Emperor Huizong: The Artist Who Lost an Empire

In the Analects, Confucius states:

居之无倦，行之以忠。
Ponder over [government] untiringly. Carry it out loyally.

– Analects, 12.14

The 8^th Song dynasty emperor Huizong (r. 1100 – 1125 AD) did not follow this principle in government. 

But he did so in art…

The result was great for artistic culture during his reign. 

But it was a disaster for his dynasty.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Zhao Ji (赵佶) (the future Emperor Huizong) was born in 1082 AD. 

He was the 11^th son of the Shenzong Emperor (r. 1067 – 1085 AD). His mother was a concubine surnamed Chen. 

Historical context

The world in the late 11^th century

Around the time of Huizong’s birth, the following contemporary historical events took place: 

• The Byzantine-Venetian Treaty of 1082 is signed
• The First Crusade (1095 – 6) is launched 
• The Normans have been ruling most of what is today’s Britain for the past 16 years
• Igor, Prince of Novgorod-Severesk, unsuccessfully attempts to raid the Turkic Polovtsians in 1185. These events later depicted in Russia’s first great epic poem, The Song of Igor’s Campaign (late 12^th century).

The Song Dynasty (960 – 1279)

Huizong’s family had been ruling most of what is today’s China for 122 years by the time of his birth. 

The Song Empire was powerful, prosperous, and cultured.

Today, some historians it to have been China’s Renaissance.

It was likely the most advanced civilisation in the world at the time. 

But its problems were growing. 

Corruption, a weak military and mismanaged finances worried officials. 

The state tried to deal with these issues with the New Policies, a series of controversial and radical reforms. They were implemented in 1061 and then cancelled 1085.

But the problems remained.

(Huizong would turn back to the New Policies early in his career.)

Youth in the Palace City

Huizong was born in the Palace City, where he spent most of the first 15 years of his life.

The Palace City was a self-enclosed part of the then-capital, Kaifeng (in today’s Henan Province).

It was surrounded by nearly 9 miles (14.4 km) of wall and towers which reached up to 26ft (8 metres) high.

It housed multiple halls, living quarters and gardens. Some buildings were decorated by Huizong’s father’s favourite painter Guo Xi (ca. 1001 – 1090).

Thousands of officials, tradesmen, musicians, envoys, and others visited during the day. 

And overnight thousands of Palace staff (including eunuchs) slept there, too.

Kaifeng

As a child, Huizong was occasionally allowed to travel outside of the City Palace. 

At its peak, Kaifeng is estimated to have had a population of around a million. 

It was one of – if not the – largest cities in the world at the time.

Kaifeng had not been designed by planners. 

(By contrast, the secondary eastern capital Luoyang and the Tang dynasty’s capital Chang’an (today’s Xi’an) had been planned.)

This meant that it did not have a symmetrical, tidy appearance. It was relatively crowded and ‘organic’ in where and how it developed.

1096: The Prince of Duan

In 1096, Huizong’s was given the title of Prince of Duan.

His half-brother, Zhezong (r. 1085 – 1100 AD), had inherited the throne over a decade before as a child. 

(His rule was led by the Empress Dowager Gao until her death in 1093).

So, throughout his early life, Huizong did not expect to be an emperor.

With his tutors, he studied the classics. He was also pursued his passions: Painting, poetry, calligraphy and collecting art.

His brothers-in-law included the great artists Wang Shen (ca. 1048 – ca. 1103 AD)and Li Wei (active ca. 1190 – 1230 AD).

Wang taught Huizong painting and calligraphy and gave him access to his large personal art collection.

An anecdote gives us a glimpse of the young Huizong around this time:

Once Wang Shen and Huizong met unexpectedly at the palace whilst waiting to line up for an audience. Huizong said: “Today I inadvertently forgot to bring my razor. I’d like to borrow one to trim the hair at my temples. Could I?” Wang Shen took one out from his belt. Huizong said, “This type is very new and attractive,” to which Wang Shen replied, “I recently had two made, one of which has not yet been used. In a little while [text missing].” That evening, Wang sent Gao Qiu to deliver it.
   When Gao arrived, Huizong was in his garden playing kick-ball. […] [Huizong asked Gao] “Are you familiar with this game?” When Gao Qui responded that he was competent at it, Huizong good-naturedly asked him to return the kick, and Qui did as requested.
   Huizong was very pleased and told the underlings who had accompanied Gao, “You can return and tell the commandant that I thank him for the razor and will keep both it and the he sent it with.”

