Runan Commandery ( zh, 汝南郡) was a Chinese commandery 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 ...

and

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

provinces. The name referred to its location to the south of Ru River (汝水), a historical river that flowed into the

Huai The Huai River (), formerly romanized as the Hwai, is a major river in China. It is located about midway between the Yellow River and Yangtze, the two longest rivers and largest drainage basins in China, and like them runs from west to east. ...

. Runan was part of the Huaiyang Kingdom in early

Western Han 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 ...

dynasty. In 156 BC, Runan was granted to Liu Fei, son of the reigning Emperor Jing as a principality. A year later, Fei's fief was changed to Jiangdu (江都), and Runan became a commandery. In late Western Han dynasty, it administered 37 counties,

Pingyu Pingyu County () is a county of Henan province, China, bordering Anhui province to the east. It is under the administration of Zhumadian city. Notable people It is the hometown of the following people: * Chen Fan and Xi Zhong, who were famous C ...

(平輿), Yang'an (陽安), Yangcheng (陽城), Liqiang (郦強), Fubo (富波), Nüyang (女陽), Tongyang (鮦陽), Wufang (吳房), Ancheng (安成), Nandun (南頓), Langling (朗陵), Xiyang (細陽), Yichun (宜春), Nüyin (女陰), Xincai (新蔡), Xinxi (新息), Quyang (灈陽), Qisi (期思), Shenyang (慎陽), Shen (慎), Zhaoling (召陵), Yiyang (弋陽), Xiping (西平),

Shangcai Shangcai County () is a county in the south of Henan province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Zhumadian. Administrative divisions As 2017, this county is divided to 4 subdistricts, 12 towns and 10 township ...

(上蔡), Qin (浸), Xihua (西華), Changping (長平), Xilu (宜祿), Xiang (項), Xinqi (新郪), Guide (歸德), Xinyang (新陽), Anchang (安昌),

Anyang Anyang (; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan province, China. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the east, Hebi and Xinxiang to the south, and the provinces of Shanxi and Hebei to its west and north respectively. It had ...

(安陽), Boyang (博陽), Chengyang (成陽) and Dingling (定陵). In 2 AD, the population was 2,596,148, in 461,587 households. In 140 AD during

Eastern Han The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a wa ...

dynasty, the commandery administered 37 counties and had a population of 2,100,788, in 404,448 households. Two new commanderies, Yiyang and Ruyin (汝陰) was separated from Runan under Emperor Wen of Wei and

Emperor Wu of Jin Emperor Wu of Jin (; 236 – 16 May 290), personal name Sima Yan (), courtesy name Anshi (安世), was the grandson of Sima Yi, nephew of Sima Shi and son of Sima Zhao. He became the first emperor of the Jin dynasty after forcing Cao Huan ...

, respectively. In 280 AD, Runan Commandery retained 15 counties with the population was 21,500 households, while the three commanderies together had a population of 46,700 households. During Emperor Hui's reign, two new commanderies, Xincai and Nandun, were established in the region. Under Northern Wei, the commandery consisted of 8 counties, and 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 ...

'' recorded a population of 37,061, or 15,889 households. The commandery was abolished in early Sui dynasty. Runan was part of Yu Prefecture until

Northern Zhou Zhou (), known in historiography as the Northern Zhou (), was a Xianbei-led dynasty of China that lasted from 557 to 581. One of the Northern dynasties of China's Northern and Southern dynasties period, it succeeded the Western Wei dynasty a ...

dynasty, during which the prefecture was renamed Cai (蔡州). Later during Sui and Tang dynasties, Runan Commandery became an alternative name of Cai Prefecture. In 741 AD, the prefecture consisted of 10 counties, and the total population was 460,205, or 87,061 households.'' New Book of Tang'', Chapter 28.

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