The town on the Qingyi river at the foot of the mountains where the tea of Mengshan and Mingshan is weighed out in the bricks and leaf of the border trade and sold to Tibetan and Qiang buyers for remounts.
The state's tea and horse office at Chengdu runs the monopoly through its agent here. The headmen of the Qingyi headwaters come down with horses (see the Yazhou tribes record). The road west goes up through Tianquan into the Tibetan country, and the road south goes to Lizhou on the Dadu.
Who holds it
- Title
- Prefect (zhizhou) of Yazhou
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No source we have names him for 1200.
Lord in 1200
The prefect of Yazhou (name not known for 1200), with the agent of the tea and horse office.
Overlord
The emperor Ningzong, through the circuit commissioners and the Sichuan Zhizhi commissioner at Chengdu.
What the town holds
- The town and its near land (the tierra)
- The tea warehouses and the horse market
How it was acquired
Not applicable: an ordinary prefecture town of the Song.
Allies and rivals
The tribes want tea and salt; the army wants horses; the growers want a fair price; smugglers undercut the licences.
How things stand that morning
Running. No raid or revolt is known for the winter of 1199-1200.
Wealth
The tea monopoly, one of the largest revenues of Sichuan; no figures.
Military
The prefecture's garrison; no numbers.
Threats
- A tribal embargo.
- Poor border tea driving buyers away.
Charter
None. A Song prefectural town has no charter; the prefect and his clerks rule it.
Council
No council. The prefect, the tea and horse agent and the clerks rule the market. No family is named in any source we have.
Fairs and markets
The horse market is in the dry season; the dates are not pinned.
Militia
Not known: the prefecture's garrison and levy; no source we have gives a figure.
Trade and crafts
Tea (monopoly, licences, border tea), horses, musk, herbs and furs from the mountains.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The trade is well attested (Smith 1991, recalled); the local state in 1200 is not itemised.
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
- Paul J. Smith, Taxing Heaven's Storehouse: Horses, Bureaucrats and the Destruction of the Sichuan Tea Industry, 1074-1224 (1991): recalled, NOT re-read
- Chen Xifeng, Wu Ting gui Shu yu Nan Song zhongqi Sichuan de bianbei tiaozheng (Sichuan University Institute of Ancient Books, 2024, no. 6)
- Songshi juan 496-497 (Manyi 4-5), the Lizhou, Yazhou, Maozhou, Weizhou and Luzhou peoples: recalled, NOT re-read
- OMNIA board, notes_scc.txt (a lead, not a source)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.