Sizhou is the Tian family's seat in what is now Cengong, in the east of Guizhou (the Qianzhong country).
In 1107 the chief Tian Yougong acquiesced in Song overlordship and Sizhou came under the jimi system. The line on Wikipedia's table runs Tian Shiru (to 1098), Tian Yougong (1098 to 1135), Tian Rurui (1135), Tian Zuheng (to 1224), Tian Zonghan (from 1224) and Tian Qingyu (to 1275). Sizhou, with Bozhou, is named in later usage as one of the Four Great Chiefdoms of Guizhou.
The page gives no events for 1150 to 1210.
Who he is
- Name
- Tian Zuheng
- Title
- Hereditary chief of Sizhou
- Since
- not pinned (his father Tian Rurui is dated from 1135)
- Born
- not known
- Family
- Son of Tian Rurui; grandson of Tian Yougong (1098 to 1135); his son Tian Zonghan succeeds in 1224
- Confidence
- low
Wikipedia's chieftain table for Sizhou gives Tian Zuheng as no. 16, dated "to 1224", with Tian Rurui from 1135 and no end date for him. Between 1135 and 1224 there is room for more than the two named reigns, so the holder in 1200 is only probable.
Overlord
The Song court (a jimi prefecture since 1107)
What it holds
- The prefecture of Sizhou round Cengong and the upper Wu river country
How it was acquired
By descent; Song recognition from 1107.
Allies and rivals
The Yang of Bozhou on the north-west; the Song prefects of Jinghu north.
How things stand that morning
Steady; no events recorded. Across the eastern edge the hills of the Wuxi Man and the Song prefectures of Hunan are scj's ground.
Where the sources disagree
- Sinan, named in the brief, is a later name for the Tian lands (independent from 1364); in 1200 the unit is Sizhou.
Evidence: One genealogy table for the Tian line; the line is well known.
On the map: A zone round Cengong.
Primary sources for Chiefs of the south-west
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.
- 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 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
- Miscellaneous Notes on Court and Country since the Jianyan Era, Li Xinchuan (李心傳) (first series 1202, second series 1216). A contemporary handbook of the Southern Song state, written in Sichuan by the historian Li Xinchuan and finished in its first part in 1202, two years after the start of 1200. 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
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.