The Northern Song Empire covered whole China proper except the north where the Khitan Liao Empire 遼 had been founded in 907, and the northeast where the Tangut Empire of Western Xia 西夏 had been founded in 1038. The Song Dynasty had four capitals, Kaifeng being the main capital: The Capitals of the Northern Song Empire capital prefecture modern place Dongjing 東京 "Eastern Capital" Kaifeng 開封府 (Bianliang 汴梁, Bianjing 汴京) Kaifeng/Henan Xijing 西京 "Western Capital" Henan 河南府 Luoyang 洛陽/Henan Beijing 北京 "Northern Capital" Daming 大名府 Daming/Hebei Nanjing 南京 "Southern Capital" Yingtian 應天府 Shangqiu 商邱/Henan The largest administration unit of the Song Empire was the circuit (lu 路), a kind of proto-province. Below it, there were prefectures (zhou 州). Some prefectures had superior status (fu 府, in the map underlined red), some were military prefectures (jun 軍, in the map underlined yellow), and some few were industrial prefectures (jian 監, in the map underlined green). In the remote areas in the southwest some prefectures had inferior status (the circles in the map stand for a couple of such inferior prefectures that were administered from "normal" prefectures). The Circuits (lu 路) of the Song Empire circuit superior prefectures (fu 府) modern location Jingji 京畿路 Henan Hebei-Dong 河北東路 Daming 大名府, Kaide 開德府, Hejian 河間府 eastern Hebei Hebei-Xi 河北西路 Zhending 真定府, Zhongshan 中山府, Xinde 信德府, Qingyuan 慶源府 western Hebei Jingdong-Dong 京東東路 Jinan 濟南府 eastern Shandong Jingdong-Xi 京東西路 Yingtian 應天府, Gongqing 龔慶府, Xingren 興仁府, Dongping 東平府 western Shandong Hedong 河東路 Taiyuan 太原府, Longde 隆德府, Pingyang 平陽府 Shanxi Shaanxi 陜西路 (or Yongxinjun 永興軍路; from 1041 divided into: Qin-Feng 秦鳳路, Jing-Yuan 涇原路, Huanqing 環慶路, Li-Yan 酈延路, and Xihe 熙河路) Jingzhao 京兆府, Hezhong 河中府 Shaanxi Lizhou 利州路 (later Lizhou-Xi 利州西路 and Lizhou-Dong 利州東路) Xingyuan 興元府, later: Longqing 隆慶府, Tongqing 同慶府 southwestern Shaanxi, northern Sichuan Jingxi-Bei 京西北路 Henan 河南府, Yingchang 潁昌府, Huaining 淮寧府, Shunchang 順昌府 northern Hebei, southern Henan Jingxi-Nan 京西南路 Xiangyang 襄陽府 southern Hebei Jinghu-Bei 荊湖北路 Jiangling 江陵府, Dean 德安府, later: Changde 常德府 northern Hubei Jinghu-Nan 荊湖南路 southern Hunan Chengdufu 成都府路 Chengdu 成都府, later: Chongqing 崇慶府, Jiading 嘉定府 central Sichuan Zizhou 梓州路 (later Tongzhou 潼州路, then Tongchuanfu 潼川府路) Tongchuan 潼川府, Suining 遂寧府 southern Sichuan Kuizhou 夔州路 Chongqing 重慶府, Xianchun 咸淳府, Shaoqing 紹慶府 western Hunan, Chongqing Qian-Nan 黔南路 (from 1107) Guizhou, southwestern Hunan Huainan-Dong 淮南東路 (later: Huai-Dong 淮東路) Jiangning 江寧府 northern Jiangsu Huainan-Xi 淮南西路 (later: Huai-Xi 淮西路) Shouchun 壽春府, later: Anqing 安慶府 southern Anhui Liang-Zhe 兩浙路 (later: Liang-Zhe-Xi 兩浙西路) Pingjiang 平江府, Zhenjiang 鎮江府, later: Lin'an 臨安府, Jiaxing 嘉興府, (all west), later: Shaoxing 紹興府, Qingyuan 慶元府, Ruian 瑞安府 (all east) Zhejiang, Shanghai, southern Jiangsu Jiangnan-Dong 江南東路 Jiangning 江寧府 (=Jiankang 建康府), later: Ningguo 寧國府 eastern Jiangxi, southern Anhui Jiangnan-Xi 江南西路 later: Longxing 隆興府 western Jiangxi Fujian 福建路 later: Jianfu 建府 Fujian Guangnan-Dong 廣難東路 Zhaoqing 肇慶府, later: Deqing 德慶府, Yingde 英德府 Guangdong Guangnan-Xi 廣南西路 later: Jingjiang 靜江府, Qingyuan 慶遠府 Guangxi, Hainan	Map and Geography Event History Emperors and Rulers Government and Administration Literature and Philosophy Religion Technology and Inventions Economy Arts
