Which cities are included in Bashu area?

Today's Chongqing and Sichuan are called Bashu in ancient times. Generally speaking, the western and central parts of the basin are called Shu, the eastern part of the basin (commonly known as East Sichuan) is called Ba, and the whole basin and its surrounding areas are also called Shu. However, the geographical scope of Bashu is not static, it has a historical evolution process, which is generally adapted to the changes of Bashu cultural areas and administrative divisions in previous dynasties.

In the historical documents before the Warring States period, Ba and Shu were called separately, and there were obvious differences in geographical scope, human groups, ancient countries and ancient tribes. It was not until the Warring States period that the records of Bashu began to appear as a whole, which reflected the exchange and integration of Bashu culture and human groups from the perspective of geographical connection.

According to Xu Shen, a scholar in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the original meaning of the word "Ba" was "eating elephants (snakes)", which was a giant snake that swallowed elephants. In addition, there are some different explanations about the meaning of the word "Ba", but most of them are unconfirmed and not recognized. With regard to the original meaning of the word "Shu", Xu Shen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi is interpreted as "a silkworm in sunflower", but from the comprehensive investigation of other ancient documents, Shu is a silkworm, which is the direct predecessor of modern silkworm.

Chongqing has a long history and was once the capital of Cuba during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. There have been many changes in its name in history, including Jiangzhou, Bazhou and Chuzhou. At the beginning of Sui Dynasty, it was changed to Yuzhou, which means ancient Yushui (Jialing River). Chongqing is named Yuzhou because it is located on the Jialing River, so it is still referred to as "Chongqing" today. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Hui Zong was renamed Duke Zhou. In the Southern Song Dynasty, his third son, Gong Wang Zhao Han, was sealed in the Duke of Zhou. Later, Xiaozong was in the Zen position, and Gong Wang succeeded to the throne as emperor, for Guangzong. When Guangzong acceded to the throne, as usual, the fief was raised to the state capital, so it was named Chongqing Prefecture. Since then, Chongqing has been used to this day, and today it is the name of the municipality directly under the Central Government.

According to the available data, Chengdu, as a city name, was recorded as early as the Warring States Period. The bronze spear unearthed in the coffin of Qingchuan in Sichuan during the Warring States Period was engraved with the word "Chengdu", and later the bamboo slips of Qin Tomb in Shuihudi also recorded "Chengdu". In historical documents, the name of Chengdu is mentioned in Historical Records and Classic of Mountains and Seas, which shows that the name of Chengdu has a long history.

In Yuan Dynasty, the central administrative agency was called Zhongshu Province, and the local administrative agency directly under the central government was referred to as Zhongshu Province for short. In the Yuan Dynasty, Sichuan Province was established on the basis of the road from Sichuan to Si Xia in the Song Dynasty, which was referred to as Sichuan Province for short and governed Chengdu by the province. I have been using "Sichuan" since then. 1March, 998, Sichuan was divided into Chongqing municipality and Sichuan province.