Study On Emperor Songzhenzong's Taoism Activities

Scholars have already studied and written many papers about Emperor Songzhenzong's Taoism activities, but these studies are not comprehensive and systemic enough, some of them focused on"Fengshan", and the others focus on"Tianshu (Message of God),"Sacrifice Fenyin", etc. There is still room for farther study. This paper aims to study Emperor Songzhenzong's Taoism activities at the macro level, emphasis on analysis of causes and influences of Emperor Songzhenzong's Taoism activities, so as to get a better understanding of the political situation during the middle and late period of Emperor Songzhenzong, and the character of historical figures'influences to the historical process.The first chapter of this paper introduces four main parts of Emperor Songzhenzong's Taoism activities. The Taoism activities are as follows:"Fengshan"Mountain Tai and"Sacrifice Fenyin"; Created immortal ZhaoXuanlang; Constructed Taoism temple and worshipped Taoist; Found Taoism books and compiled"Taoism".The second chapter of this paper analyzes the external and internal causes of Emperor Songzhenzong's Taoism activities. According to external factors, the military threat by Liao, Western Xia, even after negotiations between Liao and Western Xia the potential threats are still existed, which is the main cause of Emperor Songzhenzong's Taoism activities. Emperor Songzhenzong attempted to erase the humiliation brought by Liao with Taoism activities, and achieved the purpose of deterrence Liao. According to internal factors, Emperor Songzhenzong tried to prove the reasonableness of his throne, and strengthen the leadership of Song Dynasty with Taoism activities."Five Ghosts"of Emperor Songzhenzong's period played critical roles in Taoism activities, which is a important factor of Emperor Songzhenzong's Taoism activities could sustained more than a decade.The third chapter of this paper analyzes the influences of Emperor Songzhenzong's Taoism activities from four parts. First, Emperor Songzhenzong's Taoism activities have led to the downfall of the political atmosphere, and some practices of Emperor Songzhenzong's Taoism activities, was imitated by Emperor Songhuizong. Second, many human and material resources spent on Emperor Songzhenzong's Taoism activities, such as"Fengshan"Mountain Tai,"Sacrifice Fenyin"and Constructed Taoism temple, etc, led to national and local governments have less money. Third, Emperor Songzhenzong's Taoism activities led to more weakness to foreign militaries. Fourth, Emperor Songzhenzong's Taoism activities caused some changes on the folk culture.In short, this paper studies on Emperor Songzhenzong's Taoism activities'performance, causes, influences. Studying on Emperor Songzhenzong's Taoism activities will help people have better understanding of this period's political and culture.