This paper discusses the evolution of administrative divisions in Chinese history.

Evolution of ancient administrative divisions

Excerpted from Chapter 8 of China's Ancient Cultural History.

Administrative division refers to the regional organization system of state administration. In order to facilitate administrative management, the state exercises effective control over all regions. Usually, within the territory under its jurisdiction, the whole country is divided into several administrative regions at different levels according to physical geography, political and economic conditions, ethnic and population distribution, historical traditions and military needs. This division is called administrative division. The levels and names of administrative divisions in the world are different. For example, according to the provisions of the Constitution of People's Republic of China (PRC), at present, China's administrative divisions are mainly implemented at the provincial and county levels below the central government; The United States is mainly a state, county or city; The Soviet Union is mainly states and districts; France is mainly a province, district or county; Britain is mainly counties and counties. Even in a country, the levels and names of administrative divisions in different historical periods are not necessarily the same, which is fully illustrated by the evolution of administrative divisions in ancient China.

China is one of the oldest civilized countries in the world, with thousands of years of glorious civilization history, so the history of administrative divisions is also very long. From the early Spring and Autumn Period to the establishment of the county in 688 BC. China's administrative divisions have a history of more than 2,500 years and have been developing continuously for more than 2,000 years. According to the materials I have at present, it can be said that China's administrative divisions are the oldest and most well-preserved administrative divisions in the world.

The administrative divisions in ancient China can be roughly divided into the following five periods: germination period (pre-Qin), county system period (Qin and Han dynasties), state system period (Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui Dynasty), Taoist system period (Tang and Song Dynasties) and provincial system period (Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties).

The first section budding period

This period lasted from 2 1 century BC to the 3rd century BC, that is, from the establishment of the Xia Dynasty, the first state power in China's history, to the unification of China by Qin Shihuang and the establishment of the county system.

The emergence of a country is a prerequisite for the formation of administrative divisions. In primitive society, people lived and produced according to clans and tribes, and there was no need for administrative divisions or the concept of regional division. As "Li Yun" said, it is "a trip to the avenue, the world is public". With the development of productive forces and social progress, private ownership has gradually emerged, resulting in classes and countries. In order to maintain its dominant position and effectively control the ruled class, the ruling class needs to implement zoning and hierarchical management, which leads to the possibility of forming various administrative divisions. However, it is not inevitable that administrative divisions will appear at the same time when the country comes into being. Some comrades think that the "local administrative division" of Xia Dynasty is a "small country" or "square country" formed on the basis of primitive commune tribes; "The administrative divisions of Shang Dynasty adopted the form of enfeoffment", (1) is wrong. Xia, Shang and Zhou did not have a perfect local administrative system, so it was impossible to carry out a comprehensive administrative division of the whole country at that time. Both "Fang Guo" and "vassal State" are independent countries, and the relationship with Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties is only loose. After the Spring and Autumn Period, the emergence of counties was the beginning of the ancient administrative divisions in China. (2)(3)

First of all, the legendary national service system

Before this century, it was generally believed that the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties were divided into twelve states, Kyushu and Five Blessingg. The most typical example is the preface to geography in Hanshu, which says, "During the reign of the Yellow Emperor, Wan Li painted fields and divided them into states. ..... Yao was flooded, Xiangling, and the world was divided into twelve states, so that it could be ruled. The soil and water are flat, Kyushu works, five clothes are listed, and the soil is tribute. " That is to say, when the Yellow Emperor had a state system, Yao divided China into twelve states because of the flood, changed it to Kyushu after the flood control, and later divided China into five clothes. In fact, the so-called "Twelve States", "Kyushu" and "Five Clothes" in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties are just legends.

1. "Twelve States" theory

It is the legendary administrative division system in the social era of Yao and Shun clan, which originated from "Zhao Shi has two countries" in Yaodian, Shangshu. Western Han scholar Gu Yong (former? -Four years ago) For the first time, "there are two states" was interpreted as "Yao was flooded, and the world was divided into twelve states". (4) Ban Gu (32-92), a historian of the Eastern Han Dynasty, wrote Hanshu from his theory. They think that this "Twelve States" is the administrative division system in the Yao-Shun era, before Yu established "Kyushu". Ma Rong (79- 166) of the Eastern Han Dynasty believed that the Twelve States were formed after Yu's flood control, and were formed by adding three states, namely, You, He and Ying, to Yu's Kyushu. Later hermeneutics mostly followed Ma Rong's theory. Because Gu Jiegang (1893-1980) confirmed with conclusive evidence that Shangshu Yaodian was written by the Han people in the 1930s, it is said that the "Twelve States" are the thirteen states that the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty secretariat, and the names of the twelve states mentioned by Ma are only harmonious, elegant and elegant. (5)(6) Scholars of modern Qin and Han history and pre-Qin history both denied the view that "Twelve States" was the administrative division system in Yao and Shun times.

