Longxi Commandery (
Chinese:
trad. ,
simp. , ''Lǒngxījùn'') was a
commandery of
imperial China in present-day
Gansu, named due to its location west of Mount Long (the southern portion of
Mount Liupan
Mount Liupan ( zh, c=六盘山, p=Lìupán Shān) is a mountain range in northwestern China, located mostly in southern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. It marks the southwestern boundary of the Ordos Basin.
Its southern section is known as Mount ...
).
Qin dynasty
Established by
Shi Huangdi, it originally covered the entire territory of the
Qin Empire
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), the ...
west of Mount Long with its
seat
A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense.
Types of seat
The following are examples of different kinds of seat:
* Armchair (furniture), ...
at
Didao (present-day
Taoyang in
Lintao County
Lintao County ) is administratively under the control of Dingxi, Gansu province.
History
Until the 20th century, Lintao was known as Didao ().
The Battle of Didao was fought in the area in 255 CE, during the Three Kingdoms era.
In the 8th c ...
). This area included most of the upper
Wei valley. Its principal route of communication was the Long Road (named for the mountain), which probably passed along the course of the modern railroad west from
Xi’an although much of the area nearest the river was then marshland. The territory was used as a staging ground for campaigns up the
Tao and the upper
Yellow River
The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth-longest river system in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan ...
.
[De Crespigny, Rafe.]
The Government and Geography of the Northern Frontier of Late Han
!--sic-->". Australian National University, 2004. A revised version of "Northern Frontier: the Policies and Strategy of the Later Han Empire", ''Asian Studies Monographs'' New Series, No. 4, 1984. ISBN 0-86784-410-8. Accessed 12 Dec 2013.
The first governor was Li Chong (), considered the originator of an important
clan of the
Li family.
Han dynasty
The
Emperor Wu of 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 ...
, as part of his expeditions into the
Tarim Basin
The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Northwest China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, China." Hyd ...
, established
Tianshui Commandery to control the Wei valley immediately to the west of Mount Long. The southern parts of the old commandery controlling the
Han and
Bailong were reörganized as
Wudu
Wuḍūʾ ( ar, الوضوء ' ) is the Islamic procedure for cleansing parts of the body, a type of ritual purification, or ablution. The 4 Fardh (Mandatory) acts of ''Wudu'' consists of washing the face, arms, then wiping the head and the fe ...
. The remnant of Longxi controlled eleven
counties
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
in the far west of the Wei and the
Tao valley.
[
The Long Road into the territory was militarized: garrisons and arsenals were maintained and patrols organized. The entry to the lower Wei was removed from the valley itself to the then-forested loess foothills north of Mount Long. The narrowest pointthe Long Passwas fortified.][
From the time of the Empress Lü ( BC), the area was repeatedly attacked by the Xiongnu.][Olberding, Garret. ''Dubious Facts: The Evidence of Early Chinese Historiography'']
pp. 183 ff.
SUNY Press, 2012. Accessed 12 Dec 2013.
Jin dynasty
By the time of the Western Jin
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
* Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
* Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that ...
, the commandery had only four counties.
Sui dynasty
Under the Sui, it increased to five.
Tang dynasty
Under the Tang, the commandery was folded into Wei Prefecture (). Its name was carried on by Longxi County.
References
{{Han dynasty provinces
Commanderies of the Sui dynasty
Commanderies of the Han dynasty
Commanderies of the Qin dynasty
Commanderies of the Jin dynasty (266–420)