Zhao Shi

Also known as Song Duanzong

Zhao Shi was a son of Emperor Duzong by the consort Yang, born in Lin'an and successively made Duke of Jianguo, Prince of Ji and Prince of Yi. As Yuan armies closed on Lin'an in 1276 he and his younger brother Zhao Bing, Prince of Guang, were taken out of the capital and brought south by way of Wenzhou to Fuzhou. There, in the fifth month of that year, Chen Yizhong and Zhang Shijie enthroned him and proclaimed the Jingyan era, with his mother ruling beside him as empress dowager. When Yuan forces entered Fujian the court took to its ships, was refused entry at Quanzhou by Pu Shougeng, and moved along the coast; late in the second Jingyan year a storm off Jing'ao overturned the imperial boat, and the boy fell ill after being pulled from the water. He died on Gangzhou island in May 1278, and his ministers gave him the temple name Duanzong before Lu Xiufu and others put Zhao Bing on the throne.