The Good Emperor
January 4th, 2010Zhezong 
A good emperor 哲宗
dying young doing good. He was only 24 yrs old.
Emperor Zhezong (January 4, 1076 – February 23, 1100) was the seventh emperor of the Song Dynasty of China. His personal name was Zhao4 Xu1. He reigned from 1085 to 1100….
Zhezong lowered taxes, stopped all negotiations with the Tangut Empire and resumed armed conflict which eventually forced the Xixia to enter a more peaceful stance with the Song. Overall, Zhezong’s reign gave the Song dynasty a breathe of fresh air but Zhezong was not able stop fighting between conservative members in his government and the more liberal members catering to Wang Anshi’s reforms. This eventually lead to the northern Song’s demise in the 12th century. (wiki)
Huizong 
the emperor as an artist
(See previous post – Emperor and the Brushstrokes or how this emperor resurrected Brice Marden’s career)
Song Emperors and Song Dynasty
Happy birthday to Gao Xinjian winner of 2000 Nobel Prize for literature and his paintings are here.
Google celebrates
Isaac Newton’s birthday. (Why apples are falling on Google today)
But apples do not fall from this copy.
