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Advocacy & Legislative Affairs - NJHA Links to Political, Legislative... njha.com | Acupuncture History-China acupuncturecare.com | Salvia and the History of Microcirculation Research in China itmonline.org | A SIMPLIFIED HISTORY OF CHINA benbest.com |
The history of the administrative divisions of China is doubly a complex issue. In recent time, the amount of data, recorded tiny changes is heavy. In the opposite, the lack of clear, trustable data for ancient time force historio-geographs to draw approximative borders for respective divisions. Across history, what is called 'China' has taken many shapes, and many political organizations. While both borders, and divisions proper names have changes, for various reasons, some time following mainly the topography, some times done to weaken some former states by dividing it, and some other time keeping a precise number of province to reproduce an old and mythical order. But thanks to the imperial records and geographic descriptions, political divisions may often be redrawn with some precisions. Natural changes, such rivers' course changes (known for the Huang He, but also occurring for others), or loss of data, still make this issue difficult for ancient times.
[edit] Summary
There is also a nearly exhaustive list of all subnational entities (cities excepted) and their capitals since 1279 at List of current and former capitals of subnational entities of China. [edit] Ancient timesBefore the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, China was ruled by a network of kings, nobles, and tribes. There was no unified system of administrative divisions. According to ancient texts, China in the Xia and Zhou dynasties consisted of nine zhou, but various texts differ as to the names and even functions of these zhous. During the Zhou dynasty, the nation was nominally ruled overall by the "Son of Heaven". In reality, however, the country was divided into competing states, each with a hereditary head, variously styled "prince", "duke", or "king". The rivalry of these groups culminated in the Warring States Period, and the state of Qin eventually emerged dominant. [edit] Provinces under the Qin DynastyAfter the state of Qin managed to subdue the rest of China under a unified Qin Dynasty in 221 BC, it was determined not to allow China to fall back into disunity. It therefore designed, based upon existing systems, the first administrative hierarchy in China, with just two levels:
All of China was divided into commanderies and counties, which were centrally ruled and tightly controlled. Nevertheless this failed to prevent the collapse of the Qin Dynasty in 206 BC. [edit] Provinces under the Han Dynasty The Han Dynasty that followed inherited the system, but initially added a top level of states (王国), each of which was headed by a hereditary prince. However, with increasing concerns about the powers of these princes, this quasi-federal structure was gradually abolished, with states replaced with provinces (州). After the Rebellion of the seven states the system was standardised to be:
Throughout the Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms period and the Western Jin Dynasty, this system was kept intact. [edit] Provinces under Western Jin
Note 1: One of the original 14 zhou of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Since then, Ping was split out of You, Qin out of Liang (凉), Liang(梁) and Ning out of Yi, and Guang out of Jiao. Si was never part of any other zhou until its creation; before then it was overseen by an official called the Sili Xiaowei (司隷校尉) with capacities similar to a governor of a zhou. Also, Jiaozhou was founded as a zhou-equivalent called Jiaozhi (交趾), and among the original 14 zhou was a zhou-equivalent called Shuofang (朔方) in what is now northern Shaanxi; it was later merged into Bing. This changed, however, with the invasion of tribes from the north, who disrupted the unity of China and set up a variety of governments. [edit] Provinces under Sui DynastyBy the time unity was finally reestablished by the Sui Dynasty, the provinces had been divided and redivided so many times by different governments that they were almost the same size as commanderies, rendering either one of the two tiers completely superfluous. As such, the Sui Dynasty merged these two levels together. This new merged level is translated as "prefectures" into English. In Chinese this name was changed between zhou and jun (the two merged levels) several times before being finally settled on zhou. The Sui dynasty restored 9 Zhou, based on the Jiuzhou traditional division system, a concept apocryphally originates from the Tribute of Yu (Yu Gong), a chapter of the Classic of Documents (Shujing), which describes the extent of Yu's domain inherited by the Xia dynasty[1] Hence, we had
[edit] Provinces under the Tang DynastyThe Emperor Taizong of Tang (r. 626-649) set up 10 circuits in 627 as an additional level of administration on top. These were originally meant to be purely geographic and not administrative (some being enormous), the prefecture being the true, human-manageable, administrative division. Emperor Xuanzong added five circuits in (or until) 733, bringing the number up to 15 circuits. The Tang Dynasty also created jiedushi, who were military governors governing frontier areas susceptible to foreign attack. The Jiedushi system was eventually generalized to other parts of the country as well, and in effect merged with the circuits. The Jiedushi slowly strengthened their own power in their respective circuits or area, these would become a source of rebellion and warlordism, that tore the country apart provoking the fall of the Tang empire and starting the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. The Song Dynasty that emerged out of this crisis abolished jiedushi, and named its first-level division lu, which is also translated as "circuits": Hence, under Tang dynasty we had :
 Note: Jingji = Region of Chang'an ; Duji = Region of Luoyang.
