= Changsha Commandery = Changsha Commandery (長沙郡) was the first imperial Chinese commandery in Hunan. Established by the late

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ) was the first Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China. It is named for its progenitor state of Qin, a fief of the confederal Zhou dynasty (256 BC). Beginning in 230 BC, the Qin under King Ying Zheng enga ...

(210 BCE) and abolished when the

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 ...

ended the commandery tier (589 CE), it governed the lower

Xiang River The Xiang River is the chief river of the Lake Dongting drainage system of the middle Yangtze, the largest river in Hunan Province, China. It is the second-largest tributary (after the Min River) in terms of surface runoff, the fifth-largest ...

basin and the eastern slopes of the

Nan Mountains The Nanling (), also known as the Wuling (), is a major mountain range in Southern China that separates the Pearl River Basin from the Yangtze Valley and serves as the dividing line between south and central subtropical zones. The main rang ...

. Its seat, Linxiang, lay on the west bank of the Xiang within modern Changsha; earthworks and bricks stamped **長沙宮** mark the site.

Predecessor kingdom

During early Western Han the territory was granted to King Wu Rui as the semi-autonomous

Changsha Kingdom The Changsha Kingdom was a kingdom within the Han Empire of China, located in present-day Hunan and some surrounding areas. The kingdom was founded when Emperor Gaozu granted the territory to his follower Wu Rui in 203 or 202 BC, around the s ...

(長沙國). When the Wu-Rui line ended in 157 BCE, the kingdom was dissolved and reverted to direct rule as Changsha Commandery.

Geography and administrative layout

The *Book of Han* lists 18 counties; a 2 CE census records 71 802 households (354 280 people). By 140 CE warfare and migration had reduced this to 12 counties and c. 41 000 households. Principal Western-Han counties * Linxiang ✪ * Liyang * Xiangyin * Lingling * Chengling * Qiyang * Leiyang *

Guiyang Guiyang; Mandarin pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, alternatively as Kweiyang is the capital of Guizhou, Guizhou province in China. It is centrally located within the province, on the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, eastern part of the Yun ...

* Yanling * Zhuyuan * Anren *

Yiyang Yiyang ( zh, s=益阳 , t=益陽 , p=Yìyáng) is a prefecture-level city on the Zi River in Hunan province, China, straddling Lake Dongting and bordering Hubei to the north. According to the Sixth National Population Census of the People's Repub ...

* Xiayang * Yunyang * Zhaoling * Lanshan * Wuling * Yongxing

History

Qin and Western Han (210 BCE – 9 CE)

After the Qin conquest of Lingnan, Changsha Commandery was founded to secure the Xiang valley. Under the Western Han, the former Changsha Kingdom became the direct-ruled commandery, prospering on rice, iron and lacquer.

Xin interlude and Eastern Han (9 – 220 CE)

Wang Mang Wang Mang (45 BCE6 October 23 CE), courtesy name Jujun, officially known as the Shijianguo Emperor (), was the founder and the only emperor of the short-lived Chinese Xin dynasty. He was originally an official and consort kin of the ...

renamed it Bo-Chang Commandery (舶長郡). The Eastern-Han court restored the old name, but repeated Yao uprisings (94 CE, 140 CE) disrupted river traffic.

Warlord era and Three Kingdoms (208 – 280 CE)

{, class="wikitable" ! Administrator !! Tenure & allegiance !! Notes , - , Han Xuan , , ≤ 208 – 209 CE — under

Liu Biao Liu Biao () () ( 151 – September 208), courtesy name Jingsheng, was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He is best known for serving as the governor of Jing Province (coveri ...

, , Defended Linxiang with general Huang Zhong. Surrendered to

Liu Bei Liu Bei (, ; ; 161 – 10 June 223), courtesy name Xuande (), was a China, Chinese warlord in the late Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty who later became the founding Emperor of China, emperor of Shu Han, one of the Three Kingdoms of ...

in 209 CE. , - , (name lost) , , 209 – 215 CE — under Liu Bei , , First Shu-side civil governor unrecorded. , - , Transfer to

Eastern Wu Wu (Chinese language, Chinese: 吳; pinyin: ''Wú''; Middle Chinese *''ŋuo'' < Eastern Han Chinese: ''*ŋuɑ''), known in historiography as Eastern Wu or Sun Wu, was a Dynasties of China, dynastic state of China and one of the three major sta ...

, , 215 CE , , Lu Su brokered the cession of Changsha, Lingling, and Guiyang Commandery to

Sun Quan Sun Quan (; 182 – 21 May 252), courtesy name Zhongmou (), posthumous name, posthumously known as Emperor Da of Wu, was the founder of Eastern Wu, one of the Three Kingdoms of China. He inherited control of the warlord regime established by hi ...

. , - ,

Sun Ben Sun Ben ( 180–200s), courtesy name Boyang, was a cousin of Sun Quan, a Chinese warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty and later became the founding emperor of the state of Eastern Wu in the Three Kingdoms period. He was the eld ...

, , 215 CE — Eastern Wu , , Brief tenure; died same year. , - , Wei Teng , , 230s CE — Eastern Wu , , Strengthened river stockades; dredged canals. After 215 Sun Quan split off six southern counties to create Lingling Commandery, leaving twelve centred on Linxiang.

Western Jin and Six Dynasties (280 – 589 CE)

* 280 CE — Western Jin reunified China; ten counties, 32 000 households. * Refugees during the Yongjia chaos brought registers to 55 300 households by 464 CE (Liu-Song). * Under the

Liang dynasty The Liang dynasty (), alternatively known as the Southern Liang () or Xiao Liang () in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the third of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. It was pre ...

(502 – 557) Linxiangʼs brick walls were rebuilt; the site gained the by-name “South Changsha” when newer prefectural seats shifted slightly north-east. In 589 CE Emperor Wen abolished commanderies; Changsha Commandery merged into Hengzhou Prefecture.

Archaeology and legacy

Excavations in Changshaʼs Wangcheng and Yuelu districts reveal Han layers of stamped bricks, granaries and ironworks. Bronze mirrors inscribed “Xiang-River envoy” (湘使) recall lingering Chu ritual culture. Linxiangʼs ruins remained a pilgrimage focus for the cult of Qu Yuan throughout the Tang–Song era.

Notes

Ban Gu, ''Book of Han'' (《漢書》) 28, “Geographical Treatise”. Fan Ye, ''Book of the Later Han'' (《後漢書》) 113, “Geographical Treatise”. Chen Shou, ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'' (《三國志》) 54, biography of Huang Zhong; cf. vol. 40 annotation from ''Jiang Biao Zhuan'' on Han Xuanʼs surrender. Chen Shou, ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'' 46, “Wu Chronicles 2”. Fang Xuanling et al., ''Book of Jin'' (《晉書》) 15, “Geographical Treatise”. Wei Zheng et al., ''Book of Sui'' (《隋書》) 31, “Geographical Treatise II”.

Bibliography

* Ban Gu, ''Book of Han''. * Fan Ye, ''Book of the Later Han''. * Chen Shou, ''Records of the Three Kingdoms''. * Fang Xuanling, ed., ''Book of Jin''. * Wei Zheng, ed., ''Book of Sui''. * Liu Yao-gui, “Re-examining Linxiang, Capital of Han-Changsha,” *Hunan Archaeology Quarterly*, 2024.