The State of Chu (c. 1030–223 BCE) is an ancient state in present-day central and southern China during the Zhou Dynasty.

Originally Chu's rulers were of the noble rank of Zi, comparable to viscount, but starting from King Wu of Chu in the early 8th century BCE the rulers of Chu declare themselves kings.

Its ruling house has the ancestral name Nai, and clan name Yan, later evolving to the ancestral name Mi, and clan name Xiong.Originally known as Jing and then as Jingchu, at the height of its power the Chu state occupies vast areas of land, including most of the present-day provinces of Hubei and Hunan, and parts of Chongqing, Guizhou, Henan, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai.

For more than 400 years,the Chu capital Danyang is located at the junction region of Dan River and Xi River, near present-day Xichuan, Henan Province, but later moves to Ying.