2. Kyushu theory

It is the legendary administrative division system of the central plains in Dayu era, which began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Before the Western Han Dynasty, it was thought that "Kyushu" was divided by Yu after the flood control, but the specific statements contained in various books were different, and there were roughly four statements: (1) Shangshu Gong Yu recorded that Kyushu was Ji, Yan, Qing, Xu, Yang, Jing, Yu, Liang and Yong; (Figure 1)(2) "Lu Chunqiu's Tour of Shi Lan" has Youzhou and Wulian States; (3) Li Zhou Zhi Fang includes Youzhou, Bingzhou, Wuliangzhou and Xuzhou; (4) Erya includes Youzhou, Bingzhou, Yingzhou, Wulian, Qingzhou and Xuzhou (see table 1). The States and regions listed in different places are also different. For example, the areas north and east of Mount Tai belong to Qingzhou of Gong Yu and Youzhou of the Professional Party. Qingzhou of the paper mill is equivalent to most of Xuzhou and a part of Yugong Yuzhou.

These "Kyushu" sayings are actually the geographical division of the known territory of the Zhou Dynasty by scholars during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, rather than the administrative division of a certain dynasty. But it has long been mistaken for administrative divisions in history. Before the Western Han Dynasty, Gong Yu was mistaken for Kyushu, which was divided by Dayu after flood control, and represented the administrative division system of Xia Dynasty. For the first time, Geography of Hanshu misnamed Kyushu in Li Zhouzhifang as the administrative division system representing the Zhou Dynasty. During the Three Kingdoms period, Sun Yan of Ren Wei interpreted Kyushu in Erya Dish as the administrative division system representing Shang Dynasty. Later scholars further extended it and mistakenly called "Kyushu" the administrative division system of Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. (7)(8)

3. Gifford theory

It was first seen in Mandarin Zhou Yu. "Zhou Yu" said: "The system of the husband before the king: the battle at home, the battle abroad, the battle of Hou Weibin, the battle of barbarians and the battle of Huang Rongdi." That is to say, the King of Zhou adopted the five-service system of "standard service", "waiting service", "Fu Bin", "Fu Yao" and "waste service". Five kinds of clothes were also mentioned in Shangshu Gong Yu, but "Sui clothes" were used instead of "guest clothes" in Zhou Yu. And think that every service has a certain range, that is, 500 miles. "Xia Guan Zhi Fang Shi" expanded the "five clothes" to "nine clothes": after clothes, standard clothes, door clothes, Cai clothes, health clothes, full clothes, foreign clothes, chastity clothes and model clothes. In the Xia Dynasty, "Fu" was renamed as "Ji", and there were nine Ji's: Hou, Dian, Men, Cai, Wei, Man, Yi, Zhen and Fan. The above-mentioned records of "five clothes", "nine clothes" and "nine capitals" are all administrative divisions of the pre-Qin era fabricated by later generations. In fact, they are only a reflection of the expansion of people's geographical vision during the Warring States period or later. (9)( 10)

Second, the origin of counties

As mentioned above, the Shang and Zhou Dynasties implemented the enfeoffment system, that is, "the country was founded by enfeoffment system", and the lords were independent monarchs of their respective feudal countries. The whole Shang and Zhou dynasties didn't care about any administrative divisions. But in the Spring and Autumn Period, the Zhou Dynasty declined, and some vassal states became strong and began to develop centralization. They are no longer sealed in the newly developed territory, but directly ruled by the monarch. In order to facilitate the rule, administrative divisions such as counties and counties began to appear.

