Chu (Chinese: 楚， Old Chinese: *s-r̥aʔ) was an ancient Chinese state in the Yangtze Valley during the Zhou Originally Chu was considered a viscounty but， starting from King Wu in the early 8th century BC， the rulers of Chu declared themselves kings on an equal footing with the Zhou Originally known as Jing (荆) and then as Jingchu (荆楚)， Chu occupied vast areas of land at its height， including most of the present-day provinces of Hubei and Hunan， along with parts of Chongqing， Guizhou， Henan， Anhui， Jiangxi， Jiangsu， Zhejiang， and S For more than 400 years， the Chu capital Danyang was located at the junction region of the Dan and Xi Rivers near present-day Xichuan County， Henan， but it was then moved to Y The ruling house of Chu originally bore the ancestral name Nai (嬭) and clan name Yan (酓)， but these later became Mi (芈) and Xiong (熊)，
