Ancient Shu State Narration

Author: Xiao Yi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-11-01
Features: The title of "The Narration of Ancient Shu" is quite catchy. I think, let's start by explaining the state form of Shu. Mr. Su Bingqi once pointed out that the origin of Chinese civilization follows a "trilogy": from ancient culture (primitive culture) to ancient cities (early urban culture in the sense of cities and towns) to ancient states (stable, independent political entities higher than tribes). This roughly corresponds to the period of the Ba-Shu civilization's origin and formation, specifically the Baodun Culture period on the Chengdu Plain from 4500 to 3800 years ago. Moving forward from ancient states, multiple ancient states form regional states, and the expansion of regional states leads to empires. This is a "trilogy" of state form development, representing three stages of the typical path of national development. This roughly corresponds to the period from the Sanxingdui Culture to the Twelve Bridge Culture (Jinsha Site) and then to the early Warring States period Ba-Shu culture of the Kaiping Wang clan. From the legendary ancestors of ancient Shu—Cancong, Baigan, Yufu, Duyu, and the five ancestors of Kaiping—it can be said that the formation of the Shu regional state occurred around the time of Duyu. During the Duyu period, the regional state "used the Baoxia pass as the front gate, the Xiong'er Lingguan pass as the back gate, the Yulei and Emei mountains as the city walls, and the Jiang, Qian, Mian, and Tuo rivers as lakes and marshes. It raised livestock in the Wenshan Mountains and used the southern part of the Central Plains as gardens," which already formed a large regional state stretching north to Hanzhong and south to the southern part of the Central Plains. From the fact that Duyu was revered as the Emperor of Hope and Kaiping as the Emperor of Cancong, it can at least be said that it had already reached the eve of imperial formation. Unfortunately, this developmental process was interrupted by the Qin state. The later Qin state only entered the ancient state during the reign of Qin Xianggong and only entered the regional state during the reign of Qin Muhong, far behind the Shu people. In the late Warring States period, Qin conquered Ba-Shu and used the land of abundance as its base to achieve the unification of China. During the Qin Shi Huang era, it became an empire.