Qualla: Zhongshan (state)

Zhongshan (state): Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit SY, CC BY-SA 4.0. When the king of Qi learned that Zhongshan had claimed the title of wang -- king -- he was livid. 'I am a state of ten thousand chariots and Zhongshan is one of a thousand chariots,' he fumed. 'How dare she assume a title the equal of mine?' The insult revealed more than royal indignation. It confirmed that this small kingdom, wedged between the Taihang Mountains and the North China Plain in what is now Hebei Province, had earned the grudging attention of the great powers. Zhongshan survived for roughly 120 years during the Warring States period, a span during which far larger kingdoms rose and fell. It is the only minor state to have earned its own chapter in the Strategies of the Warring States, the era's great diplomatic record.

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Image: SY | CC BY-SA 4.0

Zhongshan (state): A Kingdom Between Mountains and Plains

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mx. Granger, CC0. Zhongshan -- meaning 'central mountain' -- took its name from a hill called Huangshan that sat inside the walls of its capital, Lingshou. The capital was strategically placed with the Taihang Mountains shielding its west, north, and south, while its east opened onto flat plains. ...

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Image: Mx. Granger | CC0

Zhongshan (state): Stew, Hostages, and Survival

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit istolethetv from Hong Kong, China, CC BY 2.0. The kingdom's early history reads like a war saga. After establishing its capital at Gu around 414 BC, Zhongshan was conquered by the state of Wei in 407. The story surrounding that conquest is grim: General Yue Yang's son, living in Zhongshan when war broke out, was taken hostag...

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Image: istolethetv from Hong Kong, China | CC BY 2.0

Zhongshan (state): Treasures Beneath the Earth

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Baomi, CC BY-SA 4.0. In the late 1970s, archaeologists discovered the tombs of King Cheng and his son King Cuo in Pingshan County, Hebei. Though the main chambers had been looted, the storage rooms were intact and yielded what scholars consider the richest archaeological find from any Chinese state o...

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Image: Baomi | CC BY-SA 4.0

Zhongshan (state): One of China's Earliest Great Walls

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Cangminzho, CC BY-SA 4.0. Zhongshan built its own defensive border wall around 369 BC to guard against Zhao -- making it one of the earliest Great Walls of China, predating the more famous Qin dynasty construction by over a century. In 1988, archaeologist Li Wenlong surveyed the surviving sections in Tang...

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Image: Cangminzho | CC BY-SA 4.0