Pingyuan Commandery ( zh, 平原郡) was a historical
commandery of China, existing from
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 ...
to
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdo ...
. It was centered around present-day northwestern
Shandong province.
The commandery was carved out of the
Jibei Kingdom during
Emperor Jing of Han
Emperor Jing of Han (Liu Qi (劉啟); 188 BC – 9 March 141 BC) was the sixth emperor of China, emperor of the Chinese Han dynasty from 157 to 141 BC. His reign saw the limiting of the power of the feudal kings/princes which resulted in the Re ...
's reign. Pingyuan administered 19 counties and marquessates in late
Western Han
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 ...
, including
Pingyuan (平原), Ge (鬲),
Gaotang (高唐), Chongqiu (重丘), Pingchang (平昌), Yu (羽), Ban (般),
Leling (樂陵), Zhu'e (祝阿), Yuan (瑗), Eyang (阿陽), Luoyin (漯陰), Li (朸), Fuping (富平), Ande (安德), Heyang (合陽), Louxu (樓虛), Longpou (龍哣), and An (安).
In Eastern Han, Pingyuan twice became a kingdom or principality. It was granted to Liu Sheng (劉勝), brother of
Emperor He in 106, and to Liu Shuo (劉碩), brother of
Emperor Huan
Emperor Huan of Han (; 132 – 25 January 168) was the 27th emperor of the Han dynasty after he was enthroned by the Empress Dowager and her brother Liang Ji on 1 August 146. He was a great-grandson of Emperor Zhang. He was the 11th Emperor o ...
in 148.
['']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 7. The kingdom was abolished in 206 and Pingyuan was administered as a commandery again. Pingyuan consisted of 9 counties, namely Pingyuan, Gaotang, Ban, Ge, Zhu'e, Leling, Shiyin (濕陰), Ande and Yanci (厭次) in 140 AD.
In late Eastern Han, a new principality, Leling, was created, and Leling and Yanci counties were transferred to the new principality.
After Han dynasty, the commandery was successively held by
,
Jin and
Liu Song
Song, known as Liu Song (), Former Song (前宋) or Song of (the) Southern Dynasty (南朝宋) in historiography, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China and the first of the four Northern and Southern dynasties#Southern ...
dynasties. 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 h ...
's reign, it was conquered by
Northern Wei. It was abolished in early
Sui dynasty.
In Sui and
Tang dynasties, Pingyuan Commandery became the alternative name for
De Prefecture
Dezhou or De Prefecture () was a '' zhou'' (prefecture) in imperial China, centering on modern Dezhou, Shandong, China. It existed (intermittently) from 589 until 1913.
The modern prefectural-level city Dezhou, created in 1948, retains its name ...
. It administered 6 counties in 742: Ande, Changhe (長河), Pingyuan, Pingchang, Jiangling (將陵) and Anling (安陵).
Population
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