Appendix One
Ch'ang-chou Administrative History

During the feudal era known as the Eastern Chou dynasty (771-221 B.C. ), the area of present-day Ch'ang-chou became a county seat within the state of Wu. In the Confucian Classics, particularly the "Tributes of Yü " ("Yü-kung"; tr. reigned 2205-2198?? B.C. ) chapter of the Documents Classic, Yang-chou, one of the nine divisions of the empire in prehistorical, traditional accounts, had included the area. But Chou dynasty historical records dated 547 B.C. mention only the city of Yen-ling (lit., "extending mound-tomb"), suggesting that the city was administratively still on the southern edge of ancient Chinese civilization. Late in the Warring States period (403-221 B.C. ), the city of Yen-ling belonged at different times to the southern states of Ch'u and Yueh.^[1]

After the Ch'in dynasty (221-207 B.C. ) reunified the empire and established a system of prefectures (chün ) and counties (hsien ), Yen-ling City became part of K'uai-chi Prefecture (in present-day Che-chiang Province) with its name changed to P'i-ling (lit., "adjoining mound-tomb"). When the Han imperial system was established as a compromise between the prefectural system of the Ch'in and the feudal state system of the Chou, P'i-ling County remained part of K'uai-chi Prefecture, but within the larger administrative unit called Yang-chou. The latter unit by this time represented a geographical division in the Yang-

[1] Chiang-nan t'ung-chih (1684), 2.22a. See also Chiang-su ch'eng-shih li-shih ti-li , p. 92, and Ch'ang-chou fu-chih (1886), 2.1a-27b.

tze Delta that was evolving from a state designation into a provincial unit, as bureaucratic density in south China increased after 200 B.C.^[2]

As a result of the Han unification, P'i-ling and Wu-hsi became sister counties under a variety of prefectural divisions thereafter. During the Later Han (A.D. 25-220), for instance, P'i-ling and Wu-hsi counties were incorporated into Wu Prefecture in A.D. 129, suggesting the area was tilting increasingly toward the Su-chou region to the south. Under the succeeding Chin dynasty (265-316), however, first P'i-ling (in A.D. 281) and then I-hsing (during the Han known as Yang-hsien) became the prefectural headquarters for local government, though still within the Yang-chou regional framework. Consequently, by the fourth century A.D. P'i-ling Prefecture, now linked to Wu-chin (established in A.D. 281), Wu-hsi, and I-hsing as administrative counties within it, was the major subprovincial division in its area.^[3]

Before the Sui dynasty (581-618) unification of north and south China (after three centuries of disunity), the administrative divisions in P'i-ling remained relatively stable. In A.D. 291 (some accounts give A.D. 311), however, P'i-ling's name was changed to Chin-ling (lit., "mound-grave of Chin") to avoid conflicting with the name of a lord enfeoffed in the area. The Sui dynasty subsequently restored the name to P'i-ling and, after a lapse of about two centuries, again designated Yang-chou as the equivalent of a provincial unit in the Yangtze Delta. During this period the city of Yang-chou became the premier cultural and commercial center of south China, rivaling the great cities of Ch'ang-an and Lo-yang in the traditional heartland of China along the Wei River valley in the northwest. The entire Lower Yangtze region was drawn toward Yang-chou because of its trading links to the Silk Road and because of its proximity to the north China plain. Its location north of the Yangtze River on the newly built Grand Canal made Yang-chou the key city between north and south.^[4]

The Sui government created two prefectures in the P'i-ling area. In addition to P'i-ling, composed of Chin-ling (formerly Wu-chin), Wu-hsi, I-hsing, and Chiang-yin counties, the area around present-day Ch'ang-shu City was reorganized and called Ch'ang-chou Prefecture.

[2] Ch'ung-hsiu P'i-ling chih (1483), 1.65a. See also Chiang-su liu-shih-i hsien-chih , p. 21, and Chiang-su ch'eng-shih li-shih ti-li, pp. 96-97.

[3] Chiang-nan t'ung-chih (1684), 2.22a-22b. See also Ch'ung-hsiu Ta-Ch'ing i-t'ung-chih, 86.2a-4a, 72.2a. On Wu-hsi see Wu-hsi Chin-k'ui hsien-chih (1814), 1.1a-2b.

[4] Chiang-su ch'eng-shih li-shih ti-li, pp. 92-93, 97-98. See also pp. 157-164, on the importance of the Grand Canal and the north-south grain tribute system for Yang-chou.

