Daming circuit (circuit, prefecture or people) in 1200, Jin empire

The Daming circuit is the south-eastern corner of Hebei, between the Taihang piedmont and the Shandong boundary: Daming fu in the middle, Enzhou to the north, Puzhou (Juancheng) in the south by the old Yellow River channels, and the counties of Guantao and Weixian.

Daming was the Song's Northern Capital (Beijing) and the first capital of Liu Yu's puppet state of Qi (founded 1130 and abolished 1137, as we recall) before Liu Yu moved the capital to Kaifeng in 1132. The Jin kept it as a great fu with Jurchen households on the land. The old Yellow River channels of the early 1100s run through its south and east; the main river turned south in 1128 (English Wikipedia), so they are dry or nearly so.

Who holds it

Title: Circuit officers: the Transport commissioner, the Provincial Surveillance commissioner and the yin of Daming fu with the military command, none named
Confidence: low

No source we could open names the officeholder on 1 January 1200.

Overlord

Emperor Zhangzong, through the Department of State Affairs and the circuit commissions

What it holds

Daming fu (circuit seat), Enzhou, Puzhou, with the counties of Guantao and Weixian

How it was acquired

Taken by the Jin in the invasions of 1126-27; Liu Yu's puppet Qi had its first capital here from 1130 to 1132 and was abolished by the Jin in 1137 (English Wikipedia on Qi, recalled), after which Daming was ruled directly.

Allies and rivals

Neighbours: Hebei West and East, Shandong West, and the Henan circuits across the river (ncn).

How things stand that morning

Quiet interior ground. The main river has run south of this plain since 1128. Nothing known to me of unrest in the winter of 1199-1200.

Wealth

The grain and cloth of the plain; the Daming staple trade (the campaign board marks Daming as staple).

Military

County and prefectural garrisons, with the Jurchen colonies of the plain (see Jurchen colonies of the plain); no figure.

Threats

Silted old river channels and floods
Famine in dry years

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.

1213 to 1214Mongol columns reach Daming and the plain; local warlords hold it afterwards.Depends on: The Mongol war that opens in 1211. Stopped by: A settlement with Temujin or his defeat before 1211.

Where the sources disagree

The campaign board puts Puzhou in Daming circuit; we recall the Dili zhi giving Puzhou to Shandong West. We keep the campaign board's grouping and mark it unsure.

Evidence: The seat, rank and county names are the OMNIA board's, checked against general knowledge of the Jin Dili zhi. The Jinshi text could not be opened in this session, so county lists, ranks and promotions are not verified, and no prefect or commissioner is dated for 1 January 1200.

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

On the map: A rough outline; the circuit's real edges are not pinned and the Puzhou side may belong to Shandong West.

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

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