Quoted in Emperor Huizong, by Patricia Buckley Ebrey (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2014), p. 26

1098 – 99: Mansion and marriage

Aged 15, Huizong moved into a mansion just outside the Palace City. (So did his brother of the same age, Bi.)

The following year he married his first wife, Lady Wang (who later became Empress Wang). 

He often attending the Palace City for visits and official ceremonies.

The court ignored this warning.

1100 – 01: Reign name: ‘Building a stable country’ (建中靖国)

1100: Becomes emperor

When Huizong was 17, his brother, the Emperor Zhezong, died aged 23.

Zhezong’s widow helped Huizong become emperor. At the time, a chief councillor warned: 

“Prince Duan [Huizong] is careless and frivolous, and not cut out for ruling all under Heaven.”

Huizong started out his reign evaluating appointments of officials.

He appointed his adoptive mother, Empress Xiang (1047 – 1102), as co-regent to help him rule.

And he called an amnesty for officials banished under his brother’s rule. 

(This included two of the dynasty’s most famous calligraphers and poets: Su Shi (10137 – 1101) – who died en route to his post – and Huang Tingjian (1045 – 1105).) 

He soon found out that balancing divisions between reformers and anti-reformers (often referred to as conservatives) was difficult.

Having moved out of his mansion, he had it re-decorated and renamed the Dragon Virtue Temple. He even found time to advise the artists working on it.

Early in this period, his first son was born (the future Emperor Qinzong (r. 1126 – 1127). 

Near its end, the Empress Dowager passed away.

1102 – 1106: Reign: The Zongning (宗宁) era

In 1102, Huizong reversed his neutral position in long-standing reformist/anti-reformist rivalry. 

He now came out in favour of the reformists and appointed a completely reformist grand council.

Anti-reformist politicians that had been returned to power back in the 1080s were now banished. 

Portraits of others were removed from temples. And books by anti-reformers like Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, and others were burned and blacklisted.

Appointing Cai Jing 

Cai Jing (1047 – 1126 AD) had been a high-ranking official during Huizong’s brother’s and father’s reigns.

He gained a court position during Huizong’s reign in May 1102. 

By July he was appointed to the Council of State and soon made grand counsellor. 

In August he proposed major school system reforms and expansions.

(School in imperial China was aimed at the imperial examinations. This is where much of the civil service was recruited from. So, it was a significant political issue.)

Like Huizong, Cai was a talented calligrapher and keen art connoisseur. He was also an able administrator, especially with finances.

He managed Huizong well, encouraging him to take an interest in state affairs and to write out edicts personally. 

However, many other officials criticised Cai for controlling access to Huizong. He was even suspended for a year in 1106 – 7 because of this. 

(And a comet, which Huizong initially interpreted as a sign the criticism was correct).

1107 – 1110: Reign: The Daguan (大观) era

Huizong began this reign-era by launching a project to reform court rituals.

(The project was eventually completed in 1113.)

He launched a number of other projects, too. These range from commissioning new buildings to collecting calligraphy and paintings.

Towards the end of this period Cai Jing was once again expelled and then brought back into government.

1111 – 1118: Reign: The Zhenghe (政和) era

Huizong continued his love of large projects during this reign.

His passion for Daoism continued to grow. He wrote a commentary on the Daoist classic the Tao Te Ching (/Dao Dejing).

And he approved a project to compile a History of the Dao.

Compilation on the Xuanhe Catalogue of Paintings (1120) also began.

Raising the status of calligraphers and painters

During this period, Huizong raised the status of their Academy of Calligraphy and Academy of Painting members. They were now allowed:

• To wear fish pendants (like officials)
• Only be dismissed by an official imperial decree
• Receive salaries
• Be exempt from physical punishment

Huizong in part built on ideas first articulated by the (blacklisted) Su Shi.

These ideas emphasised the similarities and relationship between calligraphy, painting and poetry. 

He essentially formalised the roles that court painters played. 

Andhe had their education include focus more on the classics.

Genyue Park 

Planning on Genyue Park (also known as Northeast Marchmount) was started 1117.

It’s arguably Huizong’s most controversial project.

Construction began in January 1118 and was completed in January 1123.

It was an enormous manmade royal park based in the Palace City, designed to resemble a natural hill in Hangzhou (Phoenix Hill). 

