临安卷 · Lin’an
History
How a town’s name became the name of a capital.
Lin’an’s history turns on a single surname: Qian. Amid the chaos of the late Tang, Qian Liu of Lin’an founded the kingdom of Wuyue and kept his corner of the country at peace for eighty years; his descendants handed the realm to the Song without a war and left a family precept that has lasted a millennium. Later the Southern Song raised Hangzhou to Lin’an Prefecture — the two characters became a capital’s name. The county name never left. Five entries: a man, and how those two characters were lent to a capital. The years as capital are written in Hangzhou.
852 · Tang dynasty
Qian Liu is born in Lin’an
In 852, the sixth year of Dazhong, a boy was born to a farming family in Shijing township. Legend says a red glow filled the room at his birth; his father, taking it as an ill omen, carried the infant toward the well — and the grandmother snatched him back. A life kept by grandma: the villagers called him “Poliu.” The well by that name still stands in Lin’an today.
The boy who nearly did not live walked from village militia to rule over Liangzhe. Collapsing times ask no questions of birth. The story of Qian Liu of Lin’an begins at that well.
907 · Five Dynasties
Wuyue: peace held close
In 907 Qian Liu was enfeoffed as King of Wuyue. The capital at Hangzhou, the walls and the dredging, are written in the Hangzhou volume. This entry keeps only what he took from Lin’an: holding the peace. While the Central Plains burned, Wuyue was relatively still — not because there was no war, but because the war was kept outside the gate.
As the Qiantang seawalls rose, the bore battered them day and night, works wrecked as fast as they were built. Legend says Qian Liu ranked his archers along the bank and shot the tide-god into retreat — the “King shoots the tide” story may not be fact; the policy of “guarding the land and serving the Central Plain” was: hold your own ground, and the wealthy southeast was spared the wars of the Five Dynasties.
978 · Northern Song
The peaceful handover
In 978 Qian Liu’s grandson Qian Chu, honouring his grandfather’s dying instruction, offered the kingdom — thirteen prefectures, one commandery, eighty-six counties — to the Song without a fight. A whole realm, handed over without a battle. Northern Han still stood; the Song’s unification was not yet written. The southeast, though, had already laid down its arms.
It was a farewell: Qian Chu journeyed north to Bianjing and never came home. The people of Wuyue waited not for war but for a book of surnames — “Zhao, Qian, Sun, Li,” Qian ranked second only to the imperial name. The usual account is that the book was compiled in Qiantang, and this order was a bow to a family that had kept the peace.
A thousand-year precept
The Qian family precept
Qian Liu left instructions for his house. Later descendants shaped them into the Qian Family Precept, which has a line often written down: “Seek nothing that profits only yourself; what profits all under heaven, you must do.” The received text is a later compilation; the sentences are not his own words.
A family’s culture outlives dynasties. The Qian Kings’ tombs are still in Lin’an. The graves are quiet; the precept is still read.
280 — the present
The travels of a name
As a county name, Lin’an has stood since 280, the first year of Taikang in the Western Jin. When the Southern Song raised Hangzhou to Lin’an Prefecture, it was the prefecture’s name that was borrowed — the two characters became the name of an imperial capital. Splendour and borrowed peace are written in Hangzhou. This entry keeps only the name itself: the prefecture’s name was lent; the county’s name never left the hills.
When the Song fell, the prefecture’s name was dropped; the county’s name stayed. In 1996 Lin’an became a city; in 2017, a district of Hangzhou. The administration changed more than once; the two characters did not. The name never left, so it need not come home — and with that, this volume ends.
Entries in this chapter
The Three Lin’an Gazetteers
Three Southern Song Lin’an zhi: Qiandao, Chunyou, Xianchun. Full essay in Chinese.
Force to secure a realm, letters to sustain a family, wisdom to know when to yield, and a good end. The prefecture’s name was laid down; the county’s name remains. This volume closes.
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