The emergence of 1. county

County is the earliest name of administrative division unit in China, which began in the early Spring and Autumn Period and was originally set in border areas, with national defense functions. According to the existing literature, the earliest county was Qin, a western power. "Historical Records of Qin Benji" said: Ten years of Wu Gong (before 688), "cutting Luan, the first county"; In the 11th year of Wu Gong (687 BC), Du and Zheng were in Chu County. That is to say, in the early Spring and Autumn Period, Qin Wugong first set up Bangxian (now Tianshui City, Gansu Province) and Jixian (now Gangu County, Gansu Province) within the newly developed territory, and in the second year, it set up Du Xian (now Ling Du County, Shaanxi Province) and Zhengxian County (now hua county, Shaanxi Province). Then, Chu, Jin and other countries also set up counties. "Zuo Zhuan" recorded public mourning for seventeen years (478 years before), and Zi Gu said: King Wen of Chu "applied for relief in Zhenjun"; According to Zuo Zhuan, in the thirty-third year of Nuogong (627 BC), Duke Xiang of Jin gave Xu Chen a reward in the first county of Taizu. King Wen of Chu reigned from 689 to 672 and Duke Xiang of Jin reigned from 627 to 62 1 year. It can be seen that in the early Spring and Autumn Period, that is, before the 7th century, Qin, Chu, Jin and other big countries had successively set up counties in the newly merged land. (Figure 2) In ancient Chinese, county is an ancient hanging word. Because these newly developed territories are far away from the capitals of vassal States and hung outside the fiefs of vassal States, they are named.

In the late Spring and Autumn Period, counties were generally established in various vassal States, and they developed from remote places to the mainland. According to Zuo Zhuan, in the eleventh year (598 BC), "Chen was cut down, ……… County Chen"; In the second year of Chu's attack on Zheng (country), Zheng Bo said to him, "If Zheng is king, it is equivalent to the county of Chu"; In the fifteenth year of Gong Xuan (594 BC), Duke Jin rewarded scholars with Guayan County; In the sixth year (585 years before), it was "the second county that defeated Chu"; In the twenty-sixth year of "xianggong" (before 547), "Jin people must be in the same county as their uncles and nephews"; In the third year of Zhao Gong (the first 539 years), "the different counties in Jin Dynasty (one county divided into two parts) were not only states"; In the five years of Zhao Gong, "seven cities in Hanfu are all counties" and "because of its nineteen counties ... more than forty counties"; In the 28th year of Zhao Gong (the first 5 14), Jin annexed Qi's family and Yang's family, and "Qi's family was divided into seven counties and Yang's family into three counties". At that time, Wu also set up a county in Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu Province. As Gu said in "Rizhilu County Chapter": "In the Spring and Autumn Period, those who destroyed the country thought that their county was also."

During the Warring States period, the county has become a common local administrative division unit. However, the counties in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period are not exactly the same as those in the future: First, the remnants of the enfeoffment system are preserved, for example, the monarch can cede the county to the courtiers and the county yin can be inherited; Second, the size of counties varies greatly. Large countries such as Qin and Chu, and medium-sized countries such as Chen and Cai, set up counties in one country, while small countries such as Qi set up counties in one township. Of course, at that time, at most, one city set up one county.

2. The emergence of the county seat

The earliest county annals can be found in Mandarin Today. Yi Wu, the son of the State of Jin, said to Qin Gongzi that "your country has counties". It means that the state of Jin is like the county of Qin. This is nine years ago (65 1 year ago), which shows that there was a "county" in Qin Dynasty in 65 1 year BC, that is, in the early Spring and Autumn Period, so some books say that "after the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, countries began to set up counties in border areas", (1 1), "Counties began to appear in the Warring States Period. According to Zuo Zhuan, in the second year of Lu Aigong (493 BC), Zhao Jianzi said, "Those who defeat the enemy take the county as the doctor and the county as the doctor." The above are just two kinds of "county" names seen in the Spring and Autumn Period, indicating that county names were still rare at that time. At first, mainly to meet the needs of military defense, vassal States began to set up counties in remote areas, and the princes of the monarch led the troops to station.