When Ch'ang-shu subsequently became a county in neighboring Su-chou Prefecture, the designation of "Ch'ang-chou" from A.D. 589 on was applied to P'i-ling. Later, however, the Sui dynasty abandoned the prefectural designation of chou in A.D. 607 in favor of the earlier chün system. The Ch'ang-chou area was again called P'i-ling Prefecture along with the four counties that had earlier been assigned to it.^[5]

Chiang-yin County, which came into administrative existence in A.D. 556 under the Southern Liang dynasty (502-557), became increasingly central in the Sui and subsequent T'ang (618-906) dynasties. Its location on the southern banks of the Yangtze River gave it the only direct shipping access within Ch'ang-chou to Yang-chou trading markets on the northern edge of the great river. Chin-ling (Wu-chin) and Wu-hsi, by way of contrast, relied on the Grand Canal for indirect access via Chen-chiang to Yang-chou. As a result, trade in P'i-ling (Ch'ang-chou) increasingly went through Chiang-yin's port to Yang-chou. After holding an initial prefectural status, Chiang-yin became a county in P'i-ling in A.D. 626. Later, during the Five Dynasties period (907-960), when all of P'i-ling was reorganized under Chiang-yin prefecture (chün ), Chiang-yin's political status reaffirmed its economic importance.^[6]

During the early T'ang dynasty, in an effort to revive ancient institutions, T'ang Kao-tsu (r. 618-626) restored the name of Ch'ang-chou to the P'i-ling area. Despite a few periods of subsequent modification, Ch'ang-chou became the official administrative designation for a prefecture composed of Wu-chin (also called Lan-ling, lit., "orchid mound-grave," after being separated from Chin-ling in A.D. 686), Wu-hsi, I-hsing, Chiang-yin, and Chin-ling counties for much of the imperial period through the Yuan (1280-1368) dynasty.

As the population density of the Yangtze Delta increased dramatically in the T'ang and Sung periods, the centrality of Yang-chou in south China decreased. After the Sui dynasty it was no longer the political hub of the Lower Yangtze region, although it remained an important trading center linking the emerging southern cities of Su-chou, Nan-ching (Chin-ling), Hang-chou, and Sung-chiang to the north. Thereafter, Ch'ang-chou looked increasingly to the south (that is, Chiang-nan, lit., "south of the Yangtze"), as Su-chou and Hang-chou emerged as centers of political and economic change, change that

[5] Ibid., p. 92.

[6] Ch'ung-hsiu Ta-Ch'ing i-t'ung-chih, 86.2b-3a, and Chiang-su liu-shih-i hsien-chih , pp. 85-86. See also Chiang-nan t'ung-chih , (1684), 2.22a-22b.

accelerated during the Southern Sung dynasty (1127-1279) after the north was lost to barbarian forces.^[7]

Part of Ch'ang-chou circuit (lu ) during the Yuan dynasty, the counties of Wu-chin, Wu-hsi, I-hsing (the character for i was changed to avoid conflicting with the Sung ruler's name), Chiang-yin, and Chin-ling all underwent administrative changes that reflected the rise and fall of ruling Mongol forces in south China from 1280 to 1368. For a time the entire circuit was turned over to Sung-chiang Prefecture, far to the south, indicating the decline of Yuan local power in the fourteenth century. As local Chinese armies contended for the lucrative Lower Yangtze region, however, Ch'ang-chou was incorporated into Chu Yuan-chang's (1328-98) military and administrative system centering on Nan-ching, which became the capital of the Ming dynasty in 1368.

Despite some minor modifications that were later reversed, Ch'ang-chou emerged under Ming emperors as part of the Southern Metropolitan Region (Nan-chih-li ) after the Ming capital was officially moved to Peking (the former Yuan capital) in 1421. Further administrative changes in 1471 led to the merging of Chin-ling and Wu-chin counties, and Ching-chiang County (part of Chiang-yin since the Yuan) was made a separate county. This change heightened the political importance of Wu-chin County as the venue for the prefectural government and decreased the importance of Chiang-yin, which lost administrative control over the only prefectural territory north of the Yangtze River.^[8]

By the middle of the Ming period Ch'ang-chou Prefecture and its five counties of Wu-chin, Wu-hsi, I-hsing, Chiang-yin, and Ching-chiang, had evolved into a viable political and administrative framework that lasted until 1724, when further administrative changes were effected to increase bureaucratic density in the heavily populated Yangtze Delta. We should add, however, that not until 1667 was the Ming province of Chiang-nan (that is, Nan-chih-li) divided up into An-hui and Chiang-su provinces, thereby placing Ch'ang-chou within its smaller Ch'ing dynasty administrative region. For the purposes of the civil service examinations, however, An-hui and Chiang-su remained part of Chiang-nan throughout the Ch'ing.

[7] Ch'ang-chou became part of the evolving geographic units that eventually became northern Che-chiang and southern Chiang-su provinces. See Chiang-nan t'ung-chih (1684), 2.22a-22b.

