City · The Southern Song of Zhao Kuo (Ningzong) · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Suzhou (Pingjiang)

Suzhou, named Pingjiang fu since 1130, is the great city of the Taihu plain: a walled, canal-cut city of weavers, boat-builders, scholars and rice merchants, with the Wu county seat and the counties of Changzhou (Suzhou's own), Wujiang, Kunshan and Changshu under it.

Its rice and silk feed Lin'an; the proverb 'when Suzhou and Huzhou have a harvest the world has enough' dates to the Song. It is the city of Fan Chengda (1126-1193), the poet and official whose Wujun zhi (the prefecture gazetteer, 1192) describes it; his villa at Stone Lake (Shihu) lies south-west of the town. Its Buddhist and Daoist houses (Tianqing guan, Kaiyuan si, Yunyan si at Huqiu, Hanshan si) are among the oldest in the south.

Who holds it

Name
Not known for 1 January 1200
Title
Prefect (zhizhou or zhifu)
Since
not pinned
Confidence
low

The prefects of the winter of 1199-1200 are not named in the sources we could read.

Lord in 1200

The emperor through the prefect, whose name is not known.

Overlord

The emperor through the Liangzhe West circuit offices.

What the town holds

  • The canals and the Wu county seat
  • The Taihu fisheries and polders in its counties
  • The silk workshops and rice markets

How it was acquired

Raised to Pingjiang fu in 1130, after the Jin raid of that year.

Allies and rivals

Rival and partner of Huzhou and Changzhou in the rice-and-silk supply of the capital.

How things stand that morning

Peaceful, prosperous, high in tax; the ban on Daoxue touches its gentry lightly.

Wealth

Rice, silk, boats, scholars; no figures.

Military

Garrison troops only.

Threats

  • Floods of Taihu
  • The grain levy

Charter

None known. A Song city has no charter of liberties: it is governed by the prefect (zhizhou or zhifu) and the circuit offices, with its guilds (hang) and the neighbourhood wards under official supervision.

Council

The prefect; Wu and Changzhou counties' magistrates; the guild heads.

Communities

Gentry families, silk weavers, Buddhist and Daoist houses.

Fairs and markets

Daily markets and temple fairs; no dated fair known.

Militia

Garrison troops under the prefect or the army command; no figures.

Walls and castle

Walled city with the moat and water gates; the prefectural offices in the centre.

Trade and crafts

Silk, brocade, rice, boats, fish of Taihu, books, bronze and stone carving, the garden-making that later made it famous.

Places of note

  • Tianqing guan (Xuanmiao): Daoist temple in the city centre
  • Huqiu (Tiger Hill) and Yunyan si: Buddhist monastery and pagoda

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The Wujun zhi and later gazetteers; no prefect named for the winter.

On the map: City and near land 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.

Sources and studies

  1. General knowledge of Song administrative and economic history (Hartwell, Von Glahn, Smith and Twitchett eds., Cambridge History of China vol. 5 part 2), not re-checked line by line in this pass
  2. OMNIA board, area sce notes (a lead, not a source)

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