HUI TSUNG

born 1082 died 1135 Pinyin Hui Zong, also called Sung Hui-tsung eighth and penultimate emperor (reigned 110025) of the Northern Sung dynasty, best remembered as both a patron of the arts and a painter and calligrapher. Bronze token coin designed by Emperor Hui-tsung, Northern Sung dynasty, 1107. In the British Hui Tsung sought escape from affairs of state in the pleasures of arts and letters. He urged painters in his academy of painting to depict objects that were true to colour and form, inviting an extreme literalness of representation; and his own paintings of birds and flowers were detailed, accurately coloured, and perfectly composed. He is also known as a calligrapher who excelled in an elegantly mannered style known as slender gold. Hui Tsung sponsored the compilation of a major catalog of artists' biographies and paintings known to his court from the 3rd century to his time, known as the Hsan-ho hua p'u (Catalog of Paintings of the Hsan-ho Emperor). Politically, Hui Tsung's reign was fatal to the Northern Sung dynasty. He promoted Taoism at the court and sought comfort and amusement in the arts, in amorous affairs, and in the construction of an extravagant new palace garden. He busied himself with requisitioning colourful stones, rare plants, and exotic pets for this garden while leaving the administration of the state to others. Political disputes between conservatives and reformers went unresolved while the emperor's favourite eunuchs gained unprecedented power in the government. Threatened by the expanding Liao empire in the north, Hui Tsung formed an alliance with the Juchen tribes of Manchuria (now the Northeast Provinces). The resulting victory over the Liao was wholly illusory, since it was the Juchen who turned out to be the real menace. In mounting crisis, Hui Tsung abdicated in 1125 in favour of his son, Ch'in Tsung, who reigned for less than two years. In 1127 the invading Juchen ended the Northern Sung dynasty and sacked the Sung capital (K'ai-feng). Both Hui Tsung and his son were captured and lived in exile in Manchuria under miserable conditions until their deaths. Bronze token coin designed by Emperor Hui-tsung, Northern Sung dynasty, 1107. In the British Museum. Diameter 41 mm. Reproduced with permission of the trustees of the British Museum; photograph, Ray Gardner for The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited hui-kuan Pinyin Huiguan, series of guildhalls established by regional organizations (t'ung-hsiang hui) in different areas of China during the Ch'ing dynasty (16441911/12) as places where merchants and officials from the same locale could obtain food, shelter, and assistance while away from home. The hui-kuan were originated at Peking by the provincial guild of the southern Chinese province of Kwangtung. Eventually, they were constructed in all the major urban centres of the country. In the national and provincial capitals, the hui-kuan were often used by examination candidates coming to the city to compete in the civil-service tests necessary for admission to the government bureaucracy. The hui-kuan were instrumental in building a feeling of solidarity among the members of a province or a certain region and played an important function in the growth of trade and commerce throughout the Ch'ing dynasty.