Changshan Commandery (常山郡), or Hengshan Commandery (恒山郡), was a historical

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 ...

of China, located in present-day 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, an ...

province. The commandery was established as Hengshan by the Qin state after it annexed the state of Zhao. After the foundation of

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 ...

, it became part of the Zhao Kingdom. During

Empress Dowager Lü An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...

's reign, it was briefly granted to Liu Buyi (劉不疑), son of the Emperor Hui, as his fief. After the death of Buyi, the territory was first passed to Liu Hong, Emperor Houshao of Han, then it was granted to Liu Chao (劉朝), another son of Emperor Hui. During the defeat of the Lü clan, Liu Chao was killed and the territory again became a commandery of Zhao. The name was later changed to Changshan for the

naming taboo A naming taboo is a cultural taboo against speaking or writing the given names of exalted persons, notably in China and within the Chinese cultural sphere. It was enforced by several laws throughout Imperial China, but its cultural and possibly r ...

of Emperor Wen of Han (personal name Liu Heng). The territory became a separate principality in 145 BC during Emperor Jing's reign, and was granted to Liu Shun (劉舜). In 113 BC, Shun's successor Liu Bo (劉勃) was deposed and the principality was abolished. A brother of Bo, Liu Ping (劉平), was granted part of the former Changshan as the principality of Zhending, while the remaining territories became Changshan Commandery. In late Western Han dynasty, the commandery administered 18 counties, namely Yuanshi (元氏), Shiyi (石邑), Sangzhong (桑中), Lingshou (靈壽), Puwu (蒲吾), Shangquyang (上曲陽), Jiumen (九門), Jingxing (井陘), Fangzi (房子), Zhongqiu (中丘), Fengsi (封斯), Guan (關), Pingji (平棘), Hao (鄗), Leyang (樂陽), Pingtai (平臺), Duxiang (都鄉) and Nanxingtang (南行唐). The population in 2 AD was 677,956, or 141,741 households. Zhending was merged back in early Eastern Han dynasty, and the seat of the commandery was moved to Zhending County (真定縣). The commandery became the fief of imperial princes several times during the Eastern Han. In 140 AD, the population was 631,184, or 97,500 households. From the Jin dynasty to the

Northern and Southern Dynasties The Northern and Southern dynasties () was a period of political division in the history of China that lasted from 420 to 589, following the tumultuous era of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Eastern Jin dynasty. It is sometimes considered as ...

period, its territory was reduced as new commanderies were formed and counties were transferred to other commanderies. 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 ...

. Later, Hengshan Commandery became an alternative name of Heng Prefecture (恒州). In 741, the name was again changed to Changshan. At the time, Changshan administered 11 counties and had a total population of 342,134.''

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 39.

References

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