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20-521: Liang Province or Liangzhou ( 涼州 ) was a province in the northwest of ancient China , in the approximate location of the modern-day province of Gansu . It was bordered in the east by Sili Province . The province was first conquered by the Han Chinese in the 120s BCE during the Han–Xiongnu War , and settled in the decades thereafter. The Hexi Corridor served to connect China proper with

40-666: A key victory in the Battle of Tong Pass (211) , and finally conquering the entire province in 215. Zhou (country subdivision) Zhou is typically rendered by several terms in the English language : The Tang dynasty also established fǔ ( 府 , "prefectures"), zhou of special importance such as capitals and other major cities. By the Ming and Qing, fǔ became predominant divisions within Chinese provinces. In Ming and Qing,

60-540: A massacre at Shoot-Tiger Valley. In 184, concurrent with the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Rebellion in large parts of China, the Liang Province rebellion commenced. Han campaigns to retake the area remained inconclusive, and by 189 Liangzhou was a de facto independent warlord state ruled by Han Sui and Ma Teng . Warlord Cao Cao started an offensive against Liang Province in 211, winning

80-609: Is between the He River and Ji River , and is Wei . Qing Province, ie. Qi is in the east. Lu is at Xu Province, on the Si River . Yang Province, or Yue , is to the southwest. Jin Province is in the south and forms Chu . Yong Province, that is Qin , is to the west. Yan occupies You Province in the north. The words "Nine Provinces" do not appear in any ancient oracle bone inscriptions, such that many scholars do not think Yu

100-723: The Genealogical Descent of the Emperors (帝王世紀), rulers before Shennong had influence over the Greater Nine Provinces, but those from the Yellow Emperor onwards did not extend their virtue that far. The Greater Nine Provinces theory was based on the knowledge in the states of Yan and Qi on the Yellow Sea coast that China comprised only 1/81 of the entire world, markedly different from

120-676: The Osaka and Kyoto Prefectures . In the People's Republic of China , zhou today exists only in the designation " autonomous prefecture " ( Chinese : 自治州 ; pinyin : zìzhìzhōu ), administrative areas for China's designated minorities . However, zhou have left a huge mark on Chinese place names , including the province of Guizhou and the major cities of Guangzhou , Fuzhou , Hangzhou , Lanzhou , and Suzhou , among many others. Likewise, although modern Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese provinces are no longer designated by zhou cognates,

140-696: The Western Regions , which helped secure important parts of the Silk Road into Central Asia . In 107 CE, the Xianlian Qiang rebelled against Han authority. After heavy fighting, and proposals to abandon Liang Province, this First Great Qiang Rebellion was quelled in 118. Efforts were made to resettle the province from 129 to 144, although large parts of Liang remained without effective government. General Duan Jiong conducted another successful campaign against Qiang rebels in 167–169, committing

160-683: The Xia and Shang dynasties and has now come to symbolically represent China. "Province" is the word used to translate zhou (州) – since before the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE), it was the largest Chinese territorial division. Although the current definition of the Nine Provinces can be dated to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, it was not until the Eastern Han dynasty that

180-775: The "Clan Responsibilities" (職方氏) section of Rituals of Zhou , the provinces include You and Bing but not Xu and Liang. The Lüshi Chunqiu "Initial Survey" (有始覽) section mentions You but not Liang. Traditionally, the Book of Documents is thought to depict the divisions during the Xia dynasty, the Erya those of the Shang dynasty; the Rituals of Zhou the Zhou dynasty and the Lüshi Chunqiu

200-469: The "Red County / Divine Province" (赤縣神州), i.e. China (cf. Shenzhou ). Nine such provinces then form another "medium" nine provinces surrounded by a sea. There are nine such medium provinces, which were surrounded by a Great Ocean, forming the Greater Nine Provinces. The Nine Provinces' names in the "Geographical Instruction" section (地形訓) of Huainanzi , annotations to Zhang Heng 's biography (張衡傳注) in Book of

