Outside the west wall of the city, along the river, lies the quarter where foreign merchants live under their own headman, with their mosque (the Huaisheng mosque and its minaret, see the religious record), their cemetery and their own law for quarrels among themselves; serious crimes and cases that touch Chinese go to the Chinese courts.
Wikipedia says that Muslims dominated the foreign trade of the Song, that foreign Muslims increasingly settled for good and intermarried, and names Pu and Shi merchants among them. The merchants include Arabs, Persians, Indians (Tamil and others), people of Champa and Srivijaya and other South-Seas ports. The Chinese keep them apart, tax them lightly and profit from them heavily.
Who he is
- Title
- Headman of the foreign merchants of Guangzhou (fanzhang)
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- The Pu family of Guangzhou, descended on Wikipedia's account from the Arab envoy-merchant Abu Ali who reached the court in 1031 and settled at Guangzhou, is the best-known merchant house of the foreign quarters; the same page also gives a Pu from Champa and a Shi from Sumatra among the leading merchants of Guangzhou and Quanzhou
- Confidence
- low
Not known. The headman was one of the foreign merchants themselves, confirmed by the Superintendent (our recollection of the twelfth-century accounts, not re-read).
Overlord
The Superintendent of Maritime Trade and the Guangzhou prefect
What it holds
- Authority over the foreign community's ships' crews, dues and internal quarrels
- The quarter's mosque, school and cemetery
How it was acquired
Not dated in the sources we could read.
Allies and rivals
The Superintendent; the Pu and Shi merchant houses; the Quanzhou quarter, which is growing.
How things stand that morning
Settled and prosperous. Numbers are not given: the sources that give figures are for particular years or particular incomers.
Places of note
- The fan quarter: On the river outside the west gate
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Known from Wikipedia's summary of modern work and from recollection of Song writers (Zhu Yu, c.1119; Zhou Qufei, 1178); no page fetched names a Guangzhou headman or dates the quarter's rules.
On the map: A point at Guangzhou.
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
- Wikipedia, "Islam during the Song dynasty"
- Wikipedia, "Huaisheng Mosque"
- Zhou Qufei, Lingwai daida (1178), described in Wikipedia, "Lingwai Daida"
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.