Tanzhou

Who holds it

Title

Prefect (zhizhou) of Tanzhou

Since

not pinned

Born

not known

Confidence

low

Name not known for 1 January 1200. Song prefects and magistrates rotated every two or three years, so a name from another year cannot be assumed.

Lord in 1200

The prefect of Tanzhou, who is also pacification commissioner of Jinghu South (anfu shi), with the Hunan fiscal and judicial commissioners (as recalled; where each sat is not pinned) and the commander of the Feihu army. No names are dated for 1 January 1200.

Overlord

The court at Lin'an, through the circuit commissioners.

What the town holds

• Tanzhou and its counties
• The Feihu army
• The Xiang river quays
• Yuelu Academy as an endowed school

How it was acquired

Hunan seat for centuries; the Feihu army was raised in 1180.

Allies and rivals

Behind the Jinghu North command at Jiangling; its rice goes down the Xiang and across Dongting.

How things stand that morning

At peace. The ban on Zhu Xi's learning (Qingyuan dangjin) is in force and has thinned the Yuelu benches; we could date no local enforcement. Zhu Xi, who taught here in 1194, is alive in Fujian.

Wealth

Xiang grain, river tolls, tea and paper; lead and silver from the hills. No figures.

Military

The Feihu army and the prefectural garrison; no numbers.

Threats

• Flood of the Xiang
• Yao and Miao risings in the south and west (the last great ones in the 1170s, recalled)
• Salt and tea smugglers

Charter

None known. A Song prefectural city had no chartered liberties: the prefect and the county magistrates governed it, and its trades were organised in guilds (hang) licensed by the state.

Council

No council of its own. The prefect (zhizhou) rules with the county magistrate, the market and tax officers and the heads of the trade guilds; the leading literati families speak for the town to the officials. No names are known for 1 January 1200.

Communities

Yuelu Academy and its students; the Buddhist temples of the Xiang banks; the river boatmen; literati families. No foreign quarter is attested in our sources.

Fairs and markets

Market days and temple fairs; no named fair is known to me.

Militia

The prefectural garrison, county archers (gongshou) and local militia; no numbers.

Walls and castle

Walled prefectural city on the east bank with a moat; the Feihu camp lay in the city or beside it (recalled, not pinned). The circuit of the 1200 walls is not pinned.

Trade and crafts

Xiang valley rice, tea, bamboo, paper, brushes and baskets; lead and silver from the southern hills; Dongting fish; river tolls on the Xiang traffic.

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.

1. 23 April 1200 (Julian)Zhu Xi dies at Kaoting; the news reaches Tanzhou and the Yuelu disciples in the weeks after.Depends on: His long illness. Stopped by: Nothing; a natural death.

Places of note

• Yuelu Academy: Across the Xiang from the city.

Where the sources disagree

• The Feihu army's strength and later fate are not pinned; we give no number.

Evidence: Background knowledge of Southern Song administration and of the travel diaries of Lu You (1170) and Fan Chengda (1177), recalled and not re-read in this pass because web access closed; the rank and circuit follow the Songshi geography (juan 85 and 88, read in this pass). No prefect or magistrate for 1 January 1200 is dated in what we could reach.

On the map: Seeds round the city 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.