Hereditary lords · The Jin empire of Zhangzong · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Liaodong and Liaoxi meng'an and mouke

After the conquest the Jin settled Jurchen households in the Liaodong plain, the Xianping circuit and the Beijing circuit, and gave Khitan, Xi and Bohai their own meng'an and mouke as well.

The Liaodong plain is the best-farmed ground in the north-east and has the most mixed population. Quarrels between Jurchen holders and Han and Bohai tenants over the land survey (tuipai) are the main trouble. The Khitan units of the Beijing circuit, which the Jin do not trust, are scattered under Jurchen commanders.

Who he is

Title
Meng'an and mouke commanders of Dongjing, Xianping and Beijing circuits
Since
not pinned
Born
not known
Confidence
low

Jurchen households were planted across the former Liao lands after 1125. Names for 1200 are not in anything we could read.

Overlord

The liushou and commanders of Dongjing, Xianping and Beijing

What it holds

  • Jurchen villages on the Hun, Taizi and Liao plains
  • Khitan, Xi and Bohai units of the circuits (see the Khitan realm)

How things stand that morning

Settled, poor in places; the land survey (tuipai) of Zhangzong's reign and the confiscation of Han land (per English Wikipedia) cause friction.

Military

Jurchen, Bohai, Khitan and Xi units with Jurchen commanders (no figures).

Threats

  • Land disputes and debt
  • Khitan unrest

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The settlement pattern is known in general; we cannot give district names from sources we read.

On the map: Concentration only; households were mixed with others everywhere.

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

  1. Wikipedia: Jin dynasty (1115-1234) (read this session)
  2. Wikipedia: Jurchen people (read this session)
  3. Wikipedia: Emperor Zhangzong of Jin (read this session)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.