Duan Zhilian

Who he is

Name

Duan Zhilian

Title

Prince, the heir by the lists

Since

not known as prince; king from 1200 on the lists

Born

not known

Family

son of Duan Zhixing; elder brother of Duan Zhixiang (Chinese Wikipedia, 段智祥)

Confidence

low

Only the Chinese Wikipedia pages on the three kings, which rest on Ming and Qing compilations.

Overlord

Duan Zhixing

What it holds

• No fief or office is known for him before 1200.

Allies and rivals

His brother Duan Zhixiang, who follows him; the Gao chancellors, who decide how much he reigns.

How things stand that morning

A prince at court on 1 January 1200. Whether he was already the declared heir is not shown.

Threats

• A Gao choice of his brother or another prince

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.

In 1200

1. 1200, month not pinnedBecomes king on his father's death or abdication.Depends on: Duan Zhixing's end of reign. Stopped by: A different succession.
2. 1200 to 1204, not pinnedA modern Chinese compilation says he sent envoys to the Song for the Buddhist Canon (1,465 volumes) and housed it in the Wuhua tower; we found no source.Depends on: The compilation being right. Stopped by: It is unverified.

Later, on the likely course

1. 1204 or 1205His reign ends; Duan Zhixiang succeeds.Depends on: The lists being right. Stopped by: A different succession.

Places of note

• Yangjumie (Dali Old Town area): The court.

Where the sources disagree

• The Chinese 段智廉 page is internally inconsistent (it names an accession in August of a 'Duan Zhengxing'); we use only the reign years and the era names.

Evidence: One page of unnamed sources and the lists.

On the map: No holding; a person 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