Chou Collection, Upper Volume Radical: Enclosure (wéi) Guó; Kangxi strokes: 11; Page 219 Ancient forms: [omitted], [omitted], [omitted] Tang Rhyme (Tangyun): Pronounced gùo Collection of Rhymes (Jiyun): Pronounced gùo In the Entering Tone (rùshēng), it is pronounced gōng. Explanation of Simple and Compound Characters (Shuowen Jiezi): A state or nation. Rites of Zhou (Zhouli), Summer Offices (Xiaguan), Officials of Measurement (Liangren): Oversees the establishment of national laws and divides the nation into nine provinces. Winter Offices (Dongguan), Record of Trades (Kaogongji): When the master craftsman builds a capital, each side has three city gates. Within the capital, there are nine north-south avenues and nine east-west avenues, each wide enough to accommodate nine carriages abreast. To the left is the ancestral temple, to the right is the altar of soil and grain, in front is the court, and behind is the marketplace. Book of Rites (Liji), Royal Regulations (Wangzhi): Five states form a shu, ten states form a lian, twenty states form a zu, and two hundred and ten states form a zhou. Mencius (Mengzi): A large state has a territory of one hundred square miles; a medium state has seventy square miles; a small state has fifty square miles. Rites of Zhou (Zhouli), Earth Offices (Diguan), Office of Tallies (Zhangjie): States with many mountains use tiger-shaped tallies; states with much flat land use human-shaped tallies; states with many marshes use dragon-shaped tallies. Commentary: Mountain states refer to states with many mountains, earth states refer to those with much flat land, and marsh states refer to those with many waters. To destroy another's state is called a victorious state. Zuo Commentary (Zuozhuan) Commentary: The so-called victorious state means to sever its ancestral sacrifices and occupy its land. Beyond the nine provinces is called a foreign state. Also called an isolated state. Book of the Later Han (Houhanshu), Biography of Ban Chao: You have been in a foreign state for over thirty years. Also: Far away in an isolated state. Two states facing each other are called enemy states. Mencius (Mengzi): Enemy states do not wage war against each other. Foreign states that come to submit are called vassal states. Li Ling, Reply to Su Wu: I heard that after your return, your position was no higher than the Minister of Vassal States. Commentary: Dian means to manage. It refers to the official in charge of vassal state affairs. There are walled states and nomadic states. Song Dynasty, Cheng Dachang, Records of the Northern Frontier (Bei Bei Dui): In the Western Regions during the Han Dynasty, there were walled states and nomadic states. Walled states built fortifications to defend themselves; nomadic states did not build cities but lived as horse-riding pastoralists. As a surname. Surname Garden (Xingyuan): Descendants of Taigong. In the State of Qi, there was the Guo clan, who served as high ministers for generations; in the State of Song, there was a Minister Guo. Guó; Rectification of Character Forms (Zhengzitong) notes this is a vulgar form of the character guó. Guó; a variant of the character guó, a vulgar form used during the Republic era.