Ba (巴) was an ancient state in eastern Sichuan, China. Its original capital was Zhi (Fuling), Chongqing. Ba was conquered by Qin in 316 BC.   (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: SzÅ­4-chuan1; Postal map spelling: Szechwan and Szechuan) is a province in the central-western China with its capital at Chengdu. ... Fuling (涪陵) is a district of Chongqing Municipality of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Chongqing (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Postal map spelling: Chungching, also Chungking) is the largest and most populous of the Peoples Republic of Chinas four provincial-level municipalities, and the only one in the less densely populated western half of China. ... Qin or Chin (Wade-Giles) (秦), pronounced something like Shin, (778 BC-207 BC) was a state during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods of China. ... Centuries: 5th century BC - 4th century BC - 3rd century BC Decades: 360s BC 350s BC 340s BC 330s BC 320s BC 310s BC 300s BC 290s BC 280s BC 270s BC 260s BC 321 BC 320 BC 319 BC 318 BC 317 BC 316 BC 315 BC 314 BC 313...

Ba, often described as a loose confederation or a collection of chiefdoms, consisted of several loosely-affiliated independent clans who recognised a king. The Ba clans were highly diverse, being composed of multiple ethnicities. Archaeological evidence shows that the Ba people relied primarily on fishing and hunting, with low levels of agriculture (no evidence of irrigation). A confederation is an association of sovereign states or communities, usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution. ... A chiefdom is any community led by an individual known as a chief. ... Irrigation is the artificial application of water to the soil. ...

Ba may have aided the founders of the Zhou Dynasty in its overthrow of the Shang Dynasty at the Battle of Muye; however, Ba's first definitive appearance in recorded history occurred in 703 BCE; the Zuo Zhuan recorded that Ba took part in a joint military operation with Chu against Deng. Boundaries of the Western Zhou Dynasty (1050 - 771 BC) in China The Zhou Dynasty (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chou Ch`ao; 1122 BC to 256 BC (ref) followed the Shang (Yin) Dynasty and preceded the Qin Dynasty in China. ... Remnants of advanced, stratified societies dating back to the Shang period have been found in the Yellow River Valley. ... The Battle of Muye (or Mu) (牧野之戰) was fought in China in 1046 BC. The battle led to the end of the Shang dynasty, and the beginning of the Zhou dynasty. ... Centuries: 9th century BC - 8th century BC - 7th century BC Decades: 750s BC 740s BC 730s BC 720s BC 710s BC - 700s BC - 690s BC 680s BC 670s BC 660s BC 650s BC Events and trends 706 BC - Spartan immigrants found Taras (Tarentum, the modern Taranto) colony in southern Italy. ... The Zuo Zhuan (Chinese: ; Wade-Giles: Tso Chuan) is the earliest Chinese work of narrative history and covers the period from 722 BCE to 468 BCE. It was traditionally attributed to Zuo Qiuming, as a commentary to the Spring and Autumn Annals, although many scholars believe it was an independent...

Ba territory originally included areas in the Han River valley; the ascendance of Chu pushed Ba westwards and further into the Sichuan basin. Chu expansion forced Ba to move its capital several times. According to Chang Qu, capitals or administrative centers of Ba included Jiangzhou (Chongqing), Dianjiang (Hechuan), and Pingdu (Fengdu), with its final capital at Langzhong (閬中). During the Warring States Period, Qin, Chu and Shu, all more powerful states, shared a common border with Ba. The Han River (漢江; pinyin: Han Jiang) in China, was often referred to as Hanshui (漢水) in antiquity. ... State of Chu (small seal script, 220 BC) Chu (楚) was a kingdom in what is now southern China during the Spring and Autumn period (722-481 BCE) and Warring States Period (481-212 BCE). ... The Sichuan Basin is a basin in middle eastern China. ... Chang Qu (c. ... Hechuan District (合川) is a district of Chongqing municipality of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Stone monument looking over Fengdu View of Fengdu from a pagoda Fengdu County (Simplified Chinese:丰都县; Traditional Chinese: 酆都縣) is a county of Chongqing Municipality in China. ... Alternative meaning: Warring States Period (Japan) The Warring States Period (Traditional Chinese: 戰國時代; Simplified Chinese: 战国时代; Pinyin: Zhànguó Shídài) covers the period from sometime in the 5th century BC to the unification of China by the Qin in 221 BC. It is nominally considered to be the second part... Shu (蜀) was an ancient state in Sichuan, China. ...

Although Chu sometimes encroached on Ba territory, Ba shared a complex relationship with Chu, with strong trade and marriage ties. Chu also employed many Ba mercenaries as soldiers in its own army. This practice sometimes caused problems for Chu; in one instance, Ba mercenaries employed by Chu rebelled and sieged the Chu capital in 676 or 675 BCE.

Ba and Zu allied with Qin in Qin's invasion of Shu. After the successful invasion, Qin immediately conquered its two allies and captured the last Ba king. Ba was then converted into a Qin commandery. Unlike its management of Shu, Qin allowed the Ba elite to retain direct rule and did not force large -scale migrations of Qin people into Ba territory. The Ba elite would later be marginalized through a policy of divide and rule. In politics and sociology, divide and rule (also known as divide and conquer) is a strategy of gaining and maintaining power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into chunks that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy. ...

Ba culture

The tiger was an important part of Ba mythology, with the white tiger being held in highest esteem. Artifacts from Ba archaeological sites often employ tiger motifs. Other distinctive features of Ba culture include its distinctive curved blades, boat-shaped coffin burials and Ba-style bronze drums (chunyu 錞于), which were used to communicate in battle. Binomial name Panthera tigris (Linnaeus, 1758) Distribution of tigers in 1900 (red) and 1990 (green) Synonyms Felis tigris Linnaeus, 1758 Tigris striatus Severtzov, 1858 Tigris regalis pink, 1867 Tigers (Panthera tigris) are mammals of the Felidae family and one of four big cats in the Panthera genus. ...

Warfare played an important role in Ba society. The Ba people were famous for their war songs and dances. Their warriors were often employed as mercenaries by other states, and weapons were prevalent in Ba grave goods.

Ba and Shu developed their own writing systems, found on bronzeware. There are three scripts. One pictographic script was unique to Ba, and two (possibly phonetic) scripts were found at Ba and Shu sites. All three scripts remain undecipherable today. Pictogram for public toilets A pictogram or pictograph is a symbol which represents an object or a concept by illustration. ... Phonetic (pho-NET-ic) is a nationwide voicemail-to-text messaging service available for most digital mobile phones in which a subscriber is provided a custom voice mailbox for the purpose of receiving all incoming voice messages as actual transcribed text for reading via short messaging (also known as SMS... Decipherment is the analysis of documents written in ancient languages, where the language is unknown, or knowledge of the language has been lost. ...

It is believed that modernday Tujia, one of 55 ethnic minorities in China, are descendants of the ancient Ba people. The Tujia (土家族) are an ethnic group numbering about 8 million, living in the Wuling Mountains of Chinas Hunan and Hubei provinces. ... Ethnolinguistic map of China For a list of ethnic groups in China, see List of ethnic groups in China. ...

References

• Sage, Steven F., Ancient Sichuan and the Unification of China, ISBN 0-7914-1038-2
• Kleeman, Terry F., Great Perfection: Religion and Ethnicity in a Chinese Millennial Kingdom, ISBN 0-8248-1800-8