Friday, October 10, 2008

Wu (region)

Wu or Wuyueh is a region in the Jiangnan area , surrounding Suzhou, in Jiangsu province and Zhejiang province of China. It is also the abbreviation of several kingdoms based in Wu. The two largest cities in the Wu region today are Shanghai and Hangzhou . Most of the region speaks the .

The first Wu nation was established in late Zhou Dynasty. Once considered as a foreign kingdom to Kingdom Zhou, it emerged to be a power overlord at the end of Spring and Autumn Period.

The most influential Wu nation was the Kingdom of Wu during the period of Three Kingdoms.

The city of Suzhou has traditionally been the capital of the Wu nations. The dialect spoken in Suzhou is usually regarded as the standard .

Go-on , which is one of the sources of Japanese pronunciation for kanji , is sometimes said to have originated from this region. The ''Go-'' component in the name ''Go-on'' is cognate to the Chinese word ''Wu'' .

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