Zhou (administrative division)
| Zhou | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 州 | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| Vietnamese name | |||||||||||||||||
| Vietnamese alphabet | châu | ||||||||||||||||
| Korean name | |||||||||||||||||
| Hangul | 주 | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| Japanese name | |||||||||||||||||
| Hiragana | しゅう | ||||||||||||||||
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Zhou (Chinese: 州; pinyin: zhōu; lit. 'land') were historical administrative and political divisions of China. Formally established during the Han dynasty, zhou existed continuously for over 2000 years until the 1912 establishment of the Republic of China. Zhou were also once used in Korea (주, ju), Vietnam (Vietnamese: châu) and Japan (Hepburn: shū).