Quzhou

 Quzhou  (Chinese: 衢州; pinyin: Qúzhōu) is a prefecture-level city in southwestern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. Sitting on the upper course of the Qiantang River, it borders Hangzhou to the north, Jinhua to the east, Lishui to the southeast, and the provinces of Fujian, Jiangxi and Anhui to the south, southwest and northwest respectively.

In early European sources, based on accounts by French missionaries, the name of Quzhou (Fu) was transcribed in the contemporary French manner, as Kyu-tcheou-fou or Kiu-tcheou-fou.

History

During the Southern Song dynasty the descendant of Confucius at Qufu, the Duke Yansheng Kong Duanyou fled south with the Song Emperor to Quzhou, while the newly established Jin dynasty (1115–1234) in the north appointed Kong Duanyou's brother Kong Duancao who remained in Qufu as Duke Yansheng. From that time up until the Yuan dynasty, there were two Duke Yanshengs, once in the north in Qufu and the other in the south at Quzhou. During the Yuan dynasty, the Emperor Kublai Khan invited the southern Duke Yansheng Kong Zhu to returned to Qufu. Kong Zhu refused, and gave up the title, so the northern branch of the family kept the title of Duke Yansheng. The southern branch still remained in Quzhou where they lived to this day. Confucius's descendants in Quzhou alone number 30,000. A Ming Emperor awarded the southern branch at Quzhou the title of Wujing boshi 五經博士 while the northern branch at Qufu held the title Duke Yansheng.

Quzhou (disambiguation)

Quzhou (衢州) is a modern prefecture-level city in Zhejiang, China.

Quzhou may also refer to: