Emperor Gaozong of Song

Emperor Gaozong of Song 宋高宗
Palace portrait on a hanging scroll, kept in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
Emperor of the Song dynasty
Reign	12 June 1127 – 26 March 1129
Coronation	12 June 1127
Predecessor	Emperor Qinzong
Successor	Zhao Fu
Reign	20 April 1129 – 24 July 1162
Predecessor	Zhao Fu
Successor	Emperor Xiaozong
Retired Emperor of the Song dynasty
Reign	24 July 1162 – 9 November 1187
Born	Zhao Gou 12 June 1107 Bianliang, Northern Song (present-day Kaifeng, Henan, China)
Died	9 November 1187(1187-11-09) (aged 80) Lin'an, Southern Song (present-day Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China)
Burial	Yongsi Mausoleum (永思陵, in present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang)
Consorts	Empress Xianjie ​ (died 1139)​ Empress Xiansheng ​ (before 1187)​
Issue	Zhao Fu Second Princess Kang Third Princess Kang Fourth Princess Kang Fifth Princess Kang
Era dates Jianyan (建炎; 1127–1130) Shaoxing (紹興; 1131–1162) Posthumous name Emperor Shouming Zhongxing Quangong Zhide Shengshen Wuwen Zhaoren Xianxiao (受命中興全功至德聖神武文昭仁憲孝皇帝) (conferred in 1191) Temple name Gaozong (高宗)
House	Zhao
Dynasty	Song (Southern Song)
Father	Emperor Huizong
Mother	Empress Xianren
Signature

Emperor Gaozong of Song (12 June 1107 – 9 November 1187), personal name Zhao Gou, courtesy name Deji, was the tenth emperor of the Chinese Song dynasty and the first of the Southern Song dynasty, ruling between 1127 and 1162 and retaining power as retired emperor from 1162 until his death in 1187. The ninth son of Emperor Huizong and a younger half-brother of Emperor Qinzong, Zhao Gou was not present in the capital of Bianjing (the modern day Kaifeng) when it fell to the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in 1127 during the beginning of the Jin-Song Wars. Narrowly avoiding capture by Jin forces, he escaped first to Yangzhou and then Lin'an (the modern day Hangzhou), assuming the throne and reestablishing the Song court. Despite initial setbacks, including Jin invasions and a brief deposition in 1129, Emperor Gaozong consolidated his political position and presided over the continued military conflict with Jin. Prior to 1141, military commanders including Han Shizhong and Yue Fei reconquered portions of the Central Plains while chancellors like Lü Yihao, Zhao Ding, Zhang Jun, and Qin Hui managed the civil bureaucracy.

In 1141, Gaozong collaborated with Qin to pursue a peace settlement with Jin. Although the resulting Treaty of Shaoxing ceded the Central Plains and formally established Song as a Jin tributary, it ensured two decades of uninterrupted peace, allowing the Southern Song state to achieve internal stability and open a lucrative trade with Jin. Furthermore, it served to preclude the return of Emperor Qinzong, who remained in captivity in Jin and whose release could have jeopardized Gaozong's claim to the throne. Gaozong and Qin then secured court control over the military, forcing Han Shizhong and the general Zhang Jun into retirement and executing Yue Fei on trumped-up charges. Despite his successes as emperor, Gaozong's treatment of Yue, who was remembered as a culture hero, and his surrender of over half of Song China to the enemy, marred his reputation in both traditional historiography and popular memory. Gaozong, along his father and half-brother, were blamed for the Song dynasty's decline.

Gaozong's only biological son, Zhao Fu, died in childhood. In 1160, he adopted his distant relative Zhao Yuan and elevated him to crown prince in 1162, shortly before abdicating in his favor. Despite his abdication, Gaozong retained de facto control of state affairs as retired emperor, continuing to oversee the dynasty until dying of natural causes in 1187, at the age of 80.