Beside the Gao, the Wikipedia summary says the Duan granted hereditary fiefs to the Duan, Gao, Yang and Dong clans.
The Yang held the throne briefly (Yang Yizhen killed a Duan king in 1080 and took it, and was put down about four years later by a Gao); the Jianchuan Yang who founded the Dayining state in 929 (English Wikipedia, Nanzhao) may be the same house, which is our inference. Later tradition makes the Dong the old ministerial house of Duan Siping's time; we did not check it. Under the great houses stand the Bai land-holding and merchant families of the Erhai (Xizhou, Shaxi, Dengchuan) and the Azhali priestly lineages, who give Dali its officials, its monks and its caravan trade.
No individual is named for 1200.
Who he is
- Title
- Heads of the Bai great houses
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- Duan, Yang, Dong and the Bai lineages of the Erhai
- Confidence
- low
English Wikipedia (Dali Kingdom) and Chinese Wikipedia (大理国); nothing on persons for 1200.
Overlord
the Duan king
What it holds
- Hereditary fiefs and offices (not listed)
- Land and caravan trade of the Erhai valleys
Places of note
- Xizhou: Xizhou, a Bai market town north of the capital (about).
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Clan names only.
On the map: No drawing; a lineage record.
Primary sources for Dali
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.
- The Complete Annals of Dai Viet, Ngo Si Lien, drawing on Le Van Huu's Dai Viet su ky (1272) and Phan Phu Tien; continued by Pham Cong Tru and Le Hi (1479; printed 1697 in the standard Chinh Hoa edition). The main narrative source for Dai Viet in 1200, compiled in 1479 from Le Van Huu's lost history of 1272. 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
- The Unofficial History of Nanzhao, Yang Shen; revised by Hu Wei (16th century, revised 1775, from Dali and Yunnan traditions and lost local histories). The kingdom of Dali has no surviving text of 1200: its own records were destroyed in the Mongol conquest and after, and the Song shi's Dali entry ends in 1175. 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
- Draft Compilation of the Collected Statutes of the Song, Various; the Song huiyao were compiled by the Song state, the surviving draft reassembled by Xu Song from the Yongle dadian in the nineteenth century (the original Song compilations date from the eleventh to the thirteenth century; the surviving extracts were recovered in 1809 to 1820 and printed in 1936). Dated extracts from the Song government's own statute collections, arranged by office. Read online
- Notes in Answer to Questions about the Lands beyond the Passes, Zhou Qufei (周去非) (1178, after service in Guangxi). A Guangxi official's notes, written twenty years before 1200, on the south-western frontier of the Song and the countries beyond. Read online
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia, Dali Kingdom (read this session)
- Chinese Wikipedia, 大理国 (read this session: the eight fu, four jun, four zhen and thirty-seven bu; it cites Yang Shen's Dian zai ji, Wang Song's Yunnan beizhengzhi, Ni Lu's Nanzhao yeshi, the Baigu tongji qianshu)
- Wikipedia, Nanzhao (read this session)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.