Emperor Gong of Song (2 November 1271 – 1323), personal name Zhao Xian, was the 16th
emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
of the
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
of China and the seventh emperor of the Southern Song dynasty. The sixth son of his predecessor,
Emperor Duzong
Emperor Duzong of Song (2 May 1240 – 12 August 1274), personal name Zhao Qi, was the 15th emperor of the Song dynasty of China and the sixth emperor of the Southern Song dynasty. He was a nephew of his predecessor, Emperor Lizong, and reign ...
, Zhao Xian came to the throne around the age of four, and reigned for less than two years before he was forced to abdicate in 1276. He was succeeded by his fifth brother,
Zhao Shi, enthroned as
Emperor Duanzong
Emperor Duanzong of Song (10 July 1269 – 8 May 1278), personal name Zhao Shi, was the 17th emperor of the Song dynasty of China and the eighth and penultimate emperor of the Southern Song dynasty. He was the fifth son of Emperor Duzong and ...
.
Reign
Emperor Duzong
Emperor Duzong of Song (2 May 1240 – 12 August 1274), personal name Zhao Qi, was the 15th emperor of the Song dynasty of China and the sixth emperor of the Southern Song dynasty. He was a nephew of his predecessor, Emperor Lizong, and reign ...
died in 1274 from overindulgence in wine. His sixth son, Zhao Xian, who was then about four years old, was enthroned as the new emperor with assistance from the
chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
Jia Sidao
Jia Sidao (August 25, 1213 – October 1275), courtesy name Shixian, was a Chinese politician. He was a chancellor of the late Song dynasty of China, the younger brother of a concubine of Emperor Lizong, who subsequently had a relationship of sp ...
. In the following year, Zhao Xian's grandmother (
Grand Empress Dowager Xie) and mother (
Empress Dowager Quan) became regents for the child emperor, although state and military power remained under Jia Sidao's control.
By the time Zhao Xian came to the throne, the
Mongol
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member of ...
-led
Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...
had already taken control of the northern and southwestern areas of China, crossed the
Yangtze River
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...
and acquired key strategic locations such as
Xiangyang
Xiangyang is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hubei province, China and the second largest city in Hubei by population. It was known as Xiangfan from 1950 to 2010. The Han River runs through Xiangyang's centre and divides the city no ...
. They were heading towards the Song capital at Lin'an (present-day
Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
). Grand Empress Dowager Xie pursued a dual-strategy to the pending destruction of the Song dynasty: On one hand, she ordered the people to rally behind their emperor and save the Song Empire. On the other hand, she tried to make peace with the Yuan Empire. The Yuan army advanced further and captured Song territories and took control of various prefectures along the middle stretches of the Yangtze River.
In early 1275, Jia Sidao led an army of 30,000 to engage Yuan forces at
Wuhu
Wuhu () is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Anhui province, China. Sitting on the southeast bank of the Yangtze River, Wuhu borders Xuancheng to the southeast, Chizhou and Tongling to the southwest, Hefei city to the northwest, Ma'ansh ...
. The Song army suffered defeat and not long afterward, bowing to public pressure, Grand Empress Dowager Xie ordered Jia Sidao's execution. However, the move came too late and the fall of the Song dynasty loomed closer.
By the middle of 1275, the Yuan army had controlled most of the
Jiangdong region, the southern part of present-day
Jiangsu Province
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...
. On 18 January 1276, the Yuan general
Bayan showed up with his army outside Lin'an. The Song imperial court sent
Lu Xiufu
Lu Xiufu (8 November 1236 – 19 March 1279), courtesy name Junshi (), was a Chinese statesman and military commander who lived in the final years of the Song dynasty. Originally from Yancheng (present-day Jianhu County) in Jiangsu Province, alo ...
to negotiate for peace with the enemy, but Lu was forced to surrender. Later that year, Grand Empress Dowager Xie brought the five-year-old Zhao Xian with her to the Yuan camp to surrender.
Historian
Patricia Buckley Ebrey
Patricia Buckley Ebrey (born March 7, 1947) is an American historian specializing in cultural and gender issues during the Chinese Song Dynasty. Ebrey obtained her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Chicago in 1968 and her Masters and PhD fro ...
noted that the Yuan dynasty treated the
Jurchen-led
Jin dynasty's
Wanyan imperial family harshly, totally butchering them by the hundreds as well as the emperor of
Tangut-led
Western Xia dynasty
The Western Xia or the Xi Xia (), officially the Great Xia (), also known as the Tangut Empire, and known as ''Mi-nyak''Stein (1972), pp. 70–71. to the Tanguts and Tibetans, was a Tangut-led Buddhist imperial dynasty of China tha ...
when they defeated him earlier. However Patricia also noted the Yuan dynasty were totally lenient on the
Zhao imperial family of the Southern Song explicitly unlike the Jin dynasty in the Jingkang incident, sparing both the Southern Song royals in the capital Hangzhou like the Emperor Gong of Song and his mother as well as sparing the civilians inside it and not sacking the city, allowing them to go about their normal business, rehiring Southern Song officials. The Yuan dynasty did not take the Southern Song palace women for themselves but instead had
Han
Han may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group.
** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...
artisans in Shangdu marry the palace women.
Remnants of the Song Empire fled southwards to
Fujian
Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...
and
Guangdong
Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
provinces, where they continued to resist the Mongols. Zhao Xian's fifth brother,
Zhao Shi, was enthroned as the new
Emperor Duanzong
Emperor Duanzong of Song (10 July 1269 – 8 May 1278), personal name Zhao Shi, was the 17th emperor of the Song dynasty of China and the eighth and penultimate emperor of the Southern Song dynasty. He was the fifth son of Emperor Duzong and ...
.
Zhao Shi died of illness in 1278 after fleeing the Mongols and was succeeded by his seventh brother,
Zhao Bing
Zhao Bing (12 February 1272 – 19 March 1279), also known as Emperor Bing of Song or Bing, Emperor of Song (宋帝昺), was the 18th and last emperor of the Song dynasty of China, who ruled as a minor between 6 and 7 years of age.
He was a ...
.
In 1279, after the
Battle of Yamen
The naval Battle of Yamen () (also known as the Naval Battle of Mount Ya; ) took place on 19 March 1279 and is considered to be the last stand of the Song dynasty against the invading Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. Although outnumbered 10:1, the Yua ...
, Lu Xiufu brought Zhao Bing with him to Yashan (present-day
Yamen
A ''yamen'' (''ya-men''; ; Manchu: ''yamun'') was the administrative office or residence of a local bureaucrat or mandarin in imperial China. A ''yamen'' can also be any governmental office or body headed by a mandarin, at any level of gover ...
, Guangdong Province), where they committed suicide by drowning themselves at sea. The death of Zhao Bing marked the end of the Song dynasty.
Ennoblement by the Yuan dynasty
After the fall of the Song dynasty, Zhao Xian was relocated to the Yuan capital at
Dadu (present-day
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
) then later to
Shangdu
Shangdu (, ), also known as Xanadu (; Mongolian: ''Šandu''), was the summer capital of the Yuan dynasty of China before Kublai decided to move his throne to the former Jin dynasty capital of Zhōngdū () which was renamed Khanbaliq ( pre ...
. Some sources also claim that he lived in Qianzhou (謙州; present-day
Tuva
Tuva (; russian: Тува́) or Tyva ( tyv, Тыва), officially the Republic of Tuva (russian: Респу́блика Тыва́, r=Respublika Tyva, p=rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə tɨˈva; tyv, Тыва Республика, translit=Tyva Respublika ...
, Russia). His sojourns made him one of the most well-travelled
Han
Han may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group.
** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...
emperors in Chinese history.
Journey to the Yuan capital
Soon after Zhao Xian surrendered, the Yuan general
Bayan urged him to travel north for an audience with the Yuan founding emperor,
Kublai Khan
Kublai ; Mongolian script: ; (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder of the Yuan dynasty of China and the fifth khagan-emperor of th ...
(Emperor Shizu). As a result, in March 1276, Zhao Xian left Lin'an (present-day
Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
) and proceeded towards Shangdu.
Grand Empress Dowager Xie remained behind due to illness so he was accompanied northwards by
Empress Dowager Quan, the Lady of Long (隆國夫人; Emperor Duzong's mother),
Zhao Yurui (趙與芮;
Emperor Lizong
Emperor Lizong of Song (26 January 1205 – 16 November 1264), personal name Zhao Yun, was the 14th emperor of the Song dynasty of China and the fifth emperor of the Southern Song dynasty. He reigned from 1224 to 1264.
His original name was ...
's younger brother and Zhao Xian’s grandfather),
Zhao Naiyou (趙乃猷), and members of the
privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...
Gao Yinggong (高應松) and
Xie Tang (謝堂). The former emperor's entourage also included
Weng Zhongde (翁仲德),
Wang Yuanliang
Wang may refer to:
Names
* Wang (surname) (王), a common Chinese surname
* Wāng (汪), a less common Chinese surname
* Titles in Chinese nobility
* A title in Korean nobility
* A title in Mongolian nobility
Places
* Wang River in Thailand ...
(汪元量), and other palace officials.
