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The Southern Song Dynasty, based at [[Hangzhou]] (then called Lin'an), ruled the southern half of China following the loss of northern China to invasion by the [[Jurchens]] in [[1127]]. The period was one of many notable artistic and cultural developments; much poetry and painting of the period centered on themes of loss and of desire to reconquer the north.
The Southern Song Dynasty, based at [[Hangzhou]] (then called Lin'an), ruled the southern half of China following the loss of northern China to invasion by the [[Jurchens]] in [[1127]]. The period was one of many notable artistic and cultural developments; much poetry and painting of the period centered on themes of loss and of desire to reconquer the north.
After the first emperor of the dynasty, [[Emperor Gaozong of Song]], spent some time fleeing from the Jurchens, and then hiding out on a small off-shore island, he returned to the mainland to establish Lin'an as the capital in [[1138]]. He then concluded a treaty with the Jurchen [[Jin Dynasty]] in [[1142]], agreeing to pay regular [[tribute]] to the Jin, and accepting the [[Huai River]] as the northern boundary of Song territory. Fighting broke out again between the Song and the Jin in [[1161]]-[[1165]], though the superior Song navy was able to keep the Jurchens from crossing the [[Yangtze River|Yangtze]]. This pattern repeated in a series of conflicts in [[1206]]-[[1208]].<ref name=schiro208>Schirokauer, 208.</ref>
The Jin fell to the [[Mongols]] in [[1234]]; the Southern Song managed to resist the Mongol advance for another 45 years, before finally falling in [[1279]].
==Demographics & Economics==
==Demographics & Economics==
Following the fall of [[Kaifeng]] (the capital of the [[Northern Song Dynasty]]) to the Jurchens, hundreds of thousands of people, including 20,000 high officials, tens of thousands of lower-ranking members of official staffs, and over 400,000 members of the military and their families, fled south and resettled in the new Imperial capital of Lin'an.
Following the fall of [[Kaifeng]] (the capital of the [[Northern Song Dynasty]]) to the Jurchens, hundreds of thousands of people, including 20,000 high officials, tens of thousands of lower-ranking members of official staffs, and over 400,000 members of the military and their families, fled south and resettled in the new Imperial capital of Lin'an. Roughly two-thirds of the people, and the wealth, in China were located in the south already by this time;<ref name=schiro208/> as a result, even after losing huge swaths of territory to the north, the Southern Song was still able to remain fairly strong economically.
By the 13th century, the Song dynasty's governmental fiscal administration was operated chiefly with paper money, which was used extensively in private exchanges as well, alongside metal cash. Much Chinese coin made its way to Japan, where, by 1300, imported Chinese coins were the chief mode of currency.<ref>Bonnie Smith, et al. ''Crossroads and Cultures'', vol. B, Bedford St. Martins (2012), 387-388.</ref>
By the 13th century, the Song dynasty's governmental fiscal administration was operated chiefly with paper money, which was used extensively in private exchanges as well, alongside metal cash. Much Chinese coin made its way to Japan, where, by 1300, imported Chinese coins were the chief mode of currency.<ref>Bonnie Smith, et al. ''Crossroads and Cultures'', vol. B, Bedford St. Martins (2012), 387-388.</ref>