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 ...
(960–1279) was an
imperial dynasty
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A d ...
of
China that succeeded the period referred to as
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period
The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (), from 907 to 979, was an era of political upheaval and division in 10th-century Imperial China. Five dynastic states quickly succeeded one another in the Central Plain, and more than a dozen conc ...
(907–960) and preceded the
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 fift ...
(1271–1368), which
conquered the Song dynasty in 1279. The conventional division into the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) and Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279) is created by the conquest of
northern China by the
Jin dynasty (1115–1234) in 1127 and the consequent shift of the capital from Bianjing (present-day
Kaifeng
Kaifeng () is a prefecture-level city in east-central Henan province, China. It is one of the Eight Ancient Capitals of China, having been the capital eight times in history, and is best known for having been the Chinese capital during the No ...
) in the north to 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, whic ...
) in the south.
Below is a complete list of emperors of the Song dynasty, including their
temple name
Temple names are posthumous titles accorded to monarchs of the Sinosphere for the purpose of ancestor worship. The practice of honoring monarchs with temple names began during the Shang dynasty in China and had since been adopted by other dyna ...
s,
posthumous names,
given name
A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a ...
s, and
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 of ...
s. The dynasty was founded by
Zhao Kuangyin
Emperor Taizu of Song (21 March 927 – 14 November 976), personal name Zhao Kuangyin, courtesy name Yuanlang, was the founder and first emperor of the Song dynasty of China. He reigned from 960 until his death in 976. Formerly a distinguish ...
, who became Emperor Taizu (r. 960–976) and concluded with the death of
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 ...
(r. 1278–1279). The last emperor of the Northern Song was
Emperor Qinzong (r. 1126–1127), while the first Southern Song emperor was
Emperor Gaozong (r. 1127–1162).
The emperor, or ''
huangdi'', was the supreme
head of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...
during the imperial era of China (221 BC – 1912), including the Song dynasty. He was a hereditary ruler who shared executive powers with
civilian officials appointed to various levels of office according to their performance in
bureaucratic examinations. The growing importance of the civilian bureaucracy and national
gentry class during the Song dynasty led to a much more limited role for the emperor in shaping public policy, although he still maintained his autocratic authority. He had the sole right to establish new laws, although he was expected to respect legal precedents set forth by previous emperors of his dynasty.
Background
The Song dynasty was founded by
Zhao Kuangyin (Emperor Taizu) (r. 960–976) in 960, before the Song completely reunified
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 pop ...
by conquest—excluding only the
Sixteen Prefectures. The Song fought a series of wars with the
Liao dynasty
The Liao dynasty (; Khitan language, Khitan: ''Mos Jælud''; ), also known as the Khitan Empire (Khitan: ''Mos diau-d kitai huldʒi gur''), officially the Great Liao (), was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that exi ...
(1125–1279), ruled by the
Khitans
The Khitan people (Khitan small script: ; ) were a historical nomadic people from Northeast Asia who, from the 4th century, inhabited an area corresponding to parts of modern Mongolia, Northeast China and the Russian Far East.
As a people desce ...
, over the possession of the Sixteen Prefectures of northern China.
[Bol (2001), p. 112.] The Liao regime was toppled in 1125 in a joint conquest by Song forces and the
Jurchens
Jurchen (Manchu: ''Jušen'', ; zh, 女真, ''Nǚzhēn'', ) is a term used to collectively describe a number of East Asian Tungusic-speaking peoples, descended from the Donghu people. They lived in the northeast of China, later known as Manch ...
led by
Wuqimai (Emperor Taizong) (r. 1123–1134). However, the Jin quickly turned against the Song and
invaded Song's northern territory.
In what is known as the
Jingkang Incident, Jin forces captured the Song capital, Bianjing (present-day
Kaifeng
Kaifeng () is a prefecture-level city in east-central Henan province, China. It is one of the Eight Ancient Capitals of China, having been the capital eight times in history, and is best known for having been the Chinese capital during the No ...
), in 1127, along with
Emperor Huizong (''r''. 1100–1126), then a
retired emperor
Retired Emperor, Grand Emperor, or Emperor Emeritus is a title occasionally used by the monarchical regimes in the Sinosphere for former emperors who had (at least in name) abdicated voluntarily to another member of the same clan, usually their s ...
, and his ruling son
Emperor Qinzong (r. 1126–1127).
Emperor Gaozong (r. 1127–1162), a son of Emperor Huizong, fled south and reestablished the Song dynasty at what is now
Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
. He established a temporary 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, whic ...
