Lu Xiufu (8 November 1236 – 19 March 1279),
courtesy name
A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...
Junshi (), was a Chinese statesman and military commander who lived in the final years 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 ...
. Originally from Yancheng (present-day
Jianhu County
Jianhu County () is under the administration of Yancheng, Jiangsu province, China. It borders the prefecture-level cities of Huai'an and Yangzhou to the west.
The main town in Jianhu is commonly just called Jianhu, and sometimes Huduo () or “Hu ...
) in
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 ...
, along with
Wen Tianxiang
Wen Tianxiang (; June 6, 1236 – January 9, 1283), noble title Duke of Xin (), was a Chinese poet and politician in the last years of the Southern Song dynasty. For his resistance to Kublai Khan's invasion of the Southern Song dynasty, and for ...
and
Zhang Shijie
Zhang Shijie () was a Chinese admiral, military general, and politician during the Mongol invasion of China.
Zhang was born to a prosperous family in present-day Hebei (part of the Liao empire, then Jin empire). After the fall of the Jin to t ...
, he is regarded as one of the 'Three Loyal Princes of the Song' ().
Life
In 1256, together with
Wen Tianxiang
Wen Tianxiang (; June 6, 1236 – January 9, 1283), noble title Duke of Xin (), was a Chinese poet and politician in the last years of the Southern Song dynasty. For his resistance to Kublai Khan's invasion of the Southern Song dynasty, and for ...
, Lu passed the
imperial examination
The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...
, thus becoming a "presented scholar" or ''jinshi'', and thereafter joined the
Ministry of Rites
The Ministry or Board of Rites was one of the Six Ministries of government in late imperial China. It was part of the imperial Chinese government from the Tang (7th century) until the 1911 Xinhai Revolution. Along with religious rituals and cour ...
as a vice-minister.
Yuan conquest
On 18 January 1276, the general
Bayan of 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 ...
showed up with his army outside
Lin'an. In a desperate attempt to make peace, the Song imperial court sent Lu Xiufu to negotiate but he was forced to surrender and then was released.
The capital of the Southern Song dynasty at
Lin'an in
Zhejiang
Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...
fell to Yuan invaders from the north in 1276, and the five-year-old
Emperor Gong was taken prisoner. Together with
Chen Yizhong
Chén Yízhōng ({{zh, t=陳宜中, s=陈宜中) (dates of birth and death unknown), was a chancellor of the Chinese Empire during the final years of the Song Dynasty.
Life
Raised in a poor family in Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, Chen was neve ...
, Zhang Shijie and
Consort Yang, amongst others, Lu took care of the two sons of
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 ...
, seven-year-old
Zhao Shi () and four-year-old
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 ...
(). Later the same year at
Fuzhou
Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute t ...
in
Fujian Province
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 cap ...
,
Zhao Shi was enthroned and began ruling under the
era name
A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign, from the Latin ''regnum'' meaning kingdom, rule. Regnal years considered the date as an ordinal, not a cardinal number. For example, a monarch could have a first year of rule, a second year o ...
"Jingyan" (景炎; literally: "bright flame"). Emperor Duanzong appointed Lu as military advisor to 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 ...
with the task of continuing resistance to Yuan forces.
After Emperor Duanzong died at the age of ten in 1278, Lu and Zhang Shijie together enthroned his younger 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 ...
whilst Consort Yang (now Empress Dowager Yang) effectively ran the court from behind a screen. Lu became
Left Chancellor () and ran the government together with Zhang Shijie.
In 1279, Yuan forces led by
Zhang Hongfan
Zhang Hongfan () (1238–1280) was a Chinese military general of the Mongol Empire. As commander of the Mongol army and navy, he annihilated the Southern Song by crushing the last Song resistance at the Battle of Yamen in 1279, where he is said to ...
launched a large scale naval offensive against Song forces at Mount Ya (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 govern ...
), forcing Zhao Bing to flee. During the ensuing
Battle of Yamen
The naval battle, 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 Mongols, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. Although out ...
on March 19, 1279, the entire Song army and navy were totally wiped out. When the seven-year-old emperor Zhao Bing saw the outcome of the naval battle, he was shocked and slightly rebuked the disorder of his armed forces by saying "they should have coordinated their attack and fought as a unit."
Lu, unwilling to be taken captive by Yuan troops, first ordered his younger wife to commit suicide then advised the emperor Zhao Bing:
With that, Lu gave the young emperor his seal, picked him up in his arms and jumped from a cliff into the sea, killing them both. Many imperial concubines and ministers also died and by July there were tens of thousands of corpses floating in the sea.
[Matthew Bennett (1998), ''The Hutchinson dictionary of ancient & medieval warfare'', Taylor & Francis, 1998, , p. 55] Thus ended the Song dynasty and unification 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 ...
by the Yuan dynasty.
Legacy
Lu's descendants moved through many places before settling down in Qiangang Village (),
Conghua City,
Guangdong Province
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) ...
.
Today in
Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province there stands a memorial hall to the 'Three Loyal Princes of the Song' (). There is also a shrine to the three heroes in the
Shuangxi District of
New Taipei City
New Taipei City is a special municipality located in northern Taiwan. The city is home to an estimated population of 3,974,683 as of 2022, making it the most populous city of Taiwan, and also the second largest special municipality by area, be ...
, Taiwan. Built in 1868 during the reign of the
Tongzhi Emperor
The Tongzhi Emperor (27 April 1856 – 12 January 1875), born Zaichun of the Aisin Gioro clan, was the ninth List of emperors of the Qing dynasty, Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the eighth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign, from 1 ...
in the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
, the Three Loyalists Temple () is the religious center of the township.
See also
*
History of the Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (Chinese: 宋朝; pinyin: Sòng cháo; 960–1279) of China was an imperial dynasty that ruled most of China proper and southern China from the middle of the 10th century into the last quarter of the 13th century. The 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 ...
*
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 ...
*
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. Th ...
References
Further reading
*
* Giles, Herbert Allen (1939). ''A Chinese biographical dictionary (Gu jin xing shi zu pu)''. Shanghai: Kelly & Walsh. (se
herefor more)
*
*
External links
Lu Xiufu memorial hallSong Dynasty at China Heritage Quarterly
''This article is based on a translation of
陆秀夫 in Chinese Wikipedia.''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lu, Xiufu
Song dynasty politicians from Jiangsu
Song dynasty generals
1236 births
1279 deaths
Politicians from Yancheng
Generals from Jiangsu
Chinese military personnel who committed suicide
Chinese politicians who committed suicide
Suicides by drowning in China
Suicides in the Song dynasty