hsia 5251140 but met with no success. He expressed his frustrations in 1131
by referring to Hsia as basically an enemy state. A single mission from
Hsia was received at the Southern Sung court in 1168. Only in 1214
and 1221 did Hsia agents make their way to Ssu-ch’uan to propose
a joint action against Chin. When Chin had replaced Liao as Hsia’s
powerful neighbour, the two states settled down to peaceful coexistance
from 1225. The great increase in missions was due to the fact that
diplomatic protocol by that time routinely required congratulations
on the New Year Days and the birthdays of the emperors.
The missions from Hsia to its neighbours, then, were concerned
with the niceties of diplomatic protocol, war and peace, the delineation
of the border, marriage negotiations and the like. But most if not all
missions also engaged in government trade and the private commerce
of the envoys. That is easily documented.
In 1007, Hsia requested that its envoys to Sung should be allowed
to trade in K’ai-feng. The court agreed to this (Sung shih 485:10a).
On Jan.10, 1034, Emperor Hsing-tsung of Liao prohibited the Hsia
envoys to trade privately in gold and iron while en route to and from
his court (Liao shih 18:4b; 115:7b).
On Oct.13, 1197, Hsia envoys to Chin congratulated on the birth-
day of Chang-tsung. When they departed on Oct.23, the court agreed
to restore two border markets (Chin shih 10:16a; 134:7a). This means
that a mission, which ostensibly was concerned only with ritual, also
had negotiated on trade.
In 1157, 1163, 1166, 1169, 1172, 1181, 1184, 1190, 1193, 1196, and
1199, Chin sent missions to Hsia exclusively for government trade.
Above all, as already remarked in the section devoted to Koryo,
Hsia envoys arrived in Chin in 1189, 1190, 1191, 1192, and 1193
for imperial birthday and New Year celebrations, even though they
knew fully well that the court was suspended for state mourning. Apart
from the conceivable dictates of protocol, the magnet which drew
these missions was trade. On Jan.30, 1191, Emperor Chang-tsung
instructed the high officials that the Hsia envoys could remain in their
lodge and trade for one day in spite of the mourning. The Masters
of Writing stated that according to precedent envoys were permitted
to stay and trade for three days. The emperor accepted this (Chin shih
9:10b). In fact, it is documented that envoys stayed for longer than
three days. For instance, for the New Year celebration on Jan.19,
1227, the Hsia envoys arrived at the Chin court as early as Dec.13,
1226 (Chin shih 17:5b).