The prefect of Fuzhou is also the Pacification Commissioner of the whole circuit, so he commands the Fuzhou garrison and the coastal fleet and speaks for Fujian to the court.
Two recent holders show how important the post is: Zhao Ruyu governed Fuzhou before he became chancellor in 1194 (he was dismissed that year, exiled and died in 1196), and the poet and soldier Xin Qiji was prefect and Pacification Commissioner from 1192 to 1194 (the usual dates; we have not re-read them) before his dismissal. Who holds the post on 1 January 1200 is not known. The city is a river port some tens of kilometres up the Min from the sea, a ship-building and lychee town with great Chan monasteries on Gushan and Xuefeng and, since the Imperial Clan moved south, one of the two seats of the clan offices outside the capital.
Who he is
- Title
- Prefect of Fuzhou (zhi Fuzhou) and Fujian Pacification Commissioner (anfu shi)
- 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
What it holds
- The city and county of Fuzhou, the Min and Houguan counties
- Command of the Fuzhou garrison and the Cuifeng army
- The Fuzhou harbour and ship-yards
- The circuit's military authority as Pacification Commissioner
How it was acquired
By appointment from Lin'an.
Allies and rivals
The Western Imperial Clan Office in the city; the Fujian Transport Commissioner; the Chan monasteries; the school of Zhu Xi (whose pupil Huang Gan is a Fuzhou man).
How things stand that morning
Peaceful. The city is under the Qingyuan ban on the "false learning" but the school's Fuzhou pupils are numerous.
Wealth
Trade on the Min, shipping to Quanzhou and the Yangtze, lychees and oranges, lacquer, paper, salt and the tax of a populous circuit.
Military
The prefect's garrison, the Cuifeng army and its water-army detachments (one of which was sent to Lantau in 1197), the coast stockades.
Threats
- Sea raiding
- Grain riots
- Court politics: the Han Tuozhou ban on Zhu Xi's followers
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 Fuzhou Cuifeng detachment on Lantau is cut and moved to Guanfu.Depends on: Orders from the Guangzhou command, per the Hong Kong text Stopped by: A new rising
Where the sources disagree
- Board "fuzhou-min": "lychees, lacquer and a harbour of ocean junks": agreed.
Evidence: The post and its two famous holders of 1190 to 1194 are well attested; the holder of 1199-1200 is not named in the sources we could read.
On the map: A point at Fuzhou.
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, "Xin Qiji"
- Wikipedia, "Han Tuozhou"
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.