Xi'e

Xi'e (Chinese:, p Xī'è) was a region of ancient China in present-day Henan and Hubei. Under the Qin and Han dynasties and during the Three Kingdoms period, Xi'e County ( t, s , Xī'èxiàn) was also a county in the Nanyang Commandery.

Name
Xi'e ( lit. "Western E") took its name from the E, a Shang-dynasty vassal state probably originally located in modern Shanxi. The name is now pronounced as a brief, hard schwa (IPA: ), but the ancient pronunciation of the name has been reconstructed as closer to *Ngˤak. Around the time of the Qin, therefore, "Xi'e" would have been pronounced something like *Snˤər Ngˤak. By the Jin, it would have been Middle Chinese Ser Ngak.

History
During the Zhou, E was forced to relocate at least twice under pressure from Jin and Chu. Absorbed by Chu in 863 BC, E was adopted as the state's capital by a number of Chu kings prior to their final conquest by Shi Huangdi in 223 BC. Ezhou then became a province under the Qin and Han.

Thereafter, Xi'e was a county in the Nanyang Commandery during the Qin and Han dynasties and the Three Kingdoms period.

Famous residents
It was the birthplace of Zhang Heng (AD&thinsp;78–139), a famous Chinese polymath of the Han dynasty. Du Xi served as its chief around the end of the 2nd century. Luo Xian (d.&thinsp;270) was proclaimed Marquis of Xi'e late in life as part of the creation of the Jin at the end of the Three Kingdoms period.