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Administrative history of Chaoshan

What is called Chaoshan today was the prefecture of Chaozhou in the Qing. The boundary and the number of counties changed many times in a thousand years, and that history is why this site covers seven counties and marks Dabu and Fengshun as comparisons inside the old prefecture.

The name, and the first prefecture得名與置州

In 591, the eleventh year of the Kaihuang era of the Sui, the prefecture of Chaozhou was set up, its name taken from the tide that runs back and forth — the first time Chaozhou was used of this ground. Earlier, in 413, the ninth year of the Yixi era of the Eastern Jin, Yi’an commandery had been carved out of Dongguan commandery; commandery-level administration in this corner starts there.

Circuits, prefectures and new counties路、府與縣的增置

In 1279, the sixteenth year of the Zhiyuan era of the Yuan, the prefecture was made a circuit, the Chaozhou circuit. In 1369, the second year of the Hongwu era of the Ming, the circuit became a prefecture, the prefecture of Chaozhou, at first holding four counties: Haiyang, Jieyang, Chaoyang and Chengxiang. Counties were then split off one after another — Raoping in 1477, the thirteenth year of the Chenghua era; Huilai in 1524, the third of the Jiajing; Pu’an, renamed Puning in the Wanli years, together with Chenghai in 1563, the forty-second of the Jiajing; and Dabu, Pingyuan and Zhenping also came away in the Jiajing and Wanli years. By the end of the Ming the prefecture held eleven counties.

Two adjustments under Yongzheng and Qianlong雍正與乾隆兩次調整

In 1733, the eleventh year of the Yongzheng era, Chengxiang, Pingyuan and Zhenping were cut away to form the independent prefecture of Jiaying, leaving Chaozhou with eight counties: Haiyang, Chaoyang, Jieyang, Raoping, Huilai, Chenghai, Puning and Dabu. In 1738, the third year of the Qianlong era, Fengshun was made a county and the prefecture held nine. The saying that one prefecture governed nine counties comes from here.

The nine were Haiyang, Chaoyang, Jieyang, Raoping, Huilai, Chenghai, Puning, Dabu and Fengshun. That shape lasted to the end of the Qing.

After the republic民國以後

Early in the republic the prefecture was abolished and a Chaozhou pacification commissioner set up at Shantou; then came the Chaomei garrison command and the Chaoxun circuit. In 1936 the fifth administrative inspectorate of Guangdong was established, in 1946 it became the sixth, and in April 1949 it was split into the seventh and eighth, the office in every case at Chaozhou city.

After 1949 came the Chaoshan provisional office, the eastern Guangdong office and the eastern Guangdong administrative office, all at Chaozhou city; in September 1955 the office moved to Shantou. In 1956 the Shantou prefectural office was set up. In December 1991 the territory under Shantou was divided into the three cities of Shantou, Chaozhou and Jieyang.

What it means for this site對本站的意義

Geographically the site takes the whole of present-day Chaozhou, Shantou and Jieyang, which answers to seven of the nine counties: Haiyang, Chaoyang, Jieyang, Raoping, Chenghai, Puning and Huilai. Dabu and Fengshun belonged to the same prefecture in the Qing and are now part of Meizhou; they are not covered here as subjects, and material drawn from them is marked as comparison inside the old prefecture.

In other words, Chaoshan is today’s word and Chaozhou prefecture was the old administrative frame. The two overlap heavily without being the same, and the site keeps them apart instead of forcing one into the other.

Sources來源

The ‘historical evolution’ pages of the Chaozhou city and Chaonan district government portals; the prefatory chapter on boundaries in the Qianlong Chaozhou Prefecture Gazetteer, compiled by Zhou Shuoxun and completed in 1762, reprinted by the Chaozhou security bureau in 1893.

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Last revised: 5 November 2026