Zhou Chu

Zhou Chu (Chinese: 周處; 236–297), courtesy name Ziyin (子隱), was a Western Jin-era Chinese general. He was the son of Zhou Fang, a famous Eastern Wu general.

Zhou Chu had a reputation for uprightness and integrity and once indicted the Prince of Liang, Sima Rong (司馬肜). When the Di tribe invaded from the northwest, Zhou Chu was ordered by Sima Rong to fight the 20,000-strong enemy head-on with 5,000 soldiers and no supply. He died in the battles.

Eradicating the Three Scourges

A folk story about Zhou Chu appeared in the 430 book A New Account of the Tales of the World and proved to be very popular. The story claims that Zhou Chu was such a hot-headed bully in his younger days that he was called one of the "Three Scourges" by the villagers in his hometown (in today's Yixing), along with a dragon and a tiger. Upon hearing the term, Zhou Chu went on to kill the tiger and the dragon. After he and the dragon disappeared for 3 days fighting in Lake Tai, the villagers celebrated wildly, just when Zhou Chu returned with the dragon's head. That was when he realized that he was the last scourge that the villagers feared. Determined to mend his old ways, he sought out Eastern Wu generals Lu Ji and Lu Yun, and received encouragement. Eventually he became an accomplished general beloved by his people.

Chuí

Chuí (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʃuˈi]) is a municipality located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. A border town, it shares its name with sister city Chuy, Uruguay. The two towns constitute one contiguous urban area, divided by a border street called Avenida Internacional, a situation also seen in a few other Brazilian border points, such as between Santana do Livramento (Brazil) and Rivera (Uruguay).

Formerly a village under the jurisdiction of the municipality of Santa Vitória do Palmar, Chuí became the southernmost municipality in Brazil in 1997, when it seceded. It is very close to Brazil's southernmost point, located on a bend of the homonymous river just before its mouth on the Atlantic Ocean, near the hamlet of Barra do Chuí. Both the hamlet and the extreme point itself remained in the territory of Santa Vitória do Palmar after Chuí seceded. Still, Chuí holds the title of the southernmost urban seat of a municipality in Brazil. Its counterparts in the North, West and East are respectively Uiramutã, state of Roraima; Mâncio Lima, Acre; and João Pessoa, Paraíba.

Chu (Ten Kingdoms)

Chǔ (楚), often referred to as Ma Chu (马楚) or Southern Chu (南楚) to distinguish it from other historical states called Chu, was a kingdom in southern China during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–960). It existed from 907 to 951.

Founding

Ma Yin was named regional governor by the Tang court in 896 after fighting against a rebel named Yang Xingmi. He declared himself as the Prince of Chu with the fall of the Tang Dynasty in 907. Ma’s position as Prince of Chu was confirmed by the Later Tang in the north in 927 and was given the posthumous title of King Wumu of Chu.

Territorial extant

The capital of the Chu Kingdom was Changsha (Tanzhou). Present-day Hunan and northeastern Guangxi were under the control of the kingdom.

Economy

Chu was peaceful and prosperous under Ma Yin's rule, exporting horses, silk and tea. Silk and lead coinage were often used as currency, particularly with external communities which would not accept other coinage of the land. Taxation was low for the peasantry and merchants.

Chu (Chinese surname)

Chu is the pinyin romanization of several different Chinese family names, which including 楚 Chǔ, 储 Chǔ, 褚 Chǔ, 触 Chù, etc.

But in the Wade-Giles romanization system, Chu stands for Zhu (朱) in pinyin, also can refer to several Chinese family names. In Hong Kong and Macao, this is also the spelling for the surname 朱.

Notable people named Chu

楚 Chǔ

The name is transliterated as Sở in Vietnamese

储 Chǔ

褚 Chǔ

See also