Sòng Xiàozōng 宋孝宗 (1127–1194, r. 1162–1189), personal name Zhào Shèn 趙昚 (originally Zhào Yuàn 趙瑗), eleventh emperor of the Sòng and the second emperor of the southern Sòng. The adopted son of Sòng Gāozōng 宋高宗 (Zhào Gòu 趙構, 1107–1187, r. 1127–1162), he was named heir-apparent in 1160 and took the throne in 1162 upon Gāozōng’s abdication; he himself abdicated to his son Guāngzōng 光宗 in 1189 and lived another five years as Tàishànghuáng 太上皇.
Xiàozōng’s reign is generally regarded as the high-point of southern-Sòng government: he restored the reputation of Yuè Fēi 岳飛 (executed under Qīn Huì 秦檜’s policy in 1142), conducted the Lóngxīng northern campaign of 1163 (which was unsuccessful and resulted in the Lóngxīng peace of 1164 confirming the partition of north and south), and oversaw a substantial period of fiscal and administrative reform. Throughout his reign he was strongly drawn to Buddhism, particularly Chán; his principal monastic interlocutor was Fùzhào Bǎoyìn 佛照寶印 (1109–1190) of the Jìngshān 徑山 monastery. He composed a number of Buddhist writings: most importantly the Sānjiào lùn 三教論 (preserved in Fózǔ tǒngjì j. 47), which assigns a complementary role to Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism — Buddhism ordering the mind (zhì xīn 治心), Daoism ordering the body, Confucianism ordering the world; and the KR6i0562 Yùzhù Yuánjué jīng 御註圓覺經, his line-by-line annotation of the Yuánjué jīng, completed in Chūnxī 10 / 2 (= March 1183) and bestowed on Bǎoyìn for engraving and publication at Jìngshān.
CBDB c_personid 0001327 (cross-reference Sòngshǐ j. 33–35; Sòng huìyào jíběn 帝系 5/A; Jiànkāngzhì 建康志).