Editing Balhae (section)

==Government==
[[File:Balhae Kingdom.png|thumb|260x260px|Administrative divisions of the Balhae kingdom, with Chinese and Korean names{{efn|[http://prof.ks.ac.kr/palhae/image/palmap.gif Map of Balhae]}}]]
{{See also|List of Balhae monarchs}}

After its founding, Balhae actively imported the culture and political system of the Tang dynasty and the Chinese reciprocated through an account of Balhae describing it as the "Flourishing land of the East (海東盛國)."<ref name="OwenMiller" /><ref name="y-history.net">{{cite web |script-title=ja:渤海／海東の盛国 |url=http://www.y-history.net/appendix/wh0302-088.html |language=ja}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> The bureaucracy of Balhae was modeled after the [[Three Departments and Six Ministries]] and used [[literary Chinese]] as the written language of administration.<ref name="Dillon2016" />{{sfn|Franke|Twitchett|1994|pp=3, 5}} Balhae's aristocrats and nobility traveled to the Tang capital of [[Chang'an]] on a regular basis as ambassadors and students, many of whom went on to pass the [[imperial examinations]].{{sfn|Crossley|1997|p=19}} Three students are recorded in 833 and a royal nephew in 924.{{sfn|Bielenstein|2005|p=213}} Although Balhae was a tributary state of the Tang dynasty, it followed its own independent path, not only in its internal policies, but also in its foreign relations. Furthermore, it regarded itself as an empire, and sent ambassadors to neighbor states such as Japan in an independent capacity.<ref name = "Kim2014">{{cite web |last1=Kim|first1=Alexander Alexeyvich |title=The problem of understanding of the political status of Bohai state |url=https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/33088191/5Alexander_Alexeyvich_Kim.pdf?sequence=1 |website=Harvard Library |date=2014}}</ref>

Balhae had five capitals, fifteen provinces, and sixty-three counties.<ref>Ogata, Noboru. [http://www.hgeo.h.kyoto-u.ac.jp/soramitsu/Dongjingcheng.html "Shangjing Longquanfu, the Capital of the Bohai (Parhae) State"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727115945/http://www.hgeo.h.kyoto-u.ac.jp/soramitsu/Dongjingcheng.html |date=27 July 2018 }}. ''Kyoto University''. 12 January 2007. Retrieved 10 November 2011.</ref> Balhae's original capital was at Dongmo Mountain in modern [[Dunhua]], [[Jilin Province]], China. In 742 it was moved to the Central Capital in [[Helong]], Jilin. It was moved to the [[Shangjing Longquanfu|Upper Capital]] in [[Ning'an]], [[Heilongjiang]] in 755, to the Eastern Capital in [[Hunchun]], Jilin in 785, and back to the Upper Capital in 794.<ref name="Dillon2016">{{cite book|author=Michael Dillon|title=Encyclopedia of Chinese History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kp6iDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT95|date=1 December 2016|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-81715-4|page=95}}</ref> Sanggyong (Upper Capital) was organized in the way of the Tang capital of Chang'an. Residential sectors were laid out on either side of the palace surrounded by a rectangular wall. The same layout was also implemented by other East Asian capitals of the time.<ref name="Noboru">Ogata, Noboru. [http://www.hgeo.h.kyoto-u.ac.jp/ogata/Bohai/summary-E.html "A Study of the City Planning System of the Ancient Bohai State Using Satellite Photos (Summary)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303231040/http://www.hgeo.h.kyoto-u.ac.jp/ogata/Bohai/summary-E.html |date=3 March 2016 }}. ''Jinbun Chiri''. Vol.52, No.2. 2000. pp.129 – 148. Retrieved 10 November 2011.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/vliyanie-kitayskih-naturfilosofskih-prostranstvennyh-modeley-na-formirovanie-gradostroitelnoy-kultury-gosudarstva-bohay/viewer|title = Влияние китайских натурфилософских пространственных моделей на формирование градостроительной культуры государства Бохай}}</ref>