A Song circuit (lu) has no governor.
It has several parallel commissioners who each answer to the court: the Transport Commissioner (zhuanyun shi) for taxes in cash, grain and goods and the shipment of rice, silver and paper to Lin'an; the Judicial Commissioner (tidian xingyu) for courts, prisons and the watch on prefects; the Ever-Normal Commissioner (tiju changping) for the granaries, relief and the land survey; the commissioners of tea and of salt; and at the circuit capital the Pacification Commissioner (anfu shi), who is the prefect of Fuzhou and holds the circuit's military power. Fujian is one of the richest and most crowded circuits of the empire and chronically short of grain: it lives on rice shipped in from Guangnan East and the lower Yangtze and pays in tea, salt, silk, paper, silver and cash. These offices are where a prefect's complaint, a salt riot or a tea-merchant's licence is decided.
No holder is named for 1 January 1200 in any source we could read.
Who he is
- Title
- The commissioners (jiansi) of Fujian circuit, none named for that winter
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No source available to me names the holder in the winter of 1199-1200.
Overlord
The Song court at Lin'an
What it holds
- Supervision of the eight units: Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Jianning fu, Nanjian zhou, Tingzhou, Zhangzhou, Shaowu jun and Xinghua jun
- The tea monopoly of the Jian'an Beiyuan gardens and the Fujian licence trade
- The salt fields of the Fujian coast
- The Quanzhou maritime trade (the superintendency is a separate office)
How it was acquired
Offices of the Song civil service, filled by appointment from Lin'an for terms of about three years.
Allies and rivals
The commissioners check the prefects and each other; the Pacification Commissioner at Fuzhou outranks the prefects militarily. Local great families, the Imperial Clan offices at Quanzhou and Fuzhou, and the Zhu Xi circle of scholars are the powers they must manage.
How things stand that morning
The circuit is quiet. The Qingyuan ban on the "false learning" of Zhu Xi's school is in force and bears on Fujian more than on any other circuit, because Jianyang, Jianning and Zhangzhou are the heart of the school. No Fujian rising is recorded for the winter.
Wealth
Tea, books and paper, ceramics, sugar, lacquer, salt, silver and iron, ship-building and the overseas trade of Quanzhou and Fuzhou.
Military
No circuit army of its own: the Fuzhou Pacification Commissioner commands the Fuzhou garrison and the Cuifeng army, the coastal stockades and the Penghu summer post. Figures are not given.
Threats
- Grain shortage and local riot
- Salt and tea smuggling on the Tingzhou-Meizhou-Ganzhou hills
- Sea raiders of the Pisheye kind on the Quanzhou coast
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The offices and duties are standard Song administration (Songshi, Zhiguan zhi); no holder is dated for the winter.
On the map: A point at Fuzhou; the circuit's land is drawn by the eight prefecture records.
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
- Songshi (History of the Song), Dili zhi, juan 89 and 90 (Fujian, Guangnan East and West); recalled from the standard text, not re-read for this record
- Wikipedia, "Economy of the Song dynasty"
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.