Northern Song dynasty: A Visual History

The Northern Song dynasty was founded in 960 by Zhao Kuangyin, who reunified China after the Five Dynasties and deliberately subordinated the military to civil officials. From Kaifeng it presided over an economic and technological revolution: the world's first paper money, printed books, the compass at sea, iron production on an industrial scale and cities of a million people. Militarily weak, it paid tribute to the Khitan Liao and Tangut Western Xia; its alliance with the Jurchen against the Liao backfired when the Jurchen sacked Kaifeng and captured two emperors in 1127.

When it existed: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Northern Song dynasty. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

Population of Northern Song China

Estimates from household registers.

Timeline of the Northern Song dynasty

1. 960
   Song foundedZhao Kuangyin proclaimed emperor.
2. 979
   Reunification of China properNorthern Han conquered.
3. 1005
   Treaty of ChanyuanPeace bought with the Liao.
4. 1023
   First official paper moneyThe jiaozi of Sichuan.
5. 1044
   Wujing ZongyaoFirst printed gunpowder formulas.
6. 1069
   Wang Anshi's reforms
7. 1120
   Alliance with the Jurchen
8. 1127
   Jingkang incidentKaifeng falls; two emperors captured.

Reunification and civil rule

Zhao Kuangyin, a general, was proclaimed emperor by his troops and, at a famous banquet, persuaded his fellow generals to retire with pensions. He and his brother reconquered the southern kingdoms, expanded the examination system and put civilians in charge of the army. The Liao kept the Sixteen Prefectures around Beijing, and after failed Song attacks the Treaty of Chanyuan (1005) bought peace with annual payments of silk and silver.

The Song economic miracle

Champa rice, iron ploughs and canals doubled food output; the population passed 100 million. Kaifeng and Hangzhou were the largest cities on earth. Merchants used the jiaozi paper notes, printed books spread learning, and inventors produced the magnetic compass, gunpowder rockets and bombs, water clocks and moveable type. Wang Anshi's New Policies (1069-1085) tried to reform finance and the army, splitting the bureaucracy into feuding factions for decades.

The Jingkang disaster

Emperor Huizong, a brilliant painter and calligrapher, allied with the rising Jurchen Jin against the Liao in 1120. The Jin destroyed the Liao, then turned on the Song, whose armies proved feeble. In January 1127 they took Kaifeng, and carried Huizong, his son Qinzong and thousands of the imperial clan into captivity in Manchuria. Another son escaped south to found the Southern Song at Hangzhou.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Southern Song dynasty (1127 to 1279)
• Liao dynasty (916 to 1125)
• Western Xia (1038 to 1227)
• Jin dynasty (1115-1234) (1115 to 1234)
• Tang dynasty (618 to 907)

Wars of the same era and region

• Fang La rebellion (1120 to 1121)
• Song-Dai Viet War (1075 to 1077)

8 surprising things about the Northern Song dynasty

1. Song China's iron output around 1078 was about 125,000 tonnes a year, more than all of Europe produced in 1700.
2. Bi Sheng invented moveable type printing around 1040, four centuries before Gutenberg.
3. The Song navy used the magnetic compass for navigation by the 1110s, the first recorded use.
4. Kaifeng's population of about a million was fed by grain barges on canals that ran through the city.
5. The Song regular army numbered over 1.2 million at its peak, the largest in the world, and still lost.
6. The astronomical clock tower of Su Song (1092) used an escapement mechanism 200 years before European clocks.
7. Emperor Huizong's paintings of birds and flowers are among the most admired in Chinese art; he died a prisoner in Manchuria.
8. The scroll Along the River During the Qingming Festival is a panoramic snapshot of Kaifeng at its height.

Sources

• Song dynasty Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Northern Song dynasty Wikipedia
• Song Dynasty World History Encyclopedia
• Dieter Kuhn, The Age of Confucian Rule: The Song Transformation of China (2009) Harvard University Press

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