Emperor Huizong / Patricia Buckley Ebrey.

ISBN:

9780674726420

9780674725256

Title:

Emperor Huizong / Patricia Buckley Ebrey.

Author:

Ebrey, Patricia Buckley, 1947- author.

Personal Author:

Ebrey, Patricia Buckley, 1947- author.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (708 pages) : illustrations

Contents:

I. Learning to rule, 1082-1108. Growing up in the palace, 1082-1099 ; Taking the throne, 1100 ; Trying for balance, 1101-1108 -- II. Striving for magnificence, 1102-1112. Placing faith in Daoism, 1100-1110 ; Embracing and revitalizing tradition ; Welcoming masters and experts ; Crafting an image as an artist -- III. Anticipating great things, 1107-1120. Pursuing the monumental ; Finding pleasure in court and palace life ; Working with councilors ; Accepting divine revelations, 1110-1119 ; Allying with Jin -- IV. Confronting failure, 1121-1135. Adjusting to military setbacks, 1121-1125 ; Abdicating the throne, 1125-1126 ; Losing everything, 1126-1127 ; Enduring captivity, 1127-1135 -- Afterword -- Appendix A. Reasons for rejecting some common stories about Huizong and his court -- Appendix B. Huizong's consorts and their children -- Timeline.

Local Note:

eBooks on EBSCOhost

Personal Subject:

Song Huizong, Emperor of China, 1082-1135.

Song Huizong, Emperor of China, 1082-1135. (OCoLC)fst00120632

Subject Term:

BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- Historical.

HISTORY -- Asia -- China.

Song Dynasty (China) (OCoLC)fst01696776

Geographic Term:

China -- History -- Song dynasty, 960-1279.

China. (OCoLC)fst01206073

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

http://ezproxy.angliss.edu.au/login?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&AN=660121

Publication Date:

2014

Publication Information:

Cambridge, Massachusetts :

Harvard University Press,

[2014]

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
951.024092	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

China was the most advanced country in the world when Huizong ascended the throne in 1100 CE. In his eventful twenty-six year reign, the artistically-gifted emperor guided the Song Dynasty toward cultural greatness. Yet Huizong would be known to posterity as a political failure who lost the throne to Jurchen invaders and died their prisoner. The first comprehensive English-language biography of this important monarch, Emperor Huizong is a nuanced portrait that corrects the prevailing view of Huizong as decadent and negligent. Patricia Ebrey recasts him as a ruler genuinely ambitious--if too much so--in pursuing glory for his flourishing realm.

After a rocky start trying to overcome political animosities at court, Huizong turned his attention to the good he could do. He greatly expanded the court's charitable ventures, founding schools, hospitals, orphanages, and paupers' cemeteries. An accomplished artist, he surrounded himself with outstanding poets, painters, and musicians and built palaces, temples, and gardens of unsurpassed splendor. What is often overlooked, Ebrey points out, is the importance of religious Daoism in Huizong's understanding of his role. He treated Daoist spiritual masters with great deference, wrote scriptural commentaries, and urged his subjects to adopt his beliefs and practices. This devotion to the Daoist vision of sacred kingship eventually alienated the Confucian mainstream and compromised his ability to govern.

Readers will welcome this lively biography, which adds new dimensions to our understanding of a passionate and paradoxical ruler who, so many centuries later, continues to inspire both admiration and disapproval.

Author Notes

Ebrey Patricia Buckley :

Patricia Buckley Ebrey is Professor of History and Chinese Studies at the University of Washington.

