o fficial c a lle d a P r e f e c t, and the s m a lle r ones, w ith populations below 1Q,000 fa m ilie s , by an o fficial w ith th e le s s e r title of C hief. P re f e c ts had one civ il and one m ilita r y a s s is ta n t to help with th e co llectio n ,o f ta x e s , ^ ta x -c o lle c tio n being the p rim e re a s o n for the e x isten c e of any P r e f e c tu r a l a d m in is tra tio n .
The m ain C hinese s o u rc e s which th ro w som e lig h t on th e lo catio n of th e 12 Han P r e f e c tu r a l c e n te rs in the C om m andery of C hiao-chih a r e : The six th cen tu ry Shui Ching Chu (C om m entary to th e C la ssic of W ate rs h e n ce fo rth SCC), Two la te r g e o g ra p h ica l w orks - the Yuan Ho Chun H sien T 'u Chih, (henceforth YHCH) and th e T ’a i P ’ing Huan YU Chi, (henceforth TPHYC), a s w ell a s th e
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c o m m e n ta rie s to the g e o g rap h ical t r e a tis e of th e d y n astic h is to r ie s .
F ro m a tw entieth cen tu ry scie n tific view point, th e se te x ts a r e vague and in a c c u ra te , the m o st obvious re a so n fo r th is being the lack of sc ie n tific in te r e s t shown at th a t tim e in such a s k ill as m a p -m a k in g . Secondly, th e a u th o rs of th e se te x ts w e re u su ally a t a g r e a t d ista n ce in place fro m th e a ctu a l sce n e s of th e ir d e s c rip tio n s, which m ean t th a t th e ir knowledge of the a r e a w as a t the v e ry b e s t seco n d -h an d . Not only w e re they a t a d ista n ce p h y sic a lly , bu t a lso p sy ch o lo g ically : The a r e a co n cern ed w as both g eo g rap h ically and c u ltu ra lly co n sid e re d a b a rb a ro u s and re la tiv e ly u n im p o rtan t outpost of th e C hinese e m p ire , and as such w a rra n te d sca n t atten tio n .
With the tim e lag betw een the a c tu a l e sta b lish m e n t of th e P r e f e c tu r a l c e n te r s , and the com pilation of th e se g eo g rap h ical w o rk s, th e a u th o rs of th e te x ts w e re prone to a ssu m e th a t an a r e a b e arin g th e nam e X in th e ir own tim e , w ould have been g eo g rap h ically the sam e as an e a r li e r a r e a a lso b e a rin g the nam e X :
c e n te rs of tow ns often sh ifte d co n sid erab ly fro m th e ir o rig in al p o sitio n s due
to grow th in one p a r tic u la r d ire c tio n , and th a t newly b u ilt c e n te rs w e re so m etim es given the nam e of a n cie n t and decayed c e n te r s , does not seem to have b een
often taken into account by the c o m p ile rs of th e se te x ts .
One lim ita tio n of re ly in g on d e sc rip tio n s of r iv e r s in the te x ts h a s a lre a d y b e en pointed out (See pp-lS-ST). In addition, it should be noted th a t w hat m ight have been re g a rd e d by th e C hinese c o lo n iz e rs a s a s e r ie s of s e p a ra te r i v e r s , and thus given d ifferen t n a m e s , could have b een in re a lity only one r iv e r .
C o n v ersely , what m ight have been r e g a rd e d a s one r iv e r could have in fact been a s e r ie s of un co n n ected r i v e r s .
F o rtu n a te ly , th e s e te x ts not only r e f e r to r i v e r s in th e ir d e sc rip tio n s of P r e f e c tu r a l s e a ts but a lso to n e arb y m ountains o r g ro u p s of h ills . R e fe re n c e s to h ills obviously have none of the p itfa lls involved in r e fe re n c e s to r i v e r s .
In addition, the s ta b ility of th e h ill a s a la n d m a rk h as often e n su re d th a t the an cien t nam e and leg en d s a s s o c ia te d w ith it have s u rv iv e d into m o d ern tim e s .
F ro m th e te x t of th e SCC we can b u ild up a p ic tu re of w h ere the tw elve Han p re fe c tu ra l s e a ts stood in re la tio n to each o th e r and in re la tio n to the r iv e r s of th a t tim e , i . e . th e SCC d e s c rib e s w hich a r e a lay e a s t o r w e st, n o rth o r south of o th e r a r e a s r a t h e r than in fo rm in g u s of th e ir a ctu a l lo catio n in Tongking today. H ow ever, th e e sta b lish m e n t of a rough m ap of th e re la tiv e p o sitio n s of the 12 P r e f e c tu r e s b eco m es e x tre m e ly u sefu l once the lo catio n of one o r two of th e se h a s b e en pinpointed m o re ex actly through d e sc rip tio n s in o th e r te x ts .
