Emperor Gaozong of Song

Emperor Gaozong of Song
宋高宗
Palace portrait on a hanging scroll, kept in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
Emperor of the Song dynasty
Reign12 June 1127 – 26 March 1129
Coronation12 June 1127
PredecessorEmperor Qinzong
SuccessorZhao Fu
Reign20 April 1129 – 24 July 1162
PredecessorZhao Fu
SuccessorEmperor Xiaozong
Retired Emperor of the Song dynasty
Reign24 July 1162 – 9 November 1187
BornZhao Gou
12 June 1107
Bianliang, Northern Song (present-day Kaifeng, Henan, China)
Died9 November 1187(1187-11-09) (aged 80)
Lin'an, Southern Song (present-day Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China)
Burial
Yongsi Mausoleum (永思陵, in present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang)
Consorts
(died 1139)
(before 1187)
IssueZhao Fu
Second Princess Kang
Third Princess Kang
Fourth Princess Kang
Fifth Princess Kang
Era dates
Jianyan (建炎; 1127–1130)
Shaoxing (紹興; 1131–1162)
Posthumous name
Emperor Shouming Zhongxing Quangong Zhide Shengshen Wuwen Zhaoren Xianxiao (受命中興全功至德聖神武文昭仁憲孝皇帝) (conferred in 1191)
Temple name
Gaozong (高宗)
HouseZhao
DynastySong (Southern Song)
FatherEmperor Huizong
MotherEmpress Xianren
Signature
Emperor Gaozong of Song
Chinese宋高宗
Literal meaning"High Ancestor of the Song"
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinSòng Gāozōng
Zhao Gou
Traditional Chinese趙構
Simplified Chinese赵构
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhào Gòu
Deji
(courtesy name)
Chinese德基
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinDéjī

Emperor Gaozong of Song (12 June 1107 – 9 November 1187), personal name Zhao Gou, courtesy name Deji, was the tenth emperor of the Chinese Song dynasty and the first of the Southern Song dynasty, ruling between 1127 and 1162 and retaining power as retired emperor from 1162 until his death in 1187. The ninth son of Emperor Huizong and a younger half-brother of Emperor Qinzong, Zhao Gou was not present in the capital of Bianjing (the modern day Kaifeng) when it fell to the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in 1127 during the beginning of the Jin-Song Wars. Narrowly avoiding capture by Jin forces, he escaped first to Yangzhou and then Lin'an (the modern day Hangzhou), assuming the throne and reestablishing the Song court. Despite initial setbacks, including Jin invasions and a brief deposition in 1129, Emperor Gaozong consolidated his political position and presided over the continued military conflict with Jin. Prior to 1141, military commanders including Han Shizhong and Yue Fei reconquered portions of the Central Plains while chancellors like Lü Yihao, Zhao Ding, Zhang Jun, and Qin Hui managed the civil bureaucracy.

In 1141, Gaozong collaborated with Qin to pursue a peace settlement with Jin. Although the resulting Treaty of Shaoxing ceded the Central Plains and formally established Song as a Jin tributary, it ensured two decades of uninterrupted peace, allowing the Southern Song state to achieve internal stability and open a lucrative trade with Jin. Furthermore, it served to preclude the return of Emperor Qinzong, who remained in captivity in Jin and whose release could have jeopardized Gaozong's claim to the throne. Gaozong and Qin then secured court control over the military, forcing Han Shizhong and the general Zhang Jun into retirement and executing Yue Fei on trumped-up charges. Despite his successes as emperor, Gaozong's treatment of Yue, who was remembered as a culture hero, and his surrender of over half of Song China to the enemy, marred his reputation in both traditional historiography and popular memory. Gaozong, along his father and half-brother, were blamed for the Song dynasty's decline.

Gaozong's only biological son, Zhao Fu, died in childhood. In 1160, he adopted his distant relative Zhao Yuan and elevated him to crown prince in 1162, shortly before abdicating in his favor. Despite his abdication, Gaozong retained de facto control of state affairs as retired emperor, continuing to oversee the dynasty until dying of natural causes in 1187, at the age of 80.