	During the Northern Song period some internal rebellions and upheavals occured, in the map shown by the big yellow dots. These are the rebellions of Wang Xiaobo 王小波 and Li Shun 李順 in 993-995 in modern Sichuan, the famous rebellion of the Liangshan Swamp 梁山泊 by Song Jiang 宋江 in 1119-1121 in the west of modern Shandong (see the novel "Water Margin" Shuihuzhuan 水滸傳), and the rebellion of Fang La 方臘 in 1120 in modern Zhejiang. For the war campaigns between Northern Song and Liao see also the Liao map. The neighboring states of the Northern Song Empire were Vietnam (Lý Dynasty 李朝), Dali 大理 (an empire inhabited by peoples related to the Thai) and Jinglong 景曨 in the south, Korea (Koryŏ 高麗) was governed by a house descendant of the old Silla Empire 新羅. The north was occupied by the empire of Liao 遼, the border was south of modern Beijing. The upper course of the Yellow River and the Gansu corridor was controlled by the Tangut empire of Western Xia 西夏. More to the west, in modern Xinjiang, were the communities of the Western Uighurs (Xizhou Huigu 西州回鶻), the Yellow Head Uighurs 黃頭回鶻 and the empire of the Qara-Khan (Karakhan, Chinese: Heihan 黑汗 or "Kalahan" 喀喇汗) that expanded into the Tarim Basin 塔里木盆地 and the Junggar Basin 準噶兒盆地. The island of Taiwan (hence called Liuqiu 流求) was not yet incorporated into the Chinese empire, Hainan was a part of the Guangnan-Xi Circuit.
	When the Song court fled to the south in 1127, escaping the troops of the Jürchen Jin Dynasty 金 in the north, they established a new capital in the lower Yangtse area: Lin'anfu 臨安府, the modern Hangzhou 杭州/Zhejiang. During the 150 years of the Southern Song period there occurred several military campaigns between Jin and Song China. For more details, see also the map of the Jin Dynasty. Like before, the largest administration unit of the Song Empire was the circuit (lu 路), but much of the territory was lost to the Jin Empire, and many prefectures were risen to the status of superior prefectures. Industrial prefectures were almost given up. For the first time in Chinese history, not only peasants or religious leaders undertook uprisings against the ruling dynasty, but under the Southern Song, salt workers and tea traders rebelled. During the 1130es and 1140es the whole southeast was permanently shaken by uprisings, the most important being the Zhong Xiang 鐘相 rebellion of 1130 around the Dongting Lake 洞庭湖/modern Hunan and that of Luo Shichuan 羅世傳 in 1208 in the south of modern Jiangxi. In the east, the fleeing elite of the Liao empire that had been destroyed by the Jurchen, had founded the Western Liao empire 西遼. Another important change took place in the north where the Monggols under Chinggis Khan were able to unite the steppe tribes and to forge a powerful federation that should invade the empires of Western Liao, Jin and Western Xia and finally that of Southern Song.