Buddhist monasteries · The Southern Song of Zhao Kuo (Ningzong) · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Chan houses of Fuzhou

Fuzhou is one of the strongholds of Song Buddhism.

By our recollection the Yongquan temple on Gushan, east of the city, was founded in the early tenth century under the Min kingdom and is the chief Chan house of the prefecture; the Xuefeng temple belongs to the master Yicun (822 to 908), whose pupils founded the Yunmen and Fayan schools; and the Huangbo mountain in Fuqing county is the old seat of the master Xiyun. The standard source is the Sanshan zhi, the gazetteer of Fuzhou of 1182 (Chunxi 9), which lists the monasteries and their holdings; we did not read it and give no figure from it. The great houses were public monasteries with estates, mills and dues of their own, as all large Song monasteries were, but we have no source for the extent of any of them in 1200.

The Song court sold ordination certificates and watched monastic land, as everywhere (general knowledge). None of this is the target of the Qingyuan ban, which falls on Zhu Xi's learning.

Who holds it

Title
Abbots of the great public monasteries of Fuzhou
Since
not pinned
Born
not known
Confidence
low

Not known for the winter of 1199-1200.

Overlord

The prefect of Fuzhou and, for the head house, the Pacification Commissioner of Fujian

What it holds

  • The Yongquan temple on Gushan
  • The Xuefeng and Huangbo houses, not located here
  • Their estates: not known

How it was acquired

Tenth century foundation for Yongquan, by recollection.

Allies and rivals

The prefect and the Western Clan Office at Fuzhou, whose members were patrons by inference; the Quanzhou houses, with the same shipping money behind them.

How things stand that morning

In ordinary order.

Wealth

Estates and gifts; no source.

Places of note

  • Yongquan temple on Gushan: Chief Chan house of Fuzhou, east of the city; position approximate

Where the sources disagree

  • The campaign board has no place for these houses. We drew only Yongquan, at Gushan east of the city; the other two are named in the text and not placed.

Evidence: Recollection of the Sanshan zhi and of the Chan schools; no page fetched deals with these houses.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

On the map: A point only. The houses' lands are not located.

Primary sources for Southern Song

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • Continuation of the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government, Bi Yuan (畢沅), completed by Feng Jiwu after his death (late eighteenth century, finished after 1801, from Song and Yuan sources). A Qing scholar's continuous month-by-month chronicle of the Song and Yuan centuries, compiled from the Song shi, the Liao, Jin and Yuan histories, Li Tao, Li Xinchuan and other Song sources. Read online
  • Outline and Details of Two Reigns (thirteenth century, after 1224). A Song outline-and-detail chronicle of exactly the two reigns around 1200, drawn from the court's daily records. Read online
  • Annals of the Western Xia, Wu Guangcheng (吳廣成) (1825 to 1827, compiled from Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan sources). A Qing scholar's year-by-year reconstruction of Tangut history from the Chinese histories, since the Xia left no surviving annals of their own in Chinese. Read online
  • History of the Song, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345, from the Song veritable records, state histories and the Huiyao). The official history of the Southern Song, which ruled from Lin'an (Hangzhou) in 1200. Read online
  • History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Read online
  • History of the Jin, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office, with Ouyang Xuan among the chief compilers (1343 to 1344, from the Jin veritable records and the Jin national history). The official history of the Jurchen empire that ruled north China and Manchuria in 1200. Read online
  • History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
  • Record of the Great Jin State, Attributed to Yuwen Maozhao (宇文懋昭); the attribution is doubtful (preface dated 1234; probably assembled in the Southern Song from Song and Jin material, with later accretions). A Song-side history of the Jin, with annals for each emperor and chapters on institutions, customs, the capitals and the Jurchen way of life. Read online

12 more in the sources library for South China.

Sources and studies

  1. Wikipedia, "Gushan (Fuzhou)" (pointer only, not fetched)
  2. Liang Kejia, Chunxi Sanshan zhi (1182): named from memory; pointer only, not fetched or read

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.