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Author: Mao Yujiu
First, form
Chinese geographical names, especially administrative division names, are mostly decided after repeated deliberations and careful discussions. There are four main sources of its name in imperial China: local names, mountain and river scenery names, local village names, and auspicious huairou words. When the monarchy ended, in honor of the republic and the republican heroes, there were two more sources of place names: the idea of the idea and the name of the person. However, like other classification labels, the above six source names can actually be subdivided. For example, the concept of doctrine can be subdivided into the three people's principles and the communist ideas, the former is the source of the name of Henan Minquan County, and the latter contributed to the birth of Jiangxi Gongqingcheng.
In the administrative districts named after auspicious and tender words, there is also a small number of sub-groups with sufficient specificity - the name of the year and place.
The era name, according to the Song people, is an epoch term coined by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to entertain himself. The main meaning of the era name is to bind the emperor as an individual human being to endless time, shape the supernatural attributes of the emperor, and help the emperor to implement autocratic rule over the emperor. However, in the process of actual application, because the era name is highly bound to the emperor and the imperial court represented by the emperor, it also began to have political and supernatural attributes. For example, the problem of "Zhengshuo" in imperial China was increasingly bound to the era name after the birth of the era name, forming a political practice of using the era name of a certain imperial court to honor the imperial court as "Zhengshuo" and to worship the emperor of the imperial court as the suzerainty and accept the nominal rule of the imperial court.
Such a type of vocabulary that uses the "naming" time to declare the right to govern, and the name of the place that uses the name to declare the right to govern, are originally two parallel lines that do not violate the water of each other's wells. However, because the words chosen as the era name were mostly considered auspicious and beautiful words by people at that time, and the use of place names seemed to conform to the naming principle of "auspicious and gentle", the two eventually appeared some intersection.
The first political district to explicitly use the era name as the source of the name was Jian'an County, which was established by Sun Ce at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The Taiping Huanyu Chronicle quotes the Jian'an County Chronicle as saying that the county was placed for the branch of The Eastern Houguan County, when Sun Ce swept through Jiangdong. However, in fact, at that time, there was no Donghouguan County, but there was a political district called Dongye Houguan County (Appendix I). The seat of government of this Dongye Houguan County was in present-day Gulou District, Fuzhou City, and the county basically coincided with the scope of present-day Fujian Province.
Figure 1 The picture of the waiting officer
Jian'an County was established in the early years of Jian'an, and was later upgraded to Jian'an County in the third year (260) of the late Wu Emperor's grandson Xiu Yong'an. Through the Six Dynasties of Jin, Song, Qiliang, Chen, and Sui, Jian'an County did not move or change its name. The Tang Dynasty established a prefecture here, which was subordinate to Jiangnan Province, and later changed to the Fujian Observer Envoy named after Fuzhou and Jianzhou; after entering the Song Dynasty, according to Tang customs, the two Southeast Zhejiang Roads that governed the area of present-day Fujian Province were renamed Fujian Road, and Ouning County and Jian'an County were added as Jianzhou Fuguo County (Appendix II). In the Southern Song Dynasty, jianning prefecture was still subordinate to Fujian Road; Yuan changed to Jianning Road, which belonged to Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces; Ming changed back to Jianning Province, which was subordinate to Fujian Province (Cloth Administration Division); and the Qing dynasty used the Ming system. The Republic of China abolished the prefecture of Cun County, abolished Jianning Province, and took the combination of Jian'an and Ouning first characters from Guo's two counties to form Jian'ou County, which is now Jian'ou City in Fujian Province.
Figure 2: Diagram of Jian'ou
Since the establishment of Jian'an County, for about four hundred years, there has been no second administrative district named after the year. From this situation, perhaps when Sun Ce first established Jian'an County, he did not follow the common naming method, and after thinking and picking, he chose to name the newly established county after the name of Jian'an Nian. But by chance—for example, when he couldn't think of a good name for himself and was anxious to name the new county—he took the Jian'an era number at hand to count and built the first year name. And as far as the naming ideas of the newly established counties and counties of the Wu Kingdom and the two Southern Jin Dynasties were concerned, it seems that these regimes that inherited the mantle of the Han Dynasty never thought of learning from Sun Ce's method of naming counties with era names and naming regions with their own era names. What they preferred were auspicious nomenclatures invented by Han emperors—for example, named the region after Xiangrui, or named the region after a word that prayed for their own prosperity (such as Wuxing County).
