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'Slender Gold' the legacy of a disgraced emperor
May 17, 2009, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA under the reign of Song Dynasty Emperor Huizong (1082-1135) suffered its first major humiliation when its capital Kaifeng fell in a siege by Jin Dynasty troops.
The emperor and the entire royal family were abducted to Jin's capital in northeast China where they perished in exile. One of the sons managed to escape and later founded the Southern Song Dynasty, south of the Yangtze River.
The downfall of his empire was very much Huizong's own making. Born Zhao Ji, he was the 11th son and acceded to the throne when older brother Emperor Zhezong died without an heir.
Unfortunately, Huizong lacked the qualities of a strong monarch. He was, instead, born with a talent in arts and was a celebrated painter, calligrapher and poet. He invented the "Slender Gold" style of calligraphy - so named because his writing was compared to gold filament in twists and turns.
As Huizong pursued a life of pleasure, his former ally, the Jin Dynasty, annexed the territory of Liao in today's Liaoning Province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and built up a formidable army to wipe out China.
Huizong died in exile but he left a rich legacy in painting, calligraphy and poetry. One of his "Slender Gold" handwritings has been collected by the Shanghai Museum.
The work, entitled "Thousand-Word Script," is 31.2 centimeters by 321.2 centimeters in size and contains about 1,000 Chinese characters.
It was written in 1104, when Huizong was 22, as a gift for his close friend Tong Guan. The writing already showed a ripe "Slender Gold" style which remains one of the best-known scripts of Chinese calligraphy.
The emperor and the entire royal family were abducted to Jin's capital in northeast China where they perished in exile. One of the sons managed to escape and later founded the Southern Song Dynasty, south of the Yangtze River.
The downfall of his empire was very much Huizong's own making. Born Zhao Ji, he was the 11th son and acceded to the throne when older brother Emperor Zhezong died without an heir.
Unfortunately, Huizong lacked the qualities of a strong monarch. He was, instead, born with a talent in arts and was a celebrated painter, calligrapher and poet. He invented the "Slender Gold" style of calligraphy - so named because his writing was compared to gold filament in twists and turns.
As Huizong pursued a life of pleasure, his former ally, the Jin Dynasty, annexed the territory of Liao in today's Liaoning Province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and built up a formidable army to wipe out China.
Huizong died in exile but he left a rich legacy in painting, calligraphy and poetry. One of his "Slender Gold" handwritings has been collected by the Shanghai Museum.
The work, entitled "Thousand-Word Script," is 31.2 centimeters by 321.2 centimeters in size and contains about 1,000 Chinese characters.
It was written in 1104, when Huizong was 22, as a gift for his close friend Tong Guan. The writing already showed a ripe "Slender Gold" style which remains one of the best-known scripts of Chinese calligraphy.
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