History of Liangzhuria-Before sinification

Liangzhuria is an ancient civilization located in the Yangtze River Delta of what is now modern-day Shanghai、northeastern Zhejiang and southeastern Jiangsu. It`s considered as a cradle of civilization throughout the world，while due to the significant location，the legacy of Liangzhuria was totally absorbed by Chinese civilization from the north.Some Chinese scholars consider it as the origin of Chinese civilization itself，which becomes a greatly controversial issue recently.

The indigenous people of Liangzhuria is disputed，with different theories that they spoke Austroasiatic、Hmong–Mien or even Austronesian languages.

Prehistory of Liangzhuria（5000BC-3000BC）

Liangzhurian prehistory dates back to 5th millennium BC. Many neolithic archaeological sites have been found ，with Majiabang culture and Songze culture being of most significant importance. Majiabang culture（5000BC-4000BC） was found in Jiaxing City，Zhejiang while Songze culture（4000BC-3000BC）was found in Qingpu District， Shanghai.

Early Liangzhuria（3400BC-2200BC）

In later 4rd millennium BC ，a highly developed neolithic culture ，or ，civilization ，raised in Liangzhuria. It was firstly founded in Liangzhu Street，Yuhang District，Hangzhou City，Zhejiang，so it was named as 「Liangzhu culture」 .

The cultural and political centre of Liangzhu culture is a great city——so called 「Liangzhu city」，in Pinyao town，Yuhang District.

Liangzhu culture is known for its significant jade、silk、ivory and lacquer artifacts.What`s more ,Liangzhu culture is the earliest culture who cultivated the Asian rice.

Liangzhu city owns a highly-urbanized society，with clear class differentiation、complete urban construction and frequent commodity exchange.The earliest water conservancy project in the world is found in Liangzhu city by now.

In later 3rd millennium BC，the great city of Liangzhu was totally destoryed. The reason of collapse of classical Liangzhu culture has become one of unsolved mysteries of Chinese history.

Liangzhurian Realm（2000BC-400BC）

No historical record from Liangzhuria itself was known. Just like 《History of Egypt》was recorded by hellenized Egyptians，Liangzhurian history was also recorded by ancient Chinese（Or sinicized Liangzhurians）.

Chinese records of Liangzhuria begins shortly after the collapse of classical Liangzhu culture，but we cannot conclude that ancient Chinese destroyed classical Liangzhu culture subjectively.

Old-Liangzhurian Kingdom（2000BC-1300BC）

Early history of Liangzhurian kingdom is full of legend and mystery——We cannot even know whether the king of Liangzhuria was a Chinese or a Liangzhurian indeed.

According to Chinese semi-legendary records，Yu the Great once marched in Liangzhuria and admired by 「lords form all directions」.After Yu the Great`s death,he was buried in the Kuaiji Mount,Shaoxing City.

Old-Liangzhurian Kingdom was founded shortly after Yu`s death. Shaokang the Great of Xia dynasty appointed his son Wuyu as the king of Liangzhuria to protect the Sanctuary of Yu the Great.The official name of old Liangzhurian kingdom is 「Yue」.

But in fact，we cannot even know what does the word「Yue」mean in Xia Chinese language——the word may be a Liangzhurian name rather than a Chinese one.

According to the archaeological research，there are also notable archaeological sites in Liangzhuria during old Liangzhurian period——Guangfulin culture and Maqiao culture in Shanghai.Significant influence from Xia Dynasty（Erlitou）can be founded .

Middle-Liangzhurian Kingdoms（1300BC-800BC）

After Shang（Eastern Yi） dynasty`s conquest of Xia dynasty，Xia and Zhou（Western Qiang） Chinese became vassals of the Shang Chinese.

Gongdanfu，chief of Zhou Chinese ，had three sons，with Taibo being the eldest one.He migrated from his homeland Shaanxi to Liangzhuria and established the kingdom of Wu.Taibo cut off his hair and painted his body to symbolize that he became the king of Liangzhuria.

The realm of Wu is mainy in southeastern Jiangsu，while the realm of Yue contains most of northeastern ZheJiang.Kingdom of Wu and Yue coexisted peacefully for many years.

Neo-Liangzhurian Empires（800BC-400BC）

Soon later，Shang dynasty was conquered by Zhou dynasty.Kings of Zhou dynasty were titled as 「king of kings」by kingdoms and tribes，including Wu and Yue kingdom.

With Quanrong`s sack of Haojing,Zhou dynasty declined rapidly.Kingdoms and tribes began to fight each other，which indicated the arrival of 「Spring and Autumn」era.During this era，many local kingdoms became powerful.

Kingdom of Wu and Yue were two of the strongest kingdoms at that time.Goujian ，king of Yue ，and Helü，king of Wu，are sometimes listed among「Five Hegemons」.

Conflicts between Wu and Yue got frequent soon. Goujian was defeated by Helü`s son, Fuchai in 494BC,and Yue became a vassal of Wu.Goujian got greatly dishonoured in the kingdom of Wu，which made him determined to revive the Yue kingdom.

After ten year`s trail and tribulation，Goujian successfully annihilated most of the Wu armies in Battle of Lize in 478BC.

Finally， the kingdom of Wu was conquested by Goujian in 473BC. Goujian became the only king of all Liangzhuria.

Around 300BC ，the more powerful kingdom of Chu conquested Liangzhuria.

Sinitic Conquest

Chinese Emperor Ying Zheng the Great conquested Liangzhuria during his reign.All the little post-Liangzhurian kingdoms like Min-yue（today Fujian）、Ou-yue（today Wenzhou City）was absorbed by the raising Chinese empire.

T.B.C