In addition, although Yongjia County was set up during the Ming Emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, from the existing literature, the source of the name of the county is not The Era Name of the Jin Huai Emperor, Yongjia, but a simple and beautiful word "Yongjia". Therefore, it does not belong to the era name of the place, and it can be said to be a "place name that collides with the year number". There are also many place names in this category, which are omitted from the text and listed later.
However, in the past four hundred years, the Yuan Dynasty wei dynasty in the north has appeared a type of temple with the era name as the name. According to the Luoyang Jialan Chronicle, Luoyang has the Zhengshi Temple named after Emperor Xuanwu's Zhengshi Era; there is the Jingming Temple named after Emperor Xuanwu's Jingxia; and there is a Xiping Temple, which is the same name as Emperor Xiaoming's son, Emperor Xiaoming, and seems to be named after the era name. From the above three examples, it can be seen that the Northern Wei Dynasty had already appeared to name the areas in the space by the era number of the time, and the rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty consciously repeated this behavior, forming a cross-generational tradition. This tradition of transcending the barriers between time and space and naming places with era names may have succeeded in giving birth to the second and third cases of era names, and eventually through the successors of the Northern Wei Dynasty, a model of using the era number as the source of administrative district names.
Figure 3 Of Luoyang
The second and third cases of era names are both Wude County, which was set up by the Tang Dynasty.
In 618, Li Yuan forced his cousin Yang You to give up the throne and formally establish the Li Tang court. At that time, the Tang Dynasty was only concerned about the Middle Plain and the Hedong Valley. Although this Zen concession made Li Tang have a little more illusory "legitimacy" compared to other separatist forces. However, according to the law of political power in the barrel of a gun, this seemingly real "legitimacy" bonus does not make Li Tang more like a party that can annex the world than the rest of the forces.
Under this premise, Li Yuan must take some measures to attract the hearts and minds of the people of the world with money and power or justice. As a descendant of the Northern Zhou nobles, he most likely received the education of xiao Liangshi captured by northern Zhou and learned the art of governing the country used by Emperor Xiao Yan of Liangwu to win the hearts and minds of the people.
Generals were widely accepted, and a large number of prefectures and counties were arbitrarily established, and many local official positions were created to install generals.
When Li Mi came to surrender in the first year of Wu De, Li Yuan was busy fighting with Li Shimin for power and profit, and because of the good situation, he did not divide the prefectures and counties under the rule of the Wagang Army as a reward. In the second year of Wu De, although the Tang army in the Hanoi region basically eliminated Wang Shichong's forces, Li Yuan's old lair, Jinyang, was trapped around Liu Wu who was moving south. Naturally, the world began to worry about whether Liu Wuzhou would be like Li Yuan a few years ago, gain Jinyang and then drive straight into Guanzhong, causing the collapse of the emerging Tang Dynasty.
In order to stabilize the people's hearts, Li Yuan decided to give all the local officials under his rule the title of knight without changing the governance system of the regions. In the Hanoi region, the Tang court established three new prefectures of Xi Jeju, Beiui Prefecture, and Zhizhou in one fell swoop, in order to seal the local Wagang demotion to the history of thorns, and the state administration also followed Xiao Yan's teachings of "Guangzhi Prefecture County, although the household is less than a hundred, divided into three counties; people have no gathering, and the name of the prefecture is counties", and a large number of counties are added to be used to reward meritorious service.
Figure 4 Map of Hanoi
For example, since the first year of Wude's reign, Huang Junhan, the general of Wagang in Huaizhou, was initially the commander of the Huaizhou Assassin History and the Marching Army, and because there was no subordinate unit belonging to the prefecture and no temporary ration, its actual administrative rank was no different from that of the ordinary Thorn History; after the division of Wude in the second year, although the land population under Huang Junhan's actual jurisdiction decreased (in the middle, due to Li and Wang Lasaw, two new generals directly under the Tang Court were created), but his official title became the military governor of Huaizhou, Zhi, Xiji, and Beiyi, and the military history of Huaizhou. The administrative rank was raised from the history of thorns to the general manager of the history of thorns, and eventually as the eight general managers of Li Tang who besieged Luoyang, he remained in the annals of history. This inexplicable elevation of political status is the result of a large number of newly created states and counties to give people officials and knighthoods.
