Bohai Commandery (勃海郡 or 渤海郡) 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 ...

of China from

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

. It was centered around modern southern

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

province. The commandery was established during

Emperor Gaozu of Han Emperor Gaozu of Han (2561 June 195 BC), also known by his given name Liu Bang, was the founder and first emperor of the Han dynasty, reigning from 202 to 195 BC. He is considered by traditional Chinese historiography to be one o ...

's reign. In Western Han, it administered 26 counties, including Fuyang (浮陽), Yangxin (陽信), Dongguang (東光), Fucheng (阜城), Qiantong (千童), Chonghe (重合), Nanpi (南皮), Ding (定), Zhangwu (章武), Zhongyi (中邑), Gaocheng (高成), Gaole (高樂), Canhu (參戶), Chengping (成平), Liu (柳), Linle (臨樂), Dongpingshu (東平舒), Chongping (重平), Anci (安次), Xiushi (脩市), Wen'an (文安), Jingcheng (景成), Shuzhou (束州), Jiancheng (建成), Zhangxiang (章鄉) and Puling (蒲領). The population in 2 AD was 905,119, or 256,377 households. During the Eastern Han dynasty, the seat was moved to Nanpi. By 140 AD, the number of counties had decreased to 8, including Nanpi, Gaocheng, Chonghe, Fuyang, Dongguang, Zhangwu, Yangxin and Xiu (脩, formerly part of Xindu Commandery), and the number of households to 132,389. According to the ''

Book of Jin The ''Book of Jin'' is an official Chinese historical text covering the history of the Jin dynasty (266–420), Jin dynasty from 266 to 420. It was compiled in 648 by a number of officials commissioned by the imperial court of the Tang dynasty, ...

'', the commandery had 40,000 households in 280 AD. In

Northern Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei ( zh, c=北魏, p=Běi Wèi), Tuoba Wei ( zh, c=拓跋魏, p=Tuòbá Wèi), Yuan Wei ( zh, c=元魏, p=Yuán Wèi) and Later Wei ( zh, t=後魏, p=Hòu Wèi), was an Dynasties of China, impe ...

, the commandery was renamed to Cangshui (滄水) during Emperor Taiwu's reign, but the name was changed back in 497. The commandery was abolished in early

Sui dynasty The Sui dynasty ( ) was a short-lived Dynasties of China, Chinese imperial dynasty that ruled from 581 to 618. The re-unification of China proper under the Sui brought the Northern and Southern dynasties era to a close, ending a prolonged peri ...

. In Sui and Tang dynasties, Bohai Commandery became an alternative name of Cang Prefecture (滄州), which lied on the coast of the

Bohai Sea The Bohai Sea ( zh, c=渤海, p=Bó Hǎi, l=Bo Sea) is a gulf/inland sea approximately in area on the east coast of Mainland China. It is the northwestern and innermost extension of the Yellow Sea, to which it connects via the Bohai Strait. It ...

, and from which modern

Cangzhou Cangzhou; Jilu Mandarin, locally pronounced as is a prefecture-level city in eastern Hebei province of China, province, People's Republic of China. At the 2020 Chinese census, 2020 census, Cangzhou's built-up (''or metro'') area made of Yunh ...

derives its name. In 741 AD, it consisted of 7 counties, and the population was 825,705, or 124,024 households according to Tang official census figures.''

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