Guangyang Commandery ( zh, 廣陽郡), at times also Guangyang Principality ( zh, 廣陽國), was a territory of early imperial China located in modern
Hebei
Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...
and
Beijing
Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
.
Western Han dynasty
Guangyang Commandery was first established during
Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang (, ; February 25912 July 210 BC), born Ying Zheng () or Zhao Zheng (), was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of China. He is widely regarded as the first ever supreme leader of a unitary state, unitary d ...
's reign. In early
Han dynasty
The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, 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 ...
, its land became the fief of the
Princes of Yan The commandery was restored in 80 BC, after Prince Dan (劉旦) of Yan's rebellion was suppressed. In 73 BC, Liu Jian, a son of Liu Dan, was granted the title Prince of Guangyang, and the commandery became his fief.
Four princes held the title Prince of Guangyang:
*Liu Jian (劉建), Prince Qing (頃) of Guangyang, 73–45 BC;
*Liu Shun (劉舜), Prince Mu (穆) of Guangyang, 45–23 BC;
*Liu Huang (劉璜), Prince Si (思) of Guangyang, 23–3 BC;
*Liu Jia (劉嘉), 3 BC – 9 AD, deposed after the establishment of
Xin dynasty
The Xin dynasty (; ), also known as Xin Mang () in Chinese historiography, was a short-lived Dynasties in Chinese history, Chinese imperial dynasty which lasted from 9 to 23 AD, established by the Han dynasty consort kin Wang Mang, who usurped th ...
.
The principality had a population of 70,658 in 2 AD, in 20,740 households. It consisted of four counties:
Ji (薊), Fangcheng (方城), Guangyang (廣陽) and Yinxiang (陰鄉).
Eastern Han dynasty
The commandery was expanded, and administered five counties: Ji, Guangyang,
Changping (昌平, formerly part of
Shanggu Commandery), Jundu (軍都, formerly part of Shanggu) and
Anci (安次, formerly part of
Bohai Commandery). The seat, Ji, was also the seat of
You Province
You Prefecture or You Province, also known by its Chinese language, Chinese name Youzhou, was a prefecture (''Zhou (country subdivision), zhou'') in North China, northern China during its imperial era.
"You Province" was cited in some ancient so ...
. In 140 AD, the population was 280,600, in 44,550 households.
['']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 ...
'', Chapter 113. With the beginning of the
Three Kingdoms
The Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu dominated China from AD 220 to 280 following the end of the Han dynasty. This period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and followed by the Jin dynasty (266–420), Western Jin dyna ...
period, the commandery was abolished and merged into the
Principality of Yan (燕國).
Northern Wei
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 ...
established a commandery of the same name in 441 with three counties, Yanle (燕樂), Guangxing (廣興) and Fangcheng. The seat was Yanle, in present-day
Longhua County
Longhua County () is a county in the northeast of Hebei province, China, bordering Inner Mongolia to the east. It is under the administration of Chengde City.
Administrative divisions
Towns:
*Longhua, Longhua County, Longhua Town (), Hanmaying ( ...
, Hebei. The population was 8,919, and the households numbered 2,800. The commandery was abolished in
Northern Qi
Qi, known as the Northern Qi (), Later Qi (後齊) or Gao Qi (高齊) in historiography, was a Dynasties in Chinese history, Chinese imperial dynasty and one of the Northern and Southern dynasties#Northern dynasties, Northern dynasties during the ...
.
['']Book of Sui
The ''Book of Sui'' () is the official history of the Sui dynasty, which ruled China in the years AD 581–618. It ranks among the official Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written by Yan Shigu, Kong Yingda, and Zhangsun Wuji, ...
'', Chapter 30.
See also
*
History of Beijing
The city of Beijing has a long and rich history that dates back over 3,000 years.
Prior to the unification of China by the First Emperor in 221 BC, Beijing had been for centuries the capital of the ancient states of Ji and Yan. It was a prov ...
*
Jicheng (Beijing)
References
{{Han dynasty provinces
Commanderies of the Qin dynasty
Commanderies of the Han dynasty