Ancient Capital of the Jiang State

Ancient Capital of the Jiang State

The Ancient Capital of the Jiang State is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Ancient Capital of the Jiang State originated in Qisi Town, Huai Bin County, and gave rise to the Jiang surname. The origin of the Jiang surname is very singular and pure, commonly referred to as "There are no other Jiangs under heaven." The lineage of the Jiang people can be traced all the way back to the Yellow Emperor, the cultural progenitor of the Chinese nation. Shortly after the Zhou dynasty overthrew the Shang, King Wu fell ill and died, and his son King Cheng, also known as Song, succeeded to the throne. King Cheng was young, so his uncle, the Duke of Zhou (Duke Dan), served as regent. During the large-scale enfeoffment of the Zhou nobility in the early Zhou period, six states were granted to the sons of the Duke of Zhou, Ji Dan. Among them, Bo Ling, the third son of Duke Dan, was enfeoffed at Jiang and established the Jiang State, becoming the founding ancestor of the Jiang surname. Today, the vast majority of people with the Jiang surname are descendants of Bo Ling. The purpose of the Zhou rulers in enfeoffing the Ji-surnamed Jiang State in the upper reaches of the Huai River was to strengthen control over the various Eastern Yi tribes. However, due to geographical factors, the Jiang State did not thrive and was eventually conquered by the powerful Chu State. Legend has it that when Bo Ling established the Jiang State in the Jiang region, an elderly man with white hair once entered and said: "My lord may establish a state, but not one named Jiang." Asked why, he replied: "Jiang refers to a place of thatch, and Chu is a place of traveling woods — it can be removed." The lord laughed and said: "Do not worry, you may take it as your clan name." The old man shook his head and left in sighs. After the Jiang State was conquered by Chu, the people of Jiang, in order to express their longing for their former state, adopted Jiang as their surname.

The ancient capital of the Jiang State is located in Qisi Town, about 13 kilometers southeast of present-day Huai Bin. According to research, the ruins of the ancient city are rectangular in shape, stretching 1,700 meters from east to west and 500 meters from north to south. The city walls are 9 to 12 meters high, with a base width of 32 meters. Based on the crisscrossing street ruins and unearthed artifacts, it is estimated that the population of the Jiang capital ranged between 5,000 and 6,000, with the total national population being less than 60,000. Qisi was established as a county after the Chu State conquered neighboring states in the late Spring and Autumn period. It was named after Qisi Gong Fusu, the Right Minister of War of Chu, who led troops to conquer the Jiang State and stationed forces in the Jiang capital. In the early Tang Dynasty, Qisi County was abolished and came under the jurisdiction of Gushi. After the liberation, it was separated from Gushi and assigned to Huai Bin. Hence, some also say the Jiang State was located in present-day Gushi.

During the pre-Qin period, the Jiang surname mainly developed and spread within Henan Province. Among these areas, present-day Jicun Town in Gushi was where the Jiang people initially gathered after the fall of the Jiang State. Various genealogical books regard Le'an as the sole ancestral prefecture of the Jiang surname. This Le'an is believed to be the origin place of the Jiang surname — Luan County (present-day area of Huai Bin and Gushi). It was renamed Le'an County during the Southern Song Dynasty, not the Le'an Prefecture in Guangrao, Shandong. During the Western Han Dynasty, there were already Jiang-surnamed individuals serving as officials in Anhui, Shanxi, and Shandong. In the early Eastern Han Dynasty, Jiang Heng served as a Grand General and fought alongside Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu against the Red Eyebrows rebels, earning merit and being enfeoffed as the Marquis of Qundao. Later, he was executed due to slander, and his nine sons went into exile. When Emperor Guangwu later realized his mistake, the nine sons were each enfeoffed as marquises in different regions, including Gonghua Marquis Ying, Lingji Marquis Zheng, Linjiang Marquis Chuan, and Linhu Marquis Yao. From then on, descendants of Jiang Heng spread to Zhejiang, Anhui, Shaanxi, Jiangsu, Sichuan, and other areas. Throughout the Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties, many prominent Jiang families recorded in history were related to this migration. In the early Tang Dynasty, Chen Zheng and Chen Yuanguang from Gushi entered Fujian to establish Zhangzhou, and Jiang-surnamed military officers followed them, settling in Fujian. During the Five Dynasties, Liao, Song, Xia, and Jin periods, due to the chaos of war and the southern relocation of the Song court, many Jiang-surnamed officials relocated to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, making Zhejiang a densely populated Jiang region. This prominence continued through the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, when Zheng Chenggong recovered Taiwan, Jiang Yi’an, a Jiang-surnamed military officer, accompanied him, making him the earliest historically recorded Jiang to settle in Taiwan. After more than 2,000 years of development and change, the Jiang surname spread throughout China, especially in the south. Sichuan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Hunan provinces account for 60% of the Jiang population nationwide.

Among the notable historical figures of the Jiang surname, besides Jiang Heng of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was Jiang Wan of the Three Kingdoms period — a politician of the Shu Han kingdom who served as regent and Grand General, overseeing state affairs. There was also Jiang Shaoyou of the Northern Wei Dynasty, skilled in painting, calligraphy, and sculpture. The Tang Dynasty literary figure Jiang Fang, and the Tang chancellors Jiang Shen during the reigns of Emperors Xuanzong and Yizong. The Northern Song calligrapher Jiang Can, the Southern Song poet Jiang Jie. In the Ming Dynasty, there was the censor Jiang Qin, who defied imperial power, and the peasant uprising leader Jiang Fucheng from Fujian. The Qing Dynasty saw the Grand Secretary of the Wenhua Hall, Jiang Tingxi. In modern times, Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo profoundly influenced the course of modern Chinese history. Additionally, there were the modern democratic revolutionaries Jiang Yiwu and Jiang Guangnai, who once served as Minister of the Textile Industry, the modern novelist Jiang Guangchi, and Hong Kong’s Chen Hsiung Group chairman Jiang Zhen, listed on the “World Chinese Billionaires List.”

Qisi Town: Qisi Town is the hometown of Sun Shu’ao, a famous prime minister of the Chu State. Moreover, it was the capital of the Western Zhou-era Jiang State over 3,000 years ago, the birthplace of the Jiang surname's ancestors. With a long cultural history and numerous historical relics, it has been designated as a Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit by the People’s Government of Henan Province.

Qisi Town is located 15 kilometers southeast of Huai Bin County, at the northern foot of the Dabie Mountains, on the southern bank of the Huai River. The terrain is undulating, dotted with ditches, ponds, and lakes, and is known as the "Land of Fish and Rice." The town administers 16 administrative villages and 166 villager groups... More detailed information about Qisi Town++

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units