8 replies to this topic

[snowybeagle]

Here is an issue I'd like to ask those who studied archives of Chinese history.

Ever since Qin dynasty, China had more or less abandoned the type of feudalism that allowed enfeoffed vassals absolute authority in their own territories and to varying degrees of success, concentrated the power in the central government.

To this end, the Empire was divided into numerous administrative districts.
I would like to know if anyone is familiar with the accepted English translation of the terms for these districts.

州 (Zhou) Province?. In mythology, China was divided into 9 Zhous (九州) by Da Yu after he curbed the great floods. Different sources enumerate the names of the Zhous with minor variations. The Zhou continued to be used to refer to geographical regions even if the Imperial administrative districts used different terms. I think the governor of a Zhou is called a Mu (牧) during Han dynasty, but the provincial military commander is called a Ci Shi (刺使). These two terms are used extensively in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and I had trouble translating them. Can anyone help? Today, the official term of province used is the Shen (省), used I think since Qing dynasty.

郡 (Jun) Prefecture? IIRC, the Qin divided the Empire into 36 prefectures after unifying China. Anyone knows what is the head of a Jun called?

县 (Xian) County? The Xian is a secondary administrative unit, subordinate to either the Zhou or the Xian, or whatever the province is named. The head of the Xian is the Ling (令), often translated as the magistrate as he served as the local county judge in the court, or yamen (衙门).

府 (Fu) This terms appear to be used to refer to offices which administer large metropolitan regions during the Song dynasty such as Da Ming (大名府) or Kai Feng (开封府). The head of the Fu is the Yin (尹), the most famous being Bao Zheng (包拯) of Kai Feng during the Northern Song dynasty, aka Justice Bao (包青天).

里 (Li) Village, neighbourhood.

亭 (Ting) Another rural district. The head is a Zhang (长). Most famous in history was probably Liu Bang who was a former Ting Zhang.

乡 (Xiang) Village. Also, the most basic of Imperial examinations is taken at the Xiang level.

城 (Cheng) City. A Cheng is a fortified city or citadel.
市 (Shi) City. A Shi also commonly referred to the bazaar.

镇 (Zhen) Town

村 (Chun) Village

If anyone is familiar with proper understanding of the terms, I hope you will share the knowledge generously.

I also found it complicating that aside from bureaucratically run political units, Imperial China also continued to enfeoffed nobles or royalties, giving them varying degrees of autonomy in their lands.

I always wondered how these autonomous domains blend together with the local authorities who were appointed by the central government.

Which dynasties give the local lords (and at what levels) the right to appoint their own officials?

During the early Han dynasty, the principalities which had been enfeoffed by Liu Bang grew powerful, some even had their own mints.

Can anyone help to explain these complicating systems?

[thirdgumi]

Well, all I can say is that it all varies depending the time/period.
There is an article written by Edward Kaplan of History Dep. of West Washington University about the evolution of bureaucracy during Spring Autum and Warring States period in China.
Here is the link: http://www.ac.wwu.ed...n/H370/ap13.pdf
Also his site: http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~kaplan/
The regional structure of ancient China changed constantly. The Jun per example, was a regional military administration zone during Spring Autum and Warring States, but changed into a regional civil administration unit later in Qin and Han dynasty. The head of Jun during Qin dynasty was called Jun Shou I think, but I must check it out. I think there were 3 heads for a Jun, one handled civil duties, one handled military duties and the security of the community, and one to supervise the local officers.

[snowybeagle]

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, the administration did vary with the dynasties, even within the same dynasties.

So, I am not looking for a simple answer.

I would be grateful if anyone could share about any particular period on this subject.

[General_Zhaoyun]

Which dynasties give the local lords (and at what levels) the right to appoint their own officials?

During the early Han dynasty, the principalities which had been enfeoffed by Liu Bang grew powerful, some even had their own mints.

Can anyone help to explain these complicating systems?

During the Han dynasty, there was a tendency for the han to revert back to the feudalism system of the Zhou dynasty. Military leaders (of no relationship to the "liu" family) were granted fiefdom to a certain lands and became "wang" (or kings). They include Han xin, Ying Bu, Peng Yue etc.. all of them were later eliminated by Liu Bang. But later (if I'm not wrong), Liu Bang granted fiefdom to his relatives to become feudal lords to a certain provinces. As they grew strong, this led to the 'war of 7 kingdoms" during Emperor Jin Di's time.

