Southern Song Dynasty, 1127–1279

The Southern Song dynasty began after the Jurchen conquest of Kaifeng forced the Song court to re-establish itself at Lin’an, modern Hangzhou. Its rulers retained a wealthy and populous southern empire but accepted an unstable frontier with the Jin state to the north.

Commercial growth, maritime trade, printing and urban culture flourished, while court politics repeatedly divided advocates of accommodation from those who sought recovery of the lost northern territories. The memory of generals such as Yue Fei made resistance to the Jin a powerful language of loyalty.

This is the appropriate setting for fiction concerned with the Song court, southern Chinese society and the political consequences of the north–south division. Legends of the Condor Heroes begins within this world and contrasts its compromised government with the loyalty claimed by its martial heroes.