Administration of territory in dynastic China
The administration of territory in dynastic China is the history of practices involved in governing the land from the Qin dynasty to the Qing dynasty (1644–1912).
Funerary figurines of Tang dynasty officials
Song dynasty officials
Han provinces, c. 190
Regional Military Commissions (Du Zhihui Shisi) of Ming dynasty
The term Nine Provinces or Nine Regions, is used in ancient Chinese histories to refer to territorial divisions or islands during the Xia and Shang dynasties and has now come to symbolically represent China. "Province" is the word used to translate zhou (州) – since before the Tang dynasty, it was the largest Chinese territorial division. Although the current definition of the Nine Provinces can be dated to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, it was not until the Eastern Han dynasty that the Nine Provinces were treated as actual administrative regions.
Provinces of the Eastern Han dynasty in 189 CE.