Product Code Database
Emperor Zhenzong of Song (23 December 968 – 23 March 1022), personal name Zhao Heng, was the third emperor of the Song dynasty of China. He reigned from 997 to his death in 1022. His personal name was originally Zhao Dechang, but was changed to Zhao Yuanxiu in 983, Zhao Yuankan in 986, and finally Zhao Heng in 995. He was the third son of his predecessor, Emperor Taizong, and was succeeded by his sixth son, Emperor Renzong at the end of his reign. From 1020 he was seriously ill, but retained power despite this. Because of his illness, day-to-day rule of China was often placed in the hands of his third wife, Empress Liu.
In 1004, the Khitans waged war against the Song Empire. Emperor Zhenzong, leading his army, struck back at the Khitans. Despite initial successes, in 1005, Emperor Zhenzong concluded the Chanyuan Treaty. The treaty resulted in over a century of peace, but at the price of the Song Empire agreeing to an inferior position to the Liao Empire, and also agreeing to pay an annual tribute of 100,000 ounces of silver and over 200,000 bolts of silk. The admission of inferiority would come to plague the foreign affairs of the Song Empire, while the payments slowly depleted the empire's coffers.
He was responsible for ordering the shipment of 30,000 bushels of quick-maturing rice seed from the Fujian to the lower Yangtze basin in 1011–1012, improving agriculture.
By the sixth year of the Dazhong Xiangfu period of Emperor Zhenzong (1013), officials were evaluated based on their tax targets. These targets varied and were adjusted according to changes in tax revenue. Typically, they were set as averages of the highest and lowest collections from three years.
Emperor Zhenzong stressed the importance of Taoism at his imperial court. It was during his reign that the so-called Heavenly Texts, which glorified the Zhao family, were allegedly discovered. This was followed up by imperial sacrificial ceremonies carried out at Mount Tai. From 1013 to 1015, the emperor issued official decrees deifying the Jade Emperor as the highest ruler of Heaven.Jonathan D. Spence. God's Chinese Son. New York 1996. p.42
Champa rice was introduced to China from Champa during Emperor Zhenzong's reign.Lynda Noreen Shaffer, A Concrete Panoply of Intercultural Exchange: Asia in World History (1997) in Asia in Western and World History, edited by Ainslie T. Embree and Carol Gluck (Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe), p. 839-840.
Zhenzong died in 1022 of his illness. He was succeeded by his 6th son, Zhao Zhen who took the throne as Emperor Renzong, but with actual power remaining in the hands of Empress Liu, who became empress dowager.
(With the Empress Consort Liu)
|
|
