Lishui County Established, 591 CE

Background

Before the Sui dynasty, the area of present-day Lishui was part of Liyang County and had no county seat of its own. After the Sui conquered the Chen in 589 CE, the Danyang Commandery was abolished and replaced by Jiangzhou, and the county and prefecture system across the region was redrawn. That reorganisation left room for a new county here. Two years later, the northwestern part of Liyang was separated off and made into a county.

Time and place

The county was established in 591 CE, the eleventh year of the Kaihuang era, with its seat within the present-day Lishui District, then under Jiangzhou. The Kangxi edition of the Lishui County Gazetteer (卷之一·邑纪) records the entry as follows, with our translation:

十一年辛亥，析溧阳西北境及丹阳故地置溧水县，仍隶蒋州。县之始。

Translated: In the eleventh year [of the Kaihuang era], the northwestern part of Liyang and the former Danyang lands were separated off to form Lishui County, still under Jiangzhou. This was the beginning of the county.

The words 「县之始」 — "the beginning of the county" — are the gazetteer compiler's own conclusion, and they mark this as the starting point of Lishui's history as a county. The district government's account agrees, adding that the former Danyang lands lay at what is now Xiaodanyang in Jiangning.

What happened

The county was created by partition: the northwestern portion of Liyang was cut off, the eastern part of the former Danyang lands was added, and the two were combined into one county. The name came from the river, not from any earlier county. In 598 CE the county absorbed Liyang entirely, briefly enlarging its territory; in 620 CE the eastern part was separated off again to re-establish Liyang.

Consequences

From 591 CE onward Lishui continued as an independent county-level administrative unit. Over the following fourteen centuries its name alternated only once between county and prefecture (raised to a prefecture under the Yuan, reduced to a county under the Ming), while its superior authority shifted among Jiangzhou, Danyang Commandery, Yangzhou, Xuanzhou, Shengzhou, Jiangning Prefecture, Jiankang Prefecture, Jiqing Circuit and Yingtian Prefecture. The county institution itself never lapsed until 2013.

Uncertainties

The year of establishment is not disputed. The exact extent of "the northwestern part of Liyang" is not specified in any source consulted, so this entry does not attempt to map it.