When the Northern Song fell in 1127 the emperor's relatives were scattered; the court re-established the external clan offices in the south, and the Southern office was placed at Quanzhou (our recollection: about 1138).
It governs the Zhao clansmen who live there: their stipends and ranks, their schools, the registers of births and marriages, and their disputes. The clan grew with every generation and became a force in the city, as landowners and as investors in overseas ships, which is part of why the Song tried to regulate its members' trade. Zhao Rukuo, born in 1170, belonged to the clan (an eighth-generation descendant in the Wikipedia account) and entered the service in 1190; he is the later superintendent and author of the Zhufan zhi.
The head of the office on 1 January 1200 is not known.
Who he is
- Title
- Head of the Southern External Imperial Clan Office (zhi Nanwai zongzheng shi), a senior Zhao clansman
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No source available to me names the holder in the winter of 1199-1200.
Overlord
The Imperial Clan Court (Da zongzheng si) at Lin'an
What it holds
- The Zhao clan households of Quanzhou and their stipends
- The clan school, registers and clan court
- Clan lands and houses in the city
How it was acquired
Moved to Quanzhou under Gaozong after 1127 (date not re-checked).
Allies and rivals
The prefect and the superintendent, who must reckon with it; the Western clan office at Fuzhou; the great merchant families.
How things stand that morning
Settled and numerous. No number is given here: the Song counts are for particular years.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Known to me from the general history of the Song clan and from Zhao Rukuo's biography; we could not fetch a source for the founding date or numbers.
On the map: A point at Quanzhou.
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.