Bohai Commandery (勃海郡 or 渤海郡) was a commandery of China from

Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdo ...

. It was centered around modern southern

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and ...

province. The commandery was established during

Emperor Gaozu of Han Emperor Gaozu of Han (256 – 1 June 195 BC), born Liu Bang () with courtesy name Ji (季), was the founder and first emperor of the Han dynasty, reigning in 202–195 BC. His temple name was "Taizu" while his posthumous name was E ...

's reign. In Western Han, it administered 26 counties, including Fuyang (浮陽), Yangxin (陽信), Dongguang (東光), Fucheng (阜城), Qiantong (千童), Chonghe (重合), Nanpi (南皮), Ding (定), Zhangwu (章武), Zhongyi (中邑), Gaocheng (高成), Gaole (高樂), Canhu (參戶), Chengping (成平), Liu (柳), Linle (臨樂), Dongpingshu (東平舒), Chongping (重平), Anci (安次), Xiushi (脩市), Wen'an (文安), Jingcheng (景成), Shuzhou (束州), Jiancheng (建成), Zhangxiang (章鄉) and Puling (蒲領). The population in 2 AD was 905,119, or 256,377 households. During the Eastern Han dynasty, the seat was moved to Nanpi. By 140 AD, the number of counties had decreased to 8, including Nanpi, Gaocheng, Chonghe, Fuyang, Dongguang, Zhangwu, Yangxin and Xiu (脩, formerly part of Xindu Commandery), and the number of households to 132,389. According to the ''

Book of Jin The ''Book of Jin'' is an official Chinese historical text covering the history of the Jin dynasty from 266 to 420. It was compiled in 648 by a number of officials commissioned by the imperial court of the Tang dynasty, with chancellor Fang X ...

'', the commandery had 40,000 households in 280 AD. In Northern Wei, the commandery was renamed to Cangshui (滄水) during Emperor Taiwu's reign, but the name was changed back in 497. The commandery was abolished in early Sui dynasty. In Sui and Tang dynasties, Bohai Commandery became an alternative name of

Cang Prefecture Cangzhou or Cang Prefecture () was a '' zhou'' (prefecture) in imperial China, centering on modern Cang County, Hebei, China. It existed (intermittently) from 517 until 1913. The modern prefectural-level city Cangzhou, created in 1961, retains its ...

(滄州), which lied on the coast of the

Bohai Sea The Bohai Sea () is a marginal sea approximately in area on the east coast of Mainland China. It is the northwestern and innermost extension of the Yellow Sea, to which it connects to the east via the Bohai Strait. It has a mean depth of a ...

, and from which modern Cangzhou derives its name. In 741 AD, it consisted of 7 counties, and the population was 825,705, or 124,024 households according to Tang official census figures.'' New Book of Tang'', Chapter 39.

References

{{Han dynasty provinces Commanderies of the Han dynasty Commanderies of the Jin dynasty (266–420) Commanderies of the Northern dynasties Commanderies of the Sui dynasty