Historical Evolution

Hengshui has a long history.Because it was across the Yellow River in the ancient times,its today’s administrative range belonged to Jizhou and Yanzhou Prefectures and Rao,Chang,Wucheng and Wuluo were all the main fiefs in the territory of Hengshui.Most of its territory belonged to Jin State in the Spring and Autumn Period,and to Yan and Zhao States in the Warring States Period.It belonged to Julu County after Qin Shi Huang,the founder of the Qin Dynasty,unified China in 221 BC.It was managed by the provinciallevel governer of Jizhou Prefecture and established Guangchuan State,Xindu State and Anping State successively in the Han Dynasty.Today’s counties,cities and districts of Hengshui were also established in the Han Dynasty.

Hengshui was still under the jurisdiction of Jizhou Prefecture in the Jin Dynasty.In the Sui Dynasty,its south belonged to Jizhou Prefecture and north to Shenzhou Prefecture which was established in 596.In the Tang Dynasty,it belonged to Hebei dao (administrative division).In the early Song Dynasty,Jizhou Prefecture belonged to Hebei East lu (administrative division),and Shenzhou Prefecture to Hebei West lu.In the early Yuan Dynasty,the capital of Guanzhou Prefecture was moved to Ti County (now Jing County in Hengshui),and was renamed Jingzhou Prefecture in 1265.From then on and up to the Ming and Qing Dynasties,Hengshui was under the jurisdiction of the Central Secretariat,the Capital and Zhili Province successively,and its territory was still managed by Jizhou,Shenzhou and Jingzhou Prefectures.(https://www.daowen.com)

Zhili Province was renamed Hebei Province in 1928 and the dao system cancelled at the same time.All counties were ruled directly by Hebei Province as a result.

After the outbreak of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1937,today’s Hengshui was under the jurisdiction of the central Hebei region of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei border region and the Southern Hebei region of the Shanxi-Shandong-Henan border region under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC),respectively.In May 1948,the two border regions above were merged and renamed North China Administrative Region.Hengshui Special Area was established on August 1,1949,which belonged to the newly established Hebei Province.On November 7,1952,Hengshui Special Area was abolished by the order of the North China Administrative Committee,and the counties under its jurisdiction were divided and integrated into Shandong Province,Hebei Province’s Shijiazhuang Special Area,Cangzhou Special Area and Xingtai Special Area.On June 27,1962,the State Council approved the re-establishment of Hengshui Special Area,with 11 counties under its jurisdiction.In 1996,the State Council approved the revocation of Hengshui Special Area and the establishment of Hengshui City at prefecture level.By the end of 2018,Hengshui City was composed of 2 municipal districts,1 county-level city and 8 counties,with a total of 11 county-level administrative units.