Henei Commandery ( zh, 河內郡) was a commandery of China from

Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...

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

, located in modern

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

province, to the north of

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth-longest river system in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan ...

. In ancient China, Henei ("Inside the Yellow River") referred to the land north of the lower Yellow River. The commandery was established during

Emperor Gaozu of Han Emperor Gaozu of Han (256 – 1 June 195 BC), born Liu Bang () with courtesy name Ji (季), was the founder and first emperor of the Han dynasty, reigning in 202–195 BC. His temple name was "Taizu" while his posthumous name was E ...

's reign. It administered 18 counties: Huai (懷), Ji (汲), Wude (武德), Bo (波), Shanyang (山陽), Heyang (河陽), Zhou (州), Gong (共), Pinggao (平皋), Zhaoge (朝歌),

Xiuwu Xiuwu County () is a county in the northwest of Henan province, China, bordering Shanxi province to the north. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Jiaozuo Jiaozuo ( ; postal: Tsiaotso) is a prefecture-level city in th ...

(脩武), Wen (溫),

Yewang Qinyang () is a county-level city in Henan province, China, bordering Shanxi province to the north. It is administered by the prefecture-level city Jiaozuo. The current population of Qinyang is estimated at 470,000. In 1999, the population stood ...

(野王), Huojia (獲嘉), Zhi (軹), Qinshui (沁水), Longlü (隆慮) and Dangyin (蕩陰). The 2 AD census recorded 1,067,097 people in 241,246 households, while the census in 140 AD recorded 159,770 households and 801,558 people. Over the course of Jin and Northern Wei dynasties, the Han-era Henei Commandery was divided into four commanderies including Henei, Linlü (林慮), Ji and Wude. According to the

Book of Wei The ''Book of Wei'', also known by its Chinese name as the ''Wei Shu'', is a classic Chinese historical text compiled by Wei Shou from 551 to 554, and is an important text describing the history of the Northern Wei and Eastern Wei from 386 to ...

, the population was 42,601, 55,714, 102,997, and 52,372 respectively. In early Kaihuang era, the much reduced Henei Commandery was merged into Huai Prefecture (懷州). Later, Henei Commandery became an alternative name of Huai. In 742 AD, the prefecture had 5 counties, and a population of 318,126.'' New Book of Tang'', Chapter 39.

References

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