In ancient Chinese place names, we often see the word "zhou", and we often see it in some idioms and colloquialisms. For example, "Kyushu Land" and "Carelessly Lost Jingzhou", and for example, people use the word "Qingzhou Engaged" to describe fine wine. There are also many modern cities with names with states, such as Guangzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou and so on. So, what does "state" mean, and how did the title come about?
A state in ancient times
It is recorded in the Shuowen Jiezi that "the water can live in the state". To the effect that the ancients used to live near the water's edge, with the state representing the residential area.
As early as ancient times, the ancients used "Kyushu" to refer to Han China. The earliest recorded state texts are the Shangshu Xia Shu YuGong. The book records that when Dayu ruled the water, the world was divided into Kyushu. The nine prefectures are Yuzhou, Qingzhou, Xuzhou, Yangzhou, Jingzhou, Liangzhou, Yongzhou, Jizhou and Yanzhou.
Yugong Kyushu map
"Lü's Spring and Autumn" also gives a general explanation of the geographical location of Kyushu. Between the river and Han is Yuzhou, between the two rivers is Jizhou, between the river and Ji is Yanzhou, in the east is Qingzhou, in Sishang is Xuzhou, in the southeast is Yangzhou, in the south is Jingzhou, in the west is Yongzhou, and in the north is Youzhou. From here, it can be seen that Kyushu is demarcated according to the main rivers, southeast, and northwest directions.
In ancient times, Kyushu was a residential area delimited according to the river and the four sides, and there was no clear boundary between Kyushu, nor was there an official position dedicated to the management of a state, so the state at this time was only a geographical area, not a formal administrative division.
During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the princes were divided, and one princely state was established on the land of Shenzhou, so people used the name of the country to call the place. During the Warring States period, there was a formal administrative division of counties and counties, and the counties were set up as county guards and the counties were set up as commanders. When the Qin unified the Six Kingdoms, the county system was extended to the whole country. At this time, everyone directly uses so-and-so county and so-and-so county as place names, and states do not often use it.
From the supervision district to the administrative division
During the Western Han Dynasty, in order to strengthen local control, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty divided thirteen supervision areas in the whole country except Gyeonggi in the fifth year of the Yuan Dynasty (106 BC), called the Thirteen Prefectures, so that the ancient regional name of the prefecture once again appeared on the historical stage.
The thirteen prefectures at this time refer to Jizhou, Yanzhou, Qingzhou, Xuzhou, Yangzhou, Jingzhou, Yuzhou, Liangzhou, Yizhou, Youzhou, Hezhou, Shuofang, and Jiaotong. Each state department has a person who is responsible for "asking questions with six articles", five of which are aimed at supervising the county sheriff, the lieutenant, and the kingdom minister, and the other is aimed at supervising the local heroes. There is no fixed office (office) for the history of thorns, but as a dispatch officer of the central government, he regularly supervises the localities and reports to the central government. The state is also not a formal administrative division, but a supervision district.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, it followed the system of state assassination history and made some local adjustments, incorporating Shuofang into the merged state, changing the name of Jiaotong to Jiaozhou, and changing the name of Si li to Si Prefecture. The power of the assassin history was a little larger than that of the Western Han Dynasty, and there was the right to impeach local elections.
Map of the Thirteen States of the Eastern Han Dynasty
In the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty, the assassins gradually gained local administrative power, and the fixed seat of the prefecture thus became a formal administrative division. After the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the Thorn History was given the right to lead the army, and the Thorn History of some important states was renamed "State Pastor". Yongzhou was added, a total of fourteen prefectures at the end of the Han Dynasty.
During the Three Kingdoms period, the fourteen prefectures followed the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the administrative offices and counties under the jurisdiction of some states changed. During the Western Jin Dynasty, the whole country was unified, and several more states were added, totaling nineteen states. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, various regimes were established. Some regimes, under the jurisdiction of the region, only a few counties, in order to improve the rank of officials, the original state divided into several states, so that several more thorn history can be placed.
During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, in order to resettle the overseas Chinese from the north, the imperial court set up many new overseas Chinese states, such as Southern Xuzhou and Southern Yanzhou. As a result, the number of states increased rapidly, and there were frequent changes of power, the names of the states and counties established were different, the administrative divisions were very chaotic, and there were too many levels and institutions.
From the county system to the state system
This situation changed until the unification of the Sui Dynasty. In 583, Emperor Wen of Sui considered that the number of states was too large, and some states were even smaller than the scope of the counties, so he ordered the "abolition of the counties under the heavens". The establishment of counties was abolished, and since the Eastern Han Dynasty, the three levels of prefectures and counties have become two levels of prefectures and counties, and some prefectures and counties have been merged, making the administrative division more reasonable. The county system, which has lasted for more than 800 years, has since withdrawn from the stage of history and begun to implement the state system. At this time, the status of the state declined, and the history of the state was equivalent to the original county taishou, and most of the state history of the thorn could only govern the people and had no military power. The Sui Emperor once changed the state back to a county, but in the early Tang Dynasty changed it back to the prefecture system.
In order to strengthen local control, Tang Taizong divided 10 provinces throughout the country and set up envoys to supervise the history of the prefectures and county orders in the provinces. This is somewhat similar to emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty setting up a prefecture, where the Dao was only a supervision district and not an informal administrative division.
15 Maps of the Tang Dynasty
The Song Dynasty basically followed the Tang Dynasty state system, but the state history of the Song Dynasty was not the real governor of a state. At this time, the governor of the prefecture adopted the song's unique dispatch system, "knowing a certain state affair", such as the governor of Luzhou, called "Zhilu Prefecture", referred to as Zhizhou. In addition to Zhizhou, a state also has a general judgment to supervise the work of Zhizhou.
In the Song Dynasty, the divisions at the same level as the prefectures also included governments, military, and supervisors. Among them, the government is mainly located in important places, such as Kaifeng Province in Tokyo, Daming Province in Beijing, etc. Later, the number of prefectures increased, the status gradually increased, and more and more states were converted into prefectures. In addition, the Song also followed the tang dynasty's example in setting up a large supervision area, called "Road", which had jurisdiction over several states along the way, but Lu was only a central dispatch agency, not a local government.
During the Tang and Song dynasties, it can be called the whole state of the world, and the state as a formal administrative division spread throughout the country. Most of the modern cities with the names of the states already existed during the Tang and Song dynasties.
Map of the provinces of the Yuan Dynasty
States incorporating place names
After the Song Dynasty, the status and number of prefectures as administrative divisions were declining. During the Yuan Dynasty, administrative divisions were divided into five levels, with provinces, roads, provinces, prefectures, and counties. The cantons were reduced from the original local level administrative divisions to the fourth level, only higher than the counties.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the local administrative hierarchy became the three levels of provinces, prefectures, and counties, and the prefecture completely replaced the prefecture and became the administrative division above the county. Only some special areas retained the states, and the remaining small number of states were divided into two types: directly subordinate states and scattered states. Prefectures are directly subordinate to provinces, and sanzhou is the same as counties.
Although the states of the Ming and Qing dynasties were no longer a universal administrative division, the ancient name of the prefecture was used and deeply imprinted into the minds of the common people and became part of the place name. Many provinces have the word zhou in their names, such as Yangzhou, Huizhou, Dengzhou and so on.