The kingdom of Dali has no surviving text of 1200: its own records were destroyed in the Mongol conquest and after, and the Song shi's Dali entry ends in 1175. The Nanzhao yeshi, a Ming compilation from Yunnanese traditions, gives the king list of the Duan dynasty and the Gao ministers who ruled in their name: it has Duan Zhixing dying in 1200 and his son Duan Zhilian succeeding, with the Gao family holding the real power from their seat at Shanchan (Kunming). It is late, hostile to the Gao, and its dates cannot be checked against anything contemporary; the Buddhist inscriptions and the Dali painted scroll of Zhang Shengwen (about 1176 to 1180) are the only contemporary witnesses.
About this source
- Title
- Nanzhao yeshi
- Author
- Yang Shen; revised by Hu Wei
- Author's dates
- Yang Shen 1488 to 1559; Hu Wei's revision 1775
- Written
- 16th century, revised 1775, from Dali and Yunnan traditions and lost local histories
- Language
- Chinese
- Covers
- Nanzhao and Dali, 7th century to 1253
- Kind
- History
The Lingwai daida (1178) has a short contemporary entry on Dali and its trade through Guangxi. The Yuan-era Dali histories (the Jixian zhi, the Dali guo ji) survive only in fragments.
Where to read it
Editions
- Chinese text in various Qing printings; not located online in this task (not freely online)
Translations
- C. Sainson, Nan-tchao ye-che: histoire particuliere du Nan-tchao, traduction d'une histoire de l'ancien Yun-nan (Paris, 1904), French
- Another scan of Sainson's translation