220-624: The Great created the Nine Provinces as was traditionally thought. Some suggest the name "Jiuzhou", which came to mean "Nine Provinces", was actually a place, or the divisions were within Shandong . Later on, Zou Yan , an adherent of the Taoist Yin and Yang School (陰陽家), proposed a new theory of the "Greater Nine Provinces" (大九州). According to him, the nine provinces in the Book of Documents were only "minor" provinces, which combined to form

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240-761: The Later Han and volume eight of the Chuxue Annals (初學記), are different from the traditional ones listed above. They all include Shenzhou, which led some scholars to suggest they are the names of the Greater Nine Provinces. According to the "Forms of Earth" (墜形訓) section of the Huainanzi , outside the Greater Nine Provinces are the Eight Yin (八殥), the Eight Hong (八紘) and the Eight Ji (八極). According to

260-544: The Nine Provinces comes from the Yu Gong or Tribute of Yu section of the Book of Xia (夏書), collected in the Book of Documents . It was therein recorded that Yu the Great divided the world into the nine provinces of Ji (冀), Yan (兗), Qing (青), Xu (徐), Yang (揚), Jing (荊), Yu (豫), Liang (梁) and Yong (雍). The geography section (釋地) of the ancient Erya encyclopedia also cites nine provinces, but with You and Ying (營) listed instead of Qing and Liang. In

280-557: The Nine Provinces were treated as actual administrative regions . The Rongcheng Shi bamboo slips from the Chu state has the earliest interpretation of the Nine Provinces, but these early descriptions differ widely from the currently recognized Nine Provinces. The Nine Provinces, according to the Rongcheng Shi , are Tu (涂), Jia (夾), Zhang (竞), Ju (莒), Ou (藕), Jing (荊), Yang (陽), Xu (敘) and Cuo (虘). The most prevalent account of

300-578: The concept and actual territorial distribution of the Nine Provinces during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. The Lüshi Chunqiu contains the following passage on the location of the nine provinces and their general correspondence with the states of the time: Yu province, i.e., Zhou, lies between the He River and Han River . Jin in Ji Province is between the two rivers. Yan Province

320-482: The next level down, the commanderies or jùn ( 郡 ). The Tang also added another level on top: the circuit or dào ( 道 ). Henceforth, zhou were lowered to second-level status, and the word becomes translated into English as "prefecture". Thereafter, zhou continued to survive as second- or third-level political divisions until the Qing dynasty . The Republic of China abolished zhou altogether, leaving

340-658: The older terms survive in various place names, notably the Japanese islands of Honshu and Kyushu , the Korean province Jeju-do , and Lai Châu in Vietnam. Zhou were first mentioned in ancient Chinese texts, notably the Yu Gong or Tribute of Yu , section of the Book of Documents . All agreed on the division of China into nine zhou , though they differed on their names and position. These zhou were geographical concepts, not administrative entities. The Han dynasty

360-531: The word fǔ ( 府 ) was typically attached to the name of each prefecture's capital city, thus both Chinese and Western maps and geographical works would often call the respective cities Hangzhou -fu, Wenzhou -fu, Wuchang -fu, etc. After the Meiji Restoration , fu was also used in Japanese for the urban prefectures of the most important cities; today, it is still used in the Japanese names for

380-425: The word only in the names of cities such as Guangzhou and Hangzhou. The People's Republic of China recycled the name, using it to refer to the autonomous prefectures granted to various ethnicities. Nine Provinces (China) The term Nine Provinces or Nine Regions ( Chinese : 九州 ; pinyin : Jiǔ Zhōu ), is used in ancient Chinese histories to refer to territorial divisions or islands during

400-592: Was the first to formalize the zhou into actual administrative divisions by establishing 13 zhou all across China. Because these zhou were the largest divisions of the China at the time, they are usually translated as "provinces". After the Han dynasty, however, the number of zhou began to increase. By the time of the Sui dynasty , there were over a hundred zhou all across China. The Sui and Tang dynasties merged zhou with

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