During the Warring States period, the number of counties increased. Historical Records of Qin Benji records that the first ten years (328 years) of Wang Huiwen were "fifteen counties in Shang Jun, Weiner"; In the 13th year of Yuan Geng, Wang Huiwen (the first 3 12), he "attacked Hanzhong in Chu, took a land of 600 Li, and set Hanzhong County". According to Records of Historical Records and Biography of Gan Mao, in the third year of Qin Wuwang (the first 308 years), Gan Mao said to the king of Qin: "Yiyang is also a big county, ... named as a county, but actually a county." In the sixteenth year of Chu Gaolie in Historical Records (247 BC), Chun Shen Jun said to the king of Chu: "Huaibei is bordered by land and water, and the situation is urgent. Please think it is convenient for the county." Biography of Xiongnu in Historical Records says that Wei has Hexi, Qin has Longxi, Beidi, Zhao has Yunzhong, Yanmen, Yan has Shanggu, Yuyang, Youbeiping, Liaoxi and Liaodong. It can be seen that during the Warring States period, counties were widely distributed in various countries, and most of them were located in remote areas of various countries. (Figure 3)

3. The relationship between counties

Counties and counties all appeared in the early Spring and Autumn Period, but they were later than counties and counties, and their status was lower than that in the Spring and Autumn Period. That's why Zhao Jianzi's language "Doctors are subject to counties and counties, and doctors are subject to counties and counties" came into being. This is not because the county is big and small, but because the size of the county was very different at that time, and it was difficult to test the size of the county in the Spring and Autumn Period. Mainly because the county seat is remote and secluded, with a vast territory and few people, the economic development level is lower than that of the county seat and it is not as rich as the county seat. ( 13)

During the Warring States period, the Seven Chivalrous Men fought for hegemony and blazed everywhere. The differences between border areas and inland areas, remote areas and rich areas have narrowed, and several powerful countries have been expanding outward, so border counties have been growing and their status has been improving. The border counties are large, and the counties are gradually divided into several counties; There are many things in the mainland, and counties are gradually placed under the jurisdiction of several counties, gradually forming a two-level administrative division of Dutong County. Fifteen Counties in Weinan, Chun Shenjun's report that the king of Chu set up a county in Huaibei 12, Yiyang, Daxian ... so-called county, actually county, and so on are all conclusive evidence. It seems that the formation of the county system will not be later than the mid-Warring States period. In the late Warring States period, the county system has been widely implemented in various countries. But throughout the Warring States period, the county system was always a vassal of the enfeoffment system. It was not until Qin Shihuang unified China that the county system officially became a unified administrative division of the whole country. ( 14)

To sum up, Shang and Zhou dynasties implemented the enfeoffment system, and there was no administrative division system. The so-called "Twelve States", "Kyushu", "Five Blessingg" and "Jiuji" were not the administrative divisions at that time, but the ideas of some scholars during the Warring States period and later. The earliest administrative division in China was the county system, which originated in the Spring and Autumn Period, evolved in the Warring States Period and was formally established in the Qin Dynasty.

Section II Period of County System

From Qin Shihuang's unification of China, the county system was formally established as a unified national administrative division, to the implementation of the national administrative division system in Wei and Jin Dynasties, the county system in Qin and Han Dynasties experienced more than 400 years.

First, the establishment of the county system

In 22 1 BC, Qin Shihuang annexed six countries, unified China in 26 years, and established the first unified, multi-ethnic and highly centralized empire in the history of China. Qin Shihuang thought that "the Zhou system was weak and eventually defeated by the princes" (Hanshu Geography), so he adopted Tingwei Lisi's suggestion that "the world should be divided into counties" (Hanshu Geography), completely abolishing the enfeoffment system and implementing centralized system, that is, the world was divided into 36 counties in that year, and the county administrative division system was implemented nationwide. This marks the establishment of the county system in China, and it is also an epoch-making event in the history of administrative divisions in China and even the world.

1. Qin Jun

"History of Han Geography" said: "Qin and Shi Jing are internal history, and the world is divided into 36 counties." The area under the jurisdiction of the capital of Qin was the only place that was not called county at that time. Twenty-six years of the first emperor, thirty-six counties, and more after that. How many counties are there in Qin? Did the 36 counties set up in those years include literature and history? There are different opinions on this, and there are still differences until today. Now, according to the textual research of The Complete Geography of Han Dynasty, which is recognized by many scholars, the excerpts of Qin County are as follows:

In the history of literature and history, the counties leading both capital city are not in 36 counties.

Longxi, Beidi, Shang Jun, Hanzhong, Shujun, Baxian, Handan, Julu, Taiyuan, Shangdang, Yanmen, Dai Jun, Yunzhong, Hedong, Dong Jun, Party Army, Sanchuan, Yingchuan, Nanjun, Qianzhong, Nanyang, Changsha, Chu Jun, Jiujiang, Surabaya and Xue Jun. The above are the thirty-six counties set by the first emperor in twenty-six years.

