Wu
Wu (吳) was a region in the south of Chang Jiang, surrounding Suzhou, in the 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.
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.
Much of Japanese culture is influenced from this small region of China.
Wu is also a Chinese dialect spoken around the same region as the original Wu state. See Wu dialect.
See also: Shanghainese
Wu (吳 or 吴) is a common Chinese family name. Wu can be several other less common Chinese family names, 仵,烏,鄔 etc. In Cantonese, 吳 and 仵 are transliterated to Ng; 烏 and 鄔 to Woo.