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The
Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) Over 300 years of Song history
is divided into the two periods of Northern and Southern Song. Because
of the barbarian occupation of northern China the second half of the Song
rule was confined to the area south of the Huai River. Northern Song Dynasty
(960-1127). General Zhao Kuangyin, later known as Song Taizu, was said
to have been coerced to become emperor by his subordination in order to
unify China. Wary of power-hungry commanders, Sung Taizu made the military
into a national army under his direct control. Under his less capable
successors, however, the military increasingly lost prestige. Unfortunately
for China, the weakening of the military coincided with the rise of successive
strong nomad nations on the borders. In contrast to the military's loss
of prestige, the civil service rose in dignity. The examination system
that had been restored in the Sui and Tang was further elaborated and
regularized. Selection examinations were held every three years at the
district, provincial, and metropolitan levels. Only 200 out of thousands
of applicants were granted the jinshi degree, the highest degree, and
appointed to government posts. From this time on, civil servants became
China's most envied elite, replacing the hereditary nobles and landlords.
Song dominion extended over only part of the territories of earlier Chinese
empires. The Qidan controlled the northeastern territories, and the Xixia
controlled the northwestern territories. Unable to recover these lands,
the Song emperors were compelled to make peace with the Qidan in 1004
and with the Xixia in 1044. Massive payments to the barbarians under the
peace terms depleted the state treasury, caused hardship to taxpaying
peasants, and gave rise to a conflict in the court among advocates of
war, those who favored peace, and reformers. In 1069 Emperor Shenzong
appointed Wang An-shih as chief minister. Wang proposed a number of sweeping
reforms based on the classical text of the `Rites of Chou'. Many of his
"new laws" were actually revivals of earlier policies, but officials
and landlords opposed his reforms. When the emperor and Wang died within
a year of each other, the new laws were abolished. For the next several
decades, until the fall of the Northern Sung in 1127, the reformers and
anti-reformers alternated in power, creating havoc and turmoil in government.
In an effort to regain territory lost to the Qidan, the Song sought an
alliance with the newly powerful Jin from Manchuria. Once the alliance
had expelled the Qidan, however, the Jin turned on the Song and occupied
the capital of Kaifeng. The Jin established the dynasty of Jin, a name
meaning "gold," which lasted from 1115 to 1234, in the north.
They took the emperor and his son prisoner, along with 3,000 others, and
ordered them to be held in Manchuria.
