After the Xia's submission to the Jin in 1124 the two courts agreed licensed markets on the frontier, where Tangut salt, horses and sheep were traded against Jin silk, tea and coin under officers who taxed the trade.
From memory the markets stood at Baoan, Lan zhou, Dongsheng, Suide and Huan zhou, under the Fuyan command at Yan'an and the Qingyuan command at Qingyang; we could not check the full list. One dated fact is checked (Wikipedia, Western Xia): the Jurchens closed the border markets at Lanzhou and Baoan in 1172 and would not reopen them until 1197, though the same article says they reopened one market in 1181 after Tangut border raids grew, so which market that was is not pinned. On 1 January 1200 the Lan zhou and Baoan markets have therefore been open again for about three years.
The market officers are not named in any source we could read.
Who he is
- Title
- Market officers (quanchang shi) at Baoan, Huan zhou, Lan zhou and Dongsheng
- Since
- not pinned
- Confidence
- low
No source consulted dates the office-holder for the winter of 1199-1200.
Overlord
The Jin emperor Zhangzong at Zhongdu, through the Department of State Affairs
What it holds
- The Jin side of the Xia frontier markets at Baoan, Huan zhou, Lan zhou and Dongsheng
How it was acquired
By appointment of the Jin court; the date of the present appointment is not known.
Allies and rivals
The Xia's frontier prefects across the line. Wikipedia (Western Xia) records a 1191 incident: Tangut herdsmen strayed into Jin land, were chased off by a Jin patrol and killed its pursuing officer in an ambush; the Xia king Renzong refused to hand them over but promised punishment, and the article does not give the outcome. The Xia king in 1200 is Huanzong, on the throne since 1193 (the Tarim sheet writes him).
How things stand that morning
The markets are open and the frontier is at peace; the Lan zhou and Baoan markets have been open again since 1197. Names of the officers not known.
Wealth
The revenue of the office comes from the circuit's taxes in kind and the frontier tolls; no figures are given by any source we could read.
Military
The circuit garrison of Jin soldiers and settled Jurchen meng'an and mouke households; no numbers are given by any source we could read.
Threats
- None specific known for the winter of 1199-1200.
Places of note
- Baoan: Licensed Jin-Xia market
- Huan zhou: Licensed Jin-Xia market
- Lan zhou: Licensed Jin-Xia market
- Dongsheng: Licensed Jin-Xia market
Where the sources disagree
- The assignment lists Huanzhou, Qingyang and Yan'an among the frontier markets. We take Qingyang and Yan'an as the commands that supervise the markets at Huan zhou and Baoan, not as market towns themselves; that is a reading, not a source.
- The campaign board (baoan-market) speaks of "the four licensed markets of the Jin and Xia frontier"; we list five by memory (Baoan, Lan zhou, Dongsheng, Suide, Huan zhou), of which Suide lies on the Tarim sheet's ground. The number and list are not checked.
Evidence: The existence and general role of this office follow the standard Jin administrative accounts (the Jinshi Baiguan zhi and Dili zhi, via the secondary literature). We could not open the Jinshi text in this session. No source we could read names the holder in the winter of 1199-1200, so the holder 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: Discs round the market towns; the markets are points of trade, not districts.
Primary sources for Jin empire
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.
- 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
- 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
- Essentials of the History of Goryeo, Kim Jong-seo (金宗瑞) and the Joseon history office (1452). The chronological companion to the Goryeosa, finished a year after it and drawing on the same lost records, sometimes with entries the Goryeosa omits. 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
- Record of the Personal Campaigns of the Holy Warrior (Chinggis Khan) (presented to Khubilai in 1288, finished in Mongolian in 1290; the surviving Chinese version dates from 1369). A year-by-year Chinese account of Temujin's wars, drawn from the lost Altan Debter (the same source behind the Yuan shi's first chapter and Rashid al-Din). Read online
- The Secret History of the Mongols (1228 or 1240 (the colophon's Year of the Rat is disputed), with later additions; the surviving Chinese transcription and gloss were made under the Ming in the 1380s). The only Mongol account of Temujin's rise, written within living memory. 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
- 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
14 more in the sources library for North China and Manchuria.
Sources and studies
- Jinshi (History of the Jin), juan 24 to 26, Dili zhi (geography); cited from the standard reference, the text itself could not be opened in this session
- Wikipedia, Western Xia
- Wikipedia, Timeline of the Tanguts
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.