“The evening clouds have cleared, and a crisp chill fills the air. The Milky Way is silent as the jade moon turns. This lovely night will not last forever; where will we gaze upon the bright moon next year?” This poem, “The Moon at Mid-Autumn,” was written by Su Dongpo in 1076, during the Xining era of the Northern Song. At the time, the Northern Song was the most prosperous place in all of Eurasia, perhaps even the world. Tokyo's Bianliang was said to be a place where gold could lie on the ground and no one would bother to pick it up. From dawn until late at night, its streets blazed with lights and teemed with people. Countless merchants came by sea and land, drawn by its fame. Bianjing had undoubtedly become the world's economic center.
Yet it was this very prosperity that made the people forget to prepare for hard times. They spent their days lost in pleasure quarters, bustling streets, taverns, and teahouses. Perhaps neither the rulers of the Zhao Song dynasty nor the common folk ever imagined that this comfortable life would last less than fifty years.
In April 1127, the second year of the Jingkang era under Emperor Qinzong of the Song, the Jin general Wanyan Zongwang led his troops into Bianjing. They captured the father and son Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong, along with more than three thousand members of the Zhao imperial clan, palace consorts, nobles, and court officials, and forced them north. The city's public and private treasuries were emptied. Eighty-three consorts, twenty-four princess consorts, and twenty-two imperial princesses were selected, each valued at one thousand ingots of gold, for a total of 134,000 ingots. Another 1,314 female entertainers were taken, each valued at two hundred ingots of silver, for a total of 664,200 ingots. The number of women taken as collateral and assigned a price reached 11,635. She was one of them, and our story begins here.
