Yongchang governors

Who he is

Title

Governors (fu officials) of Yongchang and Tengchong for the Gao

Since

not known

Born

not known

Family

Gao officials (English Wikipedia)

Confidence

low

English Wikipedia (Dali Kingdom) and the Chinese Wikipedia pages on Baoshan and Tengchong, which give no names.

Overlord

the Gao chancellor

What it holds

• Yongchang fu (Baoshan, Shidian, Longling, Changning)
• Tengchong fu (Tengchong)
• The Lancang crossing and the market of the Jinchi tribes
• The Bonan road to Burma

How it was acquired

Nanzhao set the Yongchang command west of the Lancang; Dali turned it into a fu late in its history and set Ruanhua fu at Tengchong, later renamed Tengchong fu (Chinese Wikipedia on Baoshan; no years given).

Allies and rivals

The Jinchi chiefs (tributary); the Mong Mao lords across the Gaoligong; Pagan, with which no contact is recorded.

How things stand that morning

Quiet as far as any source shows since the revolts of 1150.

Wealth

The caravan road, the Jinchi tribute (gold, elephants, horses are the usual lists; none dated for 1200), rice of the basins.

Military

Garrisons on the passes; the Tengchong command was the frontier command.

Threats

• A new revolt of the western tribes
• The road to Burma closing

Places of note

• Baoshan (Yongchang): Yongchang.
• Tengchong: Tengchong.
• Yongping (Bonan road): The Bonan road crossing the Lancang at Yongping (about).

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: One year (1150) and the name of the offices.

On the map: Modern county units.

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