Guangyang Commandery ( zh, 廣陽郡), at times also Guangyang Principality ( zh, 廣陽國), was a territory of early imperial China located in modern

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, an ...

and

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

Western Han dynasty

Guangyang Commandery was first established during

Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of "king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Emperor ( ...

's reign. In early

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 ...

, its land became the fief of the Princes of Yan The commandery was restored in 80 BC, after Prince Dan (劉旦) of Yan's rebellion was suppressed. In 73 BC, Liu Jian, a son of Liu Dan, was granted the title Prince of Guangyang, and the commandery became his fief. Four princes held the title Prince of Guangyang: *Liu Jian (劉建), Prince Qing (頃) of Guangyang, 73–45 BC; *Liu Shun (劉舜), Prince Mu (穆) of Guangyang, 45–23 BC; *Liu Huang (劉璜), Prince Si (思) of Guangyang, 23–3 BC; *Liu Jia (劉嘉), 3 BC – 9 AD, deposed after the establishment of

Xin dynasty The Xin dynasty (; ), also known as Xin Mang () in Chinese historiography, was a short-lived Chinese imperial dynasty which lasted from 9 to 23 AD, established by the Han dynasty consort kin Wang Mang, who usurped the throne of the Emperor Ping o ...

. The principality had a population of 70,658 in 2 AD, in 20,740 households. It consisted of four counties: Ji (薊), Fangcheng (方城), Guangyang (廣陽) and Yinxiang (陰鄉).

Eastern Han dynasty

The commandery was expanded, and administered five counties: Ji, Guangyang, Changping (昌平, formerly part of

Shanggu Commandery Shanggu Commandery ( zh, 上谷郡) was a commandery in imperial China from the Warring States period to Tang dynasty. It was located in present-day Hebei and Beijing. The commandery was established by the state of Yan for the defense against the ...

), Jundu (軍都, formerly part of Shanggu) and Anci (安次, formerly part of

Bohai Commandery Bohai Commandery (勃海郡 or 渤海郡) was a commandery of China from Han dynasty to Tang dynasty. It was centered around modern southern Hebei province. The commandery was established during Emperor Gaozu of Han's reign. In Western Han, it ad ...

). The seat, Ji, was also the seat of

You Province You Prefecture or You Province, also known by its Chinese language, Chinese name Youzhou, was a prefecture (''Zhou (country subdivision), zhou'') in North China, northern China during its imperial era. "You Province" was cited in some ancient so ...

. In 140 AD, the population was 280,600, in 44,550 households.''

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 ...

'', Chapter 113. With the beginning of 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 ...

period, the commandery was abolished and merged into the

Principality of Yan Yan (燕國) was a kingdom/principality in early Imperial China. It first appeared during the interregnum between the Qin and Han dynasties as one of the Eighteen Kingdoms created by Xiang Yu, and was subsequently dissolved and recreated multip ...

(燕國).

Northern Wei

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 ...

established a commandery of the same name in 441 with three counties, Yanle (燕樂), Guangxing (廣興) and Fangcheng. The seat was Yanle, in present-day

Longhua County Longhua County () is a county in the northeast of Hebei province, China, bordering Inner Mongolia to the east. It is under the administration of Chengde City. Administrative divisions Towns: * Longhua Town (), Hanmaying (), Zhongguan (), Qiji ...

, Hebei. The population was 8,919, and the households numbered 2,800. The commandery was abolished in

Northern Qi Qi, known as the Northern Qi (), Later Qi (後齊) or Gao Qi (高齊) in historiography, was a Chinese imperial dynasty and one of the Northern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties era. It ruled the eastern part of northern China ...

.''

Book of Sui The ''Book of Sui'' (''Suí Shū'') is the official history of the Sui dynasty. It ranks among the official Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written by Yan Shigu, Kong Yingda, and Zhangsun Wuji, with Wei Zheng as the lead author. ...

'', Chapter 30.

References

{{Han dynasty provinces Commanderies of the Qin dynasty Commanderies of the Han dynasty

Western Han dynasty

Eastern Han dynasty

Northern Wei

See also

References