Archaeological studies show that Chinese civilizations can be traced back to 5,000 years ago. Since China has seen in its long history several societies and many dynasties, its administrative divisions and their names have changed a great deal. This is true to Hebei. However, Hebei has held an important position in China's long historical evolution.
China has a long history and is one of the origins of mankind. In Hebei, a province with a long history, cultural remains of ancient people are scattered all over the land. Primitive people began to live and multiply on the land more than 2 million years ago. They experienced the primitive society, matriarchal society, patriarchal society, etc. Yan Di and Huang Di, two emperors in Chinese legend, once lived in Hebei. Yao, Shun and Yu, the earliest emperors in Chinese history left their footmarks in the land as well.
The Xia Dynasty, which began in 21st century B.C, was the first dynasty with chronological records in Chinese history. After the Xia came the Shang, which set up its capital once in southwest Xingtai City, Hebei Province. In 11th century B.C., Zhouwuwang overthrew the Shang Dynasty and a new dynasty, the Zhou Dynasty, began. From then on, China began to have the record for its administrative divisions. The Zhou is divided into the Eastern Zhou and the Western Zhou. In 770 B. C. Emperor Ping Wang moved his capital to Luoyi (present-day Luoyang City, Henan Province). The Zhou, before the removal of the capital, is called the Western Zhou and after that, it is called the Eastern Zhou. The Eastern Zhou is divided into two periods: the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. In the Western Zhou, a system of enfeoffment was carried out. King Zhou granted his sons and brothers, heroes or chiefs of those tribes who submitted to his rule conquest land and people, and allow them to set up dukedoms or small states. By the Spring and Autumn Period (770 B.C.- 476 B.C.) of the Eastern Zhou, there were over 100 dukedoms on record. After long years of battle for annexation, only seven states remained by the Warring States Period (475 B.C.-221 B.C.), that is, the noted “Seven Powerful States in the Warring States Period”, namely the Wei, Zhao, Han, Qi, Qin, Chu and Yan states. Of the 7 states the Yan set up its capital in north Hebei, and the Zhao in the south. In central Hebei, there was the Zhongshan State, a state founded by the Di people (a minoritynationality in northern China).
After China was unified by emperor Qin Shi Huang in 221 B. C., the system of “Jun and Xian” or prefectures and counties was carried out, and China was divided into 36 Jun or prefectures at first, and then into 40. In Hebei there were 8, namely the Shanggu, Yuyang, Youbeiping, Guangyang, Handan, Julu, Dai and Hengshan Jun.
In the Han Dynasty, China was divided into 13 “Cishibu” or provinces. The north part of Hebei belonged to Youzhou Cishibu, while the central and south parts belonged to Jizhou Cishibu, and a small fraction of the northwest part belonged to Bingzhou Cishibu. The land north of Zhangjiakou was a place where the Xiongnu people and Wuhuan people moved about.
After the Han, came the Wei State, Jin Dynasty and Southern and Northern Dynasties. You Zhou and Ji Zhou remained as the highest local administrations in Hebei.
As a kind of administrative division, the system of Zhou (provincial level administration) was adopted during Emperor Wen Di's reign of the Sui Dynasty. During the reign by Emperor Yang Di, the system of Zhou was changed to the system of Jun, or prefecture. Counties were put under direct jurisdiction of a prefecture. There were 14 prefectures in Hebei such as the prefectures of Beiping, Hengshan, and so on. As a kind of administration in Hebei, Ji Zhou and You Zhou disappeared from then on.
In the first years of the Tang Dynasty, China was divided into 10 Dao in accordance with the lay of mountains and the flow of rivers. Most parts of present-day Hebei belonged to Hebei Dao and the rest belonged to Hedong Dao and Guannei Dao. The term “Hebei” came into being in the Western Han Dynasty some 2,000 years ago. But as the name of a large administration, Hebei came into existence in the first year of the reign of Zhenguan (627 A.D.) of the Tang when Emperor Taizong ordered the merging of provinces and establishing Dao, a kind of provincial level administration.
After the collapse of the Tang, China entered the period of “Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms”. Hebei was under the jurisdiction of the Liang, Tang, Jin, Han, and Zhou Dynasties.
In early Song Dynasty, China was divided into 15 Lu and Hebei belonged to Hebei Lu. Later on Hebei was divided into two parts: East Hebei Lu and West Hebei Lu.
In the Yuan Dynasty, the system of provinces was adopted and China was divided into 11 provinces. Most part of present Hebei was under the jurisdiction of Zhongshu Province because it was around the Grand Capital of the Yuan (today's Beijing).
In early Ming Dynasty, the capital was in Yingtian Fu (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu Province). Most areas of today's Hebei were under North Zhili Province. When the capital was moved to Shuntian Fu (present-day Beijing) in the 19th year of the Yongle's reign of the Ming (1421) Beijing was called Jingshi and most areas of today's Hebei Province were under Jingshi.
In the Qing Dynasty, Hebei was called Zhili Province.
Hebei was given the present name in June 1928. When the Republic of China was founded in 1911 its capital was in Nanjing (then called Nanking). Hebei, at that time, was called Zhili but was not around the capital. So Zhili Province was renamed Hebei Province later.
The People's Republic of China was founded on October 1,1949 and the name of Hebei Province remained unchanged. In 1952, Pingyuan Province was put to an end and 3 of its counties, namely wu'an, Shexian and Linzhang, were put under the administration of Hebei. In the same year, Chahaer Province was put to an end and two of its prefectures, namely Chanan and Chabei, were incorporated into Hebei. In 1956, Rehe Province was put to an end and most of its areas were incorporated in to Hebei. In 1958, 8 counties under Hebei (namely Shunyi, Yanqing, Pinggu, Fangshan, Tongxian, Miyun, Huairou, and Daxing) were incorporated into Beijing, and in 1973 another 5 counties (Jixian, Baodi, Wuqing, Jinghai and Ninghe) were incorporated into Tianjin. Thus formed the present scale of Hebei's administration divisions. |
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