Dai (Spring And Autumn Period)
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Dai was a
state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * '' Our ...
which existed in northern
Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and ...
during the
Spring and Autumn Period The Spring and Autumn period was a period in Chinese history from approximately 770 to 476 BC (or according to some authorities until 403 BC) which corresponds roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou period. The period's name derives fr ...
of
Chinese history The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapte ...
. Its
eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...
ous capital was located north of the Zhou Kingdom in what is now Yu County. It was apparently established by the people known to the ancient Chinese as the Baidi or "White Barbarians". They traded livestock and other goods between
Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the former ...
and the Zhou states prior to their conquest by the Zhao clan of Jin.


Name

''Dài'' (
pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
) and ''Tai'' ( Wade-Giles) are
romanizations Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...
of the modern Mandarin way of reading the
character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
, which is usually a preposition meaning "for", a
verb A verb () is a word ( part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descr ...
meaning "to stand for" or "represent", or a
noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Organism, Living creatures (including people ...
meaning "era".. Its original sense in
Old Chinese Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones from around 12 ...
was "to replace", but the kingdom's name was a transcription of the capital's native name;
linguistic reconstruction Linguistic reconstruction is the practice of establishing the features of an unattested ancestor language of one or more given languages. There are two kinds of reconstruction: * Internal reconstruction uses irregularities in a single language ...
suggests its
Old Chinese Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones from around 12 ...
pronunciation would have been something like /*lˤək-s/.. The northern Rong, wiped out by Zhao BC, were also known as the "Dai Rong" (). The unofficial history compendium Lost Book of Zhou mentioned the "Dai Di" () among the northern neighbors of
Shang The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and f ...
Chinese.''Lost Book of Zhou'
"Explaiming the King's Gatherings"
quote: "正北空同、大夏、莎車、姑他、旦略、豹胡、代翟、匈奴、樓煩、月氏、孅犁、其龍、東胡,請令以橐駝、白玉、野馬、騊駼、駃騠、良弓為獻。"


