the southern song had their capital at hangzhou.
the southern song had their capital at hangzhou.
where did the southern song have their capital?
hangzhou
the song dynasty is divided into two distinct periods: northern song and southern song. during the northern song (; 960–1127), the song capital was in the northern city of bianjing (now kaifeng) and the dynasty controlled most of what is now eastern china. the southern song (; 1127–1279) refers to the period after the song lost control of its northern half to the jurchen-led jin dynasty in the jin–song wars. during this time, the song court retreated south of the yangtze and established its capital at lin'an (now hangzhou). although the song dynasty had lost control of the traditional "birthplace of chinese civilization" along the yellow river, the song economy was still strong, as the southern song empire contained a large population and productive agricultural land. the southern song dynasty considerably bolstered its naval strength to defend its waters and land borders and to conduct maritime missions abroad. to repel the jin, and later the mongols, the song developed revolutionary new military technology augmented by the use of gunpowder. in 1234, the jin dynasty was conquered by the mongols, who took control of northern china, maintaining uneasy relations with the southern song. möngke khan, the fourth great khan of the mongol empire, died in 1259 while besieging the mountain castle diaoyucheng, chongqing. his younger brother kublai khan was proclaimed the new great khan, though his claim was only partially recognized by the mongols in the west. in 1271, kublai khan proclaimed himself emperor of china and established the yuan dynasty. after two decades of sporadic warfare, kublai khan's armies conquered the song dynasty in 1279, after the southern song suffered military defeat in the battle of yamen. the mongol invasion eventually led to a chinese reunification under the yuan dynasty.
song dynasty
when the song capital was removed far south to hangzhou, massive numbers of people came from the north. unlike the flat plains of the north, the mountainous terrain riddled with lakes and rivers in southern china is largely a hindrance and inhospitable to widespread agriculture. therefore, the southern song took on a unique maritime presence that was largely unseen in earlier dynasties, grown out of the need to secure importation of foreign resources. commercial cities (located along the coast and by internal rivers), backed by patronage of the state, dramatically increased shipbuilding activity (funding harbor improvements, warehouse construction, and navigation beacons). navigation at sea was made easier by the invention of the compass and shen kuo's treatise of the 11th century on the concept of true north (with magnetic declination towards the north pole). with military defense and economic policy in mind, the southern song established china's first standing navy. china had a long naval history before that point (example, battle of chibi in 208), and even during the northern song era there were concerns with naval matters, as seen in examples such as the chinese official huang huaixin of the xining reign (1068–1077) outlining a plan of employing a drydock for repair of 'imperial dragon boats' (see science and technology of the song dynasty). already during the northern song, the chinese had established fortified trade bases in the philippines, a noted interest of the court to expand china's military power and economic influence abroad. provincial armies in the northern song era also maintained naval river units. however, it was the southern song court that was the first to create a large, permanent standing naval institution for china in 1132. the new headquarters of the southern song chinese admiralty was based at dinghai, the office labeled as the yanhai zhizhi shisi (imperial commissariat for the control and organization of coastal areas). even as far back as 1129 officials proposed ambitious plans to conquer korea with a new navy and use korea as a base for launching invasions into jin territory, but this scheme was never achieved and was of secondary importance to maintaining defense along the fluctuating border with jin.
history of the song dynasty