Migrated provinces, commanderies and counties

The migrated provinces, commanderies and counties () were consequence of a special administrative regionalization called qiao zhi () during the Six dynasties era of China. The Shahumyan Province is a modern analogue of their alternative local government, in their infancy. With adoption of tu duan and merger, these nominal subdivisions transitioned to the actual administrative divisions.
Background.
Since the invasion of the five barbarians, a large number of northern refugees migrated south. These migrants who called "qiao ren (, literally the migrated people)" were the base of the migrated provinces, commanderies, and counties. Bearing northern place names, they were set up by Eastern Jin. Such a move was not unprecedented, the central government migrated the whole commandery or county to a new place as early as Han dynasty. However, they emerged on a massive scale since Eastern Jin.
History.
During the Emperor Yuan, Emperor Ming and Emperor Cheng period, the migrated provinces, commanderies and counties were concentrated in the area south of the Huai River and the Lower Yangtze Plain.
The earlier typical classic examples was migrated Langya Commandery (, its original counterpart in modern Linyi, Shandong) within migrated Fei County () in Jiankang, but they were certainly not the earliest. At least migrated Huaide County (, its original counterpart in modern Fuping, Shaanxi) was established in there, around 320 before that. According to the "Book of Song":(After Disaster of Yongjia, the refugees from You, Ji, Qing, Bing, Yan and Xu provinces came across the Huai River, some even came across the Yangtze River and stayed in Jinling Commandery... The migrated commanderies and counties were established to govern them. The seats of Xu and Yan provinces perhaps were moved to the area north of the Yangtze River, where the migrated You, Ji, Qing, Bing provinces were established also.)
Purposes.
The belts where qiao ren lived subdivided into 3 administrative levels, similar to the ordinary administrative divisions:
After Emperor Wu of Liu Song recaptured some lost northern territory, some of them there were prefixed with "north" or "bei" () to distinguish them from their migrated counterparts in the south. After Liu founded the Liu Song, the prefix bei was dropped while migrated place names that had derived from their prototypes in the north took on the prefix "south" or "nan" (). Still, there were a few exceptions to prefixed with "east" or "dong" () and "west" or "xi" (). For instance, Dong Jingzhao (, in modern Xingyang) and Xi Jingzhao (, in modern Hanzhong).
As time goes by, the migrated provinces, commanderies and counties plunged the administrative divisions into chaos. For instance, Yinping County was located in the southeastern part of Gansu Province nowadays initially. While it had four migrated counterparts.
Baiji and huangji.
Considering most property of qiao ren had been lost or exhausted as they arrived, they were privileged to be free from "diao" (), a special poll tax was paid via the silken or cotton cloth etc in the ancient China, and service. Their registers which bound in white papers were called baiji (') in Chinese. The ordinary ones which bound in yellow papers were called huangji (') in comparison.
Over a given period, baiji was a preferential identification states the bearer's hometown. The imperial court had a specific intent, which scarcely be succeeded,to sort out hukou conveniently in the future after regaining the lost territory.
Abolition.
Fan Ning () once submitted a memorial to the throne:(In olden days, subdividing the territory was for the benefit of the ordinary people; while a former noble monarch devised the system, he would be fair to his people without distinction between huangji and baiji. Since the civilians were displaced by the war, the refugees who sought shelter in the Lower Yangtze Plain could revolt at any time. In such circumstances, they were allowed to live there with privilege and hold baiji, which states the bearer's hometown. That would have been a long time ago. They are living in peace and security now, while their ancestors' tombs are arranged in rows, even though where they are living is not their hometown. It is high time to regularize the boundary again, adopt tu duan to register, make the criterion for validating the qualification of civil servants explicit, and legislate the civil code...)Once the situation settled down and the population swelled, the considerable amount of northerners flooding into the south magnified the economic and social problems. Reforms were clearly in order. Hence, "tu duan" was an increasingly important issue for the Eastern Jin and the subsequent Southern dynasties.
Tu duan policy.
The tu duan (') is the abbreviation for yi tu duan (', means classifying people according to their present habitation). The terms were firstly mentioned in the "Book of Jin":It was a solution to put an end to the chaos the migrated provinces, commanderies and counties brought, and ensure the hukou system operated smoothly.
Ten times in total tu duan implemented in the Eastern Jin and the Southern dynasties.
Had misgivings about the potential conflict of interest, the government was obliged to meet some qiao ren, especially the constituent parts of the Beifu Army (), halfway every time the policy was implemented.

History of investigation.
The site was first described in 1909 by Luis Tortosa. The first archaeological excavations were begun in 1928 by the newly created Servicio de Investigación Prehistórica of the Valencian Community. Four campaigns were carried out between 1928 and 1931.
250 rooms were excavated and a number of important artefacts were recovered, including the Guerrero de Mogente, small lead plaques with inscriptions in the Southeast variant of Iberian, and weapons and jewellery. In newspapers of the time, the site was described as a "new Pompeii".
