The Qinling pass on the road from the Wei plain at Baoji to Hanzhong, in the west mountains of Baoji (Wikipedia gives 34.27 N, 107.01 E), some 23 km west-south-west of the city.
It is the western end of the line drawn at Shaoxing in 1141, when the Song gave up its claims north of the Qinling-Huai line, and kept in 1165. It is the 'Sanguan' of the assignment. Which side garrisons the pass itself in 1200 is not pinned, but the evidence leans to the Song: Song generals were stationed here against the Jin in 1131 (Wikipedia, Dasan Pass) and the Jin captured it only in late 1217 (Wikipedia, Jin-Song wars), and we know of no change in between that outlasted the 1206 to 1208 war.
We have therefore written the pass as a Song post, medium-low confidence, with the Jin watch below it on the Baoji side; the campaign may flip it.
Who holds it
- Title
- The Song commander of the Dasan pass post; name not known.
- Since
- not pinned
- Confidence
- low
No source consulted dates the office-holder for the winter of 1199-1200.
Lord in 1200
The Song commander of the Dasan pass post; name not known.
Overlord
The Southern Song court at Lin'an, through the commands of Sichuan
What the town holds
- Dasan Pass (Sanguan): the Qinling pass at the western end of the Jin-Song line
How things stand that morning
A watched pass at peace, most probably a Song post facing the Jin posts of the Baoji road. Names of the garrison officers not known.
Charter
none known: a Chinese prefectural city or county town with no municipal charter
Council
No town council. The commander of the pass post holds it for the Song with his garrison; his name is not known. (If the campaign turns the pass over to the Jin, the prefect of Fengxiang and Jurchen commanders hold it.)
Communities
Soldiers.
Fairs and markets
Markets and temple fairs on the usual Chinese pattern; none dated for this town.
Militia
No citizen militia; the garrison is the Song's own post, soldiers of the Sichuan commands, not numbered in any source we could read.
Walls and castle
A pass fort; nothing dated.
Trade and crafts
Customs tolls and the Jin-Song trade on the Baoji-Hanzhong road.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 14 June 1206 (Kaixi 2)The Song formally declares war on the Jin (14 June in Wikipedia, Jin-Song wars; the Timeline of the Jurchens gives 20 June). The sources we read do not say that the Dasan pass was fought over in 1206.Depends on: The Song war party under Han Tuozhou keeping power Stopped by: A settlement before then, or a change of ministry at Lin'an
- Late 1217The Jin captures the Dasan Pass (Wikipedia, Jin-Song wars).Depends on: The Jin opening a southern war in 1217 and the Song still holding the pass Stopped by: A settlement between the courts, or the Jin held down in the north
Where the sources disagree
- The assignment lists "Dasan, Sanguan, Wuguan"; Sanguan (San Pass) is the same pass as Dasan.
- Our first coordinates for the pass (34.12 N, 106.93 E, from memory) lay in Feng county, 17 km from the pass; we now use the position in Wikipedia (Dasan Pass).
- The regional brief says the line runs "through the Dasan pass" and the assignment asks for the Jin side "to the Dasan pass"; we read the pass as the last Song post and the Jin line as starting below it.
Evidence: Wikipedia (Dasan Pass, Jin-Song wars, Treaty of Shaoxing) read. The side that held the pass in 1200 is inferred from the 1131 and 1217 statements and is not directly attested; no source we could open names a garrison officer.
On the map: A point on the map.
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.