Dynasties of ChinaNorthern SongNorthern Song lineage
Zhenghe · Xuanhe · Reign 1100—1126
The "Emperor of Painting and Calligraphy", whose artistic talent surpassed all previous emperors, appointed Cai Jing and others to indulge in extravagance and lust, and joined forces with the Jin Dynasty to destroy the Liao Dynasty, eventually leading to the Jingkang Incident.
Zhao Ji, the eleventh son of Shenzong, the younger brother of Zhezong, was the king of Fengduan. He was fond of calligraphy, painting, and Cuju since childhood, and socialized with painters and scribes. In 1100, Zhezong died without a son. He urged the Queen Mother to make him emperor, but chief minister Zhang Dun objected to it, claiming that "King Duan was frivolous" but failed. At the beginning of his accession to the throne, he listened to the government together with the Queen Mother. He recalled the old party and changed the Yuan Dynasty to Jianzhong Jingguo, intending to reconcile the old and new parties.
From 1102, he appointed Cai Jing as prime minister and changed the Yuan Dynasty to Chongning. He claimed to inherit the new law, but in fact he used it to attack dissidents and erected a Yuanyou party membership monument. Cai Jing also disrupted the salt and tea banknote law, minted large sums of money, and plundered people's wealth for squandering. Huizong believed in Taoism and claimed to be the leader of Taoism. He built Gen Mountain and searched for rare rocks in the south of the Yangtze River with the Huashi Gang, which triggered the Fangla Uprising. He was proficient in calligraphy and painting, created his own thin gold style, established a painting school, and compiled "Xuanhe Painting Manual", which made court art flourish.
Starting in 1118, he sent envoys across the sea to form an alliance with the Jin Dynasty to attack Yanjing. The Song army failed in both attacks on Yanjing, and had to pay a lot of money to redeem the empty city. This allowed the Jin people to see through the reality of the Song Dynasty. In 1125, when the Jin soldiers went south, Huizong was frightened and abdicated to Crown Prince Zhao Huan, claiming to be the Retired Emperor. Kaifeng fell in 1127, and he and Qinzong were taken captive to the north together. He died in Five Kingdoms City in 1135 at the age of fifty-four.
Huizong's attainments in calligraphy, painting and art education surpassed all previous emperors. He had a profound influence on Shou Jin Ti and Xuanhe Painting Academy, and official classics such as "Building French Style" were also written at that time. However, as a monarch, he appointed Cai Jing, Tong Guan and others, worshiped Taoism and sycophants, carried out large-scale construction projects, disturbed the people and caused chaos, and recklessly joined forces with the Jin Dynasty to destroy the Liao Dynasty, which exposed the weakness of the Song Dynasty and caused the Jin soldiers to invade the south. In the end, the country was destroyed and captured, and died in a foreign land. "History of the Song Dynasty" laments that he "can do everything, but he cannot be the king's ear."
PoliticsKing Duan succeeds to the throne
In the first month of the first month, Zhezong died of illness. He urged the Queen Mother to establish Duan Wang Zhao Ji, but chief minister Zhang Dun opposed it on the grounds that "Duan Wang is frivolous", but failed. Huizong ascended the throne and directed military and state affairs to the Queen Mother.
Culture"Along the River During Qingming Festival" by Zhang Zeduan
Around the Huizong period, Hanlin Painting Academy painter Zhang Zeduan painted a long scroll called "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", which depicts urban life in the suburbs of Bianjing and on both sides of the Bianhe River. There are more than 800 characters. The exact date of the painting is still controversial.
Lasting legacy"Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is now in the Palace Museum. It is a national treasure and is regarded as an "encyclopedia" for studying Northern Song cities and social life.
PoliticsJianzhong Jingguo
When he changed the Yuan Dynasty to Jianzhong Jingguo, he stated that he would reconcile the old and new parties, appoint Han Zhongyan and other old party members, and recall demoted officials. In the same year, Empress Dowager Xiang died. Su Shi returned from Hainan and died of illness in Changzhou.
PeopleLi Qingzhao gets married
The 18-year-old talented girl Li Qingzhao married Zhao Mingcheng, a student of the Imperial College, and the couple worked together to collect, examine and order inscriptions, calligraphy and paintings. Her lyrics are clear and graceful, and she is respected by later generations as the master of graceful poetry.
