Jiangxia Commandery ( zh, 江夏郡) 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 Gr ...

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 wa ...

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 Kingd ...

. Its territories were located in present-day eastern

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...

province.

History

Jiangxia Commandery was established during the reign of

Emperor Wu of Han Emperor Wu of Han (156 – 29 March 87BC), formally enshrined as Emperor Wu the Filial (), born Liu Che (劉徹) and courtesy name Tong (通), was the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty of ancient China, ruling from 141 to 87 BC. His reign la ...

. In the

Western 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 wa ...

dynasty, the commandery consisted of 14 counties: Xiling (西陵), Jingling (竟陵), Xiyang (西陽), Xiang (襄), Zhu (邾), Dai (軑), E (鄂),

Anlu Anlu () is a county-level city in east-central Hubei province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Xiaogan. The siege of De'an took place here during the Song-Jin Wars. Administrative divisions Two subdistricts ...

(安陸), Shaxian (沙羨),

Qichun Qichun County () is a county of eastern Hubei province, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of Huanggang City. Qichun is the birthplace of famous herbalist Li Shizhen, who was born and lived in Qizhou town, on the southern ...

(蘄春), Meng (鄳), Yundu (雲杜), Xiazhi (下雉) and Zhongwu (鍾武). The total population in 2 AD was 219,218 individuals, in 56,844 households. During the

Eastern 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, Xiang and Zhongwu counties were abolished, while Pingchun (平春) and Nanxinshi (南新市) were added. By 140 AD, the population had grown to 265,464, in 58,434 households. As the Han dynasty fell, Jiangxia was divided between

Cao Wei Wei (Hanzi: 魏; pinyin: ''Wèi'' <

Middle Chinese

: *''ŋjwei^C'' < Eastern Wu Wu ( Chinese: 吳; pinyin: ''Wú''; Middle Chinese *''ŋuo'' < Eastern Han Chinese: ''*ŋuɑ''), known in historiography as Eastern Wu or S ...

. The seat was moved first to Shiyang (石陽, formerly part of Xiling County), and then to Anlu. In 221,

Sun Quan Sun Quan (, Chinese: 孫權) (183 – 21 May 252), courtesy name Zhongmou (), posthumously known as Emperor Da of Wu, was the founder of the Eastern Wu dynasty, one of the Three Kingdoms of China. He inherited control of the warlord regime es ...

added 4 counties of Jiangxia under his control to the newly formed Wuchang Commandery (武昌郡), with E as its seat. When Jin dynasty reunited China (280 AD), Jiangxia had 7 counties, namely Anlu, Yundu, Quling (曲陵), Pingchun, Meng, Jingling and Nanxinshi. The population was 24,000 households. Later, the commandery was further divided, and the seat was moved to Xiakou (夏口, in present-day

Yunmeng County Yunmeng County () is a county in eastern Hubei province, People's Republic of China. It is administered by Xiaogan City and is located just outside Xiaogan's urban area. History During the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history (770-476 B ...

), where northern refugees from Runan were accommodated. In 464, the population was 23,810 individuals in 5,072 households. 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 la ...

. In Sui dynasty and early

, Jiangxia Commandery became an alternative name of E Prefecture. The commandery administered 6 counties: Jiangxia (present-day

Wuchang Wuchang forms part of the urban core of and is one of 13 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, China. It is the oldest of the three cities that merged into modern-day Wuhan, and stood on the r ...

, Tangnian (唐年), Puqi (浦圻),

Hanyang Hanyang may refer to: China *Hanyang District (漢陽區, 汉阳区, ''Hànyáng Qū''), Wuhan, Hubei :*Hanyang Arsenal (漢陽兵工廠), founded in 1891 as one of the oldest modern arsenals in Chinese history :*Hanyang 88 (漢陽八八式步槍), ...

, and Chachuan (汊川). In 742, it had a population 84,563 individuals, in 19,190 households.''

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 41.

References

Commanderies of the Han dynasty Commanderies of the Jin dynasty (266–420) Commanderies of the Southern dynasties Commanderies of the Sui dynasty {{China-hist-stub