A hill town on the tongue of land between the Jialing and the Yangtze, the old Jiangzhou and Yuzhou, called Gongzhou before 1189.
In that year Guangzong, who had been Prince of Gong, took the throne, and the court raised the prefecture to Chongqing fu: the name is the double celebration (Chongqing University's history page; The Paper). It is a river port of the east of the basin. The Jialing brings down the silk, salt and grain of the north and the Yangtze the produce of the upper river, and boats leave from here for Kuizhou and Hubei.
It is a trading prefecture, not yet the army base and refuge it becomes in the 1240s.
Who holds it
- Title
- Prefect (zhifu) of Chongqing fu
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No source we have names him for 1200.
Lord in 1200
The prefect of Chongqing fu (name not known for 1200), under the transport commissioner of the Kuizhou circuit.
Overlord
The emperor Ningzong, through the circuit commissioners and the Sichuan Zhizhi commissioner at Chengdu.
What the town holds
- The river city and its near land (the tierra)
- The quays of the two rivers
How it was acquired
Not applicable: an ordinary prefecture town of the Song.
Allies and rivals
Works the river with Kuizhou below it and Hezhou above; no known quarrel.
How things stand that morning
Quiet. Eleven years a Chongqing fu, and still called Gongzhou in older papers. The prefect is a civil official; the army commands are far to the north.
Wealth
River trade; no figures.
Military
The prefecture's garrison; no army command is based here in 1200.
Threats
- Floods at the confluence.
- The southern Man of Nanping and Qianzhou on the roads to Guizhou.
Charter
None. A Song prefectural town has no charter; the prefect and his clerks rule it.
Council
No town council. The prefect, the county magistrate and the clerks rule; no headman, judge or leading family is named in any source we have.
Communities
Not known. No foreign quarter is known.
Militia
Not known: the prefecture's garrison and levy; no source we have gives a figure.
Walls and castle
Walled on the cliff above the two rivers. The great rebuilding of the walls under Peng Daya in the 1240s lies in the future; the present wall's age and shape are not known.
Trade and crafts
Salt from the Fuzhou and Yun'an wells, rice, timber, silk, tea and medicine come to its two quays. The tolls and the volume of trade are not known.
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board has two Chongqing places: chongqing (this river city, raised in 1189, which agrees with the sources) and chongqingfu-chongzhou (Chongzhou on the Chengdu plain, raised in 1197 on the campaign board; that date is not confirmed here and is in the Chongqing fu (Chongzhou) record).
Evidence: The 1189 raising is from two Chinese web pages that cite the history; nothing specific to 1200 about the city was found.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
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
- Chongqing University, history of Chongqing page (1189, Chongqing Fu, double celebration)
- Huang Bo, Qidi Song dai Chongqing (The Paper, 20 Nov 2024): Gongzhou raised to Chongqing Fu in 1189 on Guangzong's former fief
- Songshi, Dili zhi 5 (juan 89), the four Sichuan circuits: recalled, NOT re-read (zh.wikisource and ctext were unreachable in this session)
- OMNIA board, notes_scc.txt (a lead, not a source)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.