Lasting legacy"Inscriptions on Stone" co-authored by Zhao Mingcheng and Li Qingzhao has been handed down to this day; there is now the Li Qingzhao Memorial Hall by the Baotu Spring in Jinan.
PoliticsCai Jing pays homage to Prime Minister
In July, Cai Jing was appointed as the prime minister, and he was changed to Chongning, with the slogan "Advocating Dharma and Xining". Cai Jing used the introduction of the new law to attack dissidents, and listed Sima Guang, Su Shi and others as traitors, and engraved a monument on Duanlimen. In 1104, it was expanded to 309 people and was promulgated nationwide.
Lasting legacyLongyin Rock and Rongshui Zhenxian Rock in Guilin, Guangxi still have the "Yuanyou Party Membership Stele" re-engraved based on rubbings from the Southern Song period.
Economybanknote accident
Cai Jing reformed the salt and tea monopoly and frequently changed salt banknotes and tea coins, making old banknotes invalid and merchants bankrupt. He also minted ten large coins, causing prices to rise, and the proceeds were squandered by the palace.
Science & technologyPromulgation of "Construction Code"
The general supervisor Li Jie was ordered to compile the building code "Construction Code" and issue it nationwide, detailing the building design, construction, materials and working hours quota, and attaching a large number of drawings.
Lasting legacyThis is the earliest and most complete official architectural technology book in existence in China. Liang Sicheng and other scholars used it to decipher the construction methods of ancient buildings.
CultureEstablished painting school
Painting was established in the Imperial College, alongside calligraphy, arithmetic, and medicine, and painters were selected based on poetic propositions, such as "There is no one crossing the wild water, and the lonely boat is crossing every day." A number of court painters were cultivated.
SocietyHuashi Gang
A Yingfeng Bureau was set up in Suzhou, chaired by Zhu Mian, to search for rare flowers and stones from the south of the Yangtze River and transport them to Kaifeng in a fleet. Houses and bridges were demolished wherever they passed, and the people in the southeast suffered greatly.
EconomyJiaozi was changed to Qianyin
Sichuan Jiaoziwu was changed to Qianyinwu, and Jiaozi was renamed "Qianyin". Due to the lack of preparation for issuance and excessive printing, the currency depreciated sharply and was almost like waste paper.
CulturePainting "Picture of Ruihe"
On the evening of the next day of the Shangyuan Festival, a group of cranes flew over Xuandemen. Huizong thought it was auspicious, so he wrote the "Auspicious Crane Picture" and wrote a poem in thin gold style.
Lasting legacy"Ruihe Tu" is now in the Liaoning Provincial Museum. It is a representative work of Huizong's poetry, calligraphy and painting.
People"Thousands of Miles of Rivers and Mountains" painted by Wang Ximeng
Wang Ximeng, an eighteen-year-old painting student, was personally instructed by Huizong and spent half a year painting the long green landscape scroll "Thousands of Miles of Rivers and Mountains", which Huizong gave to Cai Jing.
Lasting legacy"A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" is now in the Palace Museum. It is nearly twelve meters long and is the pinnacle of extant green landscape paintings.
CultureTaojun Emperor
Lin Lingsu, a Taoist priest who believed in Taoism, called himself the "Emperor Taoist Lord" and established Shenxiao Yuqing Wanshou Palace in various places. After that, he once again ordered Buddhism to use the title of Taoism, and the trend of advocating Taoism reached its peak.
SocietyBuild Genyue
The royal garden Genyue was built in the northeast of Kaifeng. It was built with mountains of earth, water diverted into ponds, and Taihu stones transported from Huashi Gang. It took six years to complete. It was demolished when the Jin soldiers besieged the city.
Lasting legacyIt is said that some of the Taihu stones on Qionghua Island in the North Sea of Beijing were dismantled and transported by the Jin people from Genyue.
Diplomacymaritime alliance
After learning about the rise of the Jurchens, they sent envoys across the sea to contact the Jin Dynasty. In 1120, they agreed that N & S would attack the Liao dynasty from both sides: the Song Dynasty would take the old land of Yanyun, and the old coins originally given to the Liao would be transferred to the Jin Dynasty.
Science & technologycompass for navigation
Zhu Yu recorded in "Pingzhou Ke Tan" that Guangzhou ships "observed the stars at night, the sun during the day, and observed the compass in the dark", indicating that compasses had been used for ocean navigation.
