page_title: Dai County
section_title: Imperial China
hierarchical_section_title: Dai County / History / Imperial China
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of Qin Dynasty and its administrative divisions
context_page_description: Dai County, also known by its Chinese name Daixian, is a county in Xinzhou, Shanxi Province, China. Its county seat at Shangguan is also known as Daixian. The county has an area of 1,729 km² and had a population of 214,091 at the time of the 2010 census. The county is the home of the AAAAA-rated Yanmen Pass Scenic Area along the Great Wall, as well as the Bianjing Drum Tower, the Ayuwang Pagoda, and the Zhao Gao Forest Park.
context_section_description: Under the First Emperor's rule, an administrative overhaul abolished China's former states and provinces, making the relatively small commanderies the highest level of regional government. Zhao's former holdings in northern Shanxi west of Mount Heng formed Qin's Yanmen Commandery, with its seat at Shanwu in present-day Youyu County. The frontier walls of the former states, including Zhao's, were merged into the first form of the Great Wall of China. Guangwu was promoted to the seat of its own county, overseeing the parts of present-day Dai County in the Hutuo Valley. This was part of the Taiyuan Commandery under the Qin and Western Han, when it was part of the province of Bingzhou. Under the Eastern Han and Wei, the area was part of Yanmen Commandery, whose seat was at Mayi (present-day Shuozhou).
  The county seat of Guangwu moved to what is now Shangguan under the Northern Wei. An earthen wall 8 li in circumference was raised to protect the town. It became the seat of Dai Prefecture in 585 during the Sui, eventually taking its name as Daizhou. The prefecture covered parts of the present-day counties of Dai, Fanshi, Wutai, and Yuanping. The Ayuwang Pagoda was also first constructed under the Sui, but suffered repeated fires; the present Tibetan-style dagoba dates to the Yuan. The town was also known as Yanmen during this period, as it was the seat of the Yanmen Commandery. On 11 September 615, the Sui emperor Yang Guang (posthumously known as the Yang or Lazy Emperor) was besieged there by the Eastern Turkish (Tujue) leader Shibi Khan, who was angry about Chinese efforts to weaken and divide his realm. In his distress, Yang Guang promised promotions and rewards to the garrison and those who might rescue him. Credit became muddled, however, when the khan's Chinese wife Princess Yicheng responded to his pleas by sending a false report to her husband about an attack on the Turkish homeland. After the Turks withdrew, the emperor chose to renege on most of his promises; the event built animosity in the Chinese army ahead of the collapse of the Sui.
  Dai Prefecture was reëstablished under the Tang, who made it part of their Hedong Circuit. In the spring of 623, the Eastern Turkish Jiali Khan and the Chinese rebels Gao Kaidao and Yuan Junzhang (苑君璋, Yuan Jūnzhāng) jointly besieged the Tang fortress there but were unable to take it. Chinese censuses recorded the district had 36,234 people living in 9,259 households in AD 639 and 100,350 living in 21,280 households in 742.
  From 1369 until about 1375, under the early Ming, Dai Prefecture was briefly reorganized as a county. It was during this time that the present fortifications at Yanmen Pass were constructed, and the earthen walls at Shangguan were given a brick façade. Dai Prefecture was administered under the Ming and early Qing as part of the circuits of Yanmen (t 雁門道 or 鴈門道, s 雁门道, Yànmén Dào) or Yanping (雁平道, Yànpíng Dào), but it was directly administered by the provincial government after 1724 until near the end of the dynasty, when it was returned to Yanping Circuit. During the early 20th century, the Ming wall still surrounded the city, with four gates and a 20-foot (6 m) deep moat. Daizhou was the site of a Protestant mission run by the Baptist Missionary Society. The nascent Christian community was, however, devastated in 1900 by the Boxer Rebellion and subsequently by the memory of its powerlessness to defend itself.
caption: Commanderies of the Qin Empire, with Dai in the north. The territory of present-day Dai County, however, was not located within it but the adjacent commanderies of Yanmen and Taiyuan.
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