* Circuits established under Xuanzong, as opposed to Taizong's original ten circuits. ** Circuits established under Xuanzong by dividing Taizong's Jiangnan and Shannan circuits into an eastern and a western circuit. [edit] Provinces under the Song DynastyThe Song Dynasty that emerged out of this crisis abolished jiedushi, and named its first-level division lu, which is also translated as "circuits": Hence, we had :
[edit] Provinces under the Jin and Southern Song DynastiesThe Jurchens invaded China proper in the 12th century. In 1142, peace was formalized between the Jurchen Jin Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty, which was forced to cede all of North China to the Jurchens. By the beginning of the 13th century, the Jurchens had moved their capital to Zhongdu (modern Beijing) and had adopted Chinese administrative structures. The Song Dynasty also maintained the same structure over the southern half of China that they continued to govern.
[edit] Provinces under the Yuan DynastyThe Mongols, who succeeded in subjugating all of China under the Yuan Dynasty in 1279, introduced the precursors to the modern provinces as a new level at the top:
The area around the capital, corresponding to modern Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, central Inner Mongolia, Beijing, and Tianjin, was called the Central Region (腹裏) and not put into any province, but was directly controlled by the Secretariat (中書省). [edit] Provinces under the Ming and Qing Dynasties The Ming Dynasty continued with this system, and had provinces that were almost exactly the same as those in modern China proper. The differences were: Huguang had not yet been split into Hubei and Hunan; Gansu and Ningxia were still part of Shaanxi; Anhui and Jiangsu were together as Nanzhili; and portions of what are today the provinces of Hebei, Liaoning, and Henan were part of the province of Beizhili. (PRC-established Hainan and Chongqing were of course part of their original provinces at this time.) This makes for a total of 15 provinces. In 1644, China fell to the Manchus, who established rule over China as the Qing Dynasty. The Manchus applied the following system over China proper:
The Manchus split Shaanxi into Shaanxi and Gansu, Huguang into Hubei and Hunan, and Nanzhili into Jiangsu and Anhui. Hebei was now called Zhili rather than Beizhili. These provinces are now nearly identical to modern ones. Collectively they are called the "eighteen provinces", a concept that endured for several centuries as synonymous to China proper. This system applied only to China proper, with the rest of the empire under differently systems. Manchuria, Xinjiang, and Outer Mongolia were ruled by military generals. Inner Mongolia was organized under leagues, and Xizang (Ü-Tsang + western Kham in Tibet) and Qinghai (Amdo) were overseen by commissioners. Near the end of the dynasty, Manchuria was reorganized into 3 more provinces (Fengtian, Jilin, Heilongjiang), and Xinjiang and Taiwan were both set up as provinces, bringing the total to 23. (Taiwan was however ceded to Japan in the Treaty of Maguan, bringing the total back down to 22.) [edit] Republic of China The Republic of China streamlined the system down to three levels: Circuits were abolished in 1928 as being superfluous. However, this reform was soon found unfeasible since an average province had 50+ counties and some provinces had more than 100 counties. As a result, some provinces were later subdivided into several prefectures. The Republic of China set up 4 more provinces out of Inner Mongolia and surrounding areas (Ningxia, Suiyuan, Chahar, Jehol) and 2 more provinces out of parts of historical Tibet (Xikang, out of Kham, and Qinghai, out of Amdo; Ü-Tsang was the Dalai Lama's realm at this time and not part of any province), bringing the total number of provinces up to 28. The Republic of China also began the setting up of municipalities, or cities directly administered by the central government. Circuits were soon abolished, and more levels began to be added below the county: townships, for instance. The creation of the puppet state of Manchukuo by Japan in the 1930s deprived China of 4 