Wu (region)

[[File:Wuyuehmap.PNG|thumb|right|300px|General map of the [[Wuyue]] area.]] '''Wu''' (吳) is a region in the [[Jiangnan]] area (the south of [[Yangtze River]]), surrounding [[Suzhou]], in [[Jiangsu]] province and Zhejiang province of [[China]]. It is also the abbreviation of several kingdoms based in Wu. The two largest cities in the Wu region today are [[Shanghai]] and [[Hangzhou]]. Most of the region speaks the [[Wu Chinese|Wu language]] and many of its dialects. ==History== The first Wu nation was established in late [[Zhou Dynasty]]. Once considered as a foreign kingdom to Kingdom Zhou, it emerged to be a power overlord at the end of [[Spring and Autumn Period]]. The most influential Wu nation was the [[Kingdom of Wu]] during the period of [[Three Kingdoms]]. The city of [[Suzhou]] (also called Wu) has traditionally been the capital of the Wu nations. The dialect spoken in Suzhou is usually regarded as the standard [[Wu Chinese|Wu language]]. [[Go-on]] (呉音), which is one of the sources of Japanese pronunciation for [[kanji]] (the others being [[kan-on]], [[tō-on]] and [[kan'yō-on]]), is sometimes said to have originated from this region.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}} The ''Go-'' component in the name ''Go-on'' is [[cognate]] to the Chinese word ''Wu'' (Wu is the pronunciation for the Chinese character 吳 in Mandarin. However, in Wu language 呉 is usually pronounced as ''Ho'', ''Oh'', ''Ng'', or ''Nguu''). {{coord missing|China}}