Ying Prefecture (Hebei)

Yingzhou or Ying Prefecture was a zhou (prefecture) in imperial China in modern Hebei, China, seated in modern Hejian.^[3] It existed (intermittently) from 487 until 1108.

Ying Prefecture
Simplified Chinese	瀛州
Hanyu Pinyin	Yíng Zhōu
Population
• 740s or 750s	663,171[1]
• 1100s	60,206[2]
History
• Preceded by	Hejian Commandery
• Created	487 (Northern Wei) 621 (Tang dynasty) 758 (Tang dynasty)
• Abolished	1108 (Song dynasty)
• Succeeded by	Hejian Prefecture
Contained within
• Circuit	Hebei Circuit Hebei East Circuit (1042–1108)

It was one of the Sixteen Prefectures ceded by Later Jin to the Liao dynasty, however, just 2 decades later it was seized by Later Zhou during the Liao–Later Zhou War.

The modern town Yingzhou, Hebei in Hejian retains its name.

Counties

Ying Prefecture administered the following counties (縣) through history:

#	Northern and Southern dynasties	Sui dynasty	Tang dynasty	Five Dynasties period Song dynasty	Modern location
1	Wuyuan (武垣)			—	Hejian[4]
2	—	Hejian (河間)
3	—	Shucheng (束城)
4	Chengping (成平)	Jingcheng (景城)			Cang County (western part)[5]
5	Lecheng (樂城)	Guangcheng (廣城), 598–601 Leshou (樂壽), after 601	Leshou		Xian County[6]

Two other counties were administered by Ying Prefecture before the Five Dynasties period:

• Gaoyang (高陽), roughly modern Gaoyang County. In the Song dynasty it was made into a military prefecture called Shun'an Prefecture.^[7]
• Pingshu (平舒), roughly modern Dacheng County. After Later Zhou it was renamed Dacheng (大城) and administered by Bà Prefecture.^[8]