This article discusses the Song Dynasty in the 10th century. Refer to Song Dynasty (420-479) for the first of the four Southern dynasties of China.
The Song Dynasty (宋朝 960-1279) followed the Period of the Five Dynasties and the Ten Kingdoms and preceded the Yuan Dynasty in China. The period is divided into the Northern Song (960-1127) in which the Song controlled both Northern and Southern China and when the capital was in Kaifeng, and the Southern Song (1127-1279) in which the Song lost control of Northern China to the Liao Dynasty (later replaced by the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) and retreated south of the Yangtze River to form its capital at Hangzhou. Because Chinese diplomatic theory did not recognize relations between equal states, the Southern Song was technically a tributary state of the northern dynasty.
In 1276, the Southern Song Dynasty court fled to Guangdong by boat, fleeing Mongol invaders, and leaving the emperor Gong Di behind. Any hope of resistance centred on two young princes, Gong Di's brothers. The older boy, Zhao Shi, aged nine was declared emperor, and, in 1277, the imperial court sought refuge first in Silvermine Bay (Mui Wo) on Lantau Island and later in today's Kowloon City, Hong Kong (see also Sung Wong Toi). The older brother became ill and died, and was succeeded by the younger, Zhao Bing, aged seven. When in 1279 the Song army was defeated in its last battle, the Battle of Yamen, against the Mongols in the Pearl River Delta, a high official is said to have taken the boy emperor in his arms and jumped from a clifftop into the sea, drowning both of them. These emperors are also believed to have held court in the Tung Chung valley, which takes its name from a local hero who gave up his life for the emperor. Hau Wong, an official from this court, is still revered as a god in Hong Kong.
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The founders of the Song dynasty built an effective centralized bureaucracy staffed with civilian scholar-officials. Regional military governors and their supporters were replaced by centrally appointed officials. This system of civilian rule led to a greater concentration of power in the emperor and his palace bureaucracy than had been achieved in the previous dynasties.
The Song dynasty is notable for the development of cities not only for administrative purposes but also as centers of trade, industry, and maritime commerce. The landed scholar-officials, sometimes collectively referred to as the gentry, lived in the provincial centers alongside the shopkeepers, artisans, and merchants. A new group of wealthy commoners - the mercantile class - arose as printing and education spread, private trade grew, and a market economy began to link the coastal provinces and the interior. Landholding and government employment were no longer the only means of gaining wealth and prestige.
Culturally, the Song refined many of the developments of the previous centuries. Included in these refinements were not only the Tang ideal of the universal man, who combined the qualities of scholar, poet, painter, and statesman, but also historical writings, painting, calligraphy, and hard-glazed porcelain. Song intellectuals sought answers to all philosophical and political questions in the Confucian Classics. This renewed interest in the Confucian ideals and society of ancient times coincided with the decline of Buddhism, which the Chinese regarded as foreign and offering few practical guidelines for the solution of political and other mundane problems.
The Song Neo-Confucian philosophers, finding a certain purity in the originality of the ancient classical texts, wrote commentaries on them. The most influential of these philosophers was Zhu Xi (1130-1200), whose synthesis of Confucian thought and Buddhist, Taoist, and other ideas became the official imperial ideology from late Song times to the late 19th century. As incorporated into the examination system, Zhu Xi's philosophy evolved into a rigid official creed, which stressed the one-sided obligations of obedience and compliance of subject to ruler, child to father, wife to husband, and younger brother to elder brother. The effect was to inhibit the societal development of premodern China, resulting both in many generations of political, social, and spiritual stability and in a slowness of cultural and institutional change up to the 19th century. Neo-Confucian doctrines also came to play the dominant role in the intellectual life of Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. Arts, culture and economy
