Appreciation Of Song Lizong Zhao Yun Group Fan

    Song Lizong Zhao Yun (born in 1205 and died in Lin'an in 1264), whose original name was Zhao Yuju, was made the heir of Ning Zong's younger brother Yi Wang in 1222, and was given the name Guicheng. In 1224, he was made the prince of Ning Zong and was given the name Yun. He was a descendant of the Southern Song Dynasty. The fifth emperor, he reigned from 1224 to 1264. 

Appreciation of Song Lizong and Zhao Yun's round fan

Song Lizong Zhao Yun's "Zen Room Poetry Fan" 22.9 x 24.4 cm Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA 

Zhao Yun, Emperor Lizong of the Song Dynasty, "Tidal Fan" 20.8 x 22.1 cm Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA 

Song Lizong Zhao Yun's "Poetry Fan on the Lake" 25.1 x 25.1 cm Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA 

Song Lizong Zhao Yun's "Late Autumn Couple Fan"23.7 x 17.8 cm Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA 

Song Lizong Zhao Yun's "Late Spring Poetry Fan" 24.4 x 23.5 cm Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Song Lizong Zhao Yun's "Poetic Fan on a Branch" 27.9 x 24.1 cm Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

　  In the first ten years of Song Lizong's accession to the throne, he was under the control of the powerful Prime Minister Shi Miyuan, and he had no involvement in government affairs. It was not until Shi's death in 1233 that Song Lizong began to take charge of the government. Reform measures such as Taiwan's remonstrance, clarification of officialdom, and financial rectification were called "Duanping Genghua" in history. In the later period of his reign, the government fell into the hands of treacherous prime ministers such as Ding Daquan and Jia Sidao one after another, and the country declined rapidly. In 1234, the Southern Song Dynasty allied with Mongolia to destroy the Jin Dynasty. In 1259, Mongolia attacked Ezhou. Prime Minister Jia Sidao professed vassalage to Mongolia in the name of Song Lizong and completely ceded the land north of the Yangtze River to Mongolia. 

　　Lizong's posthumous title after his death was "Emperor Liewen Renwu Shengming Anxiao", whose temple name was Lizong. The reason why the temple name was Lizong was because of his admiration for Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism. He was the most important monarch in the process of the official transformation of Neo-Confucianism, and his temple name was well deserved.