Tang Songzhou, where Princess Wencheng was received in 641 (Wikipedia, Songpan County), was lost to Tibet in the 8th century and is not a Song post.
The Min, Fu and Black river headwaters round it are high grass valleys of Tibetan herders and Qiang villages, whom the Song call Fan and meet at Maozhou and at Longzhou. Songpan as a walled garrison and horse-and-tea market is the Ming's work; in 1200 the place is a trading ground on the herders' road, without a Song post. The assignment names 'the Song and the Fan tribes of Songpan': the honest finding is that the Fan are a power on the frontier, neither Song subjects nor allies by any document we could reach.
Who he is
- Title
- Chiefs of the Tibetan and Qiang tribes of the Songzhou valleys (the Song's 'Fan')
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No chief is named in any source we could reach. The South China sheet found none either.
Overlord
None. Any Song title is nominal (not pinned).
What it holds
- Pastures and passes of the Fu and upper Min headwaters
- Horse and yak herds sold at Maozhou and Longzhou
- Passage between Ngawa, Gyalrong and the Song edge
How it was acquired
By custom.
Allies and rivals
Trade with Maozhou; feuds with the Qiang below; kin of the Ngawa herders above.
How things stand that morning
No Song presence known; no incident known.
Wealth
Horses, yaks, furs, musk, herbs.
Military
Mounted herdsmen; no numbers.
Places of note
- Songpan (Songzhou): Trading ground; not a Song post.
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.
- Assignment and board treat Songpan as a Song town. We find no Song garrison there in 1200; so does the South China sheet (Songpan).
Evidence: Place and role only; the Ming founding of Songpan is the page's one dated fact.
On the map: Ground is drawn in the province record Songpan marches.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.