Beihai Commandery ( zh, 北海郡) was a historical
commandery of China, located in present-day northern
Shandong
Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region.
Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...
province.
Beihai was created during
Emperor Jing of Han
Emperor Jing of Han (Liu Qi (劉啟); 188 BC – 9 March 141 BC) was the sixth emperor of the Chinese Han dynasty from 157 to 141 BC. His reign saw the limiting of the power of the feudal kings/princes which resulted in the Rebellion of the Sev ...
'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 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 (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,
Gaomi and
Jiaodong
The Shandong (Shantung) Peninsula or Jiaodong (Chiaotung) Peninsula is a peninsula in Shandong Province in eastern China, between the Bohai Sea to the north and the Yellow Sea to the south. The latter name refers to the east and Jiaozhou.
G ...
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
Emperor Guangwu of Han (; 15 January 5 BC – 29 March AD 57), born Liu Xiu (), courtesy name Wenshu (), was a Chinese monarch. He served as an emperor of the Han dynasty by restoring the dynasty in AD 25, thus founding the Eastern Han (Later ...
, as his fief. His descendants held the kingdom until 206, when it was converted to a commandery again. The ''
Book of Later Han
The ''Book of the Later Han'', also known as the ''History of the Later Han'' and by its Chinese name ''Hou Hanshu'' (), is one of the Twenty-Four Histories and covers the history of the Han dynasty from 6 to 189 CE, a period known as the Later ...
'' 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 (高密), Chang'an (昌安), Yi'an (夷安), Jiaodong (膠東),
Jimo (即墨), Zhuangwu (壯武), Xiami (下密) and Ting (挺). The population was 853,604, or 158,641 households.
From
Cao Wei to
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 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's reign, the region was conquered by
Northern Wei
Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei (), Tuoba Wei (), Yuan Wei () and Later Wei (), was founded by the Tuoba (Tabgach) clan of the Xianbei. The first of the Northern and Southern dynasties#Northern dynasties, Northern dynasties ...
along with the rest of Song territories north of
Huai River. The commandery was abolished in early
Sui dynasty
The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and layi ...
.
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,
Linzi, Qiansheng (千乘), Shouguang,
Linqu, Bochang (博昌) and Beihai. The population was 402,704, in 73,148 households.
['']New Book of Tang
The ''New Book of Tang'', generally translated as the "New History of the Tang" or "New Tang History", is a work of official history covering the Tang dynasty in ten volumes and 225 chapters. The work was compiled by a team of scholars of the So ...
'', Chapter 38.
References
{{Han dynasty provinces
Commanderies of the Han dynasty
Commanderies of the Jin dynasty (266–420)
Commanderies of the Southern dynasties
Commanderies of the Northern dynasties
Commanderies of the Sui dynasty