Gao of Shanchan

Who he is

Name

not known for 1 January 1200

Title

Lord of Shanchan fu for the Gao

Since

not known

Born

not known

Family

the Guanyin branch of the Gao

Confidence

low

The English Wikipedia summary of the Yuan and Ming accounts; the Chinese pages on Gao Taiming and the Shanchan fu.

Overlord

the Gao chancellor, and in form the Duan king

What it holds

• Shanchan fu: the Dian lake plain, the old Nanzhao eastern city of Tuodong (founded 765), roughly the counties of modern Kunming, Yiliang, Lufeng and Songming (Chinese Wikipedia)
• Baiya (Midu), on the road from the capital to Weichu
• The market of the thirty-seven bu

How it was acquired

Gao Mingqing was posted to Shanchan in 1111; the Guanyin branch made it its base before 1174.

Allies and rivals

Rival of the Yucheng branch at the capital; master of the Yi bu who trade at Shanchan.

How things stand that morning

The feud with Yucheng is over; the Gao of Shanchan keep the eastern capital. Their chief's name is not known.

Wealth

Market tolls, the Dian lake fisheries and rice, the road to the Song and to Dai Viet.

Military

Garrison and levies of the fu and the neighbouring bu; no figure.

Threats

• The Yi bu of the east
• A fresh feud when the king changes

Places of note

• Shanchan (Kunming): Shanchan.
• Midu (Baiya): Baiya, the Guanyin branch's other base (Midu).

Where the sources disagree

• The name Kunming is later (Shanchan until the Yuan Zhongqing); we write Shanchan.

Evidence: Branch names and 1174 from English Wikipedia; 1111 from the Chinese page on Gao Taiming; nothing for 1199.

On the map: The units are modern Kunming's districts; the Dali fu was this and parts of Lufeng and Yiliang.

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