Qinzhou on the Gulf of Tonkin is where Dai Viet's merchants and the junks of the Southern Seas meet the Song.
A licensed market (boyi chang) here is the sea counterpart of the overland market on the Yongping stockade. Zhou Qufei served at Qinzhou as Educational Commissioner and questioned traders, sailors and interpreters there; his Lingwai daida (1178) is the main source for the foreign countries as the Song knew them in the twelfth century (Wikipedia, "Lingwai Daida"). The Dan boat people of the gulf fish and dive there (Wikipedia, "Boat Dwellers", on fish, oyster and wood Dan of Qinzhou).
The prefect watches both the Annam border on the Bac Luan river and the sea. The prefect of 1 January 1200 is not known.
Who he is
- Title
- Prefect of Qinzhou (zhi Qinzhou)
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No source available to me names the holder in the winter of 1199-1200.
Overlord
The Pacification Commissioner of Guangnan West
What it holds
- Qinzhou and the licensed market
- The coast of the gulf to the Annam border
How it was acquired
Appointment.
Allies and rivals
The Dai Viet border officers at the Bac Luan; the Dan; the Yongzhou command.
How things stand that morning
Open. The Dai Viet court takes investiture from the Song (the title King of Annam, granted in 1164 by our recollection); trade is allowed under licence. Across the Bac Luan river the ground is Dai Viet's (Vinh An, now Mong Cai; msa's sheet).
Places of note
- Qinzhou: The sea market
Where the sources disagree
- Board "vinh-an-mong-cai" is in this sheet's own file but stands at 21.53 N, 107.97 E, on the Vietnamese bank of the Bac Luan river (modern Mong Cai), which the ownership tool gives to the msa sheet. It is covered here only as the far side of the Qinzhou market; the msa researcher should write the place itself.
Evidence: The market and Zhou Qufei's post are attested; the prefect is not known.
On the map: A point at Qinzhou.
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
- Zhou Qufei, Lingwai daida (1178), described in Wikipedia, "Lingwai Daida"
- Wikipedia, "Boat Dwellers"
- Wikipedia, "Song-Dai Viet war" (aftermath, 1082-1084 border settlement)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.