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As each state's territory gradually took shape in the 5th- to 3rd-century BCE Warring States period, the commanderies at the borders flourished. This gave rise to a two-tier administrative system, with counties subordinate to commanderies. Each of the states' territories was by now comparatively
467:(581–618) in 589. As there were already over 100 provinces, the province and commandery levels of the administration were merged into one level, typically rendered in English as prefecture, marking the end of the commandery. Some Emperors to referred to this level of administration as a
451:. Although the legacy three-tier system was still in formal effect, rulers of various kingdoms had defined and re-defined provinces until they became increasingly sub-divided, blurring the distinction between provinces and commanderies and reflecting the chaos of China at the time.
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period. The number of administrative units drastically increased due to intense warfare, fluid political boundaries, forced migrations, widespread population loss, and the loss of central government control in many areas particularly during the
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larger, hence there was no need for the military might of a commandery in the inner regions where counties were established. The border commanderies' military and strategic significance became more important than those of counties.
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356:, the Qin government still had to engage in military activity because there were rebels from among the six former states who were unwilling to submit to Qin rule. As a result,
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340:. Despite having smaller populations and ranking lower on the official hierarchies, the commanderies were larger and boasted greater military strength than the counties.
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set up 36 commanderies in the Qin Empire, each subdivided into counties. This established the first two-tier administrative system known to exist in China.
266:(c. 7th century CE). Several neighboring countries adopted Chinese commanderies as the basis for their own administrative divisions.
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401:). Parallel to these, some Qin commanderies were continued, placed under a governor appointed directly by the central government.
541:; 'grand defender'). Both terms are also translated as "governor". A grand administrator drew an annual salary of 2,000
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and granting large territories to his relatives. These two sets of kingdoms were placed under hereditary rulers assisted by a
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which were geographic rather than formal political areas, there were initially 13 provinces and roughly 100 commanderies.
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saw no more use in China (and a new higher tier of administrative unit, the
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China was greatly divided during the following five centuries, during the
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from the 8th to 5th centuries BCE, the larger and more powerful of the
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677:"The government and geography of the northern frontier of Late Han"
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The government and geography of the northern frontier of Late Han
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had been introduced, bringing back a three-tier system).
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Following the unification of China in 221 BCE under the
642:(in Chinese). China: Zhonghua Publishing House (中华书局).
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List of provinces and commanderies of the Han dynasty
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Jin dynasty and the
Southern and Northern dynasties
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404:By the Eastern Han dynasty, the commanderies were
262:(c. 7th century BCE) until the early
638:(2009). "Geography of the Later Han (后汉的地理)".
332:). Eventually, commanderies were developed as
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27:Historical administrative division of China
736:Administrative divisions of Imperial China
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127:Learn how and when to remove this message
741:Former administrative divisions of China
591:, alluding to its historical equivalents
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364:Han dynasty and Three Kingdoms period
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640:History of the Three Kingdoms (三国史话)
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224:Commanderies and provinces of the
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531:was renamed grand administrator (
683:. Australian National University
324:and were instead organized into
278:Commanderies of the Qin dynasty.
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459:China was finally re-united by
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52:needs additional citations for
710:Records of the Grand Historian
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612:Government of the Han dynasty
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565:Three Ducal Ministers
519:'defender of the
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30:For other uses, see
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383:Zhou feudal system
379:triumphed over Chu
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687:18 February
525:Han dynasty
461:Emperor Wen
376:Han dynasty
348:Qin dynasty
292:During the
226:Han dynasty
725:Categories
636:Lü, Simian
618:References
587:after the
395:chancellor
354:Qin Empire
334:marchlands
234:commandery
198:Wade–Giles
144:Commandery
117:March 2016
87:newspapers
705:Sima Qian
623:Citations
374:When the
665:vol. 71.
575:See also
416:counties
326:counties
228:, 219 CE
601:in the
538:tàishǒu
529:junshou
510:jùnshǒu
497:Chinese
491:In the
481:circuit
463:of the
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154:Chinese
101:scholar
715:Shi Ji
663:Shi Ji
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560:pǐnzhì
551:pinzhi
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411:zhōu
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316:and
302:Zhou
204:chün
80:news
599:jun
585:jun
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440:Jin
426:'s
318:Wei
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