After they crossed the Yangtze River, two former generals,
Li Tingzhi (李庭芝) and
Miao Zaicheng (苗再成), planned to hijack a transport to carry them all but failed. The group arrived in Dadu in May, and then proceeded to Shangdu, where Kublai Khan received them in the Hall of Great Peace (大安殿). Kublai conferred the noble title "Duke of Ying" (瀛國公) on Zhao Xian and a princess title on Zhao Xian's ethnic Mongol wife, Lady Borjigin. Kublai Khan further ordered that Zhao Xian and Lady Borjigin be given a residence in Dadu and receive preferential treatment. In 1298, Zhao Xian was given permission to move his residence to Shangdu. Between 1314 and 1320, the Yuan ruler
Emperor Renzong received the
Goryeo
Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificati ...
ruler
Chungseon at his court. Chungseon asked to see visit Zhao Xian's residence and composed a song about him.
Relocation to Tibet
Kublai Khan wanted to preserve some vestiges of the
Song imperial clan and in October 1288 issued an edict ordering Zhao Xian to relocate to
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
. There, Zhao Xian was to study the
Brahmana and Tibetan classics. Other sources claim that while in Tibet, Zhao Xian decided to study
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
instead. Kublai Khan's motive for this edict is unclear, as is whether such a relocation constituted a banishment. The Khan may have acted out of genuine concern for the former emperor or he may have wished to remove the Song heir to the throne out of
China proper
China proper, Inner China, or the Eighteen Provinces is a term used by some Western writers in reference to the "core" regions of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty of China. This term is used to express a distinction between the "core" regions popu ...
. In December 1288, Zhao Xian departed from
Amdo
Amdo ( am˥˥.to˥˥ ) is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being U-Tsang in the west and Kham in the east. Ngari (including former Guge kingdom) in the north-west was incorporated into Ü-Tsang. Amdo is also the ...
( bo, མདོ་སྨད,
Wylie: ''mdo smad''; Chinese: 朵思麻) in present-day
Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, formerly known as Tsolho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (; ), is an autonomous prefecture of Northeastern Qinghai Province in Western China. The prefecture has an area of and its seat is located in Gonghe C ...
, for
Ü-Tsang
Ü-Tsang is one of the three traditional provinces of Tibet, the others being Amdo in the north-east, and Kham in the east. Ngari (including former Guge kingdom) in the north-west was incorporated into Ü-Tsang. Geographically Ü-Tsang covere ...
( bo, དབུས་གཙང,
Wylie: ''dbus gtsang''; Chinese: 烏思藏) within the borders of present-day Tibet. He became a resident at the
Sakya Monastery
Sakya Monastery (), also known as Pel Sakya (; "White Earth" or "Pale Earth") is a Buddhist monastery situated in Sa'gya Town (ས་སྐྱ་), Sa'gya County, about 127 km west of Shigatse in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
History
...
and was given the
dharma name
A Dharma name or Dhamma name is a new name acquired during both lay and monastic Buddhist initiation rituals in Mahayana Buddhism and monastic ordination in Theravada Buddhism (where it is more proper to call it Dhamma or Sangha name). The nam ...
"''Chos kyi Rin chen''" ( bo, ཆོས་ཀྱི་རིན་ཆེན་). Later on, Zhao Xian took over as the head monk at the monastery, translating Buddhist texts between the Chinese and
Tibetan
Tibetan may mean:
* of, from, or related to Tibet
* Tibetan people, an ethnic group
* Tibetan language:
** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...
languages under the name "''Sman rce Lha btsun''" ( bo, སྨན་རྩེ་ལྷ་བཙུན་, Chinese: 蛮子合尊 ''manzihézūn''), which means "royalty of
Mangi" (southern barbarian) in Tibetan language.
Death
According to Sakya's monastic succession records, in 1323, the 52-year-old Zhao Xian received an imperial edict ordering him to commit suicide at Hexi (河西; present-day
Zhangye
Zhangye (), formerly romanized as Changyeh or known as Kanchow, is a prefecture-level city in central Gansu Province in the People's Republic of China. It borders Inner Mongolia on the north and Qinghai on the south. Its central district is Ga ...
,
Gansu Province
Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province.
The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibeta ...
. Many Ming Historians believed that this was because Zhao Xian's poetry displeased the Yuan ruler,
Emperor Yingzong. Other Ming historians believe that Emperor Yingzong feared a coup led by Zhao Xian. The renowned Sinologist
Ann Paludan
Ann Elizabeth Paludan (née Murray) (1928–2014) was a British author of several books on Chinese history, sculpture and architecture.
Biography
Ann Paludan was the daughter of Basil Murray. Her father was the second son of the eminent classic ...
has written, "
isunexplained suicide in 1323 led to curious rumours, including the suggestion that he was the real father of the future Mongol emperor Shundi (1333-1367), born to a Turkish woman in 1320."
