Jinchi (Gold Teeth) is the Chinese name for the Tai-speaking peoples of the basins west of the Lancang, from Yongchang to the Salween and the Shweli.
The Chinese Wikipedia on Dehong says that in the Dali period the area was part of the Yongchang and Tengyue Jinchi country. They farm wet rice in the basins and answer to the Dali governors of Yongchang and Tengchong with tribute; farther west they are Mong Mao's. No chief is named.
Who he is
- Title
- Chiefs of the Jinchi basins
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- Tai (Dai) lineages
- Confidence
- low
Chinese Wikipedia (德宏, 保山市).
Overlord
Dali, through the Gao governors of Yongchang and Tengchong
What it holds
- The Yongchang, Shidian, Longling and Changning basins
- Market of the Jinchi at Yongchang
How things stand that morning
Tributary; no event dated.
Places of note
- Baoshan (Yongchang): Yongchang, the Jinchi market.
Where the sources disagree
- Board 'jinchi-tribes' says 'Dai and Kachin peoples ... tributary to whichever is nearer'. We read no source for a Pagan tribute here; the Dali claim is supported only by the Yongchang and Tengyue lists.
Evidence: Two sentences of the Chinese Wikipedia.
On the map: Claimed ground; Jinchi chiefs govern the basins in fact.
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
Sources and studies
- Chinese Wikipedia, 德宏傣族景颇族自治州 (history section, read this session)
- Chinese Wikipedia, 保山市 (history section, read this session)
- OMNIA board, notes_msy.txt and places_msy.tsv (a lead, not a source)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.