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China: Emperor Huizong (Zhao Ji), 8th ruler of the (Northern) Song Dynasty (r. 1100-1126).

Huizong was famed for his promotion of Taoism. He was also a skilled poet, painter, calligrapher, and musician. He sponsored numerous artists at his court, and the catalogue of his imperial painting collection lists over 6,000 known paintings.

The Song Dynasty (960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907–960) and preceded the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368), which conquered the Song in 1279. Its conventional division into the Northern Song (960–1127) and Southern Song (1127–1279) periods marks the conquest of northern China by the Jin Dynasty (1115–1234) in 1127. It also distinguishes the subsequent shift of the Song's capital city from Bianjing (modern Kaifeng) in the north to Lin'an (modern Hangzhou) in the south.