Emperor Gong’s unofficial temple name is Gongzong (恭宗)
Family
Consorts and Issue:
* Lady, of the
Borjigin clan ()
** Zhao Wanpu (), first son
----
Zhao Xian had one son with the Borjigin Mongol woman, Zhao Wanpu. Zhao Xian's son Zhao Wanpu was kept alive by the Yuan dynasty because of his mother's imperial Mongol Borjigin ancestry even after Zhao Xian was killed. Instead Zhao Wanpu was only moved and exiled. The outbreak of the Song loyalist
Red Turban Rebellion in Henan led to a recommendation that Zhao Wanpu should be transferred somewhere else by an Imperial Censor in 1352. The Yuan did not want the ethnic Han rebels to get their hands on Zhao Wanpu so no one was permitted to see him and Zhao Wanpu's family and himself were exiled to
Shazhou near the border by the Yuan emperor.
Paul Pelliot
Paul Eugène Pelliot (28 May 187826 October 1945) was a French Sinologist and Orientalist best known for his explorations of Central Asia and his discovery of many important Chinese texts such as the Dunhuang manuscripts.
Early life and career ...
and
John Andrew Boyle
John Andrew Boyle (1916−1978), was a British orientalist and historian.
Life and career
He was born at Worcester Park, Surrey, England, on 10 March 1916. He graduated with first class honours in German at Birmingham University. He later purs ...
commented on
Rashid-al-Din Hamadani
Rashīd al-Dīn Ṭabīb ( fa, رشیدالدین طبیب; 1247–1318; also known as Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍlullāh Hamadānī, fa, links=no, رشیدالدین فضلالله همدانی) was a statesman, historian and physician in Ilk ...
's chapter ''The Successors of Genghis Khan'' in his work
Jami' al-tawarikh, identified references by Rashid al-Din to Zhao Xian in his book where he mentions a Chinese ruler who was an "emir" and son-in-law to the Qan (Khan) after being removed from his throne by the Yuan Empire and he is also called "Monarch of Song", or Suju (宋主 Songzhu) in the book.
According to a Ming story Zhao Xian had an affair with Yuan empress
Mailaiti, a descendant of
Arslan Khan of the
Karluks
The Karluks (also Qarluqs, Qarluks, Karluqs, otk, 𐰴𐰺𐰞𐰸, Qarluq, Para-Mongol: Harluut, zh, s=葛逻禄, t=葛邏祿 ''Géluólù'' ; customary phonetic: ''Gelu, Khololo, Khorlo'', fa, خَلُّخ, ''Khallokh'', ar, قارلوق ...
, a wife of Yuan
Emperor Mingzong. Zhao Xian allegedly fathered Yuan
Emperor Huizong with Mailaiti.
[《庚申外史》] The Mongols circulated a similar story about the
Yongle Emperor
The Yongle Emperor (; pronounced ; 2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), personal name Zhu Di (), was the third Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 1424.
Zhu Di was the fourth son of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming dyn ...
.
Ancestry
See also
*
Chinese emperors family tree (middle) This is a family tree of Chinese monarchs from the Northern and Southern dynasties period to the collapse of the Southern Song dynasty.
Southern and Northern Dynasties
Liu Song
Southern Qi
Liang dynasty and Western Liang
Chen dynasty
Nor ...
*
List of emperors of the Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that succeeded the period referred to as Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–960) and preceded the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), which conquered the Song dynasty in 1279. T ...
*
Architecture of the Song dynasty
*
Culture of the Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (960–1279 AD) was a culturally rich and sophisticated age for China. It saw great advancements in the visual arts, music, literature, and philosophy. Officials of the ruling bureaucracy, who underwent a strict and extensive exa ...
*
Economy of the Song dynasty
The economy of the Song dynasty (960–1279) in China was the wealthiest economy in the world during its time. The dynasty moved away from the top-down command economy of the Tang dynasty (618-907) and made extensive use of market mechanisms as na ...
*
History of the Song dynasty
*
Society of the Song dynasty
Chinese society during the Song dynasty (960–1279) was marked by political and legal reforms, a philosophical revival of Confucianism, and the development of cities beyond administrative purposes into centers of industry and of maritime and r ...
*
Technology of the Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; 960–1279 CE) invented some technological advances in Chinese history, many of which came from talented statesmen drafted by the government through imperial examinations.
The ingenuity of advanced mechanical engineeri ...
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
*
External links
*
''The Eighteen Emperors of the Song Dynasty''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gong Of Song
1271 births
1323 deaths
Southern Song emperors
13th-century Chinese monarchs
Rulers deposed as children
Child rulers from Asia
Yuan dynasty Buddhist monks
Chinese Buddhist monarchs
Yuan dynasty translators
Yuan dynasty poets
Writers from Hangzhou
Forced suicides of Chinese people
Executed Yuan dynasty people
People executed by the Yuan dynasty
Murdered Chinese emperors
Poets from Zhejiang
Monarchs taken prisoner in wartime
Heads of government who were later imprisoned
14th-century Chinese translators