In the thirty-third year of the first emperor (2 14 BC), Nanhai, Guilin and Xiang Jun counties were established.

Jiuyuan, the first emperor. In the thirty-third year of the first emperor, Meng Tian made a northern expedition to Xiongnu, recovered more than forty counties in Hexi (now Hetao area) and set up Jiuyuan County, which was not among the thirty-six counties built in the twenty-sixth year of the first emperor. However, there is no strong evidence for the specific time of setting the county.

Minzhong County, the first emperor, I don't know the exact year. But geographically, it was built after Nanping Baiyue in the 33rd year of the First Emperor.

Among the 36 counties mentioned in Hanshu Geography, Shaochu County, Qianzhong County (both of which are recorded in Historical Records), Donghai County (in the note) and Yangguang County (in this note of Hanshu Geography), but there are quite a few counties in Nanhai, Jiuyuan, Guilin and Xiang Jun. This has left a root for the historical differences in Qin County. In fact, when Qin Shihuang unified China, there were no Nanhai, Jiuyuan, Guilin and Xiang Jun among the 36 counties. At that time, Nanhai and other counties were not included in the territory of the Qin Dynasty. Therefore, Geography of Hanshu contains four missing counties out of the thirty-six counties built by the first emperor in the twenty-sixth year, and Chu and other four counties should be supplemented according to historical books and other books.

The above * * * are 42 counties (including civil history). According to the Atlas of Chinese History edited by Mr. Tan Qixiang, there were 47 counties in the Qin Dynasty (15). (Figure 4)

2. Qin County

According to Yan Gengwang's textual research, the counties under the jurisdiction of each county are as follows: the civil history includes about 40 counties; There are eight counties in Yunzhong, Yanmen, Dai Jun, Shanggu, Yuyang, Youbeiping, Liaoxi and Liaodong in the north, and four counties in Jiuyuan, Shang Jun, Beidi and Longxi in the northwest. Each county has an average jurisdiction of 15 or 6 counties and nearly 200 counties. There are nearly 30 counties in mainland China and nanbu county, and each county has 25 counties and about 700 counties. Therefore, Yan believes that "the total number of counties in Qin should be above 900 to 65,438+10,000, which is about 65,438+10,000 counties". ( 16)

The division of counties in Qin Dynasty not only noticed the development and imbalance of social economy, but also fully considered the natural conditions, so that the administrative areas were as consistent as possible with the natural geographical units. For example, Nanhai County is located in the Pearl River Delta, Taiyuan County is located in Taiyuan Basin, Nanyang County is located in Nanyang Basin, and Weihe Plain is located in the civil history. The political, economic and cultural center of the Qin Dynasty was in the Yellow River Basin, with a relatively developed economy and a relatively dense population. Therefore, there were many counties at that time, including more than 30 counties, and several counties were equivalent to a province now. At that time, the area south of Huaihe River, Qinling Mountains, was sparsely populated with vast grassland, so there were only 1 1 counties or a little more, and a county was equivalent to a province now. For example, Huiji County is equivalent to today's Zhejiang Province, Guilin County is equivalent to today's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and Jiujiang County is equivalent to today's Jiangxi Province.

Second, the development of county system.

At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang, in view of the lessons of Qin's isolation and extinction, built princes widely. First, the "seven countries with different surnames" (Han, Zhao, Chu, Huainan, Yan, Changsha and Liang) were sealed, and then in the process of eliminating the six countries with different surnames (except Changsha), the "nine countries with the same surnames" (Chu, Jing, Dai, Qi, Zhao, Liang, Huaiyang, Huainan and Yan) were established, and counties and countries coexisted.

1. Han County

In the early Han Dynasty, the kingdom not only ruled the state of Hou or several counties, but also often served as the land of several counties, which seriously threatened and hindered the sovereignty of the central government. According to the Records of Geography of Han Dynasty, Gaozu added 26 counties outside Qin County (Tan Qixiang's research on the establishment of thirteen counties in Han Dynasty is more accurate, pointing out that Gaozu actually increased to 19 county), and two thirds of them were in the country of princes and kings; Most of the vassal States are "the land of several counties, ... there are four counties and more than fifty cities in Wu", (17) "five or six counties are the biggest", (18). Therefore, among the 60 counties in the early Han Dynasty, there are more than 40 counties with the same surname, and only Changsha has a different surname, Han Di.

