Si Prefecture

For Si Prefecture of Shanxi in imperial China, see Dai Prefecture.
Si Prefecture
Sizhou ("Su") on the Huai ("Hoai") shown as a subprefecture of Fengyang in Martino Martini's 1655 Novus Atlas Sinensis. It was subsequently elevated by the Qing to the status of an autonomous subprefecture within Jiangnan Province.
Chinese泗州
Literal meaningzhou on the Si
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinSìzhōu
Wade–GilesSsu-chou
The former location of Sizhou's walled prefectural seat near the Ming Zuling tombs. A diagram of the area before its complete flooding beneath Hongze Lake in 1680 from the section on flood prevention in the Qing-era Complete Library of the Four Treasuries.

Sizhou, Si Prefecture, or Si Subprefecture was a zhou of imperial China variously placed in what is now Xuyi County, Jiangsu, or nearby Si County, Anhui, both in China. Named for the Si River, it existed intermittently from 580 to 1912, during which time the relative position of a zhou within Chinese administrations varied. The same name Sizhou was used for the town used as the seat of the prefectural or subprefectural government, which also varied, and is preserved in modern Anhui's Si County and Sicheng.