Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.5, 2014

 

Carriage of Documents Between the Southern Song Court and the Sichuan Region

(Abstract)

 

Cao Jiaqi

 

In the Southern Song, the Sichuan region became one of the frontier defense areas because it controlled the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. In order to strengthen its control, the Southern Song court made management of its communication with Sichuan a priority. It took a number of measures, especially in terms of systems, to guarantee efficient delivery of documents between itself and the region. During this period, a relatively fixed procedure for carriage of documents grew up between the temporary capital Lin’an and the Sichuan area. However, Sichuan was a long way from Lin’an, and thus the various systems for document delivery could not take full effect. A number of abuses arose, making it hard to keep the systems going. In these circumstances, the Southern Song court had to grant a certain discretion to the civil and military authorities in Sichuan. However, in terms of the system’s practical operation, not only was the independence of these authorities very limited, but it did not diminish the carriage of documents between Sichuan and the court. The large quantity of documents transmitted and the frequent delays in their delivery left the Southern Song court in a permanent state of helpless tension with regard to its control of the civil and military authorities in Sichuan.