However, the birth of Wude County is not directly related to Li Tangduo's policy of setting up prefectures and counties. According to research, the person who named the county Wude was probably Qin Shi Huang. Since the first emperor established Wude County, the Han and Jin Dynasties continued to use this name without changing, and during the reign of Emperor Xiaojing of Eastern Wei, they also upgraded it to Wude County. However, after Emperor Wen of Sui unified the world, when sorting out the place names, he somehow renamed Wude County to Xingqiu County, but Xingqiu was obviously not in the territory of the county. In the second year of Daye, Yang Guang launched another campaign to rectify the geographical names, this time about discovering the problem that Xingqiu was not in Xingqiu County, and changed the name of the county from the ruins of the Marquis of Anchang in the Western Han Dynasty to Anchang County. Unfortunately, from the second year after Anchang County was named Daye, the Sui Emperor built the eastern capital, toured the world, dug canals, and conquered Goryeo, completely destroying the tranquility and prosperity of this Great Sui.
Around the second year of Wude, Huang Junhan, whose jurisdiction had shrunk and his political status had risen, changed Anchang County back to Wude County. In view of the fact that there is no record of him receiving an edict from the imperial court to change his name, at the same time, he himself has a record of setting up a new "Daji County" in Daji City to praise the foundation of the great Tang Dynasty. The restoration of the old name of Zewude County may be the act of this ancestor who was the chief administrator of the Northern Wei bureaucracy for generations, exerting the Northern Wei tradition, spreading the meaning of the era name, and explicitly using the era name to name the county to show loyalty to Li Tang.
In the sixth year of the Northern Song Dynasty, with the merger of political districts in the Northern Song Dynasty, this Wude County was demoted to Wude Town, and eventually retained to this day as Wude Town, Wen County, Jiaozuo City, Henan Province.
Figure wuwen county map
The above-mentioned first Wude County, because there is no clear evidence to prove the relevance of its change back to its old name and the Wude era name, is not regarded as an example of pioneering the use of the era name as the source of the county name. But as a reader of history, we sometimes need to understand that ideas always exist before things, and that common ideas that exist widely in society are the cornerstones on which certain political, economic, and cultural products stand. When the cornerstone exists, the various products built on it can survive stably, and if the cornerstone does not exist, even if similar products are born, at the practical level, because they do not have social significance, they cannot be regarded as the same kind of things built on the cornerstone.
The second Wude County, located in the territory of present-day Guilin City, Guangxi, was established in the fourth year of Wude from Guilin County (桂州), and at the same time established Xiangzhou in the county, which is obviously a tribute to xiang county in the Qin Dynasty. Although the county has not left a clear record of the cause of its name, it is widely recognized by scholars as a county whose name is derived from the era name - because it is a newly established county named Wude.
However, the reason for the name of this Wude County is not completely free of room for discussion. Wude's four-year Datang, like two years ago, is still implementing the policy of setting up prefectures and counties. In the territory of the newly established XiangZhou alone, three counties beginning with Wu de, Wu Hua and Wu Xian were newly established. The other states also have a large number of new counties, and many of these counties are named after auspicious and gentle words, such as Guiyi County in Guizhou, Anle County in Jingzhou, and Huanghua County in Linzhou. The establishment of so many auspicious Huairou famous prefectures and counties in a short period of time will definitely lead to the Tang court, which does not have electronic retrieval tools, into difficulties in naming names, so it is also possible that they used to name states and counties because Wude was an auspicious word.
In any case, the era name took a solid step in the Tang Dynasty, from simply naming time to increasingly systematically naming time and space at the same time. Since Wude, the Tang Emperor has gradually become accustomed to naming regions, scenic spots, public facilities, etc. with era names, and the phenomenon of "era names and place names" discussed in this article has been completely established.
