The State of Xu () (also called Xu Rong (徐戎) or Xu Yi (徐夷) by its enemies) was an independent Huaiyi state of the Chinese Bronze Age that was ruled by the Ying family (嬴) and controlled much of the Huai River valley for at least two centuries. It was centered in northern Jiangsu and Anhui. An ancient but originally minor state that already existed during the late Shang dynasty, Xu was subjugated by the Western Zhou dynasty around 1039 BC, and was gradually sinified from then on.
Ju () was a Dongyi state in modern Shandong province during the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BCE) of ancient China. The rulers of Ju had the surname of Ji 己. According to the Shuowen Jiezi, "Ju" means taro or a wooden tool. It was weakened by wars with the states of Chu and Qi. Eventually the state was annexed by Qi, and the City of Ju became a major stronghold of Qi.
The Yueshi culture () was an archaeological culture in the Shandong region of eastern China, dated from 1900 to 1500 BC. It spanned the period from the Late Neolithic to the early Bronze Age. In the Shandong area, it followed the Longshan culture period (c. 2600–1900 BC) and was later replaced by the Erligang culture (identified with the historical Shang dynasty). Yueshi culture sites have been found in Shandong, eastern Henan, and north Jiangsu province. It is named after the type site at Dongyueshi (East Yueshi) Village in Pingdu, Shandong.
Qufu ( qv1.fu4; ) is a city in southwestern Shandong province, East China. It is located about south of the provincial capital Jinan and northeast of the prefectural seat at Jining. Qufu has an area of 815 square kilometers, and a total population of 653,000 inhabitants, of which, 188,000 live in urban areas. Qufu is best known as the hometown of Confucius, who is traditionally believed to have been born at nearby Mount Ni. The city contains numerous historic palaces, temples and cemeteries.
The Shandong (Shantung) Peninsula or Jiaodong (Chiaotung) Peninsula is a peninsula in Shandong in eastern China, between the Bohai Sea to the north and the Yellow Sea to the south. The latter name refers to the east and Jiaozhou. The waters bordering the peninsula are Laizhou Bay to the northwest, which opens into the Bohai Sea to the north, which in turn passes through the Bohai Strait to the northeast into the Yellow Sea to the east and south.
Gojoseon ( ko.dʑo.sʌn), also called Joseon ( tɕo.sʌn), was the first kingdom on the Korean Peninsula. According to Korean mythology, the kingdom was established by the legendary founder named Dangun. Gojoseon possessed the most advanced culture in the Korean Peninsula at the time and was an important marker in the progression towards the more centralized states of later periods. The addition of Go (고, ), meaning "ancient", is used in historiography to distinguish the kingdom from the Joseon dynasty founded in 1392 CE.
Zheng (dʒɛŋ; ; Old Chinese: *[d]reng-s) was a vassal state in China during the Zhou Dynasty (1046–221 BCE) located in the centre of ancient China in modern-day Henan Province on the North China Plain about east of the royal capital at Luoyang. It was the most powerful of the vassal states at the beginning of the Eastern Zhou (771–701 BCE), and was the first state to clearly establish a code of law in its late period of 543 BCE. Its ruling house had the ancestral name Ji (姬), making them a branch of the Zhou royal house, who held the rank of Bo (伯), a kinship term meaning "elder".
Chu (, Hanyu Pinyin: Chǔ, Old Chinese: *s-r̥aʔ), or Ch'u in Wade–Giles romanization, was a Zhou dynasty vassal state. Their first ruler was King Wu of Chu in the early 8th century BCE. Chu was located in the south of the Zhou heartland and lasted during the Spring and Autumn period. At the end of the Warring States period it was destroyed by the Qin in 223 BCE during the Qin's wars of unification. Also known as Jing (荊) and Jingchu (荊楚), Chu included most of the present-day provinces of Hubei and Hunan, along with parts of Chongqing, Guizhou, Henan, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai.
The nobility of China represented the upper strata of aristocracy in premodern China, acting as the ruling class until 1000 , and remaining a significant feature of the traditional social structure until the end of the imperial period. The concepts of hereditary sovereignty, peerage titles, and noble families existed as early as the semi-mythical and early historical periods, but the systems of enfeoffment and establishment only developed in the Zhou dynasty, by the end of which a clear delineation of ranks had emerged.
Qi, or Ch'i in Wade–Giles romanization, was a regional state of the Zhou dynasty in ancient China, whose rulers held titles of Hou (侯), then Gong, before declaring themselves independent Kings. Its capital was Linzi, located in present-day Shandong. Qi was founded shortly after the Zhou conquest of Shang, 1046 . Its first monarch was Jiang Ziya (Lord Tai; 1046–1015 ), minister of King Wen and a legendary figure in Chinese culture. His family ruled Qi for several centuries before it was replaced by the Tian family in 386 .
