Why is Hubei called Jingchu and Hunan called Xiaoxiang?

During the Warring States Period, the capital of the Chu State was first located in Ying (near present-day Jiangling County, Hubei Province), then moved to Chen (present-day Huaiyang, Henan), and then to Juyang (some say it was north of present-day Fuyang, Anhui, or It is said that it was not far from Chen) and moved to Shouchun (now Shouxian County, Anhui).

Jing is another name for Chu. During the reign of King Cheng of Zhou Dynasty, he pursued the descendants of the previous heroes, so Xiong Yi, the great-grandson of Feng Wanxiong, went to the Jingshan area (today's western Hubei) and established the Jing Kingdom, with its capital in Danyang (today's Zigui City, Hubei Province). During the Spring and Autumn Period, the state of Jing moved its capital to Ying and changed its name to Chu. During the Qin Dynasty, because Qin Shi Huang's father was named Zi Chu. In order to avoid taboo, he changed the name of Chu to Jing.

Xiaoxiang has three interpretations: one refers to the Xiangjiang River alone, which was called Xiangshui in ancient times. Xiao means to describe the deep and clear water. Li Daoyuan's "Shui Jing Zhu Xiangshui" contains the sentence "Wandering in the abyss of Dongting, going in and out of Xiaoxiang Pu. In Xiaoxiang, the water is clear and deep." Therefore, the ancients used Xiaoxiang as another name for the Xiangjiang River. The second is the collective name of Xiaoshui River and Xiangshui River. Fan Zhongyan's "Yueyang Tower" has a sentence that "it leads to Wu Gorge in the north and Xiao and Xiang in the south pole". Because the Xiao and Xiang rivers are both in Hunan, they also generally refer to the Hunan region.

Why is the couplet "Only Chu has talents" in Hunan?

From the 17th to the 22nd year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty (1812-1817), Yuan Mingyao served as the mountain director of Yuelu Academy. The disciples asked him to write a couplet on the gate, and Yuan asked all students to respond, saying, "Only Chu has the talent." While he was meditating, Zhang Zhong of Mingjing (the honorific title of Gong Sheng) arrived. Everyone was talking about it, and Zhang responded and said: "This is the most prosperous thing." This famous couplet was written.

The first couplet "Only Chu has talents" is a reference to "Zuo Zhuan". The original sentence is: "Although Chu has talents, Jin can use them." The second couplet "Yu Si is prosperous" comes from "The Analects of Confucius Tai Bo" "At the time of Tang and Yu, Yu Si is prosperous." The meaning of the whole couplet may be understood as; Chu State is truly a place where talented people come from, and Yuelu Academy is a gathering place for talented people.

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