The Lin'an Coup: The Shaoxing System and the Southern Song Revival (Latitude and Longitude Series) (Understanding the Southern Song's Fate Reveals How National Character Was Formed.)

Why did the Southern Song choose to retreat and hold a corner of its territory? Why did China turn inward? What seemed like an age of revival was actually the beginning of the nation's decline. The reckoning with the Northern Song's fall, the bitter hardships of founding the Southern Song, the many faces of scholars fleeing south, the helpless sorrow of military commanders, the formation of the national character... Historian Guo Ruixiang takes you through how the Southern Song came to be!

The Southern Song was a regime that made little impression, yet its era had a lasting impact.

It was weak because it clung to a corner of the land and remained under constant threat from northern regimes. Yet it also had a profound influence: it internalized cultural patterns and established the "Shaoxing System," ushering Chinese politics into an era of autocratic rule.

Covering the years from the fourth year of Jianyan (1130) to the twelfth year of Shaoxing (1142), this book offers a comprehensive look at the political, military, and cultural upheavals of the early Southern Song. It reveals the processes and underlying logic behind the dynasty's retreat to a corner of its territory, its political autocracy, and its cultural stagnation.