) in 1129, yet by 1132 he declared it the official capital of the Song Empire. The Jin made several failed attempts to conquer the Southern Song, but in 1165
Emperor Xiaozong of Song (r. 1162–1189) and
Emperor Shizong of Jin (r. 1161–1189) agreed to a peace treaty that resulted in a diplomatic accord being reached between the two empires. The Song continued to rule
southern China
South China () is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is that most of its citizens are not n ...
until 1279, when the
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 fift ...
led by
Kublai Khan, the
Khagan of the
Mongols
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 membe ...
, invaded and conquered Song. The last ruler was
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 ...
(''r''. 1278–1279), who was killed on 19 March 1279 during the naval
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 ...
in what is now modern
Yamen Town in
Xinhui District
Xinhui, alternately romanized as Sunwui and also known as Kuixiang, is an urban district of Jiangmen in Guangdong, China. It grew from a separate city founded at the confluence of the Tan and West Rivers. It has a population of about 735,500, ...
,
Jiangmen City,
Guangdong Province.
Titles and names
From the
Qin dynasty
The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...
(221–206 BC) until 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-spea ...
(1644–1912), the ruling head of state was known as ''huangdi'', or emperor. In Chinese historical texts, emperors of the Song dynasty, along with the Tang and Yuan dynasties, are referred to by their
temple name
Temple names are posthumous titles accorded to monarchs of the Sinosphere for the purpose of ancestor worship. The practice of honoring monarchs with temple names began during the Shang dynasty in China and had since been adopted by other dyna ...
s.
[Wilkinson (1998), p. 106.] Before the
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...
(618–907), emperors were generally referred to in historical texts by their
posthumous names.
During the
Ming (1368–1644) and Qing dynasties, emperors were exclusively referred to in historical texts by their single
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 of ...
, whereas emperors of previous dynasties, including the Song, usually had multiple era names.
[Wilkinson (1998), pp. 106–107.] The amount of
written characters used in posthumous names grew steadily larger from the
Han dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
(202 BC – AD 220) onwards and thus became overly long when referring to sovereigns.
For example, the posthumous name of
Nurhaci
Nurhaci (14 May 1559 – 30 September 1626), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizu of Qing (), was a Jurchen chieftain who rose to prominence in the late 16th century in Manchuria. A member of the House of Aisin-Gioro, he reigned ...
(r. 1616–1626), the founder of the
Manchu state which would eventually establish the Qing dynasty, contained 29 written characters.
By the Tang dynasty, much shorter temple names were preferred when referring to the emperor, a preference that was carried into the Song dynasty.
Each emperor also had a tomb name (陵號; ''linghao'') and various other honorific titles.
[Wilkinson (1998), p. 107.]
Head of state
In theory, the emperor's political power was absolute, but even during the
Han dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
, he shared executive powers with civilian officials and normally based his decisions on the advice and formal consensus of his ministers. During the Song dynasty, a national
examination system
A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in a predete ...
(Civil Service Exam) managed by
scholar-bureaucrat
The scholar-officials, also known as literati, scholar-gentlemen or scholar-bureaucrats (), were government officials and prestigious scholars in Chinese society, forming a distinct social class.
Scholar-officials were politicians and governmen ...
s was used to recruit officials; those who passed the palace examination – the highest-level examination in the empire – were appointed directly by the emperor to the highest central government positions. Like commoners, these senior officials had to obey his edicts as law or be punished.
[Mote (1999), pp. 98–99.] However, senior officials not only challenged the emperor over policy, but restrained him by invoking the ideal
Confucian mores and values of the literati
gentry class from which they came.
During the preceding
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...
, the civil service examinations did not yet produce the high number of officials as they would during the Song dynasty; a hereditary aristocracy remained dependent on the court for attaining rank and holding office.
[Bol (2001), 132.] Song rulers, particularly
Emperor Huizong, encountered a great deal of political opposition despite attempts to attain the ideals of the
sage kings of antiquity. The inability of the sovereign to monopolize political authority was linked to the rise of a new class of gentry and scholar-official who filled the bureaucracy.
[See Bol (2001), pp. 103–134 for detailed analysis.]
When the Song dynasty was founded, the political elites consisted of officials (and their sons) who had served in the
Five Dynasties era, as well as those who came from prominent families which boasted an aristocratic ancestry and had provided officials for generations. Since the first Song emperors wished to avoid domination of government by military strongmen such as the ''
jiedushi
The ''jiedushi'' (), or jiedu, was a title for regional military governors in China which was established in the Tang dynasty and abolished in the Yuan dynasty. The post of ''jiedushi'' has been translated as "military commissioner", " legate" ...
'' of the previous era, they limited the power of military officers and focused on building a powerful civilian establishment. During the 11th century, the expansion of schools and local academies nurtured a nationwide gentry class which provided most if not all officials. By the late 11th century, the elite marriage strategies of prominent families eroded due to the intense partisan politics surrounding the New Policies (新法; ''xin fa'') of
Chancellor Wang Anshi (1021–1086). These great families were replaced by officials representing diverse local gentry lineages throughout the country.
