Ganzhou

Who holds it

Title

Prefect (zhizhou) of Ganzhou

Since

not pinned

Born

not known

Confidence

low

Name not known for 1 January 1200. Song prefects and magistrates rotated every two or three years, so a name from another year cannot be assumed.

Lord in 1200

The prefect of Ganzhou with the garrison and the salt and tea offices; no names are dated for 1 January 1200.

Overlord

The court at Lin'an, through the circuit commissioners.

What the town holds

• Ganzhou and its counties
• The Zhang and Gong river quays
• The Meiling road north of the pass

How it was acquired

Qianzhou renamed Ganzhou in Shaoxing 23 (1153).

Allies and rivals

Linked by the Gan to Longxing fu; faces Guangdong across the Meiling (the scs records).

How things stand that morning

At peace but a hill-country prefecture: smugglers' paths run through the uplands to the east and south. No band is dated in the field for winter 1199 to 1200.

Wealth

Customs at the quays and the salt and tea revenue; no figures.

Military

Prefectural garrison and militia; no numbers.

Threats

• Salt and tea smugglers of the uplands
• Flood of the Gan

Charter

None known. A Song prefectural city had no chartered liberties: the prefect and the county magistrates governed it, and its trades were organised in guilds (hang) licensed by the state.

Council

No council of its own. The prefect (zhizhou) rules with the county magistrate, the market and tax officers and the heads of the trade guilds; the leading literati families speak for the town to the officials. No names are known for 1 January 1200.

Communities

Buddhist and Daoist temples; porters, boatmen and salt merchants; hill households of the uplands. No foreign quarter is attested in our sources.

Fairs and markets

Market days and the portage markets; no named fair is known to me.

Militia

The prefectural garrison, county archers (gongshou) and local militia; no numbers.

Walls and castle

Walled city at the river fork; the Song walls are the base of the later circuit (not pinned for 1200).

Trade and crafts

Guangdong salt carried over the Meiling and sold up the Gan; pearls, spices and southern goods going north; tea; timber rafts and rice going down; customs at the quays.

Places of note

• Meiling pass road: Nan an jun at the foot of the pass.

Where the sources disagree

• The Fushou ditches are dated here only by later tradition (Northern Song); we did not check the date.

Evidence: Background knowledge of Southern Song administration and of the travel diaries of Lu You (1170) and Fan Chengda (1177), recalled and not re-read in this pass because web access closed; the rank and circuit follow the Songshi geography (juan 85 and 88, read in this pass). No prefect or magistrate for 1 January 1200 is dated in what we could reach.

On the map: Seeds round the city only.

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.