With the establishment of the era name and place name naming system, the Tang Dynasty's management of local administrative divisions was increasingly strengthened. First, in the first year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin, who had fought invincible hands all over the world, abolished most of the prefectures and counties that Li Yuan had set up; then Emperor Gaozong zhou each modified the place names that did not suit their tastes; and finally under the rule of Tang Xuanzong, who wanted to become the first emperor of the ages, the Tang Dynasty's management of local administrative divisions rose to an unparalleled peak.
In September of the first year of Emperor Xuanzong Tianbao,in order to "standardize" the management of geographical names, the Tang court unified the prefectures and counties under the heavens and changed them. Because of the same name as Wude County in Huaizhou, Xiangzhou Was abolished and completely disappeared from the long river of history.
Appendix I: Dongye-in-waiting officer
In the Han system, there was a waiting officer every hundred miles on the border, and the command of the army was defended. Over time, like other officials who were originally temporary workers and later transferred to promotions, the waiting officers were also promoted to the ranks of lieutenants. And with the Han Dynasty to manage the barbarians, because of the land population under their jurisdiction, gradually changed from the military officer in charge of military affairs to the military and civilian capital, similar to the local officials of the county guard, the waiting officer who managed the border hundred miles land, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, also began to be juxtaposed with the county under the supervision of the "Hundred Mile Hou" - county order - became a kind of local official. The Book of Continued Han and geographical records refer to Liangzhou as follows: "Twelve counties, ninety-eight county road officials-in-waiting", which is proof of this.
In the Western Han Dynasty, Dongye Waiting Officer was named Dongye County, located in the sea frontier of the Han Empire, and backed by the Minyue people who were not yet fully controlled by the Empire, and it was not surprising that there were waiting officials around it. During the reign of Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Dongye County was somehow renamed Dongye Houguan County. Later historical books, such as the Book of continued Han, etc., have not been able to record this name correctly due to mistranslations and stereotypes in people's minds that the county is mainly named after two characters. Or "Dongye", or "Waiting Officer (Houguan)", and so on.
However, in the "Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and The Biography of He Qi", there is still a proof of the existence of Dongye Houguan County: "In the first year of Jian'an, Sun Ce Lin (Huiji) County, Cha (He) Qi Xiaolian. When Wang Lang ran to Dongye to become an official, Chang Shang was promoted to raise troops for Lang Lang. Although the academic circles previously judged the above as "When Wang Lang ran to Dongye, the chief officer-in-waiting Shang Sheng raised an army for Lang. However, the matter of Dongye's name change has been recorded in the history books, and Wang Langruo can only run to the official and cannot travel through time and space to Dongye. Moreover, if he runs to Dongye, then what he instigates will also be the official of Dongye, and what relationship he has with the county magistrate-in-waiting. Therefore, it is known that after the "Dongye Waiting Official" here, the Eastern Han Dynasty should have the county of dongye waiting official.
Appendix II: Attached Guo
In ancient Times, there must have been a city wall in the administrative center of china, and the city wall was Guo. For the purpose of economy, the ancient administrative districts at all levels often worked within the same city walls. For example, the Guangdong Provincial Government and the Guangzhou Provincial Government and the Nanhai County Government are both based in Guangzhou.
At the same time, due to the difference in the way urban and rural rule, the government of imperial China generally required the city to be directly administered by the highest local administrative organ stationed in the city, such as the county seat directly under the jurisdiction of the county government, and the state city directly under the jurisdiction of the state government. In terms of administrative divisions, cities at all levels will still be divided into subordinate divisions where they should be, for example, Fucheng is still theoretically still the territory of their county. Provincial cities and capitals are not directly under the jurisdiction of the provincial government and the imperial court because they involve central politics, but in fact, the provincial government, through the provincial organs, the imperial court through supervision and military institutions, can participate in and even elevate the provincial city or the capital of the prefect zhizhou and other officials.
Therefore, when a county is in the same city as its higher government, the county is called "Attached To Guo County", which means a county attached to the city managed by the higher government. Because Fuguo County works in the same city as the higher-level government, it is very easy to suffer from the difficulties and investigations of the higher-level government, so it is considered to be an extremely hard job. As the saying goes: three lives are unfortunate, zhixian is attached to Guo; Three lives of evil, attached to the provincial city of Guo; Evil is full of glory, attached to Guo Jingcheng. Yes also.