it could refer to shamans or sorcerers of either sex. Modern Mandarin wu (Cantonese mouh) continues a Middle Chinese mju or mjo. The Old Chinese reconstruction is uncertain, given as *mywo or as *myag, the presence of a final velar -g or -ɣ in Old Chinese being uncertain.
Wu weiWu wei () is an ancient Chinese concept literally meaning "inexertion", "inaction", or "effortless action". Wu wei emerged in the Spring and Autumn period. With early literary examples in Confucianism, it is an important concept in Chinese statecraft and Taoism. It was most commonly used to refer to an ideal form of government, including the behavior of the emperor. Describing a state of personal harmony, free-flowing spontaneity and laissez-faire, it generally also more properly denotes a state of spirit or mind, and in Confucianism accords with conventional morality.
Ethnic groups in Chinese historyEthnic groups in Chinese history refer to various or presumed ethnicities of significance to the history of China, gathered through the study of Classical Chinese literature, Chinese and non-Chinese literary sources and inscriptions, historical linguistics, and archaeological research. Among the difficulties in the study of ethnic groups in China are the relatively long periods of time involved, together with the large volume of literary and historical records which have accompanied the history of China.
Emperor Xuan of HanEmperor Xuan of Han (Liu Xun 劉詢, né Liu Bingyi 劉病已; born 91 BC – 10 January 48 BC) was the tenth emperor of the Chinese Han dynasty, reigning from 74 to 48 BC, and was one of the only four Western Han emperors to receive a temple name (along with Emperor Gaozu, Emperor Wen and Emperor Wu). During his reign, the Han dynasty prospered economically and militarily became a regional superpower, and was considered by many to be the peak period of the entire Han history.
SinosphereThe Sinosphere, also known as the East Asian cultural sphere, or the Sinic world, encompasses multiple countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia that historically were heavily influenced by Chinese culture, norms and traditions. According to academic consensus, the Sinosphere comprises four entities: Greater China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Other definitions may include Mongoliaand Singapore, largely due to limited historical Chinese influences or increasing modern-day Chinese diaspora.
