Yangtze River History in Qin and Han Dynasties

Yangtze River History in Qin and Han Dynasties – Administration Structure

The Qin Kingdom unified the Ba Kingdom and Chu Kingdom in Yangtze River Three Gorges area, and carried out local administrative institute in Ba Kingdom, and divided into canton and county two levels. As early as in B.C. 314, Qin set up Ba County in Ba Kingdom area. The districts in Yangtze River Three Gorges area almost were named in Qin and Han Dynasty; but some of then were renamed later. In the end of East Han Dynasty, as the province changed to canton, and there formed the province, canton and county three levels system.

Yangtze River History in Qin and Han Dynasties - Population

In Han Dynasty, the population in Yangtze River Three Gorges area increased. Base on ancient books, we can see that in the second year of Han Dynasty, there are 506019 persons in Yangtze River Three Gorges area. Until to East Han Dynasty, the population greatly increased. In this period, the Yangtze River Three Gorges area was administrated by Han Nationality government, so some Han Nationality officers and people moved to Yangtze River Three Gorges area. For example, there unearthed several seals of Xu family in East Han Dynasty tombs in Yichang County. The Xu Family moved to Yangtze River area from the central plain. At the same time, the Han government also moved the people in Yangtze River area to other places.

Yangtze River History in Qin and Han Dynasties - Events

In Han Dynasty, the Yangtze River Three Gorges area gradually came into the stream of unified Han Culture. From the first emperor of Qin to the end of West Han Dynasty, Yangtze River Three Gorges area experienced a relatively stable period. However, to East Han Dynasty, there happened two great events in Yangtze River Three Gorges area.

In the first year of Jianwu (25th year), Gongsun Shu declared himself as emperor in Chengdu, and occupied there for 12 years. During this time, he set army to Three Gorges for several times. In 9th year of Jianwu, the army of Gongsun Shu was defeated by Han army. At last, Gongsu Shu died in the battle.

In the 24th year of Jianan in East Han Dynasty (219 years), the troops of Sun Quan occupied Jingzhou, Shu Army retreat from Fancheng. Guan Yu leaded his army to Maicheng (Today's Yuanan, Hubei Province). In the same year, the Maicheng was surrounded by Wu Army, which forced Guan Yu to break out from Maicheng. On the way, Guan Yu was killed by Wu Army. In the first year of Zhangwu Period (221 BC), Liu Bei leaded army to get back Jinzhou and revenge for Guan Yu. In February of next year, Liu Bei was defeated and retreated to White Emperor City in Fengjie County. At last, he was died in Yongan Palace.

In this history period, there were two female celebrities must be mentioned. The first one was the Ba Qing who was the first businesswoman, mainly working on mining cinnabar (a kind of mercury). She was the first upstart in Yangtze River Three Gorges area. The other one is Wang Zhaojun who was a maid of honor in West Han Dynasty. Later, she married with the head of Hun, and made great contribution to the relationship of Han and Hun. Except the two female celebrities, there are also some other influential figures in this period in Yangtze River history.

The rich culture deposits in Yangtze River history will offer Yangtze Cruise passenger more fun during their Three Gorges tourist.