Emperor Shenzong of Song

Emperor Shenzong of Song
宋神宗
Palace portrait on a hanging scroll, kept in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
Emperor of the Song dynasty
Reign 25 January 1067 – 1 April 1085
Coronation 25 January 1067
Predecessor Emperor Yingzong
Successor Emperor Zhezong
Born Zhao Zhongzhen (1048–1067)
Zhao Xu (1067–1085)
25 May 1048
Died 1 April 1085(1085-04-01) (aged 36)
Posthumous name
Tiyuan Xiandao Fagu Lixian Dide Wanggong Yingwen Liewu Qinren Shengxiao Huangdi
(體元顯道法古立憲帝德王功英文烈武欽仁聖孝皇帝) (awarded in 1113)
Temple name
Shenzong (神宗)
House House of Zhao
Father Emperor Yingzong
Mother Empress Gao
Emperor Shenzong of Song
Chinese 宋神宗
Literal meaning "Spiritual Ancestor of the Song"
Zhao Xu
Traditional Chinese 趙頊
Simplified Chinese 赵顼
Zhao Zhongzhen
Traditional Chinese 趙仲鍼
Simplified Chinese 赵仲针

Emperor Shenzong of Song (25 May 1048 – 1 April 1085), personal name Zhao Xu, was the sixth emperor of the Song dynasty in China. His original personal name was Zhao Zhongzhen but he changed it to "Zhao Xu" after his coronation. He reigned from 1067 until his death in 1085.

Reign

During his reign in 1068, Emperor Shenzong became interested in Wang Anshi's policies and appointed Wang as the Chancellor. Wang implemented his famous New Policies aimed at improving the situation for the peasantry and unemployed, which some have seen as a forerunner of the modern welfare state. These acts became the hallmark reform of Emperor Shenzong's reign.

Emperor Shenzong sent failed campaigns against the Vietnamese ruler Lý Nhân Tông of the Lý dynasty in 1076.[1]

Emperor Shenzong's other notable act as emperor was his attempt to weaken the Tangut-led Western Xia state by invading and expelling the Western Xia forces from Gansu Province. The Song army was initially quite successful at these campaigns, but during the battle for the city of Yongle, in 1082, Song forces were defeated. As a result, Western Xia grew more powerful and subsequently continued to be a thorn in the side of the Song Empire over the ensuing decades.

During Emperor Shenzong's reign, Sima Guang, a minister interested in the history of the previous 1000 years, wrote a very influential history book, the Zizhi Tongjian or A Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government. This book records historical events from the Zhou dynasty to the Song dynasty. Another notable literary achievement which occurred during his reign was the compilation of the Seven Military Classics, including the alleged forgery of the Questions and Replies between Tang Taizong and Li Weigong.[2]

Aside from the ancient Roman embassies to Han and Three-Kingdoms era China, contact with Europe remained sparse if not nonexistent before the 13th century. However, from Chinese records it is known that Michael VII Doukas (Mie li sha ling kai sa 滅力沙靈改撒) of Fo lin (i.e. the Byzantine Empire) dispatched a diplomatic mission to China's Song dynasty that arrived in 1081, during the reign of Emperor Shenzong.[3]

Emperor Shenzong died in 1085 at the age of 36 from an unspecified illness and was succeeded by his son, Zhao Xu who took the throne as Emperor Zhezong. Emperor Zhezong was underage and so Shenzong’s mother Empress Gao ruled as regent until her death.

Family

  • Parents:
  • Consorts and Issue:
  1. Empress Xiang (欽聖皇后 向氏; 1046 – 1101)
    1. Princess Shuhuai (淑懷帝姬; 1067 – 1078)
  2. Empress dowager Zhu (欽成皇后 朱氏; 1052 – 1102)
    1. Zhao Xu (哲宗 趙煦; 1077 – 1100)
    2. Zhao Shi (楚榮憲王 趙似; 1083 – 1106)
    3. Princess Xianjing (賢靜帝姬; 1085 – 1115)
  3. Posthumous empress Chen (欽慈皇后 陳氏; 1058 – 1089)
    1. Zhao Ji (徽宗 趙佶; 1082 – 1135)
  4. Second rank consort Xing (懿穆貴妃 邢氏; d. 1103)
    1. Zhao Jin (惠王 趙僅; 1071)
    2. Zhao Xian (冀王 趙僩; 1074 – 1076)
    3. Zhao Jia (豫悼惠王 趙價; 1077 – 1078)
    4. Zhao Ti (徐沖惠王 趙倜; 1078 – 1081)
  5. Second rank consort Yang (懿靜貴妃 楊氏)
  6. Second rank consort Song (貴妃 宋氏; d. 1117)
    1. Zhao Yi (成王 趙佾; 1069)
    2. Zhao Jun (唐哀獻王 趙俊; 1073 – 1077)
    3. Princess Xianxiao (賢孝帝姬; d. 1108)
  7. Second rank consort Zhang (懿靜淑妃 張氏; d. 1105)
    1. Princess Xianke (賢恪帝姬; c. 1067 – 1072)
  8. Second rank consort Zhu (德妃 朱氏)
    1. Princess Xianmu (賢穆帝姬; d. 1084)
  9. Second rank consort Wu (惠穆賢妃 武氏; d. 1107)
    1. Zhao Bi (吳榮穆王 趙佖; 1082 – 1106)
    2. Princess Xianhe (賢和帝姬; d. 1090)
  10. Second rank consort Lin (賢妃 林貞; 1052 – 1090), personal name Zhen
    1. Zhao Yu (燕王 趙俁; 1083 – 1127)
    2. Princess Xianling (賢令帝姬; d. 1084)
    3. Zhao Cai (越王 趙偲; 1085 – 1129)
  11. Sixth rank consort Guo (才人 郭氏)
    1. Zhao Wei (儀王 趙偉; 1082)
  12. Lady Xiang (夫人 向氏)
    1. Zhao Shen (褒王 趙伸; 1074)
  13. Unknown
    1. Princess Xianmu (賢穆帝姬; c. 1070 – 1111)
    2. Princess Xiankang (賢康帝姬; d. 1085)
    3. Princess Xianyi (賢宜帝姬; d. 1085)

See also

  1. Chinese emperors family tree (middle)
  2. List of emperors of the Song dynasty
  3. Architecture of the Song dynasty
  4. Culture of the Song dynasty
  5. Economy of the Song dynasty
  6. History of the Song dynasty
  7. Society of the Song dynasty
  8. Technology of the Song dynasty
  9. Wang Anshi
  10. Shen Kuo

References

  1. ↑ Maspéro, Georges (2002). The Champa Kingdom: The History of an Extinct Vietnamese Culture. White Lotus Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-974-7534-99-3.
  2. ↑ Sawyer, Ralph D. (1993). The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China. Westview Press. p. 489. ISBN 978-0-8133-1228-6.
  3. ↑ Sezgin, Fuat; Ehrig-Eggert, Carl; Mazen, Amawi; Neubauer, E. (1996). نصوص ودراسات من مصادر صينية حول البلدان الاسلامية. Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University. p. 25.
Emperor Shenzong of Song
Born: 25 May 1048 Died: 1 April 1085
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Emperor Yingzong		 Emperor of the Song Dynasty
1067–1085		 Succeeded by
Emperor Zhezong
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