Southern Song Dynasty

Southern Song Dynasty

Contents

Southern Song Dynasty (simplified: 南宋, traditional: 南宋, pinyin: Nán Sòng Cháo) was the Han Chinese dynasty that ruled southern China from 1127 to 1279 CE, after the Jin conquest of northern China forced the Song court to move south. During the events of The Legend of the Condor Heroes, the throne was held by Emperor Ningzong, with Han Tuozhou and then Shi Miyuan as chief minister, and the court faced the Jin Empire to the north and the rising Mongol Empire beyond it. The Return of the Condor Heroes is set in the reign of Emperor Lizong.

History

Foundation

The Southern Song Dynasty was established after the Jin captured the Northern Song capital of Bianliang and carried off the emperors Huizong and Qinzong in the Jingkang Incident of 1127, forcing the Song court to flee south. Emperor Gaozong eventually made Lin’an (modern-day Hangzhou) his capital. In 1142 the peace concluded under Gaozong and Qin Hui made the Song a vassal of the Jin, with the border along the Huai River.

In The Legend of the Condor Heroes

The storyteller Zhang Shiwu told the story of these years to Guo Xiaotian and Yang Tiexin at Niu Family Village: how Huizong, Qinzong and Gaozong between them handed the north to the Jin, how Qin Hui had Yue Fei killed, and how Gaozong submitted to the Jin as a vassal, after which the throne passed from Gaozong to Xiaozong, Guangzong and the reigning Qingyuan Emperor, Ningzong, whose chancellor was Han Tuozhou. Half of China was then in Jin hands; the Southern Song held only the Liangzhe, Huainan, Jiangnan, Jinghu and other southern circuits, and its court was content to live at ease in the south.

The court bent to Jin pressure. Yang Kang, acting for the Jin, sent Mu Nianci with a Jin envoy’s seal to ask Shi Miyuan to have the Mongol envoys killed. When Tolui came south to propose an alliance against the Jin, the court, afraid of provoking the Jin, lodged him in a guest house and ignored him; only Yang Kang’s capture at Lake Tai spared Tolui from being killed on Jin orders. When news came that the Mongols had taken the Jin capital, Zhongdu, the Song ministers turned to flattering Tolui and hurried to conclude the alliance. In Shandong, the Loyalty Army of Li Quan and Yang Miaozhen won victories over the Jin unmatched since the days of Yue Fei, and Shi Miyuan’s court appointed Li Quan commander of Jingdong Circuit; yet the regular Song troops later attacked the Loyalty Army, and when the Mongols advanced on Qingzhou, it was Guo Jing and Huang Rong who helped Li Quan and Yang Miaozhen defend it.

Behind the scenes

Historical background

The historical Southern Song (1127–1279) ruled from Lin’an (Hangzhou) after the Jingkang catastrophe, holding the Yangtze south against the Jurchen Jin and, later, the Mongols.1 It is the principal setting of The Legend of the Condor Heroes and of The Return of the Condor Heroes. Emperor Ningzong reigned from 1194 to 1224 and Emperor Lizong from 1224 to 1264.

In the Condor novels

  1. Guo Jing and national defence — In the revised edition of The Legend of the Condor Heroes, Jin Yong replaced the episode in which Lü Wenhuan defended Xiangyang with Li Quan and Yang Miaozhen’s Loyalty Army defending Qingzhou, in keeping with history and geography, and left the defence of Xiangyang to The Return of the Condor Heroes.
  2. Court corruption versus frontier sacrifice — The Song court appears as timid and self-serving, deferring to the Jin and then to the Mongols, in contrast with the patriots who fight for it.
  3. The siege of Xiangyang — The Return of the Condor Heroes carries the dynasty into the reign of Emperor Lizong and ends with the Mongol assault on Xiangyang in 1259, in which the Great Khan Möngke was killed.

See also Northern Song Dynasty for the Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils period and Song Dynasty for both eras together.

See also

Footnotes

  1. Southern Song on Wikipedia. ↩

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