Salt is the first revenue of Dali.
The Heijing (Black) well in the Longchuan gorge in Weichu fu is the richest and has been worked since the Han; Baiyanjing (White Salt well) lies in the Tongshi fu country; the Yunlong group (Nuodeng and its fellows, the later Wuliangjing) lies on the Bi river gorge west of the capital. English Wikipedia says Nanzhao took the Yanyuan salt marshes in 754 and regulated the salt supply, and that Dali continued that practice (Huang 2020). The wells are worked by boilers, carriers and well-masters under officers of the fu; which families held the wells is not known.
Who he is
- Title
- Well-masters and salt officers
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
Wikipedia on Nanzhao; the campaign board's notes.
Overlord
the king and the Gao fiefs whose land the wells are on
What it holds
- Heijing (Weichu fu)
- Baiyanjing (Tongshi fu)
- The Yunlong (Nuodeng) wells
- Wells farther north are on the South China map's ground (Yanyuan)
How things stand that morning
Worked as in every year; no event dated.
Wealth
Salt is the chief commodity of the kingdom and is exchanged against horses, tea and cloth.
Places of note
- Heijing: Heijing.
- Baiyanjing (Shiyang, Dayao): Baiyanjing (about).
- Nuodeng: Nuodeng (Yunlong).
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Wikipedia's note on Nanzhao and the campaign board; we could not open a source on Dali-period well ownership.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: Points only.
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
- Wikipedia, Nanzhao (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.