Jingkang Incident

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The Jingkang Incident (Traditional Chinese: 靖康事變, 靖康之變; Simplified Chinese: 靖康事变, 靖康之变; pinyin: jìng kāng shì biàn, jìng kāng zhī biàn) or the Humiliation of Jingkang (Traditional Chinese: 靖康之恥; Simplified Chinese: 靖康之耻; pinyin: jìng kàng zhī chǐ) took place in 1127 when invading Jurchen soldiers from the Jin Dynasty besieged and sacked Bianliang (汴梁), the capital of the Song Dynasty in the Siege of Kaifeng. The Jin forces abducted Emperor Qinzong, his father Emperor Emeritus Huizong, along with many members of the imperial court.

This ended the era known as the Northern Song, when the Song Dynasty controlled most of China. The rest of the royal family was forced to flee and establish a new government, now known as the Southern Song at Lin'an (臨安, 临安), which was to become their capital. This incident is so named because this was the major incident during the short reign of Emperor Qinzong, whose era name was "Jingkang" (靖康).

[edit] Cultural references

This incident was referred to as the "Lingering Humiliation of Jingkang" (靖康恥，猶未雪) in Man Jiang Hong (滿江紅, 满江红), the lyrical poem written in 1133 by Song General Yue Fei to express his intense desire to recover the lost Song territories and wipe off the shame.

In The Legend of the Condor Heroes, a wuxia novel by Jinyong, this national humiliation inspired the names of two of the main characters Guo Jing and Yang Kang, who were born soon afterwards.