The great copper mint by Raozhou, coining the cash that the whole eastern ocean now uses for money (the campaign board's phrase).
The mint (jian) strikes copper cash from the copper of Dexing and Yanshan; in the 1190s the Song strike little copper cash and rely on paper (the Hubei and Huguang huizi), so whether the mint was striking in the winter of 1199 to 1200 is not pinned.
Who holds it
- Title
- Mint officials (jianguan)
- 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 mint officials (jianguan) under the Jiangnan East finance offices; names not known.
Overlord
The court at Lin'an, through the circuit commissioners.
How things stand that morning
Output in 1200 not pinned.
Wealth
Coinage; no figures.
Military
The prefectural garrison, county archers (gongshou) and local militia; no numbers.
Threats
- Copper shortage and the cash drain to the coast
Charter
None known. A county seat or market town (zhen) under the magistrate (zhixian) or the market-town supervisor (jianzhen guan); no liberties recorded.
Council
No council. The magistrate, the county clerks and the leading families of the district; no names known for 1 January 1200.
Communities
Buddhist and Daoist temples, the examination-class families and the trade guilds; no foreign or ethnic quarter is attested in our sources.
Fairs and markets
Market days at the county seat and temple fairs on the great festivals; no named fair is known to me.
Militia
The prefectural garrison, county archers (gongshou) and local militia; no numbers.
Walls and castle
A walled or palisaded county seat; the circuit of its walls in 1200 is not pinned.
Trade and crafts
Copper cash.
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board's claim that the whole eastern ocean uses its cash is unverified for 1200.
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.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: Point 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
- Background knowledge of Southern Song administration and the middle Yangtze (Cambridge History of China vol. 5 part 2; Hymes; Clark; Von Glahn; Bol; the travel diaries of Lu You, 1170, and Fan Chengda, 1177), recalled and not re-read in this pass
- Songshi, juan 88 (Dili zhi 4): circuits and prefectures of Liangzhe, Huainan, Jiangnan and Jinghu with the Southern Song rank changes (zh.wikisource)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.