Jizhou (ancient China)

Ji Province, also known by its Chinese name Jizhou, was one of the Nine Provinces of ancient China. It is referenced in Chinese historical texts such as the Tribute of Yu,^[1] Erya^[2] and Rites of Zhou.^[3] It consisted of lands north of the Yellow River, including the modern province Hebei, and the municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin.

Jizhou
Chinese	冀州
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Jìzhōu

History

Yu Gong account

The Yu Gong treatise in the Book of Documents contains an account of Jizhou province and Yu the Great's actions there. According to the account, Yu mainly focused on water control projects for the Hukou waterfall, the Taiyuan river (modern-day Fen River), the Wei River and the Liang, K'i, Heng and Chang rivers. The treatise also mentions the white clay soil of the region, its high tax revenues, its middle quality fields and the native inhabitants who wore skins.^[4]

Han dynasty

Map of Chinese provinces in the prelude of Three Kingdoms period.
(In the late Eastern Han dynasty, 189 CE).

In the late Han dynasty, much of northern China, including Jizhou, was controlled by the warlord Yuan Shao and headquartered at Ye. In 200, Yuan Shao was defeated by the rival warlord Cao Cao at the Battle of Guandu, and died shortly thereafter. His sons Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan took control of his territories. In the following years, Cao Cao launched an invasion of northern China, capturing Ye in 204 and decisively winning the Battle of White Wolf Mountain in 207. Cao Cao and his successors controlled Jizhou for the rest of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period.

References

1. Book of Documents, Tribute of Yu,冀州：既載壺口，治梁及岐。既修太原，至于岳陽；覃懷厎績，至于衡漳。厥土惟白壤，厥賦惟上上錯，厥田惟中中。恆、衛既從，大陸既作。島夷皮服，夾右碣石入于河。The quote is taken from wikisource which had the text.
2. Erya,Explaining Earth(釋地), "兩河間曰冀州，河南曰豫州，河西曰雝州，漢南曰荊州，江南曰楊州，濟河間曰兗州，濟東曰徐州，燕曰幽州，齊曰營州。——九州"。
3. Rites of Zhou,Offices of Summer (夏官司馬),"河內曰冀州，其山鎮曰霍山，其澤藪曰楊紆，其川漳，其浸汾、潞，其利松柏，其民五男三女，其畜宜牛羊，其穀宜黍稷。正北曰并州，其山鎮曰恒山，其澤藪曰昭余祁，其川虖池、嘔夷，其浸淶、易，其利布帛，其民二男三女，其畜宜五擾，其穀宜五種。"
4. Karlgren, Bernhard (1950). The Book of Documents. Stockholm: Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities. pp. 12–14. Retrieved 15 February 2023.