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The Jingkang Incident (靖康事變), the Humiliation of Jingkang (靖康之恥), or the The Disorders of the Jingkang Period (靖康之乱) [1] took place in 1127 when invading Jurchen soldiers from the Jin Dynasty besieged and sacked Bianliang (Kaifeng), the capital of the Song Dynasty of China. The Jin forces abducted Emperor Qinzong, his father Emperor Emeritus Huizong, along with many members of the imperial court. This ended the era known as the Northern Song Dynasty, when the Song Dynasty controlled most of China. The rest of the imperial family was forced to flee and establish a new government, now known as the Southern Song, at Lin'an, which was to become their capital. This incident is so named because this was the major incident during the short reign of Emperor Qinzong, whose era name was "Jingkang" (靖康).
BackgroundIn 1120 AD, Jin & Northern Song joined forces to attack Liao, an empire ruled by the Khitan people in the north. Both countries had agreed that, if victorious, Jin would get a large portion of the Northern Liao land and Song would get a relatively smaller portion in the southern Liao region, called the Sixteen Prefectures. The Jin army soon sacked the Liao capital Shangjing and ended the Liao dynasty. The Song army in the south, however, could not even penetrate Liao’s defensive positions and the army was defeated by the remaining Liao troops afterwards. This exposed the limitation of the Song army, as well as the corruption and bureaucracy in Song’s imperial court. At the end, the Jin army took control of the entire Liao territory. After the fall of Liao, Song court wanted the Sixteen Prefectures as promised. Jin sold the land at a price of 300,000 bolts of silk and 200,000 ounces of silver. This price was considered to be extremely generous because it was the tribute that Song was already paying to the former Liao dynasty annually since the Shanyuan Treaty of 1005 AD. Prelude to the warAccording to the Twenty-Four Histories (二十四史), in 1123, three years after the fall of Liao, a Jin general called Zhang Jue (張覺) defected to the northern Song dynasty (both they and Zhang Jue were Han Chinese). Since he was governor of the Jin-controlled Pingzhou Prefectures, an area just north of the Sixteen Prefectures on the other side of the Great Wall, the Pingzhou Prefectures were also merged into Song territory. The imperial court initially welcomed the defection and awarded Zhang an honorific title and land. Jin, on the other hand, sent a small army aimed to overturn the defection but was defeated by Zhang’s troops. [2] Soon after that, the Song court realized Zhang’s defection would only bring more hostile actions from the north. [3] Zhang Jue was executed in the winter of 1123. [4] This came too late: in the fall of 1125, Emperor Taizong of Jin issued an order of full scale attack on Song territories. [5] First Siege of Kaifeng
Taizong’s armies invaded Song territory from the west and from the north. The Northern Force took swift action, sacked Qinhuangdao in October of 1125, sacked Baoding, Dingzhou, Zhengding and Xingtai in January of the year after. The Northern Force did not meet much resistance as most of the Song generals surrendered themselves and the cities as soon as the Jin army arrived. On the other hand, the Western Force was held up near the cities of Datong and Taiyuan from the very beginning and did not make much progress for the rest of the war. In February of 1126, the Northern Force crossed the Yellow River and began the siege of Kaifeng, the capital city of Song. Before the invaders surrounded the city, Emperor Huizong (徽宗) abdicated in favour of his twenty-six-year old son who became Emperor Qinzong (钦宗) and fled to the countryside with his entourage. Jin’s Northern Force faced difficult siege fighting that was not designed for cavalries as Kaifeng put up a fight in the face of invaders. At the same time, Jin's Western Force was still held up in Datong area and could not come to aid. In an effort to end the battle sooner, the young emperor sent his brother Zhao Gou, who later on became the first emperor of Southern Song Dynasty, to the enemy camp for peace talks. Taizong ordered to take Zhao Gou as hostage until the Song court came up with a ransom. Eventually, the Song court came forth with the money and the city of Taiyuan was also given to Jin as a “good faith gift.” Soon, Zhao Gou was released and the Northern Force started to withdraw. Second Siege of KaifengEverything went back to normal as soon as the invaders retreated: lavish parties continued to be held daily at the imperial palace. The “run-away emperor” – Huizong returned from the countryside, and joined the parties that were being held by his son. Song generals suggested that large numbers of troops ought to be garrisoned along the border of the Yellow River. Qinzong rejected the proposal by citing that the Jin might never come back. Many experienced generals who defended the city in the first siege of Kaifeng were removed from the capital and posted elsewhere in the country. Many army groups were decommissioned or sent back to their origins. Three