It was only during Emperor Han Wudi's time that he decided to adopt the "Tui En Lin" (the policy of granting the feudal lord's relative fiefdom) that the power of these feudal lords were greatly reduced and the emperor's power consolidated.

[thirdgumi]

In the text of Ed. Kaplan, he explained the Jun and Xian of Spring-Autum and Warring States.

The Qin dynasty system:

Jun (郡): Jun was a regional military zone when first created during Spring Autum period, Kaplan translated it as commandery, but during Qin dynasty it transformed into a regional civil administration unit. Jun during Qin had 3 heads: Jun Shou (郡守) to handle all civil affairs, Jun Wei(郡尉) who was the assistent of Jun Shou and handled all military affairs, Jun Jian(郡监) or Jian Jun Yu Shi (监郡御使) who supervised local officers and was under direct control of Yu Shi Dai Fu (御使大夫) of central governemt which was responsable of superviing all officers of the empire.

Xian (县): Xian was civil administration zone of border lands of a state during Spring Autum, later during Qin dynasty it was a regional administration unit under Jun. Depending to its size, the head of a Xian would be either Xian Lin (县令) for lager ones or Xian Zhang (县长) for smaller ones.

Xiang (乡): Kaplan translated it as Township. The head of Xiang was San Lao (三老) to educate morals, Se Fu (啬夫) to handle taxes and juridical affaires, You Zheng (游徼) to handle security inside the community.

Ting (亭) and Li (里): Kaplan translated them respectively as Villages and Hamlets. Head of Ting was Ting Zhang (亭长), head of Li was Li Zheng (里正). Ting an Li were on the same hierarchy.

[thirdgumi]

Han system under Han Wu Di:

Bu (部): a supervising unit not an administration unit, we can translate it as Office, the head of a Bu was Ci Shi (刺使), there were 13 Bu during Wu Di's reign.

Jun

Xian

Everything below Xian are out of my knowledge

Han system during late West Han period:

Zhou (州): Zhou was the same thing as Bu, just a rename. The head of a Zhou was renamed Zhou Mu (州牧) instead of Ci Shi, but Zhou Mu had more power than Ci Shi.

Jun

Xian

Everything below Xian are out of my knowledge

Han system during East Han period:

Zhou: during East Han period, there were 12 Zhou, and the head of a Zhou was again renamed back to Ci Shi, but now Ci Shi got a fixed Zhou to supervise and were the maximum ruler of a Zhou. A Ci Shi controled the ecnomy, the military and the administration of a Zhou.

Jun

Xian

Everything below Xian are out of my knowledge

For more infos about Ci Shi system, go to here to learn more, it's a post I wrote.

[thirdgumi]

Sui, Tang, and after:

Dao (道) or Lu (路) - these were supervising office like Bu or Zhou from Han dyansty

Jun, Zhou, Guo (国), Jun (军), Zhen (镇), Fu (府) - these were regional administration units, note that Zhou was previously a supervising unit but now turned to administration unit.

Xian

Yuan dynasty:
Fu Li (腹里): an area under direct administration of Zhong Shu Sheng (中书省) or Du Sheng (都省) which was an office of central government which handled all administration of the empire. Fu Li was the heartland of Yuan dynasty, it included today's Hei bei province, Shang Xi province, and parts of He Nan province, Shang Dong province and Inner Mongolia.

Xing Zhong Shu Sheng (行中书省) or Xing Sheng (行省) or Sheng (省): literaly meant province, there were 11 at all, among them was the Korea province which the King of Korea was the head of it and its taxes didn't go to central government.

*Tibet was under administration of an office called Xuan Zheng Yuan (宣政院).

Ming and Qing dynasty:

Sheng (省) - province, the head of a Sheng during Qing was called Zong Du (总都)
Fu (府)
Xian

I don't have many infos about the subject on the periods after Han dynasty.

[General_Zhaoyun]

This is an interesting post :D