The lu in Northern Song Dynasty

The local government had more and more power since later Tang Dynasty. In order to change this situation and keep control over the local government, rulers of Northern song Dynasty made great changes to the local administrative system. As a result, Jiedushi's power in finance, military affairs and judicature was weakened. At the same time, a new government system was set up, according to which the whole country was divided into a number of lu's, which include zhuanyunshisi, tidianxingyushi, tijuchangpingshi and anfushi, among which the power of anfushi was assumed by the head of capital zhou (prefecture) and the other three played only supervisory roles. All of them were the outgrowth of the central government, which exercised the power of the central government to control local government. This system functioned as a link between the twolevel system and threelevel system. 