Lu Xiufu
Lu Xiufu 陸秀夫 | |
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Grand Chancellor of the Song dynasty | |
In office 10 May 1278 – 19 March 1279 | |
Monarch | Zhao Bing |
Preceded by | Wen Tianxiang |
Personal details | |
Born | 8 November 1236 Yancheng, Jiangsu, China |
Died | March 19, 1279 Yamen, Guangdong, China | (aged 42)
Lu Xiufu | |
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Hanyu Pinyin | Lù Xiùfū |
Lu Xiufu (8 November 1236 – 19 March 1279),
Life
In 1256, together with Wen Tianxiang, Lu passed the imperial examination, thus becoming a "presented scholar" or jinshi, and thereafter joined the Ministry of Rites as a vice-minister.
Yuan conquest
On 18 January 1276, the general Bayan of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty showed up with his army outside Lin'an. In a desperate attempt to make peace, the Song imperial court sent Lu Xiufu to negotiate but he was forced to surrender and then was released.
The capital of the Southern Song dynasty at
After Emperor Duanzong died at the age of ten in 1278, Lu and Zhang Shijie together enthroned his younger brother
In 1279, Yuan forces led by
Lu, unwilling to be taken captive by Yuan troops, first ordered his younger wife to commit suicide then advised the emperor Zhao Bing:
The affairs of our nation lie in ruins and our country is destroyed. Your Majesty, please do not continue the disastrous policies of your predecessor Emperor Gong whose presence in Dadu is an unbearable shame, we cannot again bear such an insult.
With that, Lu gave the young emperor his seal, picked him up in his arms and jumped from a cliff into the sea, killing them both. Many imperial concubines and ministers also died and by July there were tens of thousands of corpses floating in the sea.[4] Thus ended the Song dynasty and unification of China proper by the Yuan dynasty.
Legacy
Lu's descendants moved through many places before settling down in Qiangang Village (钱岗村),
Today in Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province there stands a memorial hall to the 'Three Loyal Princes of the Song' (大宋三忠王). There is also a shrine to the three heroes in the Shuangxi District of New Taipei City, Taiwan. Built in 1868 during the reign of the Tongzhi Emperor in the Qing dynasty, the Three Loyalists Temple (三忠廟/三宗庙) is the religious center of the township.
See also
- History of the Song dynasty
- Society of the Song dynasty
- Culture of the Song dynasty
- List of emperors of the Song dynasty
References
- ISBN 0-521-62157-7, p. 281
- ^ "Lu Xiufu (陆秀夫) » Tionghoa". 7 June 2008.
- ISBN 9787561509876.
- ISBN 978-1-57958-116-9, p. 55
Further reading
- Gascoigne, Bamber (2003), The Dynasties of China: A History, New York: Carroll & Graf, ISBN 1-84119-791-2
- Giles, Herbert Allen (1939). A Chinese biographical dictionary (Gu jin xing shi zu pu). Shanghai: Kelly & Walsh. (see here for more)
- Gernet, Jacques (1982), A history of Chinese civilization, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-24130-8
- Kruger, Rayne (2003), All Under Heaven: A Complete History of China, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0-470-86533-4