Zhao Bing

Also known as Song Youzhu · Song Dibing

Zhao Bing, a son of Emperor Duzong by the consort Yu, was born in Lin'an in 1272 and was a half-brother of the emperors Gongdi and Duanzong; he was made Duke of Yong and later Prince of Xin and Prince of Guang. In 1276, as Yuan armies closed on Lin'an, he and his brother Zhao Shi were spirited out of the city and south, and when his brother was enthroned at Fuzhou he became Prince of Wei. After Duanzong died on the island of Gangzhou in the spring of 1278, Lu Xiufu and Zhang Shijie made him emperor with the reign title Xiangxing and moved the court to Yashan near Xinhui. On 19 March 1279 the Yuan general Zhang Hongfan broke the Song fleet at Yashan, and Lu Xiufu jumped into the sea with the child emperor on his back, ending the Southern Song. He received no temple or posthumous name; the History of Song calls him Prince of Wei, and later writers the Young Emperor of Song.