In the field of historical research, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty often caused controversy, and traditional views were mostly critical of him. However, Yi Peixia's work presents a different perspective, which indeed deserves further study.

Although academic circles have conducted in-depth research on the historical facts of the Huizong period of the Northern Song Dynasty for a long time, the evaluations of Song Huizong himself and his ministers Cai Jing, Wang Fu, Tong Guan and others are generally negative.

From the perspective of historians who pay attention to historical experience, when discussing the causes of the collapse of the Northern Song Dynasty, they often attribute the reasons to the rulers' poor management and lack of morality.

Zhang Bangwei, for example, holds this view.

In the history books of the Southern Song Dynasty, Huizong and his officials were often portrayed in a negative light. This is mainly because, according to tradition, people usually evaluate monarchs based on their intelligence and moral character. Huizong was considered to have no outstanding talents commensurate with his status. In addition, he was in the period of the collapse of the Northern Song Dynasty, so his evaluation was generally not high.

In the context of traditional historical theory, the image of Song Huizong has been basically finalized. People generally accept and are influenced by this view.

Traditional views generally believe that the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty was mainly due to Emperor Huizong's personal reasons. The formation of this point of view has caused people's evaluation of Song Huizong to be mostly limited to the personal level, and rarely conduct in-depth analysis from other perspectives.

The fall of the Northern Song Dynasty left Huizong as the last person to bear responsibility. This accusation continued to intensify, and as a result, it obscured the possibility of examining this figure from other angles.

Since 2000, Yi Peixia has turned her research focus to Song Huizong.

Her choice to focus on Song Huizong marked a shift in research direction after having studied other Song social and women's histories.

She adopted the popular personality research method in Europe and America.

This research method focuses on the excavation of details and the exploration of the deep reasons for the character's personality.

This can avoid simply inferring character behavior from historical results.

She collected many historical bits and pieces and tried to recreate the historical background, making readers feel like they were at the scene of that era.

Yi Peixia considered that Huizong had lived in the inner court for a long time, which was very important.

His lack of understanding of civil society prevented him from making an objective assessment of the combat effectiveness of the dynastic army.

These views are based on Huizong's personal experience, and they have unique insights that are different from the previous ones that only focused on results.

Ipecia incorporates the sympathy of understanding in Herder's sense.

This means that you cannot judge whether Huizong's behavior is right or wrong based on the surface alone. You need to comprehensively consider factors such as his environment and his various abilities and conditions.

Although Huizong had great ambitions, he often felt that he was unable to achieve his goals. Yi Peixia paid special attention to this.

In the past, Huizong's respect for Taoism and his enthusiasm for auspiciousness were regarded as not doing his job properly.

Yi Peixia has a different and complicated view on this issue.

On the one hand, she believes that there should be no overly political interpretation.

Huizong's advocating Taoism was not just a politically wasteful move as believed in traditional concepts.

Fang Chengfeng's works have a clear interpretation of this, while Yi Peixia tries to go beyond this superficial understanding.

On the other hand, she also recognized the status and role of Taoism in Huizong's governing philosophy.

This view is not limited to criticism of the traditional Confucian governance model. It examines this issue by more deeply analyzing the composition of Huizong's personal ideological system.

These views overturned the previous one-sided understanding of Song Huizong's indulging in Taoism, which led to national turmoil and people's suffering. They prompt us to reflect on the multiple impacts that royal religious beliefs may have on national governance, rather than just judging the monarch's religious actions from a moral perspective.

Yi Peixia pointed out that if one were placed in the historical period of Xuanhe and Jingkang, the policies implemented by Huizong would have a rational basis for decision-making in the context of that time.

And another ruler might make the same decision.

If Huizong wanted to expand his territory or embark on a large-scale construction project, it would be reasonable based on the information he had and his personal vision.

This refutes the traditional view that Song Huizong made decisions due to absurdity.

His decision may have been based on the situation of the country at the time and the information he had, and after considering a variety of factors.

She made it clear that Huizong was not completely innocent, and she did not completely exclude Huizong from responsibility for the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty.

This attitude was rational and fair. It recognized the influence of the environment at the time and also noted Huizong's own shortcomings.

The upcoming Chinese translation of "Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty" is similar to Yi Peixia's "Huizong of the Song Dynasty".

They all use the popular personality research method in Europe and the United States to profile the character's personality.

The use of this research method has opened up a new research direction for the discussion of the image of subjugated monarchs in Eastern historical records.

Traditional Chinese history books mostly start from the events themselves, commenting or analyzing their successes and failures. However, this description method that focuses on the character of the characters helps to more deeply reveal the personal growth background, personality traits, etc., and the impact of major historical events. far-reaching impact.

From a reader's perspective, such research results help to provide a more three-dimensional understanding of the subjugated monarch.

In the past, people's understanding of subjugated kings such as Song Huizong and Sui Yang Emperor mostly stayed at the level that their ignorance and incompetence led to the destruction of the country. However, with the help of these new research results, the public can more objectively understand their complex and changing historical image.

Yi Peixia's "Song Huizong" helps to re-understand the history of the late Northern Song Dynasty.

In the past, we mostly understood that period of history within the framework of Southern Song historians, but now, with the rich historical details provided by Yi Peixia, we can examine it from a more diverse perspective.

Historians of the Southern Song Dynasty naturally had their own opinions when recording. They were under the rule of the Song Dynasty, and they would definitely put more responsibility for the collapse of the Northern Song Dynasty on Huizong and his ministers. There are both political considerations and the historian's personal emotions behind this.

Yi Peixia combines numerous historical materials and character analysis methods to examine history from a novel perspective, allowing everyone to discover more unexplored aspects of history.

In the academic field of contemporary history, people are paying more and more attention to analyzing historical figures and events from multiple angles. The book "Song Huizong" written by Yi Peixia presents an excellent example to everyone.

What do you think of this new interpretation of Song Huizong, a controversial historical figure? What do you think?