One of the Song's regional commands.
The Cuifeng (Vanguard-breaker) army is the Fuzhou force, with a water-army of river and coastal boats stationed at the Yanxiang stockade. It polices the Fujian coast and, as the best sea-going squad in the south-east, is lent to other circuits. In 1197 (Qingyuan 3) the Pacification Commissioner of Guangzhou, Qian Zhiwang, sent the Yanxiang Cuifeng water-army against the salt-makers of Dayushan (Lantau) after the Guangdong tea and salt commissioner Xu Anguo had gone after them: the soldiers took Xu Shaokui and others, killed the islanders and razed the island (the Hong Kong text, citing the Song sources).
300 men of the Cuifeng were then posted on Dayushan in rotation. The same book says that in Qingyuan 6 (from about 18 January 1200, so after our date) the post was cut and moved to Guanfu on the Kowloon shore, nearer Chaozhou, for easier control and relief (see the likely course). The figures are that book's.
Who he is
- Title
- Commander of the Fuzhou Cuifeng army (name not known); the water-army's station is the Yanxiang stockade (Yanxiang zhai) of Fuzhou
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No source available to me names the holder in the winter of 1199-1200.
Overlord
The Fujian Pacification Commissioner at Fuzhou
What it holds
- The Fuzhou-based water-army and the Yanxiang stockade
- A rotated detachment on Dayushan (Lantau) from 1197, moving to Guanfu in 1200
How it was acquired
A permanent command of the Song regional armies, raised after the 1130s.
Allies and rivals
The Guangzhou command, which used it; the Guangdong salt commissioner.
How things stand that morning
On 1 January 1200 the Lantau post is still held, on the evidence of the book's date for the move (Qingyuan 6). The move would fall from about 18 January onward.
Military
The water-army's boats and marines; 300 men at Lantau by the book's figure.
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.
- Qingyuan 6 (1200)The Lantau garrison is reduced and moved to Guanfu.Depends on: Orders from the Guangzhou command Stopped by: A fresh rising on the islands
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: One Hong Kong history text that follows the Song sources; it gives the dates and the officials' names. The Cuifeng army itself is a known Song command.
On the map: The two circles mark the sites named in the book; the army's home station at Fuzhou is not drawn.
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
- Hong Kong history text on the Song salt fields, Dayushan (Lantau) and Tuen Mun (Joint Publishing HK, ISBN 9789620448010, section on the Song Guanfu salt field)
- Wikipedia, "History of Hong Kong under Imperial China"
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.