Hang Prefecture

Hang Prefecture
Traditional Chinese	杭州
Hanyu Pinyin	Háng Zhōu
Yuhang Commandery (607–621, 742–758)
Simplified Chinese	餘杭郡
Hanyu Pinyin	Yúháng Jùn
Xi Prefecture (907–Before 978)
Simplified Chinese	西府
Literal meaning	Western Prefecture
Hanyu Pinyin	Xī Fǔ
Qiantang Prefecture (970s?)
Traditional Chinese	錢塘府
Hanyu Pinyin	Qiántáng Fǔ
Population
• 740s or 750s	585,963[1]
• 980	~0.9 million[2][3]
• 1085	~1 million[2][4]
• 1102	~1 million[2][5]
History
• Preceded by	Qiantang Commandery (錢唐郡)
• Created	589 (Sui dynasty)
• Abolished	1129 (Song dynasty)
• Succeeded by	Lin'an Prefecture
• HQ	Qiantang (錢唐 or 錢塘)
Contained within
• Circuit (Tang dynasty)	Jiangnan Circuit (621–733) Jiangnan East Circuit (after 733) Zhejiang West Circuit (758–907)
• Kingdom	Wuyue (907–978)
• Circuit (Song dynasty)	Liangzhe Circuit

Hangzhou or Hang Prefecture (589–1129) was a zhou (prefecture) in imperial China located in modern northern Zhejiang, China, around modern Hangzhou.^[6] The prefecture was called Yuhang Commandery from 607 to 621 and from 742 to 758.^[7] Hang Prefecture was the capital of the Wuyue kingdom (907–978), inside which it was known as Xi Prefecture (Western Prefecture), and during its last years of the kingdom, as Qiantang Prefecture.

Hang Prefecture sat at the head of the Hangzhou Bay, which opens to the East China Sea. It was also the southern terminus of the Grand Canal and the eastern terminus of the Qiantang River. During the Northern Song (960–1127) it was the capital of Liangzhe Circuit. In 1129 it became Lin'an Prefecture, which would become the capital of the Southern Song (1127–1279) in 1138.