Song Guangzong Zhao Dun (September 30, 1147 - September 17, 1200) was a relatively mediocre emperor among all the emperors of the Song Dynasty. After he ascended the throne as emperor after receiving the Zen throne from his father Song Xiaozong, he was already 43 years old. Song Guangzong was weak and sick, and did not have the talent to govern the country. Moreover, Guangzong listened to the slanders of treacherous ministers, dismissed Xin Qiji and other war-minded ministers, and appointed the famous jealous wife at the time, the ruthless Empress Li, to govern. The treacherous and sycophant was in power, and the government followed the situation of Song Xiaozong. Qingming turned to corruption, but Song Guangzong himself did not think about government affairs and indulged in wine and sex.
Zhao Dun, Emperor Guangzong of Song Dynasty, "Five-Character Couplet Fan" collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, USA
Guangzong had always been at odds with Xiaozong. After Song Xiaozong abdicated, he did not visit him for a long time. In the fifth year of Shaoxi (1194), Song Xiaozong fell ill. Song Guangzong neither asked for medical treatment nor visited Xiaozong. Even when Xiaozong died of illness, he did not mourn. Therefore, ministers Han Yuzhou and Zhao Ruyu forced Guangzong to abdicate with the permission of the Empress Dowager. Guangzong had no choice but to give way to the crown prince Zhao Kuo, and he lived in Shoukang Palace in Lin'an and called himself "the Supreme Emperor". After Zhao Kuo presided over Song Xiaozong's funeral, he ascended the throne as emperor for Song Ningzong.
In the spring of the sixth year of Qingyuan (1200), Guangzong died because he was too depressed. After his death, he was buried in Yongchongling (today's Baoshan, 35 miles southeast of Shaoxing, Zhejiang).
