page_title: Government of the Han dynasty
section_title: Provincial authorities
hierarchical_section_title: Government of the Han dynasty / Local government / Provincial authorities
caption_attribution_description: English: Jade door knocker, Xinping (left); jade horse and rider (Zhouling) and winged jade lion (Xinzhuang); Western Han dynasty
context_page_description: The Han dynasty of ancient China was the second imperial dynasty of China, following the Qin dynasty. It was divided into the periods of Former Han and Later Han, briefly interrupted by the Xin dynasty of Wang Mang. The capital of Western Han was Chang'an, and the capital of Eastern Han was Luoyang. The emperor headed the government, promulgating all written laws, serving as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and presiding as the chief executive official. He appointed all government officials who earned a salary of 600 bushels of grain or more with the help of advisors who reviewed each nominee. The empress dowager could either be the emperor's actual or symbolic mother, and was in practice more powerful than the emperor, as she could override his decisions. The emperor's executive powers could also be practiced by any official upon whom he bestowed the Staff of Authority. These powers included the right to execute criminals without the imperial court's permission.
  Near the beginning of the dynasty, semi-autonomous regional kings rivaled the emperor's authority.
context_section_description: A Han province consisted of a group of commanderies, the administrations of which were subject to scrutiny and inspection by centrally appointed officials. These were the Inspectors (Cishi 刺史), also known as the Circuit Inspector, who were first appointed in 106 BC at a salary-rank of 600-dan. In Western Han they were supervised by the Palace Assistant Imperial Clerk and were subordinates of the Imperial Counselor. Aside from the province-sized capital region, known as Sili Province, which was entrusted to the Colonel Director of Retainers from 89–9 BC, there were thirteen provinces during Western Han. Eventually, the title of Inspector was changed to Governor (Mu 牧; literally "Shepherd"), a post with a considerably higher salary-rank of 2,000-dan. From 5–1 BC, this post was reverted to Inspector, but was once again re-titled Governor, who  was now responsible to all Three Excellencies.
  During early Eastern Han, the loss of Han's control over the Ordos Desert prompted the Han court to reduce the provinces to twelve—excluding the capital region—in 35 AD. In that year, the Inspectors-cum-Governors were still appointed by the central government, but their staffs were recruited from local administrations where they were transferred. By 42 AD, the title Governor once more became  Inspector, who remained the head of provincial authorities until 188 AD. In 188 AD, at the urging of the official Liu Yan, Emperor Ling reinstated the office of Governor, yet some of the provinces were still administered by Inspectors; this arrangement remained in place until the end of the Han dynasty in 220 AD. A key difference between the roles was that an Inspector had no executive powers and only an advisory role, whereas a Governor could execute decisions on his own behalf. There were exceptions to this rule. If banditry or rebellion simultaneously arose in several commanderies under his jurisdiction at once, the Inspector was authorized to raise troops throughout all commanderies under his watch and lead this united force as commander to quell the disruption.
  Both the Inspector and Governor were responsible for inspecting commandery-level Administrators and their staffs, as well as the semi-autonomous kingdoms and their staffs. They evaluated officials on criteria of competence, honesty, obedience to the imperial court, adherence to the law, their treatment of convicts, and any signs of extortion, nepotism, or factionalism. These reports were submitted to the Palace Assistant Imperial Clerk and Imperial Counselor during Western Han, but by Eastern Han these reports were submitted to each of the Three Excellencies. The reports were then used to promote, demote, dismiss, or prosecute local officials.
caption: A jade-carved door knocker decorated with dragons, dated to the Western Han Era
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