Guangnan West (Guangnan xi lu, roughly Guangxi, with Hainan and the Leizhou peninsula) is the Song's frontier circuit toward Dai Viet and the chiefs of the south-west.
Its Pacification Commissioner sits at Jingjiang fu, which is Guilin, among the karst peaks on the Li river, the end of the Lingqu canal that joins the Xiang system of Hunan to the Xi river system of the south. He commands the circuit's troops and stockades, watches the Zuojiang and Youjiang chiefs through the Yongzhou command, and directs the horse purchases. Two of his predecessors are famous because they wrote about the circuit: Fan Chengda, head of the circuit in the 1170s (the years are from our recollection), whose Guihai yuheng zhi is dated 1175 in our recollection, and his assistant Zhou Qufei, who served under him in Guilin and wrote the Lingwai daida in 1178 (Wikipedia, "Lingwai Daida").
The holder on 1 January 1200 is not known.
Who he is
- Title
- Prefect of Jingjiang fu and Pacification Commissioner of Guangnan West (zhi Jingjiang fu, jinglue 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
- Command of the circuit's military posts and the Jingjiang garrison
- Supervision of the Yongzhou command, the horse market at Hengshan and the Qinzhou market
- The Lingqu canal and the road to Hunan
How it was acquired
Appointment from Lin'an.
Allies and rivals
The Yongzhou prefect and frontier officers; the Hunan commissioners across the Lingqu; the chiefs of the Zuojiang and Youjiang; Dai Viet.
How things stand that morning
No war is recorded for the winter of 1199-1200. The border with Dai Viet has stood since the 1084 settlement.
Military
Jingjiang garrison, the stockade line along the Youjiang and Zuojiang, the local levies (tuding) of the dong. No figures.
Threats
- Hill risings of Yao and dong in the north of the circuit
- Salt and grain shortage
- Tension at the horse market
Places of note
- Lingqu canal: The canal that joins the Xiang to the Li river
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board writes the capital as "Jingjiang (Guilin)": agreed; the date at which Guilin became Jingjiang fu is not pinned in our sources.
Evidence: The circuit and its two writers are firmly attested; the holder of 1200 is not known.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: A point at Guilin.
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
- Zhou Qufei, Lingwai daida (1178), described in Wikipedia, "Lingwai Daida"
- 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
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.