在先秦興籍中 ，「楚人」之稱，本指楚國國君及其公族，後漸以指稱楚國之人，即居於楚國疆域內的各種人群，亦得泛指遵從、慣用楚文化之人。在楚國興起、發展、壯大的過程中，「楚人」是一個不斷強化其內部凝聚力、並逐步吸納融匯更多人群的、具有某些共同特質的地域性政治人群，是楚國的「 國族」。戰國晚期，鄢郢腹心地區入於秦手，居於其地之「楚人」遂漸次「秦人化」， 逐步演變為「新秦人」，而不復有故國之思。而楚「東風」故地之「楚人」，卻在楚國減亡的過程中，面對強秦的外來壓迫，逐步強化了「 楚人」的「國族」認同，並利用這種「國族」認同作為反秦的基礎和旗幟。當文景之世至武帝前中期，異姓同姓王國漸次消除，政治壓力與憑藉漸次失去，「 楚人」 遂逐步失去其作為地域性政治入群的意義，而演變為單純的地域文化人群。

The term “Chu People” in Pre-Qin texts originally referred to the monarch of the Chu state and his clan, and then gradually came to refer to the “people of the Chu state”, that is all kinds of people living in the territory of the Chu state. It could also refer to the people who identified with Chu culture, even if they were not living in the Chu state. In the process of the formation, development and growth of the Chu state, “Chu People” was a regional political group that continued to strengthen its internal cohesion, while gradually absorbing more people, and had certain common characteristics. It might actually be called the Chu nation. In the late Warring States Period, the Chu’s core area, namely the region of Yan and Ying, was occupied by Qin state, and the indigenes who lived in the area were gradually incorporated into the controlling system of the Qin and slowly became the “New Qin People”. They then stopped thinking about the Chu state. In contrast, the “Chu People” that been living in the Eastern Territory of Chu, faced with the aggression and oppression of a powerful Qin state, gradually strengthened their national identity of “Chu People”, and used this national identity as a basis for their resistance. In the early Western Han Dynasty, with the gradual loss of political pressure, the “Chu People” lost its significance as a regional political group, evolving into a purely geographical and cultural one.

楚人；國族；楚國

Chu people; nation; Chu state