In total it measured 3.47 miles (5.59 km) in circumference and was filled with features, including:

• Stone peaks. Its highest peak was about 453 feet (138 meters) high.
• Ridges
• Pavilions
• Waterfalls
• Brooks
• Thousands of different types of trees (many of these would later be chopped down for firewood during the Jurchen siege of Kaifeng).

It was meant to be a beautiful venue for the elite to meet and hold banquets in.

To build it, a ‘Flower and Rock Network’ was created. 

This organization forced men to labour on the garden and transport plants, rocks, and other materials across the country to it.

It was widely hated. It was even shut down temporarily when the Song rulers feared it would ignite rebellion. 

However, once it was sensed the threat of rebellion was reduced, Huizong ordered it restarted.

1118 (November) – 1119 (February): Reign: The Zhonghe (重和) era

During this brief reign period, Huizong’s daughter (Princess Fujin) married Cai Jing’s son. 

By this point, the elderly Cai Jing was only allowed to visit the court every fifth day (he would retire in 1120).

1119 – 1125: Reign: The Xuanhe (宣和) era

The final reign period of Huizong’s rule was difficult for him. 

One of the biggest problems with the preceding years was the northern borders. 

The Western Xia Dynasty (1039 – 1227) in the north west and Jin Dynasty (1115 – 1234) in the north east rivalled one another and the Song.

Alliances, battles and truces between each state had taken place. The Song had also suffered several heavy military defeats.

By the start of the Xuanhe reign, the Song was allied with the Jin.

Meanwhile, in 1120, a rebel uprising captured several important southern cities, including Hangzhou.

It took over 6 months before the rebellion was put down and its leader (Fang La) was executed.

Abdication

The Song’s alliance with the Jin proved to be a grave mistake.

After defeating the Western Xia, the Jin turned on the Song. They progressed south, taking over scores of cities.

Huizong accepted the blame for the military failures that had led to this. He abdicated in favour of his son, Qinzong, in 1126.

1126 – 1127: Qinzong’s reign

By that point, tens of millions of Chinese still living in northern China – were now under Jurchen control.

Huizong had been assured by officials of the importance of his advisory role. In reality, he found he was of little importance to the new ruler. 

However, Qinzong’s reign did not last long. The Jurchen army sieged Kaifeng and Song forces there surrender.

1127 – 1135: Prisoner

After surrendering in Kaifeng, Huizong, Qinzong, and an entourage of about 3,000 people entered the Jin military camp.

They were marched north-eastwards to Jin capital of Wuguo City (near today’s Harbin, Heilongjiang Province).

Along the way, many of the captives were murdered, raped, or left to starve. 

Thousands more that were marched up in separate groups suffered the same fate.

Huizong and Qinzong’s treatment under the Jurchens isn’t completely clear. 

Accounts exist, but they were likely written with a view to the Jurchens checking them.

However, the two former emperors were on occasion humiliated. 

In one ceremony, Huizong was dubbed by the Jurchens the ‘Marquis of Muddled Virtue’ and Qinzong ‘Maquis Doubly Muddled’.

Meanwhile, another of Huizong’s sons was named emperor: Gaozong (r. 1127 – 29, 1129-62). 

Gaozong fled south. There, the remaining royals and politicians set up what would become the capital of the Song during the Southern Song period (1127 – 1279).

Huizong spent his final years in Wuguocheng (today’s Yilan County, Heilongjiang Province). 

This area has Siberian weather conditions. Aside from that, he lived in relative comfort, surrounded by some of his immediate family.

He is said to have written many poems during this time. One account says he burned thousands of them when one of his sons-in-law falsely accused him plotting a coup.

His body was returned to Gaozong after a peace treaty between the Southern Song and Jin in 1142 AD.

九叶鸿基一旦休，猖狂不听直臣谋。
甘心万里为降虏，故国悲凉玉殿秋。
Nine generations in, the great enterprise ceases.
It was insane not to listen to upright officials’ advice.
I travel over 3,000 miles as a willing captive, 
Remembering how I used to feel grieved by the autumn cooling of the jade halls.

– ‘Inscribed on a Wall at Swallow Monastery’ by Zhao Ji (Huizong Emperor)

From Northern Song to Southern Song

Many historians have ultimately blamed Huizong, his weak leadership and his preference for the arts over ruling, for the loss of half of the China in 1127. 

