Jingzhou or Jing Province was one of the

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 ...

of ancient China referenced in Chinese historical texts such as the '' Tribute of Yu'', ''

Erya The ''Erya'' or ''Erh-ya'' is the first surviving Chinese dictionary. Bernhard Karlgren ( 1931:49) concluded that "the major part of its glosses must reasonably date from the 3rd century BC." Title Chinese scholars interpret the first title cha ...

'' and '' Rites of Zhou''. Jingzhou became an administrative division during the reign of Emperor Wu (r. 141–87 BCE) in the Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE). It usually corresponded with the modern-day provinces of

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The p ...

and

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangx ...

until the

Sui dynasty The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and la ...

, after which it referred to the city of Jingzhou.

History

Pre-Qin era

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

Chu state Chu, or Ch'u in Wade–Giles romanization, (, Hanyu Pinyin: Chǔ, Old Chinese: ''*s-r̥aʔ'') was a Zhou dynasty vassal state. Their first ruler was King Wu of Chu in the early 8th century BCE. Chu was located in the south of the Zhou ...

covered most of present-day

and

, the areas that would form Jingzhou in a later era. The Qin state dropped the name "Chu" (楚) (literally "

chaste tree ''Vitex'' is a genus of flowering plants in the sage family Lamiaceae.List of Genera in Lamiaceae. At: Peter F. Stevens. 2001 onwards. Angiosperm Phylogeny Website At: Missouri Botanical Garden Website. (see ''External links'' below). It has ...

") and used its synonym "Jing" (荊) instead to avoid a naming taboo, since the personal name of Qin's

King Zhuangxiang King Zhuangxiang of Qin (281– 6 July 247 BCEVolume 05 of ''Records of the Grand Historian'' indicated that King Zhuangxiang died on the ''bingwu'' day of the 5th month of the 4th year of his reign. Using the ''Zhuanxu'' calendar, the date corre ...

(281–247 BCE) was "Zichu" (子楚; lit. "son of Chu") because his adoptive mother, Lady Huayang, was from Chu. Chu was conquered by Qin in 223 BCE in the final stages of the Qin unification campaign.

Han dynasty

In 106 BCE, during the reign of Emperor Wu in the Western Han dynasty (206 BCE – 9 CE), China was divided into 13 administrative divisions (excluding the area under the central government's control), each governed by an Inspector (刺史). Jingzhou was one of the 13, and its land area was one of the largest, covering roughly the modern provinces of

and

, with the city of

Nanyang Nanyang is the romanization of two common Chinese place names. It may refer to: Written as 南洋 (Southern Ocean) * Nanyang (region), a Chinese term denoting the Southeast Asian lands surrounding the South China Sea ;China * Nanyang Fleet, Qing ...

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 a ...

province at its north frontier. However, Jingzhou did not have a provincial capital and was only an administrative division in name. From 188 CE onwards, during the reign of Emperor Ling in the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE), Jingzhou officially became an administrative division. The '' Book of Han'' mentioned that Jingzhou had seven commanderies – Nanyang (南陽; present-day southwestern Henan), Nan (南; present-day western Hubei), Jiangxia (江夏; present-day eastern Hubei), Changsha (長沙; present-day northeastern Hunan), Guiyang (桂陽; present-day southeastern Hunan), Wuling (武陵; present-day northwestern Hunan) and Lingling (零陵; present-day southwestern Hunan) – under its jurisdiction. Before

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 ...

became the Governor (州牧) of Jingzhou during the reign of Emperor Xian, Jingzhou's provincial capital was in Hanshou county (漢壽縣; present-day Hanshou County, Changde, Hunan). However, as remnants of the Yellow Turban rebels were still active in southern Jingzhou, the capital was moved north to Xiangyang (襄陽; present-day

Xiangyang Xiangyang is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hubei province, China and the second largest city in Hubei by population. It was known as Xiangfan from 1950 to 2010. The Han River runs through Xiangyang's centre and divides the city no ...

, Hubei). Liu Biao died in 208 and was succeeded by his younger son, Liu Cong, as the Governor of Jingzhou, but the latter surrendered and ceded the province to the warlord Cao Cao in the same year. After the Battle of Red Cliffs in the winter of 208/209, Cao Cao managed to retain only Nanyang and Nan commanderies in northern Jingzhou, while central and southern Jingzhou was divided between the warlords

Sun Quan Sun Quan (, Chinese: 孫權) (183 – 21 May 252), courtesy name Zhongmou (), posthumously known as Emperor Da of Wu, was the founder of the Eastern Wu dynasty, one of the Three Kingdoms of China. He inherited control of the warlord regime ...

and

Liu Bei Liu Bei (, ; ; 161 – 10 June 223), courtesy name Xuande (), was a warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who founded the state of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period and became its first ruler. Although he was a distant relative of the ...

