Ba (state)

Ba
巴
?–316 BC
Location of Ba (state)
CapitalYíchéng (夷城)
Píngdū (平都)
Zhǐ (枳)
Jīangzhōu (江州)
Diànjīang (垫江)
Langzhong(閬中)
GovernmentMonarchy
History 
• Established
?
• Disestablished
316 BC
 Succeeded by
Qin (state)
Today part ofChina

Ba (Chinese: 巴; pinyin: Bā; lit. 'a pictograph for "elephant-eating snake"',[1] Old Chinese: *Pˤra) was an ancient state in eastern Sichuan, China. Its original capital was Yicheng (Enshi City), Hubei. Ba was conquered by Qin in 316 BC. The historical Bo people and the modern Tujia people trace some of their origins back to the people of Ba.[2]

Ba, often described as a loose confederation or collection of chiefdoms, consisted of several loosely affiliated independent clans who recognized a king. The Ba clans were highly diverse, being composed of multiple tribes. Archeological evidence shows that the Ba people primarily relied on fishing and hunting, with low levels of agriculture and no evidence of irrigation.[3]

  1. ^ Xu Shen, Shuowen Jiezi, vol. 15, "radical 巴"; quote: (巴：蟲也。或曰食象蛇。象形。), rough translation: "巴 (bā): an animal. Some say [it is] a snake that eats elephants. A pictogram." Note: "animal" is a semantic shift from "worm, bug, insect"; see "entry 蟲" in Ministry of Education Mandarin Chinese Dictionary (《教育部國語辭典》)
  2. ^ "DNA测定下里巴人". people.com.cn (in Chinese). July 4, 2001. Archived from the original on October 19, 2012. Retrieved July 25, 2010.
  3. ^ Barbara A. West (2009). Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase Publishing. pp. 73–74. ISBN 978-0-8160-7109-8.