Further excavations have been carried out in the 1990s and this century.
Fortifications.
The site is walled, with walls more than 3 metres thick at the most vulnerable points.
Four gates give access to the interior of the site, three at the western end and one at the eastern.
Two towers extrude from the wall at the western end, where the main gate is located.
The gatehouses all contain internal benches, possibly guard posts or spaces for controlling the passage of goods.
The gates themselves were wooded, reinforced with iron bands.
The stone lower half of the gates and walls is still in existence while the upper half, which would have been built from adobe bricks and included a walkway, is lost.
At the western end, an additional external area may also have been more weakly fortified, perhaps as a refuge for people in the surrounding area.
The secondary gates at the western end were blocked up during the occupation of the site, presumably to improve defensibility.
Urban layout and domestic architecture.
The buildings are organised around a central street that runs from east to west through the middle of the town. Secondary streets run perpendicular to this main street and some open plazas were left without buildings. A communal granary is found in the centre of the site.
The houses are of different sizes, ranging from 20 to 150 metres squared. The houses have the same building technique as the walls, with adobe bricks above a stone base. The walls would have then been whitewashed and sometimes even painted. The houses are of a single floor but the flat roof (at a slight angle) was accessible and may have been used for some activities.
There may have been around ninety to one hundred and twenty houses over the whole site, housing a population of 450 to 840 persons.
The central part of each house was a hearth, the meeting point and symbol of family life. A storage room at the back was used to keep foodstuffs and tools. Further spaces housed milling equipment and more specialised activities such as metallurgy, weaving and other artisanal activities.
Everyday life: agriculture and trade.
Agricultural and pastoral tasks were a fundamental part of everyday subsistence. The principal crops were unirrigated cereals (barley, wheat and millet) as well as legumes (broad beans and peas). Fruits and nuts were also important, especially olives, vines, almonds and figs.
Cultivation was done with wooden ploughs reinforced with iron ploughshares, of which a number have been found in the houses of the town. Other agricultural tools found at the site include billhooks, sickles, hoes and rakes, forming one of the most complete tool assemblages known for pre-Roman agriculture in Spain.
The most common livestock were sheep and goats, with some bovines and pigs. These animals were used for milk, wool, leather and meat, and were also necessary for ploughing and to pull carts. Some wild species were also hunted, included rabbits, hares, deer, mountain goats and wild boar. Finally, fish hooks found at the site indicate that the nearby Canyoles river was also an important food source.
Trade and commercial activities were also an important part of the economic life of the town. Weights and balances have been found, doubtless used in commercial transactions and perhaps related to the small silver and bronze ingots also found at the site. The silver was obtained through the cupellation of lead, carried out in some houses.
One of the inscribed lead plaques found on the site is inscribed with a list of names, with different quantities written beside each name and many of the names crossed out. This plaque is generally interpreted as a form of account or receipt. The plaque is 180 by 40 millimetres and 1 millimetre thick and was found in the excavations of 1928, rolled up and placed under a grinding stone in department 48.
Various objects found in the excavations also point to connections across the Mediterranean. From the Strait of Gibraltar there are amphoras that contained salted fish products and included amongst the local tablewares are plates and cups imported from Athens. Some of these imported pieces were imitated by Iberian potters.
Social structure.
The inhabitants of la Bastida lived in a stratified society. Status and wealth are shown in jewellery, house size and imported goods.
The Guerrero de Mogente likely represents a high status man: the figure is represented as naked to show his heroic nature, and carries the distinctive Iberian curved sword (falcata), a small round shield (caetra), and wears a helmet with a large plume.
The offerings deposited in the principal (west) gate, also indicate the symbolic importance of a full panoply including sword and shield.
The association of swords with ploughs may also indicate that such figures also controlled good agricultural lands.
High status women may have been signalled through fine clothing and are associated with loom weights.
Destruction and abandonment.
The settlement was occupied for only a short time before being destroyed around 330 BC. As such, it was probably only inhabited for three or four generations. The blockage of two of the gates, remains of a fire, and the numerous weapons and personal items found in the streets all indicate a rapid and violent end to the site's occupation. The context of the sack of La Bastida is unclear but most likely relates to conflicts between different Iberian groups, although whether all the combatants were from the local area or groups from further afield were involved is unknown. Competition between the many sites in the area for control of the important transport route from the coast into the southern Meseta, or control of arable land in the Canyoles valley may have been motivating factors.
Visiting times.
The Museum of Mogente/Moixent and the site of La Bastida may be visited all year round. Entry to the site is free. The site is open from 10am to 2pm and from 4pm to 6pm (winter months) or from 4pm to 8pm (summer months), Tuesday to Sunday.
The site has a guide service as well as information panels for self-guided visits. Immediately outside the site, a full-scale replica of an Iberian house has been reconstructed using the appropriate materials and techniques.
In addition, many of the items recovered from La Bastida can be seen at the Valencian Museum of Prehistory.
External links.
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