Confucian lineages · The Jin empire of Zhangzong · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Kong family of Qufu

The Kong family are the descendants of Confucius and keep his temple, his cemetery (the Kong Forest) and the ducal mansion at Qufu, a city in the old Lu country south of Dongping.

The title Duke Yansheng is held twice: by this northern branch under the Jin, and by the southern branch under the Song at Quzhou in Zhejiang. English Wikipedia first calls the southern branch the legitimate (di) line and later treats the northern branch as the legitimate heir; the page is not consistent, and which line is senior is a matter of later argument. The Jin recognise the northern line, keep the temple in repair (a pavilion was built in the temple in the 1190s over a Song-era dais of 1022, English Wikipedia) and, since 1197, let the duke himself be the magistrate of Qufu, so the family judges its own county.

Who holds it

Name
Kong Yuancuo
Title
Duke Yansheng (hereditary) and magistrate of Qufu
Since
duke from 1191; magistrate of Qufu from 1197 (English Wikipedia, Duke Yansheng)
Born
1182
Family
51st generation of the main line, northern branch, descended from Kong Duancao, the younger brother of Kong Duanyou who went south with the Song to Quzhou. His predecessor was Kong Cong (50th generation, 1138-1190, duke 1163 to 1190). He was nine when he succeeded and is seventeen on 1 January 1200 (eighteen in the course of the year).
Confidence
medium

English Wikipedia, Duke Yansheng: Kong Yuancuo born 1182, duke 1191, magistrate 1197. The same page says the Jin recognised Kong Duancao as acting duke (1128), restored the name Qufu in the 1140s, and made the dukedom and the Qufu magistracy a joint hereditary grant when a duke came of age (17). The Jin's reasons given there (alliance against the Mongols) are a later reading.

Overlord

Emperor Zhangzong, through the Jin registers of monks and Daoists

What it holds

  • The Temple of Confucius at Qufu
  • The Kong Forest (the family cemetery)
  • The ducal mansion
  • The magistracy of Qufu county (from 1197)
  • The Kong estates and sacrificial fields (extent not known)

How it was acquired

The title Duke Yansheng dates from the Song (1055, as we recall); the Jin confirmed the northern line in 1128 and the hereditary magistracy in 1197 (English Wikipedia).

Allies and rivals

The northern and southern lines share the title and do not meet; the Jin court at Zhongdu is the patron; the Song court at Lin'an honours the southern line.

How things stand that morning

The duke is a youth of seventeen. The rites run; nothing known to me threatens the family or the temple in the winter of 1199-1200. Its power is moral and fiscal, not military.

Wealth

Sacrificial fields and estates, tax privileges (the page says the Kong family were exempt; not tied to the Jin), and the gifts of pilgrims. No figure.

Military

None; Qufu is guarded by the county's own posts.

Threats

  • A long minority at the head of the family
  • Floods on the Si and Yellow River plain to the south

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. 1214 to 1233, dates looseKong Yuancuo follows the Jin court toward Kaifeng after the Mongols take Zhongdu; cadet Kongs keep the rites at Qufu; the Song hold Qufu in 1225 and the Mongols come in 1226; in 1233 Ogedei confirms Yuancuo as Duke Yansheng; he lives until 1251.Depends on: The Mongol war that opens in 1211 and the Jin court leaving for Kaifeng; none of this has happened on 1 January 1200. Stopped by: A settlement with Temujin or peace in the north, which would leave the duke at Qufu.

Places of note

  • Temple of Confucius: The temple, with the pavilion of the 1190s over a Song-era dais.
  • Kong Forest: The family cemetery, north of the town (coordinates approximate).

Where the sources disagree

  • English Wikipedia gives 1197 for the grant of the Qufu magistracy and seventeen as the age at which a duke takes it up. For a duke born in 1182 these do not fit (he would be fifteen, or sixteen by the East Asian count). Not resolved: treat the 1197 date and the age of majority as unverified.
  • The campaign board entry id qufu: the note's Quzhou cousin is the southern line of the family; the Song side of the house belongs to the South China sheet (sch) and is mentioned here only for context.

Evidence: The Jinshi text could not be opened in this session; the dates below come from the English Wikipedia pages named in the sources and from memory, marked where unchecked.

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

On the map: A marker or a small disc: the house's lands and boundaries are not known.

Primary sources for Jin empire

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.

  • 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
  • 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
  • Essentials of the History of Goryeo, Kim Jong-seo (金宗瑞) and the Joseon history office (1452). The chronological companion to the Goryeosa, finished a year after it and drawing on the same lost records, sometimes with entries the Goryeosa omits. 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
  • Record of the Personal Campaigns of the Holy Warrior (Chinggis Khan) (presented to Khubilai in 1288, finished in Mongolian in 1290; the surviving Chinese version dates from 1369). A year-by-year Chinese account of Temujin's wars, drawn from the lost Altan Debter (the same source behind the Yuan shi's first chapter and Rashid al-Din). Read online
  • The Secret History of the Mongols (1228 or 1240 (the colophon's Year of the Rat is disputed), with later additions; the surviving Chinese transcription and gloss were made under the Ming in the 1380s). The only Mongol account of Temujin's rise, written within living memory. 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
  • 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

14 more in the sources library for North China and Manchuria.

Sources and studies

  1. Duke Yansheng (English Wikipedia)
  2. Jin dynasty (1115-1234) (English Wikipedia)
  3. Jinshi (History of the Jin), Benji of Zhangzong, Dili zhi, Hequ zhi, Shihuo zhi and Bing zhi (recalled from memory and the secondary literature; the text itself could not be opened in this session)

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