Later, Emperor Wendi, Emperor Jingdi and Emperor Wudi cut the vassals many times, making it impossible for the kings to govern the country, and their officials were all granted by the Emperor of Heaven. At the time of Emperor Jing, a vassal state only took one county, and the kingdom and county were at the same level in administrative division. (Table 2) According to Geography of Han Dynasty, by the end of the Western Han Dynasty, there were 103 counties, including 80 counties and 20 countries except Sanfu (three counties along the Gyeonggi area); Big counties lead 30 to 50 counties, big countries lead at most a dozen counties, and small countries lead only three or four counties. It can be seen that at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, although the county and state levels were the same, they were actually big counties and small countries.

When Wang Mang, the number of counties increased to 125. In the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Guangwu took into account the situation of successive years of war, enriching the country and enriching the people, and in order to reduce the number of officials and reassure the people, he merged counties and counties greatly. The History of Emperor Guangwu of the Later Han Dynasty records that in the sixth year of Jianwu (30 years), more than 400 counties merged, accounting for about a quarter of the number of counties at that time. Then the county 13, accounting for more than one-tenth of the total number of counties and countries at that time. Later, according to the system of the Western Han Dynasty, there were 105 counties and countries in Yonghe, Shun Di for five years (140), which became a relatively stable administrative division until the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

2. Han county

Under the county, the warring States period has existed, and the Qin dynasty promoted the whole country. The Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system, and still governed the county and made some progress. "Bai Han Guanluo" says: "The county where Liehou eats is called the country, and the empress dowager, empress and princess eat the city, which is said to be barbarian." It shows that the county-level administrative divisions in the Western Han Dynasty have been divided into counties, countries, cities and roads.

According to the Records of Geography of Hanshu, there were 103 counties in the Western Han Dynasty during Yuanfeng's reign, which governed "county, road, country and city, 1,587"; According to Qian Daxin's Textual Research on the Twenty-two Histories, there were 1578 county-level administrative units in the Western Han Dynasty, including: County 1344, Hou State 188, Dao 30 and Yi 16. At the time of Wang Mang, there were 125 counties in China, and there were 2203 counties and cities under the state. In the fifth year of Yonghe in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were 105 counties in the whole country, and the whole country governed "180 counties, cities, roads and Hou countries", which was almost one-third less than that in the late Western Han Dynasty (19).

Third, the germination of the country.

As mentioned in the first chapter, the division of countries in China originated from people's ideals during the Warring States Period. But "Twelve States", "Kyushu", "Five Blessingg" and "Jiuji" all remain in books or rumors written by scholars and have not become administrative divisions of China. The real emergence of "state" level in chinese administrative division began in the Western Han Dynasty.

1. Western Han countries

According to the history books of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the fifth year of Yuanfeng (before 106) was "the first time to set up a secretariat, which was divided into thirteen states". Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty used 1 1 state names (Ji, Yan, Xu, Yang, Jing, Yu, You, He, Liang, Yong, Qing) and Fang Zhi (see table 1) to set up a book order, in which Liang was changed to Yue Yi and Yong was changed to Yue. However, the text and preface of Geography of Hanshu are quite different: there is no Shuofang and Liangzhou in the name of 13 state in the text, but there is Li Si (the capital area), which is called Jiaozhou. According to sufficient facts, Gu Jiegang pointed out that the Preface to Geography of Hanshu is more reliable than the main text. 13 County was established in the fifth year of Yuanfeng (106 years ago), while the viceroy was established in the fourth year of Zhenghe (89 years ago), with a distance of 27. "North of Shuofang" belongs to the state of 13, exactly. It was the system of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the characters belonged to Shuofang, not Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Calling toe crossing Jiaozhou is the time system of Wang Mang and the Eastern Han Dynasty, not the name of the Western Han Dynasty. Moreover, Liangzhou is also omitted from the text of Hanshu Geography. It should be pointed out that the state secretariat at that time only represented the counties and countries under the supervision of the Han Dynasty, and there was no fixed residence and no first-level administrative division.

