Maozhou is the Song's northernmost post on the upper Min, a stockade town at modern Maoxian where the river comes out of the Qiang and Tibetan mountains.
The Song hold the walls, the market and the river road down to Weizhou and the Chengdu plain; the villages round it, with their stone towers, keep their own headmen, who take Song titles in the old loose-rein manner (general frontier pattern, recalled). The Qiang and Tibetans buy salt, cloth and tea here and bring herbs, musk, furs, hemp and a few horses. We know of no revolt, campaign or Buddhist house at Maozhou in the winter of 1199-1200.
Who he is
- Title
- Prefect (zhizhou) of Maozhou, with the garrison commander
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No source we could reach names the prefect for 1 January 1200; prefects held short terms. The South China sheet reached the same result.
Overlord
The Emperor Ningzong (reigned 1194-1224) through the Sichuan Pacification and Control Commissioner and the Chengdufu circuit commissioners at Chengdu (South China sheet, Circuit commissioners).
What it holds
- The walled town and market of Maozhou
- The Min valley road from Maozhou down to Weizhou
- The right to give titles to headmen and to license trade (general pattern)
How it was acquired
An old Tang prefecture kept by the Song; no date for the Song stockade.
Allies and rivals
The Qiang and Tibetan village headmen (clients, with feuds among themselves); Weizhou downriver; the Fan of the Songpan valleys to the north.
How things stand that morning
Frontier prefecture at peace as far as any source shows. Prefect not known.
Wealth
Tea, salt and cloth sold up the valley; herbs, musk, furs and hemp bought; no figures.
Military
Local garrison and militia under the prefect; the Sichuan field armies are elsewhere (Xingyuan army and others). No numbers.
Threats
- A Qiang feud spilling on to the road (nothing dated)
- Tibetan raiders from the Songpan side (nothing dated)
Places of note
- Maozhou (Maoxian): Prefecture seat.
Where the sources disagree
- The South China sheet (Maozhou, Weizhou, Maozhou, Upper Min chiefs, Songpan tribes) writes the same ground at its assignment's request, although the ownership tool gives it to this sheet. We agree with its facts (no revolt or campaign known for the winter, no chief named, no Buddhist house known) and add the frontier-people layer.
- The campaign board entry maozhou: 'the stockade prefecture among the Qiang villages of the upper Min gorge'. Agreed.
Evidence: Place and role from the Song's administrative record as relayed by the South China sheet and the campaign board; nothing specific to 1 January 1200.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: Rough drawing; the sources give no boundary.
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
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.