The Historical Map of Damingfu Road During the Jin Dynasty in China

Map Introduction

I. Administrative Evolution and Geographical Layout

In 1048, the Northern Song Dynasty established the Daming Superior Prefecture Circuit, one of the four Pacification Commissioner Circuits in Hebei. Its administrative seat was at Daming Superior Prefecture, and its jurisdiction included parts of modern Hebei, Shandong, and Henan provinces. In 1127, it was reorganized into the Hebei East Circuit.

In 1157, the Jin Dynasty established the Daming Superior Prefecture Circuit, again with its seat at Daming Superior Prefecture. Its jurisdiction covered areas in modern Hebei, Shandong, and Henan, administering prefectures including Daming, Enzhou, Puzhou, and Kaizhou. The circuit was abolished during the Mongol Empire.

As a significant Jin administrative district, its predecessor was the Northern Song's secondary capital. The Jin subdivided the former Hebei East Circuit to create the Daming Superior Prefecture Circuit, governing 3 ordinary prefectures, 20 counties, and 22 towns, with the seat remaining at Daming. In 1214, a Branch Secretariat was established there, making it one of North China's key administrative centers. Its territory spanned the junction of modern Hebei, Shandong, and Henan, bordering the Shandong East Circuit to the east, the Hebei West Circuit to the west, and the Southern Song to the south, serving as a strategic pivot for Jin control over the Central Plains.

II. Evolution of Political and Military Functions

• Military Stronghold Phase (1127–1145): In the early Jin period, the integrated military-civilian Meng'an Mouke system was implemented. The Daming Circuit, as a frontline defense against the Southern Song, garrisoned large numbers of Jurchen cavalry. A Military Command was established in 1132, later reformed into a Chief Military Command, forming part of a northern defensive line.

• Administrative Center Phase (1145–1214): In 1145, a military agro-colony policy was implemented, relocating over 1,300 Meng'an Mouke households into the circuit to live interspersed with Han Chinese. These settlers often lived in fortified villages outside the main administrative centers, forming a distinct military colony society.

• Branch Secretariat Seat Phase (1214–1234): During the Zhenyou era, it was elevated to a Branch Secretariat, becoming a temporary administrative center for the Jin response to the Mongol invasions, although by then it had effectively lost control over areas like Huazhou and Junzhou.

III. Economic and Cultural Characteristics

• Agricultural Economy: Military colonists brought advanced farming techniques, forming an interregional grain circulation system. However, later wartime disruption led to the collapse of the supply system supporting the military households.
• Commercial Networks: Leveraging branches of the Grand Canal, it became a distribution center for northern products like hides and medicinal herbs, though its scale did not match that of the Northern Song period.
• Cultural Fusion: Jurchen nobility and Han Chinese literati jointly promoted Confucian learning. Extant Jin architectural relics, such as the Sangong Temple in Daming County, reflect diverse religious characteristics.

IV. Interactions with the Southern Song

As a buffer zone in the Song-Jin confrontation, the Daming Circuit exhibited unique historical phenomena:

• Military Standoff: In 1140, Yue Fei's northern expedition approached Daming, but the Jin maintained their defensive line using cavalry advantages.
• Population Movement: After the peace treaty, some Southern Song merchants entered the circuit via authorized trading markets for border trade.
• Cultural Permeation: The Southern Song envoy Fan Chengda recorded in his travelogue that local Han Chinese still preserved Northern Song ritual traditions.

V. Historical Status and Impact

• Administrative Experiment: Its three-tier Circuit-Prefecture-County system provided a model for the Yuan Dynasty's Branch Secretariat system.
• Sample of Ethnic Integration: Intermarriage between Jurchen colonists and Han Chinese fostered a new ethnic identity in North China.
• Military Defense System: Its city defense layout directly influenced the construction of Daming's city walls during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties.

Summary

The historical evolution of the Daming Superior Prefecture Circuit reflects three major characteristics of Jin rule over the Central Plains: a governance logic prioritizing military needs, institutional designs featuring ethnic segregation, and a geopolitical pattern of North-South interaction. As a microcosm of North China under the Jin, its trajectory (from military stronghold to Branch Secretariat seat) not only mirrors the fortunes of the Jin Dynasty itself but also provides a crucial perspective for understanding the social transformation of northern China during the Song-Yuan transition.