China: Emperor Zhengzong (Zhao Heng, 23 December 968 - 23 March 1022), 3rd ruler of the (Northern) Song Dynasty (r. 997-1022). Illustration, c. 18th century. Zhenzong of Song, personal name Zhao Heng and previously known as Zhao Dechang, Zhao Yuanxiu and Zhao Yuankan, was the third emperor of the Song Dynasty. His reign was noted for the consolidation of power and the strengthening of the dynasty. The country prospered, and its military might was further reinforced.


Emperor Renzong (May 30, 1010 – April 30, 1063) was the fourth emperor of the Song Dynasty of China. He reigned from 1022 to 1063. Renzong was the son of Emperor Zhenzong of Song. Despite his long reign of over 40 years, Renzong is not widely known. His reign marked the high point of Song influences and power but was also the beginning of its slow disintegration that would persist over the next century and a half. The Song Dynasty (960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907–960) and preceded the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368), which conquered the Song in 1279. Its conventional division into the Northern Song (960–1127) and Southern Song (1127–1279) periods marks the conquest of northern China by the Jin Dynasty (1115–1234) in 1127. It also distinguishes the subsequent shift of the Song's capital city from Bianjing (modern Kaifeng) in the north to Lin'an (modern Hangzhou) in the south.


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