provinces in the northeast (Fengtian, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Jehol). After the defeat of Japan in 1945, Manchuria was reincorporated into China as 9 provinces. Taiwan and the Pescadores was also returned to China and was organized into Taiwan Province. By this time there was a total of 12 municipalities under the Republic of China. After the Republic of China lost mainland China in 1949, its jurisdiction was restricted to only Taiwan, the Pescadores, and a few offshore islands of Fujian province. Since then two more municipalities have been set up in Taiwan. In the meantime, the Republic of China has not recognized any of the changes made to the administrative structure of the mainland, and has never retracted its claim to mainland China (including Tibet) and Outer Mongolia. The official maps produced in Taiwan still show the 1949 border along with changes made to Taiwan post-1949. All in all, the Republic of China officially claims a total of 35 provinces, 14 municipalities, 1 special administrative region and 2 regions in all of China. However, these claims are no longer actively pursued and the provincial administrations of Taiwan and Fukien provinces have been largely streamlined in favor of lower levels, namely counties and provincial cities. (See Administrative divisions of the Republic of China)
[edit] People's Republic of China The communist forces initially held parts of Manchuria and northern China at the start of the Chinese civil war. By late 1949, they controlled the majority of mainland China, forcing the Republic of China government to relocate to Taiwan. The People's Republic made the following changes:
The general situation as of 1951 was as follows:
Compare with the actual provinces of mainland China at Political divisions of China#Province. Levels:
[edit] 1950sIn 1952 the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui and Sichuan were restored. Pingyuan and Chahar were split into their surrounding provinces. Nanjing, old capital of the Republic of China, was deprived of municipality status and annexed by Jiangsu province. In 1953 Changchun and Harbin were elevated to municipality status. In 1954 a massive campaign to cut the number of provincial-level divisions was initiated. Of the 14 municipalities existing in 1953, 11 were annexed by nearby provinces, with only Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin remaining. The province of Liaoning was formed out of the merger of Liaodong and Liaoxi, while Suiyuan and Ningxia disappeared into Inner Mongolia and Gansu. The greater administrative area level was abolished in 1954. The process continued in 1955 with Rehe being split among Hebei, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia, and Xikang disappearing into Sichuan. In that same year Xinjiang became the second autonomous region of China, and plans for a third, Tibet Autonomous Region, were initiated. Qamdo territory was put under the planned Tibet Autonomous Region. In 1957 two more autonomous regions were added, Ningxia (split back out of Gansu) and Guangxi (which was previously a province). In 1958 Tianjin was annexed by Hebei, leaving only two municipalities, Beijing and Shanghai. [edit] 1960s and 1970sIn 1965 Tibet Autonomous Region was established out of the formerly self-governing Tibet region, plus Qamdo territory. In 1967 Tianjin was split back out as a municipality. [edit] 1980s and 1990sStarting in the 1980s, prefecture-level cities and county-level cities began to appear in very large numbers, usually by replacing entire prefectures and counties. Hainan was split out of Guangdong and set up as a province in 1988. In 1997 Chongqing became the fourth municipality of China. In that same year Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule and became the first special administrative region. Macau became the second in 1999. In the 1990s, there has been a campaign to abolish district public offices as a level. By 2004 very few remain. In the meantime, most prefectures have become prefecture-level cities. Levels:
[edit] See also[edit] References
[edit] External links
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