2. Eastern Han countries

At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Wang Mang tried to realize the ancient system of "Zhao Shi has two countries" in Yaodian. In the fourth year of Yuan Dynasty (AD 4), Shuofang and Li Si were abandoned, and the whole country became 12 state. According to Yao Dian, if there is a "home in Nantong" without crossing the toe, it will be changed to Jiaozhou; According to Yu Gong, there are Yongzhou and Liangzhou, and Liangzhou is changed to Yongzhou. (2 1)

Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty restored the old system of the Western Han Dynasty, re-established Li Sibu, and restored Yongzhou to Liangzhou. But not long after, in the eleventh year of Jianwu (35 years), Wang Mang's system was used to establish the country. After that, the state system in the Eastern Han Dynasty was different from that in the Western Han Dynasty as follows: (1) Jiangsili captain's headquarters was one of China 13 states; (2) abandon the north and merge with the state; (3) change the toe to Jiaozhou. (22)

In the first year of Zhong Ping (184), the Yellow Scarf Uprising broke out. In order to effectively suppress the peasant uprisings in various places, the imperial court changed the secretariat to state animal husbandry in the fifth year of Zhong Ping (189), and appointed Jiuqing in the DPRK as state animal husbandry, in charge of the military and political power of a state, and the state gradually became a first-level structure above the county level. As a result, the administrative divisions of the whole country have evolved from virtual three-level system to real three-level system, and from county system to state system. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao advocated reviving the "Kyushu Theory", abolishing seclusion and merging the two states into Jizhou. Save a surname department and Liangzhou, make it Yongzhou; Abandon diplomatic relations, divided into Jing and Yi countries. There are only nine states in China: Yanzhou, Henan, Qinghai, Xu, Jing, Yang, Ji, Yi and Yong.

In short, the administrative divisions of the Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system and basically implemented the county system. Different from the Qin Dynasty, (1) the Han Dynasty witnessed the coexistence of counties and countries. In the early Han Dynasty, the administrative division system was implemented, which was in parallel with the two-level system of counties and counties and the three-level system of counties. After Emperor Jingdi put down the "Seven-country Rebellion", the county or county two-level system was implemented under the rule of the state (Table 2), which was roughly the case until the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Therefore, to be more precise, the administrative divisions of the Han Dynasty implemented the system of coexistence of counties and countries. (2) There are various forms of county-level division in Han Dynasty, including city, road and houzhou besides county. (3) "Zhou" appeared in the administrative divisions of the Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty initiated the administrative supervision area, adding thirteen secretariat departments at or above the county level, namely thirteen states. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the state changed from a virtual administrative supervision organization to a first-class administrative entity, and a three-level administrative division system of states, counties and counties began to appear, which marked the evolution of China's administrative division to a new stage. (Table 3)

Section 3 Period of State System

In the fifth year of the Eastern Han Dynasty, "Zhou" began to become a first-class administrative entity. Since then, China's administrative divisions have entered a new period of state system. After the Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty, the Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Sui Dynasty, the state has always been the highest administrative division unit in China. It lasted about 400 years.

First, the national system from the Three Kingdoms to the Western Jin Dynasty

1. three-state system

When Xian Di was in the Han Dynasty, Cao Cao changed thirteen states of the Han Dynasty to Kyushu. Soon, Wei Wendi changed xelloss to twelve states. At that time, Cao Wei occupied the Yellow River valley, including 12 states, such as, Henan, Yan, Qing, Xu, Yong, Liang, Ji, He, You, Jing (north of Han Jingzhou) and Yang (north of Han Yangzhou). (23) county 10 1, county 73 1. (24) Sun Wu occupies the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Pearl River Basin, including Jing, Yang, Jiao and Guang, 44 counties and 337 counties; (25) Shu Han occupies the Hanzhong Basin in Sichuan and Shaanxi, only Yizhou, with 22 counties, 138 counties. (26) So during the Three Kingdoms period, there were states 17 (including Jing and Yang), counties 167 and counties 1206.

In fact, the administrative divisions of Wei at that time were not exactly the same as those of Wu and Shu: (1) Wei was divided into counties or kingdoms under the state, while Wu and Shu only had counties under the state; (2) Under the county or kingdom of Wei, there are counties, counties, counties and Hou, while under the counties of Wu and Shu, there are only counties and Hou. Different from the county-level units in the Han Dynasty, there were no roads and cities in the Three Kingdoms period, while Wei had a county state and a county public. (27)

2. State system in Western Jin Dynasty

After Cao Wei destroyed Shu Han, it was divided into Liangzhou and Yizhou; In the early Western Jin Dynasty, Qin Zhou was separated from Yongzhou, Ningzhou from Yizhou and Pingzhou from Youzhou. By 280, Emperor Wu of Jin had unified the whole country, the north and the south, and the north and the south. There are 19 states, 173 counties and 1232 counties in China. (28) In the late Western Jin Dynasty, Jiangzhou was divided by Jing and Yang, and Xiangzhou was divided by Jing and Guang, with a total of 2 1 state. (29)

