Taxonomy of meanings for 九州:  

  • CHINA
    • NPprthe Nine Provinces (of China) [This is pervasively difficult to distinguish from the more universal and almost cosmographic notion of the Nine Continents.)
  • WORLD
    • NP{vadN}the nine regions of the world 揚州,梁州,青州,冀州,雍州,豫州,徐州,兗州,荊州