The Song dynasty itself lasted from 960 – 1279. However, it is generally divided into two parts:

• The Northern Song (960 – 1127 AD), when most of today’s China was ruled by the Song imperial rulers. Its primary capital city was Kaifeng, Henan Province (where Huizong was born).
• The Southern Song (1127 – 1279 AD), when the dynasty only ruled the southern half of China. Its capital was in today’s Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.

The labels ‘Northern’ and ‘Southern’ Song only appeared centuries later. At the time, the Song state simply moved southwards after the Jurchen-ruled Jin dynasty (1115 – 1234 AD) took over Northern China.

Huizong’s artistic interests

Painting

Huizong was an accomplished and (naturally considering his position) influential painter. He particularly liked painting birds, flowers and animals. But he was also a keen on landscapes. 

Huizong emphasised three main aspects for painting:

• Realism. One of the regulations given (likely by him) to the Academy of Painting was: ‘Painters are not to imitate their predecessors, but are to depict objects as they exist, true to form and colour.’
• Learning from past masters. Though he didn’t want painters to imitate painters from the past, Huizong still wanted painters to learn from them.
• Attain ‘poetic ideas’ (诗意 [shīyyī]). This is the ability to be imaginative and express poetic concepts (scenes, suggestions, emotions) in painting in the same vein poems do.

Huizong’s own painting appears to have lived up to these ideals well. 

Listening to the Qin (Ca. 1102) by Huizong

Listening to the Qin by Huizong is an elegant depiction of a tranquil scene. It depicts Huizong playing the Qin (a classical musical instrument) to an audience of two ministers and a servant. 

In the foreground there is a garden rock, and in the background a pine tree surrounded by bamboo shoots.

Alongside the seats, these elements suggest the location being outside. This enables the painting to contain both nature and culture (the qin).

The perspective and spacing between the painting’s figures and objects gives it a sense of tranquillity, like the music of a qin itself should.

It is easy to see that this is the kind of self-image Huizong wanted to project: a cultured, sage-like presence at harmony with nature and culture.

The piece also includes a piece of calligraphy by the unpopular Cai Jing (who is also the seated figure in the red).

A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains (1113) by Wang Ximeng

Wang Ximeng (1196 – 1119) was a protégé of Huizong from at the Academy of Painting who died at the age of just twenty-three.

Unfortunately, A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains (千里江山图 [Qiānlǐ jiāngshān tú]) is his only surviving work. The original features a colophon (a note) by Cai Jing. 

Wang’s work demonstrates well the type of landscape painting Huizong encouraged. Its striking use of blue and green paint hint at a kind of paradise scene (much like the Genyue Park).

The Xuanhe Catalogue of Paintings

The Xuanhe Catalogue of Paintings (宣和画谱 [Xuānhé Huàpǔ]) is a catalogue of Huizong’s painting collection compiled in the years leading up to its completion 1120 AD.

It contains 6,396 paintings by 231 painters. This work is divided into ten categories, including: Landscapes, flowers and birds, domestic and wild animals, etc.

It is believed the prime minister Cai Jing and his brother Cai Bian compiled the catalogue. However, it is credited to Huizong, and no doubt strongly represents his artistic preferences.

Comments throughout the catalogue give insight into Huizong’s artistic philosophy. For example, a comment on a painting in the ‘fruits and vegetables’ section reads:

诗人多识草木虫鱼之性，而画者其所以豪夺造化，思入妙微，亦诗人之作也。

The poet often recognised the nature of plants, trees, insects and fishes. And when a painter seizes creation with his brush and penetrates the subtle mysteries of things with his mind, it is also the act of a poet. 

– Xuanhe Catalogue of Paintings

Calligraphy

Huizong was a skilled and innovative calligrapher. 

He excelled at the standard script, or more specifically, his version of it: ‘the slender gold style.’ 

The best example of this is his surviving copy of the Thousand Character Classic.

This is an ancient poem where the same character is never repeated. It has been replicated many times by some of China’s greatest calligraphers in different styles.

Huizong’s standard script version features hints of running script, but largely stays within the boundaries it begins with.

Its characters feature thin, long strokes that suggest a rapid but organised hand. Overall, the rows of characters stay neatly within the much larger scheme of the work.

And his cursive style, whilst not always first-rate, was still skilled and occasionally reached a high level. One of his best pieces was a 16-character inscription on a fan.