Shazhou

Who holds it

Title

Prefect of Shazhou under the Xiping district; a Uyghur khan is recorded here in 1127

Since

not known

Born

not known

Family

not known

Confidence

low

No holder is named for 1200 in the sources we could read.

Lord in 1200

The prefect of Shazhou (name not known); the Uyghur khan of 1127 is a hint that local Uyghur chiefs rule the town's people, not a record for 1200.

Overlord

The emperor Huanzong through the prefect and the military district.

What the town holds

Xia ground since the conquest of the Hexi or Ordos (1028 to 1036 for the corridor).

Allies and rivals

The district commander and the prefect; the Jin across the frontier where there is one.

How things stand that morning

A far-western oasis town, Buddhist and Uyghur in feeling, under Tangut garrison.

Wealth

not recorded

Military

the district's garrison and call-up; no numbers

Council

not known; no council, judge or headman is named in the sources we read

Communities

Han, Uyghurs, Tanguts, Tibetans; Buddhist sangha.

Fairs and markets

not recorded

Militia

the district's garrison and call-up; no numbers

Walls and castle

Walled town; the Mogao caves in the cliff 25 km south-east.

Trade and crafts

Silk road halts, oasis farming on the Dang river, cave temple pilgrimage.

Where the sources disagree

• Board (dunhuang-mogao): Mogao at 40.036, 94.664. English Wikipedia gives 40 deg 02'14" N, 94 deg 48'15" E (40.037, 94.804); we use the latter.
• Board (shazhou-town): the town at 40.14, 94.66; same.

Evidence: Conquest and caves are firm; local rule in 1200 is not known.

Primary sources for Great Xia

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.

• 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
• 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
• Record of the Personal Campaigns of the Holy Warrior (Chinggis Khan) (presented to Khubilai in 1288, finished in Mongolian in 1290; the surviving Chinese version dates from 1369). A year-by-year Chinese account of Temujin's wars, drawn from the lost Altan Debter (the same source behind the Yuan shi's first chapter and Rashid al-Din). Read online
• The Secret History of the Mongols (1228 or 1240 (the colophon's Year of the Rat is disputed), with later additions; the surviving Chinese transcription and gloss were made under the Ming in the 1380s). The only Mongol account of Temujin's rise, written within living memory. 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
• Compendium of Chronicles: the Turkic and Mongol tribes and the life of Chinggis Khan, Rashid al-Din Hamadani (about 1300 to 1311, in the Ilkhanate). The fullest description of who held what on the steppe around 1200, written a century later from Mongol court records (the Altan Debter) and from informants such as Bolad Chingsang. 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, 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

5 more in the sources library for The Tarim, the Uyghurs and Xia.