Peter K. Bol asserts that the supporters of Wang Anshi's expansionist, activist central government in his New Policies were convinced that he understood the ''
dao'' which brought utopia to
Western Zhou
The Western Zhou ( zh, c=, p=Xīzhōu; c. 1045 BC – 771 BC) was a royal dynasty of China and the first half of the Zhou dynasty. It began when King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty at the Battle of Muye and ended when the Quanrong n ...
(c. 1050 BC – 771 BC) antiquity and were determined to conform society according to his vision. The marginalised emperor – the last remaining aristocrat with any true political power – embraced the fiction that he was like the sage kings of old who brought society into a state of total harmony with court rituals and policy reforms.
Yet after the reign of Emperor Huizong, Song rulers and officials alike disregarded the New Policies and focused instead on reforming society through a local, bottom-up approach.
For example, Emperor Huizong attempted from 1107 to 1120 to bar anyone who had not attended a government school from serving in public office. He thus rejected anyone who did not acknowledge his brand of Confucian ideology as orthodoxy. However, the government-run school system during the Southern Song eventually lost prominence to private academies, which had outnumbered government schools during the early Northern Song. Even before Emperor Huizong's reign,
Sima Guang
Sima Guang (17 November 1019 – 11 October 1086), courtesy name Junshi, was a Chinese historian, politician, and writer. He was a high-ranking Song dynasty scholar-official who authored the monumental history book ''Zizhi Tongjian''. Sima was ...
(1019–1086), a prominent
chancellor and political rival to Wang Anshi, had little to say about the emperor's role in shaping major reforms and public policy, mentioning only that the emperor made major appointments when necessary.
Emperors could choose whether to supervise the policy bureaucracy or to pursue scholarship, cults, hobbies, or women instead. However,
Frederick W. Mote argues that most Song emperors – who spent much of their childhood confined and isolated within a luxurious palace – were aloof conformists detached from the world of normal affairs and thus relied on officialdom to administer the government.
[Mote (1999), p. 100.] While the mainstream view is that the Song court exercised the highest degree of restraint and courtesy towards civil officials, the new protocol of enhanced deferential treatment by officials towards the emperor during conferences and meetings further eroded the emperor's close contact with his ministers.
[Mote (1999), p. 101.]
List of emperors
Northern Song, 960–1127
Southern Song, 1127–1279
Timeline
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from: 960 till: 1127 color:n text:Northern Song
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a r ...
from: 1127 till: 1279 color:s text:Southern Song
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 ...
width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till
barset:Rulers
from: 960 till: 976 color:n text:" Taizu"
from: 976 till: 997 color:n text:"Taizong
Taizong is the temple name used for several Chinese sovereign, monarchs of China. It may refer to:
* Tai Jia ( 16th-century BC), king of the Shang dynasty
* Emperor Wen of Han, Liu Heng (202 BC–157 BC, reigned 180 BC–157 BC), also known as E ...
"
from: 997 till: 1022 color:n text:" Zhenzong"
from: 1022 till: 1063 color:n text:" Renzong"
from: 1063 till: 1067 color:n text:" Yingzong"
from: 1067 till: 1085 color:n text:" Shenzong"
from: 1085 till: 1100 color:n text:" Zhezong"
from: 1100 till: 1126 color:n text:" Huizong"
from: 1126 till: 1126 color:n text:" Qinzong"
from: 1127 till: 1162 color:s text:" Gaozong"
from: 1162 till: 1189 color:s text:" Xiaozong"
from: 1189 till: 1194 color:s text:" Guangzong"
from: 1194 till: 1236 color:s text:" Ningzong"
from: 1227 till: 1264 color:s text:" Lizong"
from: 1264 till: 1274 color:s text:" Duzong"
from: 1274 till: 1276 color:s text:"Gong
A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...
"
from: 1276 till: 1278 color:s text:"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 ...
"
from: 1278 till: 1279 color:s text:"Bing
Bing most often refers to:
* Bing Crosby (1903–1977), American singer
* Microsoft Bing, a web search engine
Bing may also refer to:
Food and drink
* Bing (bread), a Chinese flatbread
* Bing (soft drink), a UK brand
* Bing cherry, a varie ...
"
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Family tree of emperors
*
Chinese emperors family tree (middle)#Song dynasty
Notes
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External links
Chinese History – Song Dynasty 宋 (960–1279), emperors and rulers(www.chinaknowledge.de)
{{authority control
Song
A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetit ...
Lists of leaders of China
Lists of Chinese people