Who were the rulers of the Song dynasty? What were they like?

The emperors of the Song dynasty that I researched were Emperor Huizong, Emperor Taizu, and Emperor Gaozong. Emperor Huizong was the most religious. He was absorbed in collecting and studying the bronze vessels and relics from the Chinese cultures past. He believed the artifacts were direct instructions to him from his ancestors on how to control the Song. I would imagine him to be a very imaginative man. Emperor Taizu was the first ruler of the Song dynasty. He was placed on the throne after his father, Emperor Shizong, died. His greatest achievement was creating a professional army that never failed to be loyal to the dynasty. I think that Taizu was probably a very structural ruler. Emperor Gaozong was the leader during the greatest period of Chinese art. Before this period of time though, Gaozong escaped to the south and restored the Song dynasty after the Jin forces attacked. He reestablished the imperial painting academy. He was the first Southern Song emperor.

Where in China was the Song dynasties territory?

Picture above = The Yellow River Valley. It's so gorgeous!

When I was researching the Song dynasties location, most of the information was about Northern Song's capital Kaifeng. Kaifeng was directly dependent upon the highly dependent upon highly developed inland water transportations on the Grand Canal. Kaifeng was located inside the Great Wall of China. Some people described the land of the capital Kaifeng to be very lush and green. The majority of the Song territory though, was positioned on the North China plain. (I wonder if the plain looked as boring as Kansas does.) Unfortunately, civilizations located on flat land don't have too many options when it comes to natural barriers for defending themselves. Some say that the flat land of the Song was the number one reason why they got conquered so many times throughout their reign. Maybe they should have planned out their location a little better.

How did the Song dynasty rise to power and decline in power?

An emperor named Zhao Kuangyin, also known as emperor Taizu began the Song dynasty in 960 after the Tang dynasty lost power in 755. I would bet that Taizu was a confident man. In the early 12th century northern Song was invaded by the evil Jurchens, who destroyed the existing capital city. Consequently, China's land was split into Northern Song and Southern Song and the capital city was moved to Hangzhou. In the devastating year for the people of Song, 1279, an intelligent man named Emperor Kublai Khan destroyed the Song empire and decided to start his own dynasty, the Yuan.

How did the Song dynasty improve the government of China?

The Song dynasty's greatest accomplishment when it comes to the government of China was to reunite China again after the Tang dynasty left the civilization crumbling to pieces.  (Up until the Tang period of decline, they were great rulers.)It must have been hard to corral all of the citizens back to their home. I for one, would not have had such great leadership skills. I never feel comfortable when I have to lead large groups, I would much rather go along with other people's thoughts.  Even though, the emperors of Song, never quite grasped the firm control of the previous Tang emperors, they were certainly not a chinese dynasty to be forgotten.
The Songs transformed the government through several trading expeditions at sea. They traveled back and forth on the waterways and boats built for this purpose. Citizens of Song were experts at creating and trading pottery and porcelain art. Funny story: Pottery is not my forte. The last time I made pottery was in art class in fifth grade when we were sculpting clay. When mine was finished, the art teacher laughed at the sight of it. Later that day, I "accidentally" dropped it on the tile just so I wouldn't have to get laughed at by my mom too. The point of the story being that I'm glad I don't make pottery for the song. The emperors would probably have me sent away to somewhere I would be of use.

If you lived during the Song dynasty would you fit into their areas of expertise such as art, poetry, or inventions. Why or why not?

Would you have wanted to live in China during the Song dynasty? Why or why not?

What were the major achievements of the Song dynasty?

There are so many things to write down when it comes to the accomplishments of the Song dynasty. When I hear the name Song dynasty, I immediately thought they would be musical chinese people, but it turns out they are actually artistic. Paintings of Chinese landscapes reached their peak from 960 - 1297 A.D. They were inventive artistic scenes that used beautiful colors to create scenes of absolutely no violence or death. The Song dynasty was also a time of constructing poems. The most famous poets were Su Tung - po and LuFu who either wrote essays about landscapes, or patriotic anthems. On the other hand, there's me who cannot write poetry in any way, shape, or form.
The Song dynasty definitely did not lack in their inventions department. They created things such as paper money, (which is always good), gunpowder for cases of war, and magnetic compasses. Also, they came up with inoculations against smallpox and steel arrow tips for their powerful army troups. The people of Song also advanced in the areas of shipbuilding and sea trade. I'm fairly sure that the Song culture was a rich culture from hearing all of their achievements of the dynasty.

What was an area of strength for my blog?

What was an area in need of improvement for my blog?