The list of states refers to the various vassal tribes and city states during the Shang dynasty in ancient China.
Today, scholars' understanding of these states (Chinese："方") primarily comes from oracle bone inscriptions unearthed from the late Shang dynasty Yinxu.
In these inscriptions, these tribal states are often referred to as name + "方".
[1] In modern style Chinese the term can be duplicated to Fangguo (Traditional Chinese: 方國).
The Latin names of Fangs are pronounced according to the Pinyin system established by the People's Republic of China in 1958, which is completely different from its ancient pronunciation. )