Ying (Chu)

Ying (Chinese: , Yǐng) was a capital city of the State of Chu during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods of Chinese History.

In the early years of Chu’s development, the state capital was located at Danyang, near modern-day Xichuan County in Henan Province. Following a number of battles with neighboring states the Chu capital moved to Ying, near modern-day Jingzhou City on the Jianghan Plain in the western part of Hubei Province.

There are four separate theories as to the date that relocation of the capital took place:

As can be seen above, the four theories do not differ widely in their dating of the relocation. According to traditional sources, Ying remained the capital of Chu from the time of its establishment by King Wen in 689 BCE until 278 BCE, the 21st year of the reign of King Qingxiang of Chu when an attack by an army from the State of Qin led by General Bai Qi forced the capital to move to Chen. Not counting the short term relocation of the capital during the reign of King Zhao of Chu (reigned 515–489 BCE), Ying served as the Chu capital for a total of 411 years.

According to historian Shi Quan (石泉), Ying was located at the same place as the Qin and Han dynasty Jiangling City (modern-day Jiangling County, Jingzhou), between the Ju (沮水) and Zhang (漳水) rivers. He further states that the city lay in the lower reaches of the modern-day Man River (蛮河) basin to the west of the Han River so that today, the ruins of the Chu State Capital lie here.

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