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, and ...
and
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...
.
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 Empero ...
's reign. In early
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 ...
, 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 Pin ...
.
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), 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 name Youzhou, was a prefecture ('' zhou'') in northern China during its imperial era.
"You Province" was cited in some ancient sources as one of the nine or twelve original provinces ...
. 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 Lat ...
'', 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 Eastern Han dynasty and was followed by the West ...
period, the commandery was abolished and merged into the
Principality of Yan (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 dynasties, it ruled northern China from 386 to 535 during t ...
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, 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.
See also
*
History of Beijing
*
Jicheng (Beijing)
References
{{Han dynasty provinces
Commanderies of the Qin dynasty
Commanderies of the Han dynasty