commandery
In the Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the European landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and G ...
of China, located in present-day northern Shandong province.
Beihai was created during Emperor Jing of Han's reign. According to
Zhou Zhenhe
Zhou Zhenhe (; born 1941) is a Chinese historical geographer and a distinguished senior professor at the Institute of Historical Geography of Fudan University in Shanghai. His main research interests are cultural and administrative geography and ...
, Beihai was likely established on six counties from
Jiaoxi Kingdom
Jiaoxi Commandery ( zh, 膠西郡) was a historical commandery of China, located in what is now eastern Shandong.
The commandery was established in the Qin dynasty. In early Han dynasty, it constituted part of the Qi Kingdom. In 164 BC, Jiaoxi w ...
, and gradually expanded its borders over the rest of
Western Han
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a war ...
as marquessates from neighboring kingdoms were added to the commandery. In late Western Han, it covered 26 counties and marquessates: Yingling (營陵), Jukui (劇魁), Anqiu (安丘), Zhi (瓡), Chunyu (淳于), Yi (益), Pingshou (平壽), Ju (劇), Duchang (都昌), Pingwang (平望), Pingdi (平的), Liuquan (柳泉),
Shouguang
Shouguang () is a county-level city in the north-central part of Shandong Province, China, situated on the southwest shore of the Laizhou Bay. Under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Weifang, it has people residing within the mun ...
(壽光), Lewang (樂望), Rao (饒), Zhen (斟), Sangdu (桑犢), Pingcheng (平城), Mixiang (密鄉), Yangshi (羊石), Ledu (樂都), Shixiang (石鄉), Shangxiang (上鄉), Xincheng (新成), Chengxiang (成鄉) and Jiaoyang (膠陽). The population in 2 AD was 593,159, or 127,000 households.
In early Eastern Han, the neighboring commanderies
Zichuan
The Zichuan District () is one of eight divisions within the city of Zibo in the Chinese province of Shandong. As the largest district of Zibo, it is composed of an urban area of over 23 square kilometers,
,
Gaomi
Gaomi () is a county-level city of eastern Shandong province, China, under the administration of Weifang City. It is the hometown of writer and 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature winner Mo Yan, who has set some of his stories in the region.
Admini ...
and Jiaodong were merged into Beihai. In 52, it became a kingdom, and was gifted to Liu Xing (劉興), who was the adopted son of Liu Zhong (劉仲), a brother of the Emperor Guangwu, as his fief. His descendants held the kingdom until 206, when it was converted to a commandery again. The '' Book of Later Han'' recorded 7 kings of Beihai:
*Liu Xing (興), King Jing (靖) of Beihai, 52–65;
*Liu Mu (睦), King Jing (敬) of Beihai, 65–76;
*Liu Ji (基), King Ai (哀) of Beihai, 76–90;
*Liu Wei (威), 90–97;
*Liu Pu (普), King Qing (頃) of Beihai, 107–125;
*Liu Yi (翼), King Gong (恭) of Beihai, 125–140;
*King Kang (康) of Beihai, 140–?
In 140 AD, the kingdom administered 18 counties and marquessates: Ju, Yingling, Pingshou, Duchang, Anqiu, Chunyu, Pingchang (平昌), Zhuxu (朱虛), Dong'anping (東安平),
Gaomi
Gaomi () is a county-level city of eastern Shandong province, China, under the administration of Weifang City. It is the hometown of writer and 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature winner Mo Yan, who has set some of his stories in the region.
Admini ...
(高密), Chang'an (昌安), Yi'an (夷安), Jiaodong (膠東),
Jimo
Jimo District (), formerly Jimo City (), is a District of Qingdao, Shandong.
Location
Jimo is located in the southwest of the Shandong Peninsula, bordered by the Yellow Sea on the east and Mount Lao on the south.
Climate
Jimo has a moderate ...
(即墨), Zhuangwu (壯武), Xiami (下密) and Ting (挺). The population was 853,604, or 158,641 households.
From
Jin dynasties, Beihai's territory was much reduced, as a number of new commanderies including Gaomi, Chengyang (城陽) and Pingchang was created. In
Liu Song
Song, known as Liu Song (), Former Song (前宋) or Song of (the) Southern Dynasty (南朝宋) in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the first of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. ...
dynasty, Beihai covered 6 counties (Duchang, Jiaodong, Ju, Jimo, Xiami, Pingshou) and had a population of 35,995, in 3,968 households. During
Emperor Ming of Song
Emperor Ming of (Liu) Song ((劉)宋明帝) (9 December 439 – 10 May 472), personal name Liu Yu (劉彧), courtesy name Xiubing (休炳), childhood name Rongqi (榮期), was an emperor of the Chinese Liu Song dynasty. He became emperor after h ...
's reign, the region was conquered by Northern Wei along with the rest of Song territories north of
Huai River
The Huai River (), formerly romanized as the Hwai, is a major river in China. It is located about midway between the Yellow River and Yangtze, the two longest rivers and largest drainage basins in China, and like them runs from west to ea ...
. The commandery was abolished in early Sui dynasty.
In Sui and
Tang
Tang or TANG most often refers to:
* Tang dynasty
* Tang (drink mix)
Tang or TANG may also refer to:
Chinese states and dynasties
* Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...
dynasties, Beihai Commandery became an alternative name of Qing Prefecture. In 741, there were 7 counties, namely
Yidu
Yidu () is a county-level city in western Hubei Province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Yichang. It has a population of 395,000 residents, and covers an area of , divided into 1 subdistrict, 8 towns, and 1 t ...
, Linzi, Qiansheng (千乘), Shouguang, Linqu, Bochang (博昌) and Beihai. The population was 402,704, in 73,148 households.'' New Book of Tang'', Chapter 38.