China: Emperor Huizong (7 June 1082 - 4 June 1135), 8th ruler of the (Northern) Song Dynasty (r. 1100-1126). Hanging scroll painting, c. 1100-1126. Huizong, personal name Zhao Ji, was the eighth emperor of the Song Dynasty. He abdicated in 1126 when the Jurchen-led Jin Dynasty invaded, assuming the title of 'Retired Emperor'. He was captured the following year, along with the rest of the imperial family, and given the humiliating title Duke Hunde ('Besotted Duke') by Emperor Taizong of Jin; he died in captivity. He was famed for his promotion of Taoism and his skill in calligraphy and poetry.

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Huizong was famed for his promotion of Taoism. He was also a skilled poet, painter, calligrapher, and musician. He sponsored numerous artists at his court, and the catalogue of his imperial painting collection lists over 6,000 known paintings. 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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