Cai Jing And The Political Situation Over The Reign Of Song Hui-tsung

The Northern and Southern Song Dynasty was a transforming period in Chinese history. Cai Jing had been the prime minister four times over the Reign of Song Hui-tsung in the latter stage of the Northern Song Dynasty. With great power, Cai Jing imitated the policy in former history, set up a Yuanyou Dangji stone, prosecuted the faithful and honest to satisfy his own desires, advocated Feng Heng Yu Da and made the politics corrupt and degenerate. Because both the monarch and his subjects resorted to expedience of power politics, the Northern Song Dynasty ended very soon.Probing into the influence of Cai Jing on the political situation over the Reign of Hui-tsung and the relations between Cai Jing and the monarch with his subjects, this thesis tries to observe the changes of the political situation so as to reveal the lesson why the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed.