Shandong East takes in the eastern half of the province: Yidu fu (Qingzhou) on the Mi river as its seat, Jinan fu with its springs in the west, Zizhou, Weizhou, Mizhou and Juzhou on the road south-east, Binzhou on the Bohai shore and Dizhou on the plain behind it, and the Jiaodong peninsula with Laizhou, Dengzhou and Ninghai zhou, with Yizhou (Linyi) in the far south.
It lives by salt (the Shandong salt commission), by the harbours of Dengzhou and Mizhou (Jiaoxi) that face the Song across the sea, by silk and grain, and by the Quanzhen community round Qixia and Ninghai. It is the Jin's sea frontier: the Jin war fleet was destroyed by the Song fleet in 1161 (English Wikipedia's Jin-Song wars page names the battle Caishi; we recall a separate battle at Tangdao on this coast, which we have not checked), and the Song's coast lies across the water to the south.
Who holds it
- Title
- Circuit officers: the Transport commissioner, the Provincial Surveillance commissioner and the yin of Yidu 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
- Yidu fu (circuit seat), Jinan fu, Zizhou, Weizhou, Mizhou, Yizhou (Linyi), Juzhou, Laizhou, Dengzhou, Ninghai zhou, Binzhou, Dizhou
How it was acquired
Taken by the Jin in 1127-30 and ruled through Liu Yu's Qi from 1130 to 1137, then directly (English Wikipedia on Qi, recalled).
Allies and rivals
Neighbours: Shandong West to the west, Hebei East at the delta, Haizhou and the Huai frontier to the south (ncn), the Song across the sea.
How things stand that morning
Peace; the sea frontier is quiet. Qiu Chuji's Taixu guan at Qixia and the Quanzhen houses of Ninghai are described in the religious records, which say that the standing of the order after the ban of 1191 is not pinned; nothing known to me of unrest in the winter of 1199-1200.
Wealth
Salt (the Shandong salt commission, see Salt commissions), silk, grain, the sea trade of Dengzhou and Mizhou. The campaign board marks Yidu, Zizhou, Dengzhou and Jiaoxi as staple towns.
Military
Coast stations and the harbour of Dengzhou; the Jin war fleet was lost to the Song in 1161 (battle names in the summary); Jurchen colonies on the plain. No figure.
Threats
- Smuggling and raids from the sea
- Salt riots in a famine year
- Floods at the delta
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.
- 1214 onward, dates looseThe Red Coat risings (Yang An'er, Li Quan) overrun Shandong East during the Mongol war; Li Quan holds much of it as a warlord until 1231.Depends on: The Mongol war and the Jin's failure to relieve the peasants; the Red Coats are not formed on 1 January 1200. Stopped by: Peace on the northern border and good harvests.
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board lists Ji'nan under Shandong East but all its counties (Changqing, Linyi, Qihe, Yucheng, Zhangqiu) under Shandong West. We follow the seat and the Song arrangement, in which Qizhou (Jinan) belonged to the eastern circuit, and put Jinan fu with its counties in Shandong East at medium confidence (Jinan fu).
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 Haizhou side of the south coast belongs to the Henan researcher.
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
- Jin dynasty (1115-1234) (English Wikipedia)
- Jin-Song wars (English Wikipedia)
- 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)
- OMNIA board places for nch (lead only)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.