Town · The kingdom of Dali · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Lijiang

Lijiang is the Naxi country at the foot of the Jade Dragon range, the Moxie lands of the Tang texts.

The old centre is Baisha; the Dayan town (the old town of today) is dated to the late Song or the Yuan and may not yet exist. The chiefs are self-governing under Dali's title.

Who holds it

Title
Governor of the town for its lord
Since
not known
Born
not known
Confidence
low

Lord in 1200

The Naxi chiefs

Communities

Naxi, Mosuo, Bai, Tibetans.

Militia

levies of the fu; no figure

Walls and castle

No walls known; the Naxi are an open-field people with fortified houses of the chiefs.

Trade and crafts

The caravan road between Dali and Tibet; salt, tea and horses.

Where the sources disagree

  • The campaign board entry puts Lijiang at Dayan (26.87 N 100.23 E); we add Baisha (26.93 N 100.20 E) as the older Naxi seat.

Evidence: General statements only.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

Primary sources for Dali

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.

Sources and studies

  1. Wikipedia, Naxi people (read this session)
  2. Tibet map research record tie-l-gyalthang-dechen-chiefs (/home/claude/research/tib/tie.json)
  3. OMNIA board, notes_msy.txt and places_msy.tsv (a lead, not a source)

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