City · The Southern Song of Zhao Kuo (Ningzong) · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Fuzhou

Fuzhou lies on the lower Min some tens of kilometres from the sea, below the three hills that give it its by-name of Sanshan.

It was the capital of the Min kingdom of the tenth century, and is the capital of Fujian circuit, with the Pacification Commissioner who is also its prefect, the Western Imperial Clan Office, the Cuifeng army with its water-army at the Yanxiang stockade, and the yards where Fujian's sea-going ships are built. Its Buddhist monasteries are numerous and rich (our recollection, not fetched; see the Chan houses record): Yongquan on Gushan (founded in 908 in the Min period) and Xuefeng (founded in the Tang) are the best known. The city produces lychees and oranges, lacquer, paper and salt, ships goods down the river to the sea and to Quanzhou, and is home to many pupils of Zhu Xi, including his son-in-law Huang Gan.

The Song prefect Zhang Boyu is said to have ordered banyan trees planted along its streets in the eleventh century, which gave the city its by-name of Rongcheng (our recollection).

Who holds it

Title
Prefect of Fuzhou and Pacification Commissioner of Fujian (see the prefect's lord record)
Since
not pinned
Born
not known
Confidence
low

No source available to me names the holder in the winter of 1199-1200.

Lord in 1200

The Pacification Commissioner and prefect, not named for that winter.

How things stand that morning

Peaceful. The Qingyuan ban on the "false learning" is in force but the school's pupils are many here. The Lantau detachment of the Cuifeng army is to be cut in the course of 1200.

Threats

  • Sea raiding
  • Grain riots
  • The ban on Zhu Xi's followers

Council

The prefect and Pacification Commissioner; the Western Clan Office; the abbots of the great Chan houses; no council of citizens is recorded.

Communities

Han townspeople; the Zhao clan households; Buddhist monastic communities; Zhu Xi's pupils; foreign traders are fewer than at Quanzhou.

Militia

The Fuzhou garrison and the Cuifeng army with its water-army; no figures.

Walls and castle

A walled prefectural city with a citadel at the foot of the northern hill; the walls were enlarged in the Five Dynasties (recollection). The Yanxiang stockade, the water-army station, lies outside.

Trade and crafts

Ships and ship-yards, lychees and oranges, lacquer, paper, salt, tea carried down from Jianning, ceramics, and the coastwise trade to Quanzhou and the Yangtze.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The city's place in the Song south-east is well known; details of walls, monasteries and the banyan tradition are recollection.

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

  1. Songshi (History of the Song), Dili zhi, juan 89 and 90 (Fujian, Guangnan East and West); recalled from the standard text, not re-read for this record
  2. Wikipedia, "Zhu Xi"
  3. Wikipedia, "Xin Qiji"

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.