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Jingzhou orJing Province was one of theNine Provinces of ancient China referenced in early Chinese texts such as theTribute of Yu,Erya, andRites of Zhou.

Jingzhou became an administrative division during the reign ofEmperor Wu (r. 141–87 BCE) in theWestern Han dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE). It usually corresponded with the modern-day provinces ofHubei andHunan until theSui dynasty, after which it referred to the city ofJingzhou.

In theWarring States period, theChu state covered most of present-dayHubei andHunan, the areas that would form Jingzhou in a later era. TheQin state dropped the name "Chu" (楚) (literally "chaste tree") and used its synonym "Jing" (荊) instead to avoid anaming taboo, since the personal name of Qin'sKing Zhuangxiang (281–247 BCE) was "Zichu" (子楚; lit. "son of Chu") because his adoptive mother, Lady Huayang, was from Chu. Chu was conquered by Qin in 223 BCE in the final stages of theQin unification campaign.

In 106 BCE, during the reign ofEmperor Wu in theWestern Han dynasty (206 BCE – 9 CE), China was divided into 13 administrative divisions (excluding the area under the central government's control), each governed by an Inspector (刺史). Jingzhou was one of the 13, and its land area was one of the largest, covering roughly the modern provinces ofHubei andHunan, with the city ofNanyang inHenan province at its north frontier. However, Jingzhou did not have a provincial capital and was only an administrative division in name.

From 188 CE onwards, during the reign ofEmperor Ling in theEastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE), Jingzhou officially became an administrative division. TheBook of Han mentioned that Jingzhou had sevencommanderies – Nanyang (南陽; present-day southwestern Henan), Nan (南; present-day western Hubei), Jiangxia (江夏; present-day eastern Hubei), Changsha (長沙; present-day northeastern Hunan), Guiyang (桂陽; present-day southeastern Hunan), Wuling (武陵; present-day northwestern Hunan) and Lingling (零陵; present-day southwestern Hunan) – under its jurisdiction.

BeforeLiu Biao became the Governor (州牧) of Jingzhou during the reign ofEmperor Xian, Jingzhou's provincial capital was in Hanshou county (漢壽縣; present-dayHanshou County,Changde, Hunan). However, as remnants of theYellow Turban rebels were still active in southern Jingzhou, the capital was moved north to Xiangyang (襄陽; present-dayXiangyang, Hubei).

Liu Biao died in 208 and was succeeded by his younger son,Liu Cong, as the Governor of Jingzhou, but the latter surrendered and ceded the province to the warlordCao Cao in the same year. After theBattle of Red Cliffs in the winter of 208/209, Cao Cao managed to retain only Nanyang and Nan commanderies in northern Jingzhou, while central and southern Jingzhou was divided between the warlordsSun Quan andLiu Bei. Cao Cao subsequently partitioned Xiangyang (襄陽) and Nanxiang (南鄉) commanderies from the two he controlled – Nanyang and Nan. The commanderies in Jingzhou were thus split between the three contending warlords: Nan, Lingling and Wuling to Liu Bei; Jiangxia, Guiyang and Changsha to Sun Quan; Nanyang, Xiangyang and Nanxiang to Cao Cao.^[1] It was believed that the term "Nine Commanderies of Jing and Xiang" (荊襄九郡) originated from the division of Jingzhou between the three powers, since each controlled three commanderies, making nine in total.

In 219, Sun Quan's generalLü Mengattacked and seized Liu Bei's lands in Jingzhou, which were defended by Liu's generalGuan Yu. This triggered the subsequentBattle of Xiaoting (or Battle of Yiling) of 221–222, which concluded with Liu Bei being decisively defeated by Sun Quan's generalLu Xun. Since then, the state ofShu (founded by Liu Bei) had never laid claims on Jingzhou; Jingzhou was divided between the states ofWu (founded by Sun Quan) andWei (founded by Cao Cao's successor,Cao Pi).

During theThree Kingdoms period (220-280), Jingzhou was split between the states ofWei (220–265) andWu (229–280). The provincial capital of the Wei-controlled Jingzhou was in Xinye (新野),Nan Commandery, and it had sevencommanderies – Nanyang (南陽), Jiangxia (江夏; north of theYangtze River), Xiangyang (襄陽), Nanxiang (南鄉), Xincheng (新城), Shangyong (上庸) and Weixing (魏興) – under its jurisdiction. On the other hand, the Wu-governed Jingzhou had its administrative centre in Jiangling (江陵), Nan Commandery, with 11 commanderies – Nan (南), Jiangxia (江夏; south of the Yangtze River), Changsha (長沙), Xiangdong (湘東), Guiyang (桂陽), Linhe (臨賀), Lingling (零陵), Hengyang (衡陽), Wuling (武陵), Jianping (建平) and Yidu (宜都) – under its charge.

In theWestern Jin dynasty (266-316), Jingzhou's capital was designated in Xiangyang (襄陽; present-dayXiangyang,Hubei) and it governed 23 commanderies andstates.

During theSouthern and Northern Dynasties period (420-589), China was further divided into many administrative divisions so the land area in each division was reduced. TheLiu Song dynasty (420-479) established Jingzhou's capital in Xiangyang (襄陽; present-dayXiangyang,Hubei). TheSouthern Qi dynasty (479–502) changed Jingzhou's capital to Nan commandery and made Xiangyang (renamed to Ningman prefecture 寧蠻府) the capital of another province,Yongzhou. In 497, theNorthern Wei dynasty (386–535) set up an administrative division called Jingzhou in Rang (穰; present-dayDengzhou,Henan), with eight commanderies under its charge. The capital was later moved to Shanbei (山北; present-dayLushan County, Henan). The Northern Wei dynasty also established an administrative division called East Jingzhou (東荊州), with its capital in Ciyang (泚陽).

In 583, during theSui dynasty (589–618),Emperor Wen abolished thecommandery system and replaced it with prefectures and counties as administrative divisions. However, Emperor Wen's successor,Emperor Yang, restored the commanderies and adopted the commandery and county system used in theQin dynasty. From then on, Jingzhou no longer referred to the large province that used to coverHubei andHunan, but rather, the modern city ofJingzhou in Hubei. The city of Jingzhou was also known as Nan commandery (南郡), Jiangling commandery (江陵郡), Jiangling prefecture (江陵府), and Jingzhou prefecture (荊州府).

• Huguang

• Fang, Xuanling et al.Book of Jin (Jin Shu).

• Provinces of ancient China
• Former prefectures of China

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