Song

Song was the Shang successor state planted in the central plain, the fief given to Weizi Qi, elder brother of the last Shang king, when the Zhou conquered. As one of the Three Ke guests honouring a fallen dynasty, Song ranked among the highest feudal states, with its capital at Shangqiu in modern Henan. The land sat astride the crossroads of the plain, and its people turned position into wealth: Song merchants travelled every road, and the saying that the men of Song are good at trade outlived the state by two thousand years. The dukes of Song played for hegemony in the Spring and Autumn age, Duke Xiang famously refusing to strike an enemy crossing a river, chivalry that cost him a battle and won him a reputation. Confucius's ancestors were Song nobles, and the Mohist master Mozi is said to have come from its lands. Caught between Qi, Chu and Wei in the Warring States struggles, Song expanded briefly under King Yan, whose ambitions alarmed every neighbour at once; in 286 BC Qi, Wei and Chu joined against it, Qi took the capital, and Song's eight centuries ended in partition.