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Zhao Ding
Southern Song chancellor under Gaozong, counted with Li Gang, Hu Quan and Li Guang as one of the four famed ministers; he opposed peace with the Jin and starved himself in exile on Hainan.
In a council hall, a long table holds an unrolled map scroll, a brass-cornered chest and a brush pot, with tall-backed chairs around it and a bronze lamp at the left; a figure stands with their back turned on the balcony at the right, with palace roofs beyond.
Also known as Courtesy name Yuanzhen · Layman Dequan
Zhao Ding, courtesy name Yuanzhen and sobriquet Layman Dequan, came from Wenxi in Jiezhou (modern Wenxi, Shanxi). He took the jinshi in 1106, served as palace censor after the court crossed south, was made Right Vice-Director and Manager of Military Affairs in 1134 and chancellor the next year. He insisted on resisting the Jin and was dismissed; Qin Gui then framed him and he was exiled to Jiyang on Hainan, where he starved himself to death in 1147. Emperor Xiaozong later granted him the posthumous name Zhongjian. His Dequan Ji survives.
Life and times
Dates 1085 CE–1147 CE