[8] Ch'ung-hsiu Ta-Ch'ing i-t'ung-chih , 86.1a, 86.4a, Chiang-su ch'eng-shih li-shih ti-li, pp. 93-94, Chiang-nan t'ung-chih (1684), 2.23b. Chiang-su liu-shih-i hsien-chih p. 91. See also Ch'ung-hsiu P'i-ling chih (1483) 1.66a-b. On I-hsing, see I-hsing hsien-chih (1869), 1.2b. Cf. Ch'ing-ch'ao t'ung-tien, p. 1957A (chüan 138).

Ch'ang-chou by the fifteenth century had evolved into a stable political and administrative entity that was no longer subject to the political, cultural, and economic dominance of Yang-chou. If anything, the prefectural capital of Ch'ang-chou and its major county centers (with the exception of Chiang-yin) were more part of the Su-chou cycle of development from the Sung period on. The three prefectures of Su-Sung-Ch'ang represented the dominance of Su-chou, Sung-chiang, and Ch'ang-chou in the Yangtze Delta during the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties.^[9]

During the Ming and Ch'ing the county seat of Wu-hsi was located on the Grand Canal between the Ch'ang-chou prefectural capital in Wu-chin County thirty-five miles to the northwest and Su-chou Prefecture thirty-five miles to the southeast. Renowned as a commercial center for textiles and other products since the Sung dynasty, Wu-hsi became during the late Ming a cultural and intellectual hub whose literati rivaled those of Su-chou and Yang-chou for eminence in the Lower Yangtze region.^[10]

Wu-chin County was the seat of prefectural administration in Ch'ang-chou. Altogether, the prefecture comprised five counties, four of which (Wu-chin, Wu-hsi, I-hsing, and Chiang-yin) were each important cultural and economic powers in their own right. Unlike most other prefectures, which usually favored a single, large urbanized market and political center, Ch'ang-chou was uniquely polarized north and south at the level of higher-order market towns along the Grand Canal between Wu-chin and and Wu-hsi cities. These cultural centers were in turn complemented by the next lower order of central places in Chiang-yin county on the southern side of the Yangtze River, and I-hsing, on the land route west to Che-chiang and An-hui provinces.

Within the most commercialized macroregion in late imperial China, urbanized markets in Ch'ang-chou, as in Yang-chou, Su-chou, Sung-chiang, and so forth, became a potent driving force acting on an emerging market economy in the Lower Yangtze. Wu-chin cotton and flax, Wu-hsi porcelain, and I-hsing tea and pottery became important products in China's interregional trade. Imperial orders, for example, stimulated the growth of the pottery industry in I-hsing, which along

[9] Wu-chin Yang-hu hsien ho-chih (1886), 1.21a-b, Chiang-su ch'eng-shih li-shih ti-li, pp. 93, 99-100, and Ch'ing-ch'ao t'ung-tien, p. 2715A (chüan 92). On the Su-chou cycle of development see Elvin, “Market Towns and Waterways," pp. 444-47.

[10] Wu-hsi Chin-k'uei hsien-chih , 1814: 6.16b-21a. Cf. Ch'ung-hsiu Ta-Ch'ing i-t'ung-chih, 89.18b, 86.5a.

with the more famous pottery and porcelain kilns in Ching-te-chen in Chiang-hsi Province, became for all intents and purposes imperially sponsored kilns.^[11]

Wu-hsi and Wu-chin thus were sister cities, competing against each other economically but in tandem politically, within the complex social groups and economic relations that emerged in Ch'ang-chou prefecture. Although Wu-chin was the political center of the prefecture during the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties, Wu-hsi in the late Ming was Ch'ang-chou's cultural heart. The leading intellectual voices for Confucian orthodoxy in seventeenth-century China, for example, were those of the gentry associated with Wu-hsi's renowned Tung-lin Academy.

Trends in Wu-hsi were quickly transmitted to and adopted in Wu-chin, I-hsing, and elsewhere in the prefecture, not to mention the entire Lower Yangtze region. In the Ch'ing, however, the mantle of cultural leadership in the prefecture shifted to Ch'ang-chou. The latter was a prefectural urban center, which along with Wu-hsi rivaled the cities of Su-chou, Nan-ching, Yang-chou, and Hang-chou at the apex of the most cultured and commercialized region in China.

[11] See Nishijima, "Early Chinese Cotton Industry," pp. 17-77, and Tanaka, "Rural Handicraft in Jiangnan," pp. 81-100. See also Dillon, "Jingdezhen [Ching-te-chen] as a Ming Industrial Center"; Tsing Yuan, "Porcelain Industry"; and Santangelo, "Imperial Factories of Suzhou," pp. 269-94. Cf. Zurndorfer, "Chinese Merchants," pp. 75-86, esp. p. 80.