A Humble Emperor

November 27, 2019 

While Tang dynasty is considered the golden age in Chinese history, Song dynasty, nevertheless is my personal favorite.   It inherited the wealth from the Tang dynasty and continued to blossom.  Social life during the Song was vibrant.  Technology, science, philosophy, mathematics, and engineering flourished over the course of the Song.  Literature and arts were at their peak.  Many famous Chinese landscape and portrait paintings were created during that periods.  Poetry and calligraphy also profited from the rising popularity. But what intrigues me is a story of a special ruler.

He was not born to be King, but he was chosen by the aging emperor to be his heir mainly because his characters: honesty, kindness, and prudence.  He had a humble background.  Growing up in a peasant family, he understood the importance of foods.  Common people did not care who ruled the country, so long as they could live in a peaceful environment, have a healthy and happy family and never needed to worry about putting foods on table, that was enough.  Wars, poverty, nature disasters were their biggest fear.  This ruler recognized that. 

He enjoyed working on a field.  As a young boy, he often worked on his family rice paddy. During the harvest season, the air of his family’s farm was permeated with the sweet fragrance of ripen grains.  After he became the emperor of Song, he lived inside the concrete walls of his Palace.  He missed the aromas of a farm, the heaven that once provided him with so much reassurance and satisfactory.  He ordered a construction of little rice paddy inside his living quarter. 

When he was not occupied by political affairs or busy with his many wives and concubines, he retreated to his quarter and worked on the “farm”.  He rolled up his “dragon” emperor robe, took off his golden shoes and stepped on the muddy rice field bared foot.    When the grains were ripened, he picked a bundle, crushed the grains on his hand, cupped the little kernels under his nose.   Then his eyes closed, his face began to relax, a smile appeared and he turned to the sky and said: “I have the world!”.