Wu Commandery was a commandery of imperial China. It covers parts of the contemporary Northern Zhejiang and Southern Jiangsu. The capital of Wu commandery was Wu (today's Suzhou). Major counties of Wu commandery include Wu (county), Yuhang county, and Huating county which later became known as Suzhou, Hangzhou and Shanghai.

History

During its existence, Wu commandery was ruled by various dynasties and regimes. Chronologically, Han dynasty, Eastern Wu, Jin dynasty, Liu Song dynasty,

Southern Qi dynasty Qi, known in historiography as the Southern Qi ( or ) or Xiao Qi (), was a Chinese imperial dynasty and the second of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties era. It followed the Liu Song dynasty and was succeede ...

, Liang dynasty, Chen dynasty, Sui dynasty and Tang dynasty governed Wu commandery in sequence. In the year of 129, Wu commandery was established during the reign of

emperor Shun of Han Emperor Shun of Han (; 115 – 20 September 144) was an emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty and the eighth emperor of the Eastern Han. He reigned from 125 to 144. Emperor Shun (Prince Bao) was the only son of Emperor An of Han. After Emperor A ...

. When Kuaiji Commandery was divided, lands west of

Qiantang river The Qiantang River, formerly known as the Hangchow River and alternatively romanised as the Tsientang River, is a river in East China. An important commercial artery, it runs for through Zhejiang, passing through the provincial capital Hangz ...

in Kuaiji commandery formed the new Wu commandery. After the division of Kuaiji, Wu constitutes one of the commanderies of Yang Province. In 195, local strongman of Fuchun county

Sun Ce Sun Ce () () (175–200), courtesy name Bofu, was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He was the eldest child of Sun Jian, who was killed during the Battle of Xiangyang when ...

acquired the entire Wu commandery without the authorization of Han dynasty. His family ruled the commandery until 280. The last ruler of Sun clan

Sun Hao Sun Hao (243 – January or February 284), courtesy name Yuanzong, originally named Sun Pengzu with the courtesy name Haozong, was the fourth and last emperor of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the son ...

divided a part of Wu commandery and formed the new

Wuxing Commandery Wuxing may refer to: Places in China Counties and districts *Huzhou, formerly Wuxing County, Zhejiang, China * Wuxing District (吴兴区), central district of Huzhou Subdistricts (五星街道) * Wuxing Subdistrict, Mudanjiang, in Dong'an Distr ...

. In 548, Military leader

Hou Jing Hou Jing (; died June 552), courtesy name Wanjing (萬景), was a Chinese military general, monarch, and politician. He was a general of Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, and Liang, and briefly, after controlling the Liang imperial regime for several ...

started an open rebellion against Emperor Wu of Liang. Wu Commandery was occupied by Hou's army during his rebellion. Local lords Lu Xiang, Lu An and Lu Yingong of Lu clan were defeated. Xiang died out of fear and anger. The rebels caused great damage to the commandery's economy. It was recorded that, in Wu, human bodies were eaten as rations of the rebels. In 589, Emperor Wen of Sui abolished the commandery system and substituted it with "Zhou"(administrative division). Consequently Wu commandery was renamed as Suzhou. However, In 607, Emperor Yang of Sui re-established Wu commandery. In 758. Wu commandery was once more renamed Suzhou. Wu commandery ceased to exist nominally in 758 and continued to exist under the name of Suzhou. Shortly after the

An Lushan Rebellion The An Lushan Rebellion was an uprising against the Tang dynasty of China towards the mid-point of the dynasty (from 755 to 763), with an attempt to replace it with the Yan dynasty. The rebellion was originally led by An Lushan, a general off ...

, the imperial court enforced heavy taxes on the people of Wu commandery since Wu was not invaded by An's army. However, the tax collection became unbearable for the ordinary peasants of the commandery (An amount of tax that was equivalent to 8 years of laboring was demanded). In 762, a low rank officer of Taizhou

Yuan Chao Yuan Chao (born 16 December 1974) is a Chinese judoka. He competed in the men's half-middleweight event at the 1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commo ...

, with angry peasants, stormed and attacked cities of Wu commandery including Suzhou. The Tang court had to pacify Yuan's unexpected rebellion in 763. Yuan was captured by Li Guangbi and was escorted to the capital Chang'An. He was soon executed under the charge of treason.

Subordinate counties

* Wu County: Administrative centre of Wu commandery. Shares the same name with the commandery. Today's Suzhou. * Haiyan County: Still exists today under this name as a subordinate county of Jiaxing prefecture. In 549,

established Wuyuan Commandery in this county. Shortly afterward, the Wuyuan Commandery was abolished and Haiyan returned to the administration of Wu. * Wucheng County: Today's Huzhou. In 266, Sun Hao established the

which included this county. No longer a part of Wu after 266. It was the capital of Wuxing commandery. * Yuhang County: Today's Hangzhou. Later formed a part of Wuxing Commandery and thus no longer belonged to Wu. * Piling County: Today's

Changzhou Changzhou ( Changzhounese: ''Zaon Tsei'', ) is a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. It was previously known as Yanling, Lanling and Jinling. Located on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, Changzhou borders the provin ...

. * Dantu County: Today's Zhenjiang. * Qu'e county: Today's Danyang. * Youquan County: Today's Jiaxing. Changed its name to Jiaxing in 231 according to the decree issued by Sun Quan. * Fuchun County: Today's

Fuyang district () is one of ten urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, East China. Fuyang is located in the northwest of Zhejiang on the Fuchun River, a tributary of the Qiantang River. The city is the bir ...

of Hangzhou. In 225, this county became a commandery, the Dong'an Commandery. Dong'an was soon abolished in 228. * Yangxian County: Today's

Yixing Yixing () is a county-level city administrated under the prefecture-level city of Wuxi in southern Jiangsu province, China, and is part of the Yangtze River Delta. The city is known for its traditional Yixing clay ware tea pots. It is a pene-excl ...

, later became a part of Wuxing Commandery. * Wuxi County: Still exists under this name today. Formally joined Wu commandery in 188. Abolished in 234 * Lou County: Today's Kunshan. Abolished before the year of 589. Parts of this county formed Kunshan and Xingyi county. * Yanguan County: Today's

Haining () is a county-level city in Zhejiang Province, China, and under the jurisdiction of Jiaxing. It is in the south side of Yangtze River Delta, and in the north of Zhejiang. It is to the southwest of central Shanghai, and east of Hangzhou, the p ...

. Originally named Haichang. Established in 223. * Huating County: Today's Shanghai. Established in 751 by the governor of Wu commandery

Zhao Juzhen Zhao Juzhen was a Tang dynasty politician who served during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. He was the founder of Huating County, the first county-level division in Shanghai. Life Zhao was born in Dingzhou. He was a member of the Zhao cl ...

Functionaries

According to the bureaucratic system of Han dynasty, every commandery has an identical hierarchy of functionaries. The top administrator of Wu commandery is Taishou(the top official of a Commandery). In addition, the Taishou has a subordinate Juncheng(vice Taishou and an assistant of its work). Military affairs are entrusted to the Duwei of a commandery. In terms of counties, Ling(an officer) is in charge of a county with more than 10 thousand registered families. Zhang(an officer) is in charge of a county with a population that is less than 10 thousand. In Wu commandery, many counties reached a relatively large population thus were governed by a Ling. Numerous resources proved Wu, Wucheng , Yuhang, Qu'e, Haiyan, Fuchun, Jiaxing, Yangxian to be some of the large counties with a Ling. During Jin and Southern dynasties, the top official of commanderies (including Wu commandery) were called Neishi. The Neishi, in practice, did not differ from Taishou in any manner.

Society

Wu was the home of the four clans of Wu. In Eastern Wu , the four clans were pillars of Emperor Sun Quan's rule. Wu and Huaisi region's lords together formed two main power blocs of Eastern Wu. Lu Yun, a nobleman of Wu commandery in Jin dynasty, described his native commandery as a culturally and politically advanced region comparable with Zhongyuan. His assertion was validated by the fact that in the records of the three kingdoms, 28 individuals from Wu commandery were biographized making Wu the most prolific source of historically important figures during the three kingdom period. In Han dynasty, Wu had become known for its economic wealth. The 3rd century intellectual

Zuo Si Zuo Si (; 250–305), courtesy name Taichong (), was a Chinese writer and poet who lived in the Western Jin dynasty. Biography Zuo was born to an aristocratic family of Confucian scholars in Linzi. His mother died young. His father, Zuo Yong, ...

had written a rhymed prose concerning Wu commandery. Through his prose, researchers had discovered Wu's prosperous agriculture. On the other hand,

Chen Shou Chen Shou (; 233–297), courtesy name Chengzuo (), was a Chinese historian, politician, and writer who lived during the Three Kingdoms period and Jin dynasty of China. Chen Shou is most known for his most celebrated work, the ''Records of the ...

records A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

indicated a flourishing commercial society in 3rd century Wu commandery. During the rule of Eastern Wu, the government planned military-led plantations in Wu commandery. The aim was to provide a logistic base for the armies on the mission of border defense (against Cao Wei). The

Disaster of Yongjia The Disaster of Yongjia () refers to an event in Chinese history that occurred in 311 CE (5th year of the ''Yongjia'' era of the reign of Emperor Huai of Jin, hence the name), when forces of the Xiongnu-led Han Zhao dynasty captured and sacked ...

forced numerous northern nobles to flee from their homeland. These northern lords later settled down in Wu, Kuaiji and other southern commanderies. However, the four clan's economic, political and social hegemony in Wu was not threatened by Northern immigrants during Jin dynasty.

References

{{Han dynasty provinces Former commanderies of China Commanderies of the Han dynasty Commanderies of the Jin dynasty (266–420) Commanderies of the Sui dynasty Commanderies of the Southern dynasties

History

Subordinate counties

Functionaries

Society

See also

References