Jìngkāng Chuánxìn Lù 靖康傳信錄
Record for Posterity of the Jingkang Period by 李綱
About the work
A three-juàn eyewitness memoir of the Jīngkāng 靖康 crisis — the Jin siege of Kaifeng and the fall of the Northern Song (1125–1127) — by 李綱 Lǐ Gāng (1083–1140; CBDB id 8078), the foremost advocate of military resistance at the Song court during the crisis. The preface is dated to January 3, Jīngkāng 1 (1126 CE), when Li Gang was appointed to military command. It is a first-person daily record of Li Gang’s activities and decisions from the beginning of the crisis through the catastrophe, written by the one Song official who organized the defense of Kaifeng — and who was subsequently dismissed for political reasons. The title chuánxìn 傳信 (“transmitting credibility / for posterity to believe”) reflects Li Gang’s intent to document the historical record against later distortion.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
李綱 Lǐ Gāng (1083–1140; CBDB id 8078) was among the most prominent statesmen of the Song–Jin transition era. He served as Chief Minister (宰相) for a brief period in 1127, was the principal organizer of Kaifeng’s defense during the Jin siege of 1126–27, and after the fall of the Northern Song played a major role in stabilizing the Southern Song court. He was eventually dismissed through the intrigues of the peace faction, of which Qin Hui 秦檜 was the most notorious representative.
The Jìngkāng Chuánxìn Lù covers the weeks from January 3, 1126 (when Li Gang was appointed Military Director of the Left, 尚書右丞兼親征行營使) through the fall of Kaifeng and the Jin capture of Emperors Huizong and Qinzong in December 1126–January 1127. It records Li Gang’s daily decisions, his negotiations with the Jin forces, his disputes with the peace faction at court, and the political dynamics of those desperate weeks. As one of the only detailed eyewitness accounts of the siege from the defensive side, it is indispensable for the history of the Jingkang crisis. It should be read in conjunction with Ding Teqi’s Jìngkāng jìwén KR4k0028, which presents a complementary perspective.
Li Gang’s collected works are preserved in the Liángxī jí 梁谿集.
Translations and research
- Mote, F. W. Imperial China, 900–1800. Harvard UP, 1999, ch. 11 (for the Jingkang context).
- Franke, Herbert. “The Chin Dynasty.” In The Cambridge History of China, vol. 6. Cambridge UP, 1994.
- Li Gang’s biography: Sòngshǐ 宋史 vol. 358–359; Sòng Yuán xuéàn entries.
Links
- Wikidata: Li Gang (Song)