Shuntian Prefecture was an administrative region of China during the

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han pe ...

and

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

dynasties, equivalent to

Beijing Municipality } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

in today's

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. However, the area of the prefecture jurisdiction was different. The term Shuntian fu also referred to the

yamen A ''yamen'' (''ya-men''; ; Manchu: ''yamun'') was the administrative office or residence of a local bureaucrat or mandarin in imperial China. A ''yamen'' can also be any governmental office or body headed by a mandarin, at any level of gover ...

(office) of the prefecture's local government.

Evolution

During the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fif ...

, the imperial capital circuit known as Dadu circuit (大都路; ''Dadulu'') was under control of the Central Secretariat (Zhongshu Sheng). During the eighth month of the first year of reign of the

Hongwu Emperor The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328 – 24 June 1398), personal name Zhu Yuanzhang (), courtesy name Guorui (), was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty of China, reigning from 1368 to 1398. As famine, plagues and peasant revolts i ...

of the new

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

, this was renamed to

Beiping "Beijing" is from pinyin ''Běijīng,'' which is romanized from , the Chinese name for this city. The pinyin system of transliteration was approved by the Chinese government in 1958, but little used until 1979. It was gradually adopted by various ...

prefecture, and in the tenth month it was attached to Shandong province. In the first lunar month in the first year of the reign of the

Yongle Emperor The Yongle Emperor (; pronounced ; 2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), personal name Zhu Di (), was the third Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 1424. Zhu Di was the fourth son of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming dyn ...

, the capital was renamed

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 ...

and the prefecture as Shuntian. Shuntian prefecture went through many changes during the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

, and it was only in 1743 during the reign of the

Qianlong Emperor The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, born Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1735 ...

that its borders and administrative divisions were settled. Then, Shuntian prefecture was divided into four sub-divisions (路廳, ''luting'') and twenty four sub-prefectures (州, ''zhou'') counties (縣, ''xian''). It was also placed under an imperial magistrate (府尹, ''fuyin''). In 1910 with the demise of the

, Shuntian prefecture was slowly abolished on 4 October 1914 which became Capital Area (京兆地方; Jīngzhào Dìfāng) later became

Special City on 20 June 1928. The remains of the Shuntian yamen can be found in today's Dongcheng District in Beijing at Donggong street (東公街).

Jurisdiction

During the Ming era, Shuntian had 5 sub-prefectures (州) and 22 counties (縣). In 1490, Shuntian had 100,518 households and a population of 669,033. In 1578, Shuntian had 101,134 households and a population of 706,861. After 1743, Shuntian prefecture was divided into four sub-divisions. * The west subdivision (西路廳, ''Xi Luting'') had its seat near the Lugou bridge (盧溝橋), and it ruled Zhuozhou sub-prefectures (涿州), Daxing (大興), Wanping (宛平), Liangxiang (良鄉), and Fangshan (房山) counties. * The east subdivision (東路廳, "Dong Luting") had its seat at Zhangjiawan (張家灣), and it ruled over Tongzhou (通州) and Jizhou (薊州) sub-prefectures, and Sanhe (三河), Wuqing (武清), Baodi (寶坻), Ninghe (寧河)、and Xianghe (香河) counties. * The south subdivision (南路廳, ''Nan Luting'') had its seat at Huangcun (黃村), and it ruled over Bazhou sub-prefecture (霸州), Baoding (保定), Wenan (文安), Dacheng (大城), Gu-an (固安), Yongqing (永清), and Dong-an (東安). * The north subdivision (北路廳, ''Bei Luting'') had its seat at Gonghua city (鞏華城) in Shahe suburb (沙河鎮), and it ruled over Changpingzhou sub-prefecture (昌平州), and Shunyi (順義), Huairou (懷柔), Miyun (密雲), and Pinggu (平谷) counties.

Administrative Level

As Shuntian was the administrative district containing the capital

, the Shuntian prefecture magistrate (府尹, ''fuyin'') was particularly renowned. This magistrate was an Qing official of the third rank (正三品, ''zhengsanpin''), which was two to three ranks higher than magistrates of other prefectures. In fact, some of the Shuntian magistrates were shilang (侍郎) rank imperial ministers. While the yamen of third-rank Qing officials used copper seals, the yamen of Shuntian prefecture used silver seals. Even though the sub-prefectures and counties of Shuntian formally belonged to the Zhili viceroyalty, the Shuntian magistrate did not have a subordinate relationship with the

Viceroy of Zhili The Viceroy of Zhili, fully referred to in Chinese as the Governor-General of Zhili and Surrounding Areas Overseeing Military Affairs and Food Production, Manager of Waterways, Director of Civil Affairs, was one of eight regional Viceroys during ...

. The areas of the Shuntian prefecture outside the Beijing city wall were under the dual administration of the Zhili viceroy and Shuntian magistrate yamens. In contrast, the Zhili viceroy had no authority within the Beijing city wall.

Administration of Beijing

During the early Qing dynasty, an interesting facet of

city administration was that Han and

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) an ...

had separate residence and administration. The Manchu

Bannermen Bannerman is a name of Scottish origin (see Clan Bannerman) and may refer to Places ;Canada * Bannerman, Edmonton, a neighbourhood in Edmonton, Canada ;United States * Bannerman, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community * Bannerman's Castle, an a ...

all lived in the Three-Battalions Barracks (三大營, ''sandaying'') or so-called inner city located in Xijiao (西郊). The

Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive v ...

and other ethnic groups lived in the outer city. As the outer city consisted of five towns and ten lanes (五城十坊, ''wuchengshifang''), it gave rise to an old Chinese saying "inside eight banners, outside five towns" (內八旗外五城, ''neibaqiwaiwucheng''). While Shuntian magistrate had jurisdiction over the Han and other ethnic population in the outer city, the jurisdiction of the

fell under the military office of the Nine Gates Infantry Commander (九門提督, ''jiumen tidu'').{{Citation needed, date=October 2020

References

Prefectures History of Beijing