. Cao Cao subsequently partitioned Xiangyang (襄陽) and Nanxiang (南鄉) commanderies from the two he controlled – Nanyang and Nan. The commanderies in Jingzhou were thus split between the three contending warlords: Nan, Lingling and Wuling to Liu Bei; Jiangxia, Guiyang and Changsha to Sun Quan; Nanyang, Xiangyang and Nanxiang to Cao Cao.(於是南郡、零陵、武陵以西為蜀，江夏、桂陽、長沙三郡為吳，南陽、襄陽、南鄉三郡為魏。) ''Jin Shu'' vol. 15. It was believed that the term "Nine Commanderies of Jing and Xiang" (荊襄九郡) originated from the division of Jingzhou between the three powers, since each controlled three commanderies, making nine in total. In 219, Sun Quan's general Lü Meng attacked and seized Liu Bei's lands in Jingzhou, which were defended by Liu's general Guan Yu. This triggered the subsequent

Battle of Xiaoting The Battle of Xiaoting (猇亭之戰), also known as the Battle of Yiling and the Battle of Yiling and Xiaoting, was fought between the state of Shu and the state of Wu, between the years 221 and 222 in the early Three Kingdoms period of Chin ...

(or Battle of Yiling) of 221–222, which concluded with Liu Bei being defeated by Sun Quan's general

Lu Xun Zhou Shuren (25 September 1881 – 19 October 1936), better known by his pen name Lu Xun (or Lu Sun; ; Wade–Giles: Lu Hsün), was a Chinese writer, essayist, poet, and literary critic. He was a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. ...

. Since then, the state of Shu (founded by Liu Bei) had never laid claims on Jingzhou; Jingzhou was divided between the states of Wu (founded by Sun Quan) 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 ...

(founded by Cao Cao's successor,

Cao Pi Cao Pi () ( – 29 June 226), courtesy name Zihuan, was the first emperor of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the second son of Cao Cao, a warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty, but the eldest s ...

Three Kingdoms period and Jin dynasty

During the

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and was followed by the West ...

period (220-280), Jingzhou was split between the states of

(220–265) and Wu (229–280). The provincial capital of the Wei-controlled Jingzhou was in Xinye (新野), Nan Commandery, and it had seven commanderies – Nanyang (南陽), Jiangxia (江夏; north of the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...

), Xiangyang (襄陽), Nanxiang (南鄉), Xincheng (新城), Shangyong (上庸) and Weixing (魏興) – under its jurisdiction. On the other hand, the Wu-governed Jingzhou had its administrative centre in Jiangling (江陵), Nan Commandery, with 11 commanderies – Nan (南), Jiangxia (江夏; south of the Yangtze River), Changsha (長沙), Xiangdong (湘東), Guiyang (桂陽), Linhe (臨賀), Lingling (零陵), Hengyang (衡陽), Wuling (武陵), Jianping (建平) and Yidu (宜都) – under its charge. In the Western Jin dynasty (266-316), Jingzhou's capital was designated in Xiangyang (襄陽; present-day

) and it governed 23 commanderies and states.

Southern and Northern Dynasties period

During the Southern and Northern Dynasties period (420-589), China was further divided into many administrative divisions so the land area in each division was reduced. The

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

(420-479) established Jingzhou's capital in Xiangyang (襄陽; present-day

). The Southern Qi dynasty (479–502) changed Jingzhou's capital to Nan commandery and made Xiangyang (renamed to Ningman prefecture 寧蠻府) the capital of another province, Yongzhou. In 497, the Northern Wei dynasty (386–535) set up an administrative division called Jingzhou in Rang (穰; present-day Dengzhou,

), with eight commanderies under its charge. The capital was later moved to Shanbei (山北; present-day Lushan County, Henan). The Northern Wei dynasty also established an administrative division called East Jingzhou (東荊州), with its capital in Ciyang (泚陽).

Sui dynasty

In 583, during the

(589–618), Emperor Wen abolished the

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 ...

system and replaced it with prefectures and counties as administrative divisions. However, Emperor Wen's successor, Emperor Yang, restored the commanderies and adopted the commandery and county system used in the

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...

. From then on, Jingzhou no longer referred to the large province that used to cover

and

, but rather, the modern city of Jingzhou in Hubei. The city of Jingzhou was also known as Nan commandery (南郡), Jiangling commandery (江陵郡), Jiangling prefecture (江陵府), and Jingzhou prefecture (荊州府).

References

* Fang, Xuanling et al. ''

Book of Jin The ''Book of Jin'' is an official Chinese historical text covering the history of the Jin dynasty from 266 to 420. It was compiled in 648 by a number of officials commissioned by the imperial court of the Tang dynasty, with chancellor Fang ...

'' (''Jin Shu''). {{DEFAULTSORT:Jingzhou Provinces of Ancient China Former prefectures of China