邾国，又称邾娄、邹等，是一个古老的方国。周初，武王克商后把服从于周朝的诸侯国纳入自己的统治系统，在今邹城一带的邾国也被承认。周公东征践奄，平定东方后，分封鲁国于商奄旧地曲阜，邾国遂成为鲁的附庸。由于文化方面存在较大差异，两国之间时有争战，攻伐不已；鲁人卑视邾国，称其为“夷”；邾国用人祭社，以人殉葬，也是在其文化上区别于鲁的具体表现。由于鲁对邾的侵夺，邾的边境逐渐南移，邾国也受到鲁文化的濡染。子思曾到邹地讲学，尤其孟子迁居于邹，使这里名声大震，人们指称儒家时，往往说“邹鲁之士”、“邹鲁缙绅先生”。邹、鲁连称，且由于孟子的原因，邹在鲁前，一般是从儒学的角度而言。

Zhu, namely Zhulou or Zou, is ancient united states. At the beginning of Zhou Dynasty, the King Wu conquered Shang Dynasty and brought many small states into his regime including Zou in nowadays Zoucheng city. The king of Zhou Dynasty united the whole country and made Qufu city as the provincial capital of Lu including the near state Zhu. But the wars and disputes arose due to the great cultural differences between Lu and Zhu. People in Lu looked down upon Zhu as barbarians while people in Zhu sacrificed alive people to worship their god and bury them with the dead. As the invasion of Lu, Zhug land was occupied and its culture was greatly influenced by the invaders. Zhu became famous because Zisi used to lecture here and especially Menci moved to live here. People nowadays call Confucius as ＂Masters in Zou -lu＂ or ＂Gentlemen in Zoulu ＂. Zou was put before Lu because of Menci from the perspective of Confucianism.