English: As part of his unification of China in 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang divided his empire into thirty six commanderies, each subdivided into a number of counties. The significance of the administrative reforms was its introduction of a uniformly centralised system of imperial control. The system was followed by the Han Dynasty, though with a certain degree of compromise. Thereafter, the system became the norm for later dynasties and eventually evolved into the present administrative structure of Mainland China. See: Political divisions of China.

The location of the Yellow River and commandery seats follows Tan Qixiang (ed.), Zhongguo lishi ditu (中国历史地图集), 1982. Note that the Yellow River is considerably to the north of its present flow.

The coloured territories show the approximate extent of Qin political control at the death of Qin Shi Huang in 210 BC. At that time more commanderies were added to the original thirty six, and these are also shown on the map.