Editing Spring and Autumn period (section)

===Rise of Wu (584)===
[[Wu (state)|Wu]] was a state in modern [[Jiangsu]] outside the Zhou cultural sphere, considered "barbarian", where the inhabitants sported short hair and tattoos and spoke an unintelligible language.{{sfn|Milburn|2004|pp=203–204}}{{sfn|Milburn|2016|p=104}} Although its ruling house claimed to be a senior lineage in the [[Ji (Zhou dynasty ancestral surname)|Ji]] ancestral temple,{{efn|Descent of the Wu ruling house from the Zhou ancestral line is not universally dismissed in modern scholarship.{{sfn|Milburn|2004|p=203}}}} Wu did not participate in the politics and wars of China until the last third of the Spring and Autumn period.

Their first documented interaction with the Spring and Autumn states was in 584, when a Wu force attacked the small border state of Tan ([[:zh:郯國|郯]]) causing some alarm in the various Chinese courts. Jin was quick to dispatch an ambassador to the court of the Wu king, [[King Shoumeng of Wu|Shoumeng]]. Jin promised to supply Wu with modern military technology and training in exchange for an alliance against Chu, a neighbour of Wu and Jin's nemesis in the struggle for hegemony. King Shoumeng accepted the offer, and Wu would continue to harass Chu for years to come.<ref>{{ cite book | title= [[Zuo Zhuan]] | chapter = [[:zh:s:春秋左氏傳/成公#成公八年|Duke Cheng year 8]]}}</ref>