| Temple Names ( Miao Hao 廟號 miao4 hao4) | Posthumous Names ( Shi Hao 諡號 ) | Born Names | Period of Reigns | Era Names (Nian Hao 年號) and their according range of years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Convention: "Song" + temple name or posthumous name except last emperor who was revered as Song Di Bing (宋帝昺 song4 di4 bing3) | ||||
| Bei (Northern) Song dynasty, 960- 1127 | ||||
| Tai Zu (太祖 tai4 zu3) | too tedious; thus, not used when referring to this sovereign | Zhao Kuang Yin (趙匡胤 zhao4 kuang1 yin4) | 960-976 | Jianlong (建隆 jian4 long2) 960-963Qiande (乾德 qian2 de2) 963-968 |
| Tai Zong (太宗 tai4 zong1) | too tedious; thus, not used when referring to this sovereign | Zhao Kuang Yi (趙匡義 zhao4 kuang1 yi4) or Zhao Guang Yi (趙光義 zhao4 guang1 yi4) | 976-997 | Taipingxingguo (太平興國 tai4 ping2 xing1 guo2) 976-984Yongxi (雍熙 yong1 xi1) 984-987 |
| Zhen Zong (真宗 zhen1 zong1) | too tedious; thus, not used when referring to this sovereign | Zhao Heng (趙恆 zhao4 heng2) | 997-1022 | Xianping (咸平 xian2 ping2) 998-1003Jingde (景德 jing3 de2) 1004-1007 |
| Ren Zong (仁宗 ren2 zong1) | too tedious; thus, not used when referring to this sovereign | Zhao Zhen (趙禎 zhao4 zhen1) | 1022-1063 | Tiansheng (天聖 tian1 sheng4) 1023-1032Mingdao (明道ming2 dao4) 1032-1033 |
| Ying Zong (英宗 ying1 zong1) | too tedious; thus, not used when referring to this sovereign | Zhao Shu (趙曙 zhao4 shu4) | 1063-1067 | Zhiping (治平 zhi4 ping2) 1064-1067 |
| Shen Zong (神宗 shen2 zong1) | too tedious; thus, not used when referring to this sovereign | Zhao Xu (趙頊 zhao4 xu1) | 1067-1085 | Xining (熙寧 xi1 ning2) 1068-1077Yuanfeng (元豐 yuan2 feng1) 1078-1085 |
| Zhe Zong (哲宗 zhe2 zong1) | too tedious; thus, not used when referring to this sovereign | Zhao Xu (趙煦 zhao4 xu3) | 1085-1100 | Yuanyou (元祐 yuan2 you4) 1086-1094Shaosheng (紹聖 shao4 sheng4) 1094-1098 |
| Hui Zong (徽宗 hui1 zong1) | too tedious; thus, not used when referring to this sovereign | Zhao Ji (趙佶 zhao4 ji2) | 1100-1125 | Jianzhongjingguo (建中靖國 jian4 zhong1 jing4 guo2) 1101Chongning (崇寧 chong2 ning2) 1102-1106 |
| Qin Zong (欽宗 qin1 zong1) | too tedious; thus, not used when referring to this sovereign | Zhao Huan (趙桓 zhao4 huan2) | 1125-1127 | Jingkang (靖康 jing4 kang1) 1126-1127 |
| Nan (Southern) Song dynasty, 1127- 1279 | ||||
| Gao Zong (高宗 gao1 zong1) | too tedious; thus, not used when referring to this sovereign | Zhao Gou (趙構 zhao4 gou4) | 1127-1162 | Jianyan (靖炎 jing4 yan2) 1127-1130Shaoxing (紹興 shao4 xing1) 1131-1162 |
| Xiao Zong (孝宗 xiao4 zong1) | too tedious; thus, not used when referring to this sovereign | Zhao Shen (趙慎 zhao4 shen4) | 1162-1189 | Longxing (隆興 long2 xing1) 1163-1164Qiandao (乾道 qian2 dao4) 1165-1173 |
| Guang Zong (光宗 guang1 zong1) | too tedious; thus, not used when referring to this sovereign | Zhao Dun (趙惇 zhao4 dun1) | 1189-1194 | Shaoxi (紹熙 chun2 xi1) 1190-1194 |
| Ning Zong (寧宗 ning2 zong1) | too tedious; thus, not used when referring to this sovereign | Zhao Kuo (趙擴 zhao4 kuo4) | 1194-1224 | Qingyuan (慶元 qing4 yuan2) 1195-1200Jiakai (嘉泰 jia1 kai4) 1201-1204 |
| Li Zong (理宗 li3 zong1) | too tedious; thus, not used when referring to this sovereign | Zhao Yun (趙昀 zhao4 yun2) | 1224-1264 | Baoqing (寶慶 bao3 qing4) 1225-1227Shaoding (紹定 shao4 ding4) 1228-1233 |
| Du Zong (度宗 du4 zong1) | too tedious; thus, not used when referring to this sovereign | Zhao Qi (趙祺 zhao4 qi2) | 1264-1274 | Xianchun (咸淳 xian2 chun2) 1265-1274 |
| did not exist | Gong Di (恭帝 gong1 di4) | Zhao Xian (趙顯 zhao4 xian3) | 1274-1276 | Deyou (德祐 de2 you4) 1275-1276 |
| Duan Zong (端宗 duan1 zong1) | too tedious; thus, not used when referring to this sovereign | Zhao Shi (趙是 zhao4 shi4) | 1276-1278 | Jingyan (景炎 jing3 yan2) 1276-1278 |
| did not exist | Di (帝 di4) or Wei Wang (衛王 wei4 wang2) | Zhao Bing (趙昺 zhao4 bing3) | 1278-1279 | Xiangxing (祥興 xiang2 xing1) 1278-1279 |