Guangzhou in 1200, Southern Song

Guangzhou stands where the Pearl River opens to its estuary and is the capital of Guangnan East.

It was the capital of the Southern Han until the Song conquest of 971, and the Maritime Trade Superintendency was set up here in that year (our recollection), so it is the oldest of the Song's customs ports. Outside its west gate lies the fan quarter of the Arab, Persian, Indian and South-Seas merchants, with the Huaisheng mosque and its tall plain minaret (see the religious record). The city's Buddhist houses are old and famous: the great temple where the sixth patriarch Huineng was tonsured in 676 and whose two iron pagodas of 963 and 967 are Southern Han work (it is called Guangxiao only from 1482; Wikipedia, "Guangxiao Temple (Guangzhou)"), and the Liurong temple with its pagoda; see the religious records.

The city lives by the sea trade and the monopolies of the circuit (incense, pearls, salt) and by the rice and sugar of the delta. The Lingwai daida of 1178, by Zhou Qufei who served in Guangxi, describes the sea lanes beyond (Wikipedia, "Lingwai Daida"). The Lantau salt rising of 1197 was put down from here.

Who holds it

Title: Prefect of Guangzhou and Pacification Commissioner of Guangnan East
Since: not pinned
Born: not known
Confidence: low

Qian Zhiwang held the post in 1197 (Hong Kong history text); the holder on 1 January 1200 is not known.

Lord in 1200

The Pacification Commissioner of Guangnan East, not named for that winter (Qian Zhiwang in 1197).

How things stand that morning

Busy and peaceful. The rivalry with Quanzhou is felt but not decided. The Lantau post is to be cut and moved to Guanfu in the course of 1200.

Threats

Salt smugglers of the islands
Typhoon and flood
Competition from Quanzhou

Charter

None known; the foreign quarter has its own headman and rules under the Superintendent.

Council

The Pacification Commissioner and prefect, the Superintendent, the foreign headman; no council of citizens is recorded.

Communities

Han townspeople; the foreign merchants (Arab, Persian, Indian, Cham, Srivijayan), a school for their children; Buddhist and Daoist clergy; the Dan boat people of the river.

Fairs and markets

Not known; the year turns on the monsoon.

Militia

The Guangzhou garrison; the coast posts; no figures.

Walls and castle

A walled city in three parts, the old city and the east and west cities that were added in the eleventh century (our recollection), with the fan quarter outside the west wall.

Trade and crafts

Incense, pearls, ivory, rhinoceros horn, pepper and cloth from abroad; porcelain, silk, iron, sugar and lychees outward; salt and rice within the circuit.

Where the sources disagree

Board "guangzhou-canton": "the other great southern port with its long established foreign merchant quarter": agreed.

Evidence: The port's role is well known; the 1197 facts are from the Hong Kong text; walls and superintendency date from 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

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