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A jùn (郡) was a historical administrative division of
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
from the Eastern Zhou (c. 7th century BCE) until the early
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
(c. 7th century CE). It is usually translated as a commandery. Countries around China have adopted administrative divisions based on or named after the ''jùn''.


History and development


China


Eastern Zhou

During the Eastern Zhou's
Spring and Autumn period The Spring and Autumn period was a period in Chinese history from approximately 770 to 476 BC (or according to some authorities until 403 BC) which corresponds roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou period. The period's name derives fr ...
from the 8th to 5th centuries BCE, the larger and more powerful of the Zhou's vassal states—including Qin, Jin and
Wei Wei or WEI may refer to: States * Wey (state) (衛, 1040–209 BC), Wei in pinyin, but spelled Wey to distinguish from the bigger Wei of the Warring States * Wei (state) (魏, 403–225 BC), one of the seven major states of the Warring States per ...
—began annexing their smaller rivals. These new lands were not part of their original
fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...
s and were instead organized into counties (''xiàn''). Eventually, jun were developed as marchlands between the major realms. Despite having smaller populations and ranking lower on the official hierarchies, the jun were larger and boasted greater military strength than the counties. As each state's territory gradually took shape in the 5th- to 3rd-century BCE Warring States period, the jun at the borders flourished. This gave rise to a two-tier administrative system, with counties subordinate to jun. Each of the states' territories was by now comparatively larger, hence there was no need for the military might of a jun in the inner regions where counties were established. The border jun's military and strategic significance became more important than those of counties.


Qin dynasty

Following the unification of China in 221 BCE under the Qin Empire, the Qin government still had to engage in military activity because there were rebels from among the six former states who were unwilling to submit to Qin rule. As a result, the
First Emperor Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of "king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Emperor ( ...
set up 36 jun in the Qin Empire, each subdivided into counties. This established the first two-tier administrative system known to exist in China.


Han dynasty and Three Kingdoms period

When the
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 ...
triumphed over Chu in 206 BCE, the Zhou feudal system was initially reinstated, with Emperor Gao recognizing nearly independent
kings Kings or King's may refer to: *Monarchs: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations, with the male being kings *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'' ...
and granting large territories to his relatives. These two sets of kingdoms were placed under hereditary rulers assisted by a
chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
(''xiàng''). Parallel to these, some Qin jun were continued, placed under a governor appointed directly by the central government. By the Eastern Han dynasty, the jun were subordinated to a new division, the province ('' zhōu''). — establishing a three-tier system composed of provinces (zhou), commanderies (jun), and counties (xian). Based upon legendary accounts of the
Yellow Emperor The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yellow Thearch or by his Chinese name Huangdi (), is a deity ('' shen'') in Chinese religion, one of the legendary Chinese sovereigns and culture heroes included among the mytho-historical Three Soverei ...
's
Nine Provinces The term Nine Provinces or Nine Regions (), is used in ancient Chinese histories to refer to territorial divisions or islands during the Xia and Shang dynasties and has now come to symbolically represent China. "Province" is the word used to ...
which were geographic rather than formal political areas, there were initially 13 ''zhōu'' and roughly 100 jun.


Jin dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties

China was greatly divided during the following five centuries, during the Jin and
Northern and Southern Dynasties The Northern and Southern dynasties () was a period of political division in the history of China that lasted from 420 to 589, following the tumultuous era of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Eastern Jin dynasty. It is sometimes considered a ...
period. The number of administrative units drastically increased due to intense warfare, fluid political boundaries, forced migrations, widespread population loss, and the loss of central government control in many areas particularly during the
Sixteen Kingdoms The Sixteen Kingdoms (), less commonly the Sixteen States, was a chaotic period in Chinese history from AD 304 to 439 when northern China fragmented into a series of short-lived dynastic states. The majority of these states were founded by ...
. Although the legacy three-tier system was still in formal effect, rulers of various kingdoms had defined and re-defined provinces until they became increasingly sub-divided, blurring the distinction between provinces (zhou) and commanderies (jun) and reflecting the chaos of China at the time.


Sui and Tang dynasties

China was finally re-united by Emperor Wen of the Sui (581–618) in 589. As there were already over 100 provinces, the province and commandery levels of the administration were merged into one level, typically rendered in English as prefecture, marking the end of the commandery. Some Emperors preferred "jun" to refer to this level of administration, but most used "zhou" and the political function was the same, regardless. By the end of the Tang Dynasty the term jun saw no more use in China (and a new higher tier of administrative unit, the circuit (dao) had been introduced, bringing back a three-tier system).


Taiwan (1920–1945)

During 1920–1945, when Taiwan was under Japanese rule, there were divisions called 郡 ( Mandarin: jùn, Japanese: gun). They are based on the
Districts of Japan In Japan, a is composed of one or more rural municipalities (towns or villages) within a prefecture. Districts have no governing function, and are only used for geographic or statistical purposes such as mailing addresses. Cities are not par ...
(郡 gun), which in turn were based on ancient Chinese jùn. Their officers were known as 郡守 ( Mandarin: ''jùnshǒu'', Japanese: gunshu). This was the title of ancient administrators of the Chinese ''jun'' (see below), and had never existed in Japan. By the end of 1945, there were 51 jun/kun in Taiwan.


Administrative hierarchy

In the
Warring States period The Warring States period () was an era in History of China#Ancient China, ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded ...
, the chief administrative officers of the areas were known as jun administrators (, , literally "defender of the ''jun''"). In the
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 ...
, the position of ''junshou'' was renamed grand administrator (, . "Grand Defender"). Both terms are also translated as "governor". A grand administrator drew an annual salary of 2,000 ''dan'' () of grain according to the ''pinzhi'' (, ''pǐnzhì'') system of administrative rank. Many former grand administrators were promoted to the posts of the Three Ducal Ministers or Nine Ministers later in their careers.


Other uses

In contemporary Chinese language, the word is also used to translate the administrative division Shire in English language. The counties of the United Kingdom and the United States are also translated as ''jùn''.


See also

* Zhou, also translated as prefecture, and often poetically referred to as ''jun'' after
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
, alluding to its historical equivalents * Fu, also translated as prefecture, and often poetically referred to as ''jun'' in the
Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
and
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
* Government of the Han dynasty * , for administrative divisions in other countries that are also called . All of them were based on or inspired by the ancient Chinese ''jun'', but their nature have become quite different from the original concept.


References


Citations

{{reflist, 30em


Bibliography

* Sima Qian. ''
Records of the Grand Historian ''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese his ...
'' (''Shi Ji''). 01 Administrative divisions of ancient China Former administrative divisions of China History of Imperial China