Officers: prévôtés, bailiwicks, seneschals · The Southern Song of Zhao Kuo (Ningzong) · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Shibosi, Mingzhou

Mingzhou, raised to Qingyuan fu in 1195, is the Song's port for Japan and Goryeo and the seat of the Liangzhe maritime trade superintendency (shibosi).

Ships of Japan and Goryeo and the Chinese ships that sail to Hakata and to Goryeo come to the harbour on the Yong river; the superintendent registers cargoes, takes the customs share (a fraction of cargo, in kind), buys part of the rest at official price and gives the licences for Chinese ships. The 7th month of 1199 order forbidding Goryeo and Japanese merchants to carry off copper cash shows what the trade costs the currency. The Japanese monk Eisai sailed from here in 1191, and the Tiantong and Ayuwang monasteries behind the city are where the Japanese pilgrims study.

The head and his staff are not named for 1200; the income figures are not given.

Who he is

Name
Not known for 1 January 1200
Title
Maritime trade superintendent (tiju shibo), Liangzhe
Since
not pinned
Confidence
low

Institutional knowledge only; the chronicle gives only the 1199 order on copper cash.

Overlord

The Ministry of Revenue; the circuit commissioners.

What it holds

  • The customs sheds and warehouses at the Yong river harbour
  • The right to license and to buy at official price
  • The Goryeo and Japan reception hostels (the 'Goryeo hostel' and 'Japan' quarters are usual in the sources, not re-checked here)

How it was acquired

Mingzhou's superintendency dates from the 990s.

Allies and rivals

The Shi family of Mingzhou, the prefect of Qingyuan fu, the shipowners.

How things stand that morning

In operation.

Wealth

Customs and forced purchase of foreign goods; no figures.

Military

None; the Dinghai squadron guards the approach.

Threats

  • Smuggling
  • Currency strain

Places of note

  • Mingzhou harbour: Yong river harbour, customs

Where the sources disagree

  • The campaign board calls the port Mingzhou (Ningbo); the 1200 form is Qingyuan fu (Mingzhou).

Evidence: The office is certain; the holder and revenue are not known.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

On the map: Marker.

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

  1. Songshi quanwen (Song shi quan wen), juan 29 shang, Ningzong annals Qingyuan 1 to 6 (zh.wikisource, Siku edition)
  2. General knowledge of Song administrative and economic history (Hartwell, Von Glahn, Smith and Twitchett eds., Cambridge History of China vol. 5 part 2), not re-checked line by line in this pass

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