Minyue

Minyue was a kingdom of the Yue peoples in what is now Fujian province, on the south-eastern coast of China. According to tradition it was founded in 334 BCE, when nobles of the royal house of Yue fled south after their state was destroyed by Chu, and it lasted until its conquest by the Han in 110 BCE. Its capital was Ye, also called Dongye, at the site of modern Fuzhou. The kingdom was never fully subdued by the Qin: when Qin armies entered the region in 222 BCE they set up Minzhong commandery in name only and let the Yue ruler Wuzhu keep his authority under the lesser title of chief. Wuzhu backed Liu Bang in the civil war that founded the Han, and in 202 BCE he was invested as king of Minyue. Under his successors the kingdom grew into the strongest power in south-eastern China. In 138 BCE Minyue attacked its neighbour Dong'ou and besieged its capital until a Han fleet intervened; the Dong'ou people were then resettled north of the Yangtze. In 135 BCE king Ying attacked Nanyue without Han permission, and his brother Yushan submitted to Emperor Wu to save the kingdom. Yushan later rebelled, fortified six strongholds in the north-west and fought a Han invasion; the kingdom fell in 110 BCE and its people were moved inland. Minyue had lasted 225 years under fourteen kings.