The eighth emperor of the late Northern Song Dynasty, Song Huizong Zhao Ji, ranked eleventh among the many princes of Song Shenzong. Perhaps he did not expect that he would become the emperor inexplicably. Song Huizong had been the emperor for more than 20 years. When he was in power, the entire Song Dynasty was withered. He promoted Gao Qiu, Cai Jing, Tong Guan and other traitors in the dynasty who would cause harm to the party in the future. At the end of his reign, the Song Dynasty went from great prosperity to rapid decline. In the end, he fell into the hands of foreign soldiers and became a prisoner. This is his personal misfortune, but it is indeed a great blessing for history. Finally, nine years after being arrested, he was trapped and died in a lawless place like Five Kingdoms City.
But today we will not talk about his political career, because there are really no bright spots, which makes people who love Chinese history and the history of the Song Dynasty feel doubly sad. Although Song Huizong was indeed not good as emperor, he was indeed a great artist. His original "thin gold style" made his calligraphy famous at home and abroad, and his calligraphy achievements were unique in the Song Dynasty.
Song Huizong was born in the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty in 1082. Before he was born, like many emperors and dignitaries, he had legendary stories. Although it is generally believed that they were made up by people at that time in order to take advantage of the people at that time. Superstition about ghosts and gods. Legend has it that when Song Huizong was about to be born, his father Song Shenzong had a dream in which a man who looked like Li Yu, the empress of the Southern Tang Dynasty, came to him and whispered to him about his father. Song Huizong was born the next day. Song Shenzong looked very much like the portrait of Li Yu in his collection, but the child's appearance far surpassed that of Li Yu. Song Shenzong was very happy for a while, and he had doted on Song Huizong since he was a child. . Li Yu is a king who subjugated his country, and he is also a famous artist.
As an artist, Song Huizong Zhao Ji was proficient in all aspects. Regarding poetry, he has more than 300 poems included in the Song Dynasty Poems and Songs, but his poetry style also changed along with his life trajectory. When I was young, I indulged myself in the mountains and rivers. After adulthood, I had some Neo-Confucian thoughts included in it. In the last years of his life, due to the fact that he was captured outside the country, his style gradually became negative, and his level of melancholy can be said to be as high as that of Li Yu, the later master of the Southern Tang Dynasty. His later years were also the peak of his poetry and poetry.
In addition, Song Huizong's paintings are also unique. Song Huizong was good at painting fish, insects, flowers and birds, landscapes, forests and fields, as well as details of characters. Among them, Song Huizong was particularly fond of landscape painting, and his painting level had reached the level of a court painter. His paintings also had a great reference effect on later generations and promoted the development of calligraphy and painting in the Northern Song Dynasty. Of course, this was mainly due to the widespread popularity of paper in the Song Dynasty. Because it was so old and because he was an emperor in a chaotic era, not many of his paintings have been handed down. But a few pictures are enough to show his achievements in the field of art.
The greatest achievement and contribution of Song Huizong were his outstanding achievements in the fields of writing and calligraphy. His original thin gold style and cursive calligraphy were great innovations based on the calligraphy of the Tang Dynasty. As a result, later generations launched calligraphy competitions one after another to imitate Song Huizong, but no one could compete equally with them. He is almost the last person in China who can be called a master of calligraphy.
Due to the limitations of the times, ancient art was limited by the times. Although Song Huizong's level of understanding was not particularly high after all, his reputation could be passed down through the ages just by virtue of his superb skills. To be fair, even today, his works cannot be ignored in traditional Chinese art. In an era like the Song Dynasty, when literature was valued over martial arts and talented people emerged in large numbers, Song Huizong was still one of the few all-rounders who could combine painting, poetry, and calligraphy into one. It's a pity that Song Huizong was an emperor. It was said that Emperor Qin and Han's military strategy was inferior to literary talent, but Song Huizong only had literary talent. A person who can develop his art to such a high level still has time to do other things. This is true throughout history. There are only a few people who are good at writing poems and poems who can be good officials. Even talented people like Li Bai and Du Fu don't just end up "unappreciated".
In 1135 AD, Huizong of the Song Dynasty died of illness in a foreign country with endless regrets. His death was extremely miserable. The glory of the past emperor of the Song Dynasty was long gone. According to popular rumors, when Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty was dying, he still wrote a poem to express his gratitude for his life. "Looking back three thousand miles from the home mountain, there are no geese flying to the south of the mountain." No matter how much Song Huizong was criticized by later generations, and it is indeed undeniable that he was an incompetent emperor, no one can deny that the many works he left behind are still an important part of Chinese culture.
History and time are so ruthless. They joked with Song Huizong again and again. Maybe he never wanted to be an emperor from the beginning, if he was only indulging in art from the beginning. As a simple person, he might not be so evaluated by future generations.