LUNG PIEN is m en tio n ed in the SCC in connection w ith two n o rth e rn r i v e r s in C hiao-chih C om m andery. The f i r s t of th e two is c alled the " L e ft R iv e r" , and is d e s c rib e d a s flowing in a n o r th - e a s te r ly d ire c tio n to th e south of W ang-hai P r e f e c tu r e , a f te r which it flows e a s t, p a ssin g to the n o rth of
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L u n g -p ien P r e f e c tu r e . How fa r n o rth is n o t s ta te d , so a ll we can a ssu m e
is th a t th is L eft R iv e r w ould b e th e f i r s t r i v e r a r r iv e d a t when tra v e llin g n o rth w a rd s fro m th e a d m in is tra tiv e c e n te r of L u n g -p ien .
The second of th e two r i v e r s is d e sc rib e d a s flowing fro m the e a s t of M i-lin g P r e f e c tu re into n o rth e rn F e n g -c h ’i , and fro m th e re into th e high t e r r a i n of L a n g -p 'o . F ro m L a n g -p 'o , s till flowing e a s t, it p a ss e d south of
14 th e a n cie n t city of L u n g -p ien , and fu rth e r e a s tw a rd jo in ed w ith th e L eft R iv e r.
Thus L ung-pien s e e m s to have b een flanked in the n o rth and south by two e a s tw a rd flowing r i v e r s in the n o rth e rn s e c to r of th e c o m m an d ery . At som e u n sp e c ifie d d ista n ce e a s t of L u n g -p ien , th e se two w a te r s u n ited (som ew here in th e v ic in ity of Chfu-yang) to fo rm one s tr e a m , and continued to flow e a stw a rd
*
into th e Yu Sea.
An old tra d itio n quoted by the SCC lends su p p o rt to th e fact th a t L ung-pien lay aro u n d th e confluence of two im p o rta n t w a te r-w a y s . The tra d itio n , a s quoted by th e SCC^says th a t in 48 AD dragons w e re see n w inding betw een th e b an k s of the two r i v e r s , and so th e n am e of th a t a r e a w as changed fro m Lung-yuan to
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L u n g -p ien . The c h a r a c te r YUAN, u s e d in the o rig in a l nam e L ung-yuan,
lite r a lly m ean s an ab y ss o r g o rg e , and th u s im p lie s an a r e a of ru sh in g w a te r, w hile the c h a r a c te r LUNG, could e ith e r su g g est th a t the w a te rs c o ile d and tw iste d lik e a d rag o n , o r th a t p e rh a p s the a r e a had been a ss o c ia te d w ith ro y a lty .
Since L ung-pien w as a t one stag e during the L a te r Han th e m ain a d m in is tra tiv e c e n te r fo r th e C om m andery (See p.c?| ), we can safely a ssu m e th a t i t would
have b een s tra te g ic a lly p laced n e a r the confluence o f m a jo r w a ter w ays acting a s m a in com m unication ro u te s with the o th er a r e a s , o r /a n d th a t it lay w ithin th e s h e lte r of som e s tra te g ic a lly p laced h ills . A nother p a ssa g e in th e SCC w hich s ta te s th a t th e Ching R iv er began fro m the Kao M ountains in L u n g -p ien , and flowed away in a s o u th -e a s te rly d ire c tio n to th e P r e f e c tu re of Ch’i- h s u w h ere it joined w ith s e v e ra l o th e r im p o rtan t r i v e r s , shows th a t L ung-pien did
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occupy a key p o sitio n as re g a rd s th e w a te r-w a y s of th e co m m an d ery . The dragon in Yueh tra d itio n is not only connected with w a te r, but a lso w ith ro y a lty , and so it is p ro b ab le th a t th is a r e a had been a stro n g h o ld of n ativ e pow er b e fo re the a r r iv a l of th e C hinese, and th a t the s ite of th e town of L u n g -p ien had an e x isten c e long p re -d a tin g th e e sta b lish m e n t of th e C hinese
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C om m andery h e a d q u a rte rs th e re .
L E I LO U /LIEN LOU is m entioned in the SCC w ith re fe re n c e to a
"F ollow ing R iver" i . e . The next m ain r i v e r south of th e two n o rth e rn r i v e r s . T his r i v e r is d e sc rib e d as flowing e a s tw a rd s from the south of F e n g -c h fi , and th en so u th -w e st to c r o s s th e south of H si-y u fro m w h ere it flowed away in an e a s te r ly d ire c tio n to the n o rth of L e i-lo u . F ro m th e r e , it w ent on to th e south
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of P e i- t a i and into Ch’i-hsU P r e f e c tu r e , w h e re it jo in ed the Ching R iv e r. L e i-lo u is a lso m entioned in the d e sc rip tio n of the "M iddle W a te rs " ,
into w hich flowed the Ching R iv e r. The M iddle W a te rs a lso flowed in an e a s te r ly d ire c tio n , bu t p a ss e d through the south of L e i-lo u . A ccording to th e SCC the
Tu Kuan Sai P Tu had its so u rc e so m ew h ere in th e e a s t of L e i-lo u , and flowed
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into th e p re fe c tu re of A n -tin g .
F ro m th is d e sc rip tio n , i t can b e seen th a t F e n g -c h 'i and L ien -lo u w e re also flanked n o rth and south by two r i v e r s : In th e c a se of F e n g -c h 'i, by