The Humiliation of Jingkang

The second year of the Jingkang era, 1127 AD, was a year that the people of the Song could never forget without anguish. That year, the Jurchens captured Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong and took them north. They swept away everything in the Song palace: ceremonial carriages and regalia, palace furnishings, books, printing blocks, armillary spheres, bronze statues, water clocks, ancient artifacts, maps of every prefecture and region, palace women, eunuchs, performers, artisans, entertainers, and the treasures stored in government coffers. The Northern Song was destroyed, marking the first time in history that China was ruled by a foreign people.