구주(九州, 九疇,九丘,九谷,九土)가 얼마나 큰가?
겨우 해지(解池)의 4-5배 였다.

How big was the Nine Provinces that Wu the Great developed?
It is known that Chinese scholars had been exaggerating a lot to please the emperor in every sense. The size of Nine Provinces (九州) Wu the Great developed have been one example. I would like to share my understanding with you all.
According to the Huainanzi, the size of Nine Provinces were merely 1000-squire ri which could be not more then fifty times of the Xiechi(解池) in the Shanxi Province. Most likely the Xiechi(解池) was the eastern end. The North eastern end was where the fenshui (汾水) drained to the Yellow River and creates the freshwater marsh. According to Guanzi, it was the territory of the ancient emperor:
淮南子 墬形訓: 九州之大，純方千里，九州之外，乃有八殥，亦方千里。
自東北方曰大澤，曰無通；東方曰大渚，曰少海 (解池?).
管仲對曰：「 昔者天子中立，地方千里.
Three respectable classics (說文解字, 水經注•涑水, 太平御覽) also have the same measurement about the size of Xiechi.
解池: 河東鹽池. 袤五十一里，廣七里，周百十六里.

August 29, 2016