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China: Emperor Guangzong (Zhao Dun), 12th ruler of the Song Dynasty and 3rd ruler of the Southern Song (r. 1189-1194).

China: Emperor Guangzong (Zhao Dun), 12th ruler of the Song Dynasty and 3rd ruler of the Southern Song (r. 1189-1194).

Emperor Guangzong (1147–1200; reigned 1189–1194) was the 12th Emperor of Song China. He was born with the name Zhao Dun. He gave the city of Chongqing its present name, meaning 'Double Celebration'. According to Xu Wei, the Nanxi style of theatre began in his reign. He listened to some treacherous officials and dismissed popular military leader Xin Qiji. He was forced to give up his throne in 1194 by his grandmother, the Grand Empress Dowager, as he refused to attend the funeral procession of his father, Xiaozong. He died in 1200 near Shaoxing, Zhejiang.

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.

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