However, the exact number of local cities in Chu State in this period was far from this figure, mainly because the ancient documents of China, especially the pre-Qin classics, often ignored the local cities other than Guodu and Biedu. As we all know, the most important books about cities in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period are Spring and Autumn Period and Zuo Zhuan. However, in these two most important works, there are also many omissions in the records of cities. Why is this happening? Gu's opinion can be said to be correct in Qing Dynasty. Gu said in his Chronicle of Events in the Spring and Autumn Period: "When the book Spring and Autumn Period was written, sages devoted their books to words and deeds, and there were no unreasonable people. There are dozens of cities in Lu Fangbaili's five systems. In 242 years, it is very common for cities to be destroyed and repaired. Why bother with the pen of a saint? " He also concluded that Chunqiu is not a book because it has nothing to do with the size of the world. Spring and Autumn Annals is a book that mainly records the history of Lu, and its attitude towards Lucheng is still the same, let alone Chuncheng. When I count the local cities in Chu, I choose them according to whether there are documentary records or archaeological data. But in fact, some place names, country names, Guansai names and even Shanze names may overlap with city names, all of which are not counted because of the lack of direct literature or archaeological evidence. If this factor is taken into account, there are actually at least 350 local cities in Chu.

The number of local cities in Chu is second to none in other countries in the same period. Take the Spring and Autumn Period as an example. According to Mr. Ying Pan's statistics, there were * * *10/6 cities in Chunqiu, Zuozhuan and Guoyu. There were more than 190 countries recorded in the literature at that time [2]. Even if there were four cities in each state, 48 countries were destroyed [3]. Another example can also illustrate this problem. According to Mr. Wang's statistics, in the activities of building cities recorded in Spring and Autumn Annals, Zuo Zhuan, Ram Zhuan and Gu Liangzhuan, there were 27 times in Lu, 20 times in Chu, 0/0 times in Jin, 4 times in Zheng, 3 times in Qi, 2 times in Song, and 2 times in Zhu and Chen. [4] The Spring and Autumn Annals and Three Biographies are books that mainly record the history of Shandong. Although Lucheng is a little, other countries must be detailed. Therefore, Lu and other countries should not be considered on the same quantitative coordinate. Moreover, Chu has always been regarded as a barbarian by the Central Plains, and it is inevitable to record its city-building activities. Nevertheless, Chu is second only to Lu and twice as big as Jin, which ranks third. From the perspective of probability, the number of fortification activities is roughly proportional to the number of cities. It is not difficult to see that there were many local cities in Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period. In the Warring States period, with the expansion of border cities in Chu, local cities in Chu increased sharply on the basis of cities in the Spring and Autumn Period. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that the number of local cities in Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period is unmatched by other countries in the same period.

Local cities in Chu can be roughly divided into three types, namely, county cities, sub-county cities and general cities. Chu is the earliest county in the history of China. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, Chu began to set up counties. There are many documents in The Songs of Chu, such as county ownership, land acquisition, Shen, Yun, Cai, Chen, Shang, Ye, Bai, Yan, Wucheng, Tang and Butang. Among them, Chen, Cai, Tang and Butang all have different capitals. Since the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the State of Chu has carried out the system of conferring a monarch as well as the county system. The authors of conferring the monarch in Chu mainly include Hubei, Luyang, Yong, Yang,, Jiangzhou, Yuncheng, Chun Shenjunyi and so on. Among them, Hubei and Ruo have also made other capitals. In fact, the number of titles granted to the monarch by the State of Chu is far from this. Bamboo slips and inscriptions unearthed in Chu tombs contain "Emperor Yang Jun" and "I am the king of the mausoleum", and such titles should be given to the monarch. County towns and local cities outside county towns can be called "ordinary cities"

Cities ",which account for the vast majority of local cities in Chu, are smaller than counties and towns. Fan Wuyu, a doctor of Chu in Guoyu Wuyu, said to King Ling of Chu: "In addition, if the husbands are ambiguous, they have leaders, arms, thighs, thumbs and hairy veins. Power can be greatly reduced, so it becomes less diligent. " Fan Wuyu uses the relationship between different parts of the human body to compare the configuration relationship of urban hierarchy, which is called the "body theory" of urban construction. Chu divided local cities into counties, feudal towns and ordinary cities, which is the practice of "body theory" in urban classification.