Lin'an

Who holds it

Name

Not known for 1 January 1200. Nearest dated evidence: Zhao Shiwei was acting prefect in the 1st month of 1198 (made vice minister of Works soon after, dismissed later); Zhao Shanjian is named as prefect in the 9th month of 1200 (about October 1200, likely course), acting on Han Tuozhou's plan against Lü Zutai

Title

Prefect of Lin'an (Lin'an fu zhifu, called jingyin), a senior post that the court fills with a trusted official

Since

not pinned

Family

Zhao Shiwei and Zhao Shanjian: members of the Zhao clan by their surname (not confirmed)

Confidence

low

Song shi quan wen juan 29 shang (Qingyuan 4, 1st month; Qingyuan 6, 9th month).

Lord in 1200

The emperor Ningzong (Zhao Kuo), advised by Han Tuozhou; the prefect on 1 January 1200 is not known (Zhao Shiwei in early 1198, Zhao Shanjian by the 9th month of 1200, about October 1200, the likely course).

Overlord

The emperor Ningzong, who lives here; the court offices stand beside the prefect.

What the town holds

• The palace city and the ministries
• The Imperial University (Taixue) and the censorate
• The Grand Canal terminus and the Qiantang wharves
• The West Lake and the hill monasteries

How it was acquired

Made the 'temporary residence' in 1138 after the Jin peace of the 1130s.

Allies and rivals

The court faction of Han Tuozhou against the scholars; the clan, the Han and Wu families.

How things stand that morning

The seat of government. Fire, flood and the court's quarrels are the dangers. There is no foreign garrison.

Wealth

Rice and silk by canal, the capital's wine and salt revenue, paper money issue (see Finance offices), the trade of its markets; no figures.

Military

The Three Commands (see Capital army (sanya)) garrison the city.

Threats

• A great fire (a very large one falls in the 3rd month of Jiatai 1, 2 to 5 May 1201, in the chronicle we read; the extent is not re-checked)
• Floods and the Qiantang bore
• Palace intrigue

Charter

None; the city is the capital and has no liberties, but the guilds are recognised for the tax.

Council

The prefect (Lin'an fu), the two city counties of Qiantang and Renhe, the ward headmen, the guild heads; above them the Ministry of Revenue and the Palace.

Communities

The court, officials, the Zhao clan, officers; merchants of Zhejiang, Fujian and Sichuan; Buddhist and Daoist communities; a Muslim merchant community is reported in later sources and the mosque tradition has a Tang origin legend, but its size in 1200 is not pinned.

Fairs and markets

Daily markets (rice market at the Beiguan, the wazi entertainment quarters) and the festivals of the lantern, Qingming and the tide-watching on the 18th of the 8th month.

Militia

The Three Commands and the Imperial Guard; the fire brigades (a city watch) of the prefect are mentioned in later sources.

Walls and castle

Ring walls with land and water gates; the palace city (Daneigong) on Phoenix Hill; the Imperial University; the Beigong palaces (the retired emperors' residences, Shoukang Palace for Guangzong).

Trade and crafts

Silk and brocade, paper, books printed in the capital, lacquer, fans, jade and pearls, cooked-food shops and tea houses; wine from state and private breweries; sea goods from Mingzhou, Wenzhou and Quanzhou; timber floated down the Qiantang from Yanzhou and Wuzhou. Trades gather in guilds (hang) and groups (tuan) that the officials use for the tax assessment.

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.

In 1200

1. Spring 1200 to winterThe court's year is the death of Zhu Xi (23 April), the death of the retired emperor Guangzong (17 September) and of the empress Han (14 December).Depends on: Natural deaths on their dates. Stopped by: Nothing in play can prevent them.

Later, on the likely course

1. 2 to 5 May 1201 (3rd month of Jiatai 1)A great fire sweeps Lin'an (the annals; the burnt area is not re-checked).Depends on: The season and the wooden city. Stopped by: A fire-fighting order.

Places of note

• Palace city on Phoenix Hill (Daneigong): Palace, ministries, throne hall
• West Lake: Lake, causeways, gardens
• Canal terminus at the Wulin gate: Grand Canal wharves, grain and salt
• Liuhe pagoda and the Qiantang wharves: River ferries, bore watching

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board says the chancellor Han Tuozhou dominates and that the empress is his niece; he is not chancellor in 1200 (see Han Tuozhou). The empress Han is his kinswoman (a great-niece of the Han clan; the exact relation is not pinned).

Evidence: The city's institutions and goods are thick in later Song sources (Mengliang lu of 1274, Wulin jiushi of Zhou Mi), which are later than 1200; we use them only for features that were old by then.

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

On the map: Tierra is the city and its near land only; the prefecture is a province record.

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.