极目新闻记者 张艳
古三苗（制图 刘阳）
问：你知道“古三苗”、“楚蛮”吗？作为湖北人，你需要掌握这几个名词。
答：古三苗是指什么？
远古时期，荆楚地区的古代居民是苗蛮集团，又称三苗或有苗。古三苗的年代，大致与尧、舜、禹相当，居地则大体在长江中游地区，今湖北、湖南、江西一带，东以大别山脉为界邻于东夷集团，北以外方、伏牛山脉邻于华夏集团。三苗的区域大体与考古学上屈家岭文化和石家河文化的分布范围相当，故一般认为屈家岭文化和石家河文化即是古三苗所创造的文化遗存。在古史传说中，三苗与尧、舜、禹所领导的华夏集团发生过大规模的战争，最后禹利用三苗出现内乱、遭逢天灾之机大举进攻，取得决定性胜利，三苗从此灭亡，不再见于文献，其遗裔则在夏商时期发展成为南方的楚蛮族群。
楚蛮，又是什么意思？
楚蛮又称荆蛮，是商周时期的南方居民，源于古三苗。禹南征灭三苗之后，其遗裔在夏商时期发展成为人数众多、有一定势力的集团，但这一集团在整个商周时期，并没有像以前的三苗和后来的楚国一样形成强大统一的政治体，只是一些分散的居民，文化上也较为落后。楚蛮与中原王朝有较多的联系，在政治和文化上是中原王朝的边缘组成部分。楚国兴起后，楚蛮尽为楚国所并，地为楚地，人为楚人。
指导专家：尹弘兵 湖北省社会科学院楚文化研究所研究员
As one of Chu people, do you know “ancient Sanmiao” and “Chuman”?
Ancient Sanmiao (Picture provided by Liu Yang)
Q: Have you ever heard of “ancient Sanmiao” and “Chuman”? As a native of Hubei, you need to understand them.
A: What does ancient Sanmiao refer to?
In the distant past, the inhabitants of Jingchu were Miao in the south, also known as Sanmiao or Youmiao. The ancient tribe was mainly distributed in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (in present-day Hubei, Hunan, and Jiangxi), roughly the same age as Yao, Shun and Yu (three emperors in China). With the Dabieshan Mountains in the east, they were adjacent to Dongyi, and neighbored to Huaxia (a confederation of tribes living along the Yellow River) in the north along the Waifang Mountains and Funiu Mountains. From the perspective of archaeology, Sanmiao covered an area roughly the same as that of Qujialing culture and Shijiahe culture. As a result, it is generally believed that the two cultures are the cultural remains created by the ancient tribe. In the legend, Sanmiao once had a large-scale war with Huaxia led by Yao, Shun and Yu. Finally, Yu grasped the opportunities of Sanmiao's civil unrest and natural disasters to win a decisive victory, leading to the disappearance of Sanmiao in the historical records. After that, the descendants of Sanmiao moved to the south and developed to a tribe called Chuman in the Xia and Shang dynasties.
What’s the meaning of Chuman?
Chuman, also known as Jingman, were descendants of Sanmiao, living in the south in the Shang and Zhou dynasties. After Yu’s conquest of the ancient tribe, their offspring developed into a large and powerful group in the Xia and Shang dynasties. However, the group failed to form a strong and unified political body like the past Sanmiao and the later Chu state throughout the Shang and Zhou dynasties. Its inhabitants scattered, with a relatively backward culture. Having relatively many ties with dynasties in the Central Plains, Chuman, politically and culturally, was a marginal part of these dynasties. After the rise of Chu state, all the Chuman were incorporated into the state, with land and people.
Consultant: Yin Hongbin, Research Fellow of Chu Culture Research Institute of Hubei Academy of Social Sciences
（翻译：但海剑 顾江诚 赵子懿 武汉理工大学外国语学院）