Wu (region)

Wu (吳) is a region in the Jiang Nan area (the south of Yangtze River), surrounding Suzhou, in Jiangsu province of China. It is also the abbreviation of several kingdoms or states based in Wu. The largest city in the Wu region today is Shanghai. Most of the region speaks the Wu dialect.

The first Wu state was established in late Zhou Dynasty. Once considered as a barbarian state, it emerged to be a power overload at the end of Spring and Autumn Period.

The most influential Wu state 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 states. The dialect spoken in Suzhou is usually regarded as the standard Wu dialect.

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), originated from this region. The Go- component in the name Go-on is cognate to the Chinese word Wu.