Royals › Monarch / Emperor
Zhao Ji
Northern Song emperor Huizong, creator of the slender-gold script and patron of the court painting academy, who was carried off by the Jin and died in captivity
Mural of the event “Jingkang Incident”, which this person took part in.
In late Northern Song, Emperor Huizong sank into the luxury enjoyment of exotic flowers and stones, court was held by traitor officials like Cai Jing. The newly risen northern Jurchen Jin, after wiping out Liao, swung the army to grand southward invasion of the Central Plains.
Also known as Song Huizong · Daojun Huangdi · Tai Shanghuang
Zhao Ji, the eleventh son of Emperor Shenzong, was Prince of Duan when his brother Zhezong died without a son in 1100, and Empress Dowager Xiang chose him as successor; his reign titles ran from Jianzhong Jingguo to Xuanhe. He made Cai Jing chief minister, set up the Yuanyou faction stele against his opponents, and opened a supply bureau at Suzhou to ship rare plants and stones for his Genyue garden. He styled himself the Daoist Sovereign, and in 1120 he made the Alliance Conducted at Sea with the Jin against the Liao. When the Jin invaded late in 1125 he abdicated to his son Zhao Huan; captured with him at the fall of Kaifeng in 1127, he died at Wuguocheng in 1135 and was given the temple name Huizong. A painter and calligrapher, he devised the slender-gold script and had the palace collection catalogued. The *History of Song* (*Songshi*) blamed his loss of the realm on overconfidence in his own cleverness.
Life and times
- 1082 CEBorn
Song - 1080Song Commercial & Urban Revolution
Took partDismantling urban ward walls and opening night markets, pioneering the vibrant commercial citizen society. - 1127Jingkang Incident
Took partage 45Jin armies captured Kaifeng and the Huizong and Qinzong emperors, ending Northern Song and driving the court southward.- Fall of Bianjing and CaptivityJurchen armies captured Song capital Bianjing and abducted Emperors Huizong and Qinzong, ending Northern Song.
- Fall of Bianjing and Captivity
- 1135 CEDied
Works
Literature · Lyrics1- Yan Shan Ting · Seeing Apricot Blossoms on the Journey NorthSongEmperor Huizong's ci on apricot blossom seen on his captive journey north after Kaifeng fell
- Literature · Sayings1
- Ten Thousand Rivers and a Thousand MountainsSongIdiom in Huizong's lyric Yanshan Ting: endless rivers and hills between captive and home
Treasures · Brushwork6- Emperor Huizong of Song, PoemNorthern Song dynastyHuizong's slender-gold script at its largest
- Zhao Ji, Thousand Character Classic in Cursive ScriptNorthern Song dynastyThe slender-gold emperor's wild cursive scroll
- Emperor Huizong of Song, Literary GatheringNorthern Song dynastyA literary gathering from Huizong's academy
- Emperor Huizong of Song, Pond in Late AutumnNorthern Song dynastyEmperor Huizong's pond at autumn's end
- Emperor Huizong of Song, Wintersweet and Mountain BirdsNorthern Song dynastyWinter birds with a poem in slender-gold script
+1 more
- Auspicious CranesNorthern Song dynastyCranes circling the palace gate
Family tree
- Direct kin
Connections
- Shared events2
- Teachers and students1