History

The
White Di The Di or Beidi (Northern Di) were various ethnic groups who lived north of the Chinese (''Huaxia'') realms during the Zhou dynasty. Although initially described as nomadic, they seem to have practiced a mixed pastoral, agricultural, and hunting ...
(''Baidi'') were reckoned as "Northern Barbarians" by the Zhou, although they possessed towns and organized states on the Chinese model like Dai and
Zhongshan Zhongshan (; ) is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, China. As of the 2020 census, the whole city with 4,418,060 inhabitants is now part of the Guangzhou–Shenzhen conurbation with 65,565,622 ...
.. The White Di were first recorded living in land west of the
Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth-longest river system in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan ...
in what is now northern
Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), Ning ...
. They migrated east of the
Ordos Loop The Ordos Plateau, also known as the Ordos Basin or simply the Ordos, is a highland sedimentary basin in northwest China with an elevation of , and consisting mostly of land enclosed by the Ordos Loop, a large northerly rectangular bend of the ...
into the valleys and mountains of northern
Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...
by the 6th centuryBC,. creating states there which were defeated and annexed by the Zhou state of Jin and its successor Zhao. The Di continued eastward and founded Dai and Zhongshan in the northwestern corner of the
North China Plain The North China Plain or Huang-Huai-Hai Plain () is a large-scale downfaulted rift basin formed in the late Paleogene and Neogene and then modified by the deposits of the Yellow River. It is the largest alluvial plain of China. The plain is border ...
in what is now
Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and ...
. The capital—known as Dai—was located to the northeast of present-day Yu County,
Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and ...
, about west of
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
. Its territory included present-day Hunyuan County in
Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...
. The area acted as middlemen between nomads on the
Eurasian Steppe The Eurasian Steppe, also simply called the Great Steppe or the steppes, is the vast steppe ecoregion of Eurasia in the temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands biome. It stretches through Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Tra ...
and the Chinese states, supplying the latter with furs,.
jade Jade is a mineral used as jewellery or for ornaments. It is typically green, although may be yellow or white. Jade can refer to either of two different silicate minerals: nephrite (a silicate of calcium and magnesium in the amphibole gro ...
, and
horses The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million ...
. The area's own purebred dogs. and horses ( t s ''Dài mǎ'') were also well known to the Chinese. Trade passed into Dai territory from the west through the Daoma Pass ( t s ''Dàomǎ Guān''). The people of Dai were said to be "proud and stubborn, high-spirited and fond of feats of daring and evil", and to disdain practicing trade or agriculture. Chinese histories record that Zhao Yang ( t s ''Zhào Yāng''; 517–458BC), posthumously known as Jianzi ( t s ''Zhào Jiǎnzi'') of Jin's Zhao clan, became ill and was subsequently troubled over which of his sons to name as his heir. He sent them to Mount Chang to look for a
chop Chop, CHOP, Chops, or CHOPS may refer to: Art *Embouchure, in music, a synonym for chops (and later, more broadly, musical skill or ability) *CHOPS, an Asian-American hip hop producer, rapper and member of rap group Mountain Brothers * ''Chops'' ...
he had placed there; only Prince Wuxu ( t s ''Zhào Wúxù''), his son by a Di slave girl, was able to find it. Wuxu was further the only son to realize that the seal had not been the real point of the father's mission. The true seal of a future realm to be found on the mountain was the country of Dai which it overlooked: "As the top of Changshan overlooks Dai, so Dai could be taken". Despite having bound Zhao to Dai through a
marriage alliance A marriage of state is a diplomatic marriage or union between two members of different nation-states or internally, between two power blocs, usually in authoritarian societies and is a practice which dates back into ancient times, as far back as ear ...
, wedding one of his daughters to its king, Zhao Yang approved this insight and named Wuxu his successor. Wuxu would become posthumously known as the "Helpful" ( t s ''Zhào Xiāngzǐ''). Shortly after becoming head of the Zhao clan (then still part of Jin), Wuxu invited his brother-in-law the king of Dai to a feast. The king, whom the '' Huainanzi'' describes as a
Mohist Mohism or Moism (, ) was an ancient Chinese philosophy of ethics and logic, rational thought, and science developed by the academic scholars who studied under the ancient Chinese philosopher Mozi (c. 470 BC – c. 391 BC), embodied in an eponymo ...
convert, came with many of the leading men of his country; Wuxu had them massacred. He then swiftly invaded, overran, and annexed the lands of Dai to his realm. in 457BC... His sister the queen of Dai killed herself rather than live under her brother. The expansive territory was given to his nephew Zhou (, ''Zhōu''). The Di continued to live in the area after the Zhao conquest. The aftermath of the Zhao conquest is sometimes counted as the first direct contact of the Chinese states with the steppe nomads like the Xiongnu whose threats and invasions shaped much of Chinese history over the next 2,000 years. Later sources record that Zhao even "shared" governance of Dai with "the barbarians" in order to keep it relatively peaceful and to allow invasions against the nomadic Hu, who constantly harassed the area with raids..


Legacy

Dai continued to be used as a name for the surrounding region, eventually becoming the namesake for Dai Prefecture and
Dai County Dai County, also known by its Chinese name Daixian, is a county in Xinzhou, Shanxi Province, China. Its county seat at Shangguan is also known as Daixian. The county has an area of and had a population of 178,870 at the time of the 2020 ...
in
Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...
.. The former site of ancient Dai in Yu County,
Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and ...
, is now preserved as "
Dai King City Dai may refer to: Names * Dai (given name), a Welsh or Japanese masculine given name * Dai (surname) (戴), a Chinese surname Places and regimes * Dai Commandery, a commandery of the state of Zhao and in early imperial China * Dai County, in Xinz ...
" (, ''Dàiwángchéng''), honoring the memory of the Zhao prince Jia, who created a rump state at Dai to oppose King Zheng of Qin in the decade before his successful unification of China as the
Qin Empire The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), the ...
.


See also

* Kingdom of Dai, a Zhao successor state in the Warring States Period * Kingdom of Dai, a Zhao successor state in the Eighteen Kingdoms Period *
Principality of Dai Prince or King of Dai was an ancient and medieval Chinese title. King of Dai is sometimes used to describe the heads of the Baidi state of Dai north of the Zhou Kingdom that was conquered by the Zhao clan of Jin. It was used as the title for t ...
, an imperial realm and appanage under the Han dynasty


Notes


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External links


《代国》
at Baike.com {{Zhou Dynasty topics Ancient Chinese states Zhou dynasty