Cangwu Commandery ( zh, 蒼梧郡) was a Chinese

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 ...

that existed from

Han dynasty 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 warr ...

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

. Cangwu's territory was located in the modern provinces of

Guangxi Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...

and

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

, with its capital at Guangxin (廣信), present-day

Wuzhou Wuzhou (, postal: Wuchow; za, Ngouzcouh / Ŋouƨcouƅ), formerly Ngchow, is a prefecture-level city in the east of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China. Geography and climate Wuzhou is located in eastern Guangxi border ...

History

Cangwu Commandery was established in 112 BC, when the

annexed the

Nanyue Nanyue (), was an ancient kingdom ruled by Chinese monarchs of the Zhao family that covered the modern Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, Macau, southern Fujian and central to northern Vietnam. Nanyue was establish ...

kingdom. In late

Western Han 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 ...

period, it had a population of 24,739 households (146,160 individuals) in its 10 counties, namely Guangxin, Xiemu (謝沐),

Gaoyao Gaoyao, alternately romanized as Koyiu, is an urban district of Zhaoqing in western Guangdong, China. Population: 706,000. Name Gaoyao—literally "high-&-wanting"—is a former name of the Lingyang Gorge on the Xi River. It was original ...

(高要), Fengyang (封陽), Linhe (臨賀), Duanxi (端谿), Fengcheng (馮乘), Fuchuan (富川), Lipu (荔蒲), Mengling (猛陵). During the

Eastern 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 warr ...

period, a new county, Zhangping (鄣平), was added. The population in 140 AD was 111,395 households (466,975 individuals). During the

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty and wa ...

, Cangwu was part of

Eastern Wu Wu ( Chinese: 吳; pinyin: ''Wú''; Middle Chinese *''ŋuo'' <

Eastern Han Chinese

: ''*ŋuɑ''), known in h ...

, and a number of counties were created in this period. In 226, a new commandery, Linhe, was split off from Cangwu. When Jin dynasty unified China in 280, Cangwu consisted of 12 counties and recorded a population of 7,700 households. During the reign of

Emperor Mu of Jin Emperor Mu of Jin (; 343 – July 10, 361According to Sima Dan's biography in ''Book of Jin'', he died aged 19 (by East Asian reckoning) on the ''dingsi'' day of the 5th month of the 5th year of the ''Shengping'' era of his reign. This correspond ...

, three more commanderies – Jinkang (晉康), Xinning (新寧) and Yongping (永平) – were created on the lands of Cangwu. In 464, the population was 4,547 households (17,710 individuals).''

Book of Song The ''Book of Song'' (''Sòng Shū'') is a historical text of the Liu Song Dynasty of the Southern Dynasties of China. It covers history from 420 to 479, and is one of the Twenty-Four Histories, a traditional collection of historical records. I ...

'', Chapter 38. The commandery was abolished when the

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 ...

conquered the Chen 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, Cangwu Commandery was an alternative name of Feng Prefecture, later renamed Wu Prefecture in 621. The commandery consisted of 3 counties, and had a population of 1,290 households in 741.''

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 43.

References

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