At this time, it can be said that the national system has been integrated and it is the most perfect stage of the national system. First of all, as far as the state names are concerned, the state names mentioned in Yu Gong, Zhi Fang, Er Ya and Lv Chunqiu all have actual regions except Yingzhou in Er Ya. Secondly, judging from the history of the founding of the People's Republic of China, all the countries established since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty have been established except Shuofang in the Western Han Dynasty. Third, from the actual geographical setting at that time, it was far more reasonable than in the past. For example, Yizhou is divided by Jingyang into Liangzhou in southern Shaanxi and eastern Sichuan, Ningzhou in Yunnan, Jiangzhou in Fujian and Jingyang in Jiangxi, and Xiangzhou in eastern Hunan, southeastern Guangdong and northeastern Guangdong.

After the Western Jin Dynasty, the world was in chaos and the state system was in chaos.

Second, the state system in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties

After the Yongjia Rebellion at the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Jin family moved south, leaning on the left of the Yangtze River, and Song, Qi, Liang and Chen successively inherited it. The country has been restless, just as the Book of Songs, Zhou County Records said: "The territory is divided repeatedly, or a county is divided into four, five, four and five, and there is a strong clutch. It has been changed thousands of times and the calendar is different." Under the rule of sixteen countries, the northern part of China became more turbulent. Countries have divided many states in a small area under their rule, which are changeable and chaotic.

According to Tong Dian Zhou Jundian and other records, there were more than ten states in the south in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and it increased to more than 20 states in the Southern Song Dynasty and Qi Dynasty, and actually increased to 107 states in the late Liang Dynasty. Compared with Wu, which had almost the same territory in the Southern Dynasties, (Table 4) the number of countries of Chen was 16 times that of Wu. After the Northern Wei Dynasty unified the North, there were 15 states in the first year of Emperor Taizu Zhenjun (440), and the number of states in Emperor Xiaowen's Taihe Middle School increased to 38, and reached more than 80 states in the last year of Taihe. From (3 1) to last Tuesday (580), there were 2 1 1 northlands. (32) With the excessive state ownership, it is conceivable to set up counties. According to Records of Southern Qi Dynasty, there were more than 380 counties in the late Southern Dynasty. It is really "a city with hundreds of rooms, then the country is established and three households are empty." (33)

When the three kingdoms first established the state system, there were generally ten upper and lower counties in a state, and each county had one or twenty counties. In the late Northern and Southern Dynasties, many states only governed one or two counties, and many counties only unified, two or three counties. Some States have no county jurisdiction, only empty eyes. During the Southern Dynasties, 45 counties in Hanzhong were "barren or without households". Some two states or two counties govern the same place, which is called "double-headed states and counties". The state-county three-level system has been implemented for about 400 years, and a considerable part of it has existed in name only.

The Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties also implemented a special administrative division system, namely, overseas Chinese states, overseas Chinese counties and overseas Chinese counties. After the Yongjia Rebellion, a large number of people in the Central Plains moved south. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties, in order to win the hearts of the people and resettle extended families, their original states, counties and counties were set up in the places where refugees moved south. As shown in Figure 5, Qiao Zhou, Qiao Jun and Qiaoxian are concentrated in the Yangtze River valley, especially near Jiankang (now Nanjing) and Jingzhou (now Jiangling, Hubei). During the Southern Qi Dynasty, Qingzhou, Jizhou, North Yanzhou, South Yanzhou, North Xuzhou, South Xuzhou, Yuzhou, and South Yuzhou were all overseas Chinese States near the national capital Jiankang. These overseas Chinese States, counties and real States, counties and counties have formed a more complex command relationship, mainly in four ways. (Table 5) For example, Guanshi County of Yangzhou in the Eastern Jin Dynasty 1 1, Shijian County 93; Command Qiao Jun 6, Qiao Xian13; In real counties, there are also overseas Chinese counties 3. For example, Xuzhou Overseas Chinese is located in Jingkou (now Dantu County, Jiangsu Province) and belongs to Overseas Chinese State; Command real county 6 and real county 20; There are also several overseas Chinese counties; There are also leaders of overseas Chinese counties in real counties. (34)