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

China was the richest country in the world, yet in 1125 an invasion forced Emperor Huizong out and into captivity; his reign of the Northern Song Dynasty has since been considered a great failure. Ebrey, professor of history and Chinese studies at the University of Washington, questions this notion, arguing that the Emperor's ousting was, in part, a result of many occurrences that were beyond his control. She showcases the great achievements Huizong made in culture and art: he worked toward administrative and educational reform; he produced poetry, hymns, and paintings that centered on Daoist themes; and he was "an avid builder of temples and gardens." Ebrey's depictions of court life are masterfully detailed and she focuses on six grand projects that reflected the Emperor's range of interests and talents: a new ritual code; a new Daoist canon; visual documentation of auspicious signs; collections of cultural treasures; the Bright Hall; and the Northeast Marchmount. The portrait does not exclude the Emperor's fall from power, but it depicts Huizong's acceptance of defeat. While general readers may need more background of the historical period to fully enjoy this account, Ebrey offers comparisons between Chinese royalty and Western monarchies for clarity. Historians will find Ebrey's text of interest as a revisionist one that appreciates the richness of Chinese traditions. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

Ebrey's scholarly biography of Song dynasty ruler Huizong (1082-1135) collects a vast body of prior research, and in doing so constitutes the most comprehensive English-language work on the pivotal figure, whose rule saw a blossoming of art and culture but also the near-total collapse of Song dominance over southern China. But Ebrey also challenges some long-held assessments of Huizong's rule, including the idea that Huizong was a decadent ruler whose commitment to the arts distracted him from political and military concerns. Although the pursuit of beauty was undeniably one of Huizong's top priorities, Ebrey points out, Huizong's support of the fine arts (especially painting, calligraphy, and music) and architecture were paralleled by his commitment to the Taoist religion. Huizong's failures, suggests Ebrey, were not due to laxity but rather Huizong's ambition to promote Taoist doctrine, an effort that rubbed his more Confucian contemporaries the wrong way and weakened Huizong's ability to navigate partisan revolts and external threats. Besides providing a vivid portrait of a complicated man who, at the height of his reign, was arguably the most powerful person in the world, Ebrey provides thick and fascinating context at every turn, including attention to the important role of women in the Song court.--Driscoll, Brendan Copyright 2010 Booklist

Choice Review

In traditional official historiography, sovereigns do not have biographical accounts (except for Liu Bang and Xiang Yu in the Shiji). It is thus necessary to reconstruct their biographies based on their annals and other sources. Ebrey's fascinating book is one such biography. The protagonist Huizong lived through a most unsettling time as the rise of the Manchuria-based Jurchens shattered the uneasy peace among the Song, Khitans, and Tanguts. Following a two-pronged campaign by the Jurchens and the Song, the Khitan empire collapsed. Thereafter, emboldened by the Song army's incompetence, the Jurchens moved south against their Song allies; stormed their capital, Kaifeng; and captured the recently abdicated Huizong and his son, the ruling emperor, bringing the Northern Song to an ignominious end. In history, Huizong is often maligned as a most self-indulgent sovereign, siring at least 65 children while on the throne with multiple partners and spending a prodigious amount of wealth on his building projects. But he was also a rare talent who excelled in such highly esteemed art forms as poetry, calligraphy, and painting and was credited with inventing the elegant "thin-gold" style of calligraphy. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. V. C. Xiong Western Michigan University

Library Journal Review

Since he suffered military defeat and spent his final years as a captive of the Jurchens, Emperor Huizong (1082-1135), who ruled from 1100 to 1125, is remembered in -Chinese history as a failure. Ebrey (history & Chinese studies, Univ. of Washington; Accumulating Culture: The Collections of -Emperor Huizong) offers a more nuanced interpretation of his reign, in this first English-language biography of this Song Dynasty (960-1279) emperor. The author readily admits Huizong's shortcomings, especially in dealing with military threats. However, she also explains that he was a compassionate ruler who set up welfare programs for the poor, a generous patron of the arts who was also an accomplished artist in his own right, and a devoted family man. This book makes a strong case that the Song would have suffered military defeat regardless of who was on the throne. VERDICT This is recommended reading for all students of Chinese history. Through the examination of this complicated ruler, Ebrey sheds light on the nature of monarchy in China, thus providing readers not only with a nuanced portrait of this emperor but a better understanding of how the political system of imperial China functioned.-Joshua Wallace, South Texas Coll. Lib., McAllen (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.