Pugu (state)

Pugu or Bogu was an ancient civilization or state of ancient China around the mouth of the Yellow River.

Pugu
Chinese	浦姑[1]
Hanyu Pinyin	Pǔgū
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Pǔgū Wade–Giles Pʻu-ku Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) *pʰˤaʔ-kˤa
Chinese	蒲姑
Hanyu Pinyin	Púgū
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Púgū Wade–Giles Pʻu-ku Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) *[b]ˤa-kˤa
Chinese	蒲古[2]
Hanyu Pinyin	Púgǔ
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Púgǔ Wade–Giles Pʻu-ku Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) *[b]ˤa *kˤaʔ
Bogu
Chinese	薄古[2]
Hanyu Pinyin	Bógǔ
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Bógǔ Wade–Giles Po-ku Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) *[b]ˤak-kˤaʔ
Chinese	薄姑[3]
Hanyu Pinyin	Bógū
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Bógū Wade–Giles Po-ku Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) *[b]ˤak-kˤa

History

The Pugu are recorded as existing during the Shang and were counted among the "Eastern Barbarians" or Dongyi of Qingzhou. They occupied the shore of the Bay of Bohai around present-day Binzhou and Boxing, an area which the silt deposition from the present course of the Yellow River has since made miles inland.

In alliance with the Shang prince Wu Geng, Pugu joined the Dongyi of Yan (奄, near present-day Qufu) and Xu in the Huai valley in opposing Shang's replacement by the Zhou after the Battle of Muye. This insurrection joined with the Rebellion of the Three Guards within Zhou itself, opposing the regency of the Duke of Zhou c. 1042 BC. The Duke undertook a successful campaign across the North China Plain, defeating Wu Geng and forcing the submission of the opposing Yi. Pugu's area was granted to the minister Jiang Ziya as the fief of Qi.^[1]

The Bamboo Annals record that during the Duke of Zhou's expedition the "royal troops... attacked Yan and destroyed Pugu". The word used (滅) means "destroy" and even implies "extermination". This was, however, patently hyperbolic since "belligerents" required a combined response from Qi, Lu, and Zhou ten years later and the Pugu are again said to have been "destroyed" in the autumn^[4][5] three years after that.^[6][a]

During the reign of King Yi, Duke Hu moved the Qi capital to the former site of Pugu. This prompted the residents of the former capital Yingqiu to revolt under another member of his house, who defeated him in battle and restored the former capital.^[7]

Legacy

Its name survived as Putai and Putai County as late as the 20th century, although the former is now the subdistrict of Pucheng in Binzhou and the latter has merged with Boxing County.

See also

• Dongyi & Siyi
• Bamboo Annals

Notes

1. The dates are given as regnal years of King Cheng: the first "destruction" of Pugu occurred in his third year, the allied expedition in his tenth, and the second destruction in his sixteenth.^[6]

References

Citations

1. Theobald (2013).
2. Li (2006), p. 307.
3. Sima Qian.
4. Shaughnessy (1997), p. 82.
5. Shaughnessy (1997), p. 85.
6. Shaughnessy (1997), p. 89.
7. Li (2006), p. 308.

Bibliography

• Li Feng (2006), Landscape and Power in Early China: The Crisis and Fall of the Western Zhou 1045–771 BC, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9781139456883.
• Shaughnessy, Edward L. (1997), Before Confucius: Studies in the Creation of the Chinese Classics, Albany: State University of New York Press.
• Sima Qian, "齐太公世家 [House of the Great Duke of Qi]", Records of the Grand Historian, Guoxue, retrieved 14 May 2012. (in Chinese)
• Theobald, Ulrich (2013), "Chinese History: Barbarian Peoples: Yi 夷", China Knowledge.