months after the first siege of the city. Jin sent two ambassadors to Song. The two ambassadors were nobles from the former Liao Dynasty. Qinzong misjudged the situation and believed that they could be used to turn against their Jin ruler. The emperor sent a coded letter which was sealed in candle wax, inviting them to join Song to form an Anti–Jin alliance. The two handed the letter to Taizong right away. Furious, the Jin emperor ordered an even bigger army to attack Song. This second campaign would eventually topple the Northern Song Dynasty. Since most of the Jin troops just got back from their first expedition and had not even unpacked, the army was quickly mobilized. The Jin army formed two army groups, the Northern Force and the Western Force, just like last time. In fact, the two army groups even took the same route as their last expedition. In September of 1126, the two Jin army groups set foot in Song. Unlike last time, the Western Force was able to sack Datong within only one month. Cities like Luoyang and Zhengzhou surrendered themselves, clearing the way to the capital. The Northern Force sacked Baoding, Dingzhou and Zhengding in September, regrouped and crossed the Yellow River in November. It then went on a rampage and sacked Qingfeng, Puyang and other satellite cities around the capital in December. By the middle of December, the two forces regrouped at Kaifeng and the capital was finally besieged. Unlike the first siege, Kaifeng’s defenses in the second siege had some fatal flaws:
On the 19th of January, 1127, Kaifeng fell. Emperor Qinzong and his father Huizong were captured by Jin army and the Northern Song Dynasty fell. AbductionOn March 20, 1127 AD, Jin troops summoned the two captured emperors to their camps. Awaiting them was a directive from Taizong that they were to be demoted to commoners, stripped of their ceremonial trappings and Jin troops would compound the imperial palace. This was just the beginning of weeks of looting, rapes, arson and execution of prisoners of war and civilians. According to the Accounts of Jingkang (靖康稗史箋證), Jin troops looted the entire imperial library and the decorations in the palace. Jin troops also abducted all the female servants and imperial musicians. [6] The royal family was abducted and their residences were looted. [7] All the female prisoners were ordered, on pain of death, to serve the Jin troops no matter what rank in society they had previously held. [8] A Jin general wanted Huizong’s daughter for his son, against the emperor's wishes. Later on, in an act of revenge, the emperor’s concubines were also given to the general’s son by Taizong. [9] Taizong feared that the remaining Song troops would launch a counter offensive to reclaim the capital. Therefore, he made Kaifeng a small local center for the prefecture and ordered all the assets to be transferred back to Jin’s capital – Zhongdu (now Beijing) in the north. The prisoners would march back to the capital along with the assets. Over 14,000 people, including the entire royal family (except Zhao Gou) went on this “one-way” journey. Their entourage—almost all the ministers and generals of Northern Song Dynasty—suffered from sickness, dehydration and exhaustion, and many never made it. [10] Upon arrival, everybody had to go through a Jurchen ritual where the person has to be naked and wearing only sheep skins. Empress Zhu committed suicide because she could not bear the humiliation. Men were sold into slavery in exchange for horses with a ratio of ten men for one horse. Women were sold into brothels or offered for public bidding. Anybody could buy an “ex–royal” for less than ten ounces of gold. [11] Aftermath and appraisalThe scale of destruction and devastation was unprecedented: treasures, art collections, scrolls from the imperial library and human lives were lost on a scale that the Chinese had never seen before. Due to the heavy damage to the country's economy and military, and the loss of talented manpower, the Southern Song Dynasty would never recover the lost territories, despite many attempts. It would take another 200 years, in Ming Dynasty, to claim back all the territories that Song Dynasty lost. Many foreign–sounding, non-traditional Chinese family names existing in China today can date back to this incident, as the Han Chinese were forced to adapt a Jin last name. In fact, many members of the royal family of Qing Dynasty hold a last name of “Jue Luo” (觉罗), it is believed that they were the descendants of Huizong and Emperor Qinzong.[12] Researchers in China who published their findings in the People's Political Consultative Daily in 2001, pointed out that this incident led to the transformation of Women's Rights after Song Dynasty. Since almost the entire royal family was sold into slavery or brothel, Chinese rulers after Song emphasized the importance of Sexual norm, especially a woman's chastity and loyalty towards her husband. Chinese rulers of later dynasties instructed that when a woman is confronted between the choice of survival or the honor of chastity, survival is not an option. [13] 
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