The county system first appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period in the history of China.

There were already counties in the Spring and Autumn Period. Counties in the Spring and Autumn Period can be divided into two types: the counties in Chu and Qin were directly subordinate to the monarch; Most counties in Jin and Wu were the fiefs of the Qing doctor. Both of them directly belong to the capital of the monarch and have the function of frontier towns. Chu Wuwang destroyed the state power and changed it into a county, which was the beginning of establishing a county.