Lasting legacyThis is the world's earliest record of a compass being used for navigation, about a century earlier than in Europe.
CultureCompiled "Xuanhe Painting Book"
He ordered people to sort out the paintings and calligraphy collected in the imperial palace and compile them into twenty volumes each of "Xuanhe Painting Book" and "Xuanhe Book Book". Among them, the painting book records more than 200 painters and more than 6,000 works.
Lasting legacy"Xuanhe Painting Book" has been passed down to this day and is an important document for studying the history of painting before the Song Dynasty.
SocietyFangla Uprising
Fangla, a man from Qingxi in Muzhou, could not bear the disturbance caused by Huashi Gang and gathered a crowd to revolt and captured 52 counties in six states. Tong Guan led his army to suppress it, and Fang La was captured and executed the following year. At the same time, Song Jiang and others also started an uprising in Jingdong and later surrendered.
MilitaryThe attack on Yan failed
Tong Guan and Cai You led their troops to attack Liao Yanjing twice, but were defeated by the Liao army both times. In the end, the Song Dynasty paid one million more "tax money" to the Jin every year to redeem the empty cities in Yanjing and other six states. The people and property in the city had been taken away by the Jin.
PoliticsabdicationQinzong
The Jin soldiers went south in two groups, and Huizong was frightened. In December of the seventh year of Xuanhe (1126 in the Gregorian calendar), he issued an imperial edict to abdicate Crown Prince Zhao Huan, claiming to be the Retired Emperor, and then fled south.
PoliticsTaken captive to the north
After the city of Kaifeng was destroyed, the Jin people deposed Hui and made the second emperor Qin a commoner. In April, they took the second emperor and his concubines, clan members, ministers and other thousands of people captive to the north. All the paintings, calligraphy and ritual utensils collected by the inner palace were also looted.
PeopleDied in Five Kingdoms City
He was imprisoned in various places in Jin Dynasty, moved to Five Kingdoms City in 1130, and died of illness in 1135 at the age of fifty-four. After the Shaoxing Peace Conference in 1142, the remains were buried in Southern Song, the Yongyou Mausoleum.
A famous calligrapher, he was good at flattering people. He paid homage to the prime minister four times and was in power for nearly twenty years. In the name of introducing new laws, he attacked dissidents, disrupted banknote laws, and led the Huashi Gang and large-scale construction projects. Jingkang was demoted at the beginning of his reign and died in Tanzhou.
He was born as a eunuch and had been in charge of the army for twenty years. He was promoted to Privy Councilor and was granted the title of Prince of Guangyang County. He suppressed the Fangla Uprising and presided over the attack on Liao Dynasty but failed repeatedly. Qinzong was executed after he ascended the throne.
A native of Suzhou, who was favored by presenting strange stones, presided over the Suzhou Yingfeng Bureau, and used the Huashi Gang to travel across the southeast. Fangla's uprising was called to kill Zhu Mian. Qinzong was executed.
He was good at ingratiating himself with others. During the Xuanhe period, he served as chief minister. He set up a department to gather property and advocated the alliance with Jin to attack Liao Dynasty. After Qinzong ascended the throne, he was demoted and killed on the way.
One of the four masters of calligraphy in the Song Dynasty, he was good at connoisseurship and wrote calmly and happily. He is curious about Shi, and he worships Shi as his brother. He behaves crazy and is known as "Mi Dian".
A native of Tobu, he worked at the Hanlin Academy of Painting and worked in boundary painting. He was good at painting boats, carriages, city bridges, and city walls. His painting "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" depicts the urban life in and around Bianjing.
He entered painting school at a young age and was later admitted to the banned Chinese library. He was personally taught brushwork by Huizong, and he painted "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" at the age of eighteen. His subsequent deeds are unknown.
No. Yi'an Jushi, the wife of Zhao Mingcheng. His early poetry was clear and lively, but after the Jingkang Incident, he moved to the south of the Yangtze River, and his style of poetry turned miserable, with famous works such as "Slow Voice".
Proficient in music and rhythm, he was once promoted to Dasheng Mansion to organize and create the tones of words. His lyrics have precise rhythms and are regarded by later generations as the master of graceful words.
He served as a supervisor for a long time and took charge of the construction of palaces, mansions and other projects. He was ordered to compile the "Construction Code", which was published in 1103.