Longxi Commandery (

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

: trad. , simp. , ''Lǒngxījùn'') was a

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 ...

imperial China The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapte ...

in present-day

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

, named due to its location west of Mount Long (the southern portion of

Mount Liupan Mount Liupan ( zh, c=六盘山, p=Lìupán Shān) is a mountain range in northwestern China, located mostly in southern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. It marks the southwestern boundary of the Ordos Basin. Its southern section is known as Mount ...

Qin dynasty

Established by

Shi Huangdi 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 ( ...

, it originally covered the entire territory of the

Qin Empire The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin (state), ...

west of Mount Long with its

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair (furniture), ...

at Didao (present-day

Taoyang Taoyang is a town and the county seat of Lintao County, Dingxi, Gansu, China. It is located centrally in Lintao at a junction of major roads. The town relies mainly on agriculture, supported by favourable irrigation supply from the Tao River ...

Lintao County Lintao County ) is administratively under the control of Dingxi, Gansu province. History Until the 20th century, Lintao was known as Didao (). The Battle of Didao was fought in the area in 255 CE, during the Three Kingdoms era. In the 8th ce ...

). This area included most of the upper Wei valley. Its principal route of communication was the Long Road (named for the mountain), which probably passed along the course of the modern railroad west from Xi’an although much of the area nearest the river was then marshland. The territory was used as a staging ground for campaigns up the

Tao ''Tao'' or ''Dao'' is the natural order of the universe, whose character one's intuition must discern to realize the potential for individual wisdom, as conceived in the context of East Asian philosophy, East Asian religions, or any other phil ...

and the upper

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Standard Beijing Mandarin, Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system in the world at th ...

.De Crespigny, Rafe.
The Government and Geography of the Northern Frontier of Late Han
!--sic-->". Australian National University, 2004. A revised version of "Northern Frontier: the Policies and Strategy of the Later Han Empire", ''Asian Studies Monographs'' New Series, No. 4, 1984. ISBN 0-86784-410-8. Accessed 12 Dec 2013. The first governor was Li Chong (), considered the originator of an important

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...

of the

Li family Li, li, or LI may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Landscape Institute, a British professional body for landscape architects * Leadership Institute, a non-profit organization located in Arlington, Virginia, US, that teaches "political te ...

Han dynasty

The Emperor Wu of the

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 ...

, as part of his expeditions into the

Tarim Basin The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Northwest China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, China." Hydr ...

, established

Tianshui Commandery Tianshui Commandery ( zh, 天水郡), known as Hanyang Commandery ( zh, 漢陽郡) during the Eastern Han dynasty, was a historical commandery of China in eastern Gansu. The modern city of Tianshui receives its name from the commandery. History Th ...

to control the Wei valley immediately to the west of Mount Long. The southern parts of the old commandery controlling the

Han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...

and Bailong were reörganized as

Wudu Wuḍūʾ ( ar, الوضوء ' ) is the Islamic procedure for cleansing parts of the body, a type of ritual purification, or ablution. The 4 Fardh (Mandatory) acts of ''Wudu'' consists of washing the face, arms, then wiping the head and the feet ...

. The remnant of Longxi controlled eleven

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

in the far west of the Wei and the Tao valley. The Long Road into the territory was militarized: garrisons and arsenals were maintained and patrols organized. The entry to the lower Wei was removed from the valley itself to the then-forested

loess Loess (, ; from german: Löss ) is a clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loess or similar deposits. Loess is a periglacial or aeolian ...

foothills north of Mount Long. The narrowest pointthe Long Passwas fortified. From the time of the

Empress Lü Empress (Dowager) Lü Zhi (241–18 August 180 BC), commonly known as Empress Lü () and formally Empress Gao of Han (), was the empress consort of Gaozu, the founding emperor of the Han dynasty. They had two known children, Liu Ying (later E ...

( BC), the area was repeatedly attacked by the

Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 20 ...

.Olberding, Garret. ''Dubious Facts: The Evidence of Early Chinese Historiography''
pp. 183 ff.
SUNY Press, 2012. Accessed 12 Dec 2013.

Jin dynasty

By the time of the

Western Jin Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

, the commandery had only four counties.

Sui dynasty

Under the Sui, it increased to five.

Tang dynasty

Under the

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 ...

, the commandery was folded into Wei Prefecture (). Its name was carried on by

Longxi County Longxi is a county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Dingxi in the southeast of Gansu Province, China. Administration Longxi has twelve towns and five townships. The county seat is Gongchang. ;Towns: ;Towns upgraded to ...

References

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