Beihai Commandery ( zh, 北海郡) was a historical

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, located in present-day northern

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

province. Beihai was created during

Emperor Jing of Han Emperor Jing of Han (188 BC – 9 March 141 BC), born Liu Qi, was the sixth Emperor of China, emperor of the Han dynasty from 157 to 141 BC. His reign saw the limiting of the power of the feudal kings and princes which resulted in the Rebellion ...

's reign. According to Zhou Zhenhe, Beihai was likely established on six counties from Jiaoxi Kingdom, and gradually expanded its borders over the rest of

Western Han The Han dynasty was an 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) and a warring int ...

as marquessates from neighboring kingdoms were added to the commandery. In late Western Han, it covered 26 counties and marquessates: Yingling (營陵), Jukui (劇魁), Anqiu (安丘), Zhi (瓡), Chunyu (淳于), Yi (益), Pingshou (平壽), Ju (劇), Duchang (都昌), Pingwang (平望), Pingdi (平的), Liuquan (柳泉),

Shouguang Shouguang () is a county-level city in the north-central part of Shandong Province, China, situated on the southwest shore of Laizhou Bay. Under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Weifang, it has people residing within the munici ...

(壽光), Lewang (樂望), Rao (饒), Zhen (斟), Sangdu (桑犢), Pingcheng (平城), Mixiang (密鄉), Yangshi (羊石), Ledu (樂都), Shixiang (石鄉), Shangxiang (上鄉), Xincheng (新成), Chengxiang (成鄉) and Jiaoyang (膠陽). The population in 2 AD was 593,159, or 127,000 households. In early Eastern Han, the neighboring commanderies

Zichuan The Zichuan District () is one of eight divisions within the city of Zibo in the People's Republic of China, Chinese province of Shandong. As the largest district of Zibo, it is composed of an urban area of over 23 square kilometers,Gaomi Gaomi () is a county-level city of eastern Shandong province, China, under the administration of Weifang City. It is the hometown of writer and 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature winner Mo Yan, who has set some of his stories in the region. Admin ...

and Jiaodong were merged into Beihai. In 52, it became a kingdom, and was gifted to Liu Xing (劉興), who was the adopted son of Liu Zhong (劉仲), a brother of the

Emperor Guangwu Emperor Guangwu of Han (; 15 January 5 BC29 March AD 57), born Liu Xiu (), courtesy name Wenshu (), was a Chinese monarch. He served as an emperor of the Han dynasty by restoring the dynasty in AD 25, thus founding the Eastern Han dynasty. He ...

, as his fief. His descendants held the kingdom until 206, when it was converted to a commandery again. The ''

Book of Later Han The ''Book of the Later Han'', also known as the ''History of the Later Han'' and by its Chinese name ''Hou Hanshu'' (), is one of the Twenty-Four Histories and covers the history of the Han dynasty from 6 to 189 CE, a period known as the Late ...

'' recorded 7 kings of Beihai: *Liu Xing (興), King Jing (靖) of Beihai, 52–65; *Liu Mu (睦), King Jing (敬) of Beihai, 65–76; *Liu Ji (基), King Ai (哀) of Beihai, 76–90; *Liu Wei (威), 90–97; *Liu Pu (普), King Qing (頃) of Beihai, 107–125; *Liu Yi (翼), King Gong (恭) of Beihai, 125–140; *King Kang (康) of Beihai, 140–? In 140 AD, the kingdom administered 18 counties and marquessates: Ju, Yingling, Pingshou, Duchang, Anqiu, Chunyu, Pingchang (平昌), Zhuxu (朱虛), Dong'anping (東安平),

Gaomi Gaomi () is a county-level city of eastern Shandong province, China, under the administration of Weifang City. It is the hometown of writer and 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature winner Mo Yan, who has set some of his stories in the region. Admin ...

(高密), Chang'an (昌安), Yi'an (夷安), Jiaodong (膠東),

Jimo Jimo District (), formerly Jimo City (), is a District of Qingdao, Shandong. Location Jimo is located in the southwest of the Shandong Peninsula, bordered by the Yellow Sea on the east and Mount Lao on the south. Climate Jimo has a modera ...

(即墨), Zhuangwu (壯武), Xiami (下密) and Ting (挺). The population was 853,604, or 158,641 households. From

Cao Wei Wei () was one of the major Dynasties in Chinese history, dynastic states in China during the Three Kingdoms period. The state was established in 220 by Cao Pi based upon the foundations laid by his father Cao Cao during the end of the Han dy ...

to Jin dynasties, Beihai's territory was much reduced, as a number of new commanderies including Gaomi, Chengyang (城陽) and Pingchang was created. In

Liu Song Song, known as Liu Song (), Former Song (前宋) or Song of (the) Southern dynasties (南朝宋) in historiography, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and the first of the four Northern and Southern dynasties#Southern dynasti ...

dynasty, Beihai covered 6 counties (Duchang, Jiaodong, Ju, Jimo, Xiami, Pingshou) and had a population of 35,995, in 3,968 households. During

Emperor Ming of Song Emperor Ming of Liu Song ((劉)宋明帝; 9 December 439 – 10 May 472), personal name Liu Yu (劉彧), courtesy name Xiubing (休炳), childhood name Rongqi (榮期), was an emperor of the Chinese Liu Song dynasty. He became emperor after his ...

's reign, the region was conquered by

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 ...

along with the rest of Song territories north of

Huai River The Huai River, formerly romanized as the Hwai, is a major river in East China, about long with a drainage area of . It is located about midway between the Yellow River and Yangtze River, the two longest rivers and largest drainage basins ...

. 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, Beihai Commandery became an alternative name of Qing Prefecture. In 741, there were 7 counties, namely

Yidu Yidu () is a county-level city in western Hubei Province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Yichang. It has a population of 395,000 residents, and covers an area of , divided into 1 subdistrict, 8 towns, and 1 t ...

, Linzi, Qiansheng (千乘), Shouguang, Linqu, Bochang (博昌) and Beihai. The population was 402,704, in 73,148 households.''

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 38.

References

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