Zhao Ruyu

Zhao Ruyu (赵汝愚, courtesy name Zizhi 子直) was a statesman of the Southern Song dynasty and a member of the imperial clan who, as Grand Councilor of the Bureau of Military Affairs, managed the abdication of Emperor Guangzong and the enthronement of Emperor Ningzong, and who served briefly as Right Grand Councilor before being driven from office and dying in exile.^{1 • 2} The basic facts of his career are these:

Origins and family

The biography in 《宋史》卷三百九十二 states that Zhao Ruyu was a seventh-generation descendant of Zhao Yuanzuo, Prince Gongxian of Han, and that his family lived in Yuganxian in Raozhou.¹ A modern study states the descent as eighth-generation descendant of Emperor Taizong.⁶ The China Biographical Database records his father as Zhao Shanying (赵善应), his wife as a lady of the Xu clan, and six or more sons, including his eldest son Zhao Chongxian (赵崇宪) and Zhao Chongdu (赵崇度), Zhao Chongmo (赵崇模), and Zhao Chongyao (赵崇要); it also records his grandson Zhao Biyuan (赵必愿) and his great-grandson Zhao Liangchun (赵良淳).³

Career

According to the China Biographical Database (CBDB), the dated offices in the row for person 3200 trace a career through provincial and central posts: administrator of a prefecture; Gentleman for Court Service and Senior Compiler of the Jiying Hall, administering a prefecture; Edict Attendant and then Auxiliary Academician of the Hall for the Diffusion of Literature; and director of a superior prefecture military command while concurrently Military Commissioner (制置使).³ He again administered a prefecture, and he was later Minister of Personnel.³ A translation of his biography records that as commissioner in Sichuan he had warned about the Wu clan's hold on military command there and asked to curb them gradually.⁷

The turning point came in the seventh month. According to the Song Shi, in the seventh month Emperor Guangzong, unable to preside over his father Emperor Xiaozong's funeral rites, had withdrawn from government, and chief councilor Liu Zheng (留正) left citing illness. Zhao Ruyu, then Grand Councilor of the Bureau of Military Affairs, sent Han Tuozhou (韩侂胄) to ask the Grand Empress Dowager to approve the accession of the heir, the Prince of Jia, Zhao Kuo. Through the palace official Guan Li (关礼) the request reached her, and she consented. Zhao Ruyu ordered the commander Guo Gao (郭杲) to divide troops by night to guard the northern and southern palaces, and the next day, before the coffin, he led the officials in requesting that the Prince of Jia be enthroned; when the prince refused, saying he feared the charge of unfilial conduct, Zhao Ruyu answered, in the annals' words, that "the Son of Heaven shows filial piety by securing the state and settling the realm." The prince was robed and enthroned as Emperor Ningzong.² Within days Zhao Ruyu was made concurrently Assistant Councilor (参知政事); offered the Right Grand Councilorship, he declined it, and was instead made Grand Councilor of the Bureau of Military Affairs (枢密使); in the eighth month, after Liu Zheng's dismissal, he did take the Right Grand Councilorship.²

His fall followed within a year. In the intercalary month the court dismissed the lecturer Zhu Xi (朱熹) after his memorials offended Han Tuozhou; Zhao Ruyu remonstrated strongly and was not heeded.² In the twelfth month he likewise failed to protect Peng Guinian (彭龟年), who had asked for Han Tuozhou's removal. In the second month of Qingyuan year 1 (1195), on the accusation of the right remonstrance official Li Mu (李沐), he was dismissed as Right Grand Councilor and sent out as Grand Academician of the Hall of Perusing Culture to administer Fuzhou; further impeachments by Xie Shenfu (谢深甫) stripped him even of that sinecure, and in the seventh month his academician title was withdrawn.² In the eleventh month, on the accusation of the censor Hu Hong (胡纮), he was demoted to Deputy Military Commissioner of Ningyuan Army and ordered to reside in Yongzhou.²

Political influence

Zhao Ruyu's influence on the succession was direct and lasting: the abdication he managed put Emperor Ningzong on the throne and created the Taishang Huang (retired emperor) establishment at the Taian Palace, with its prescribed court schedule.² In the weeks after the accession he requested the recall of Liu Zheng, and the new reign appointed Zhu Xi as lecturer and added other tutorial officials.² His defense of Zhu Xi and Peng Guinian failed, and his own destruction opened the purge that followed: the soldier-official Zhang Ying (章颖), the academicians Li Xiang (李祥) and Yang Jian (杨简), and the archivist Lv Zujian (吕祖俭) were all dismissed or banished for siding with him, and six university students led by Yang Hongzhong (杨宏中) were sent into distant confinement for petitioning on his behalf.² An institution that outlasted him was his compilation of the Memorials of the Ministers of the Song, begun in 1169 when he was a proofreader in the Palace Library and completed in 1185 in Sichuan; Emperor Xiaozong praised it with the words that "the way of governance is all here." Its selection was pointed: 146 memorials of Sima Guang (司马光) against 6 of Wang Anshi (王安石), and none at all from the reformers Zhang Dun (章惇) and Lv Huiqing (吕惠卿).⁴

Military style

As Military Commissioner he combined civil administration of a superior prefecture with the military commissionership.³ The one recorded field disposition under his orders is the night deployment at the abdication, when he directed Guo Gao to split palace troops between the northern and southern complexes to secure the accession.²

Death, titles, and heirs

The annals of Ningzong date his death to the day gengzi of the first month of Qingyuan, at Yongzhou.² The annals record that in the second month a decree restored his offices and permitted burial in his home region, and that the decree was rescinded on the memorial of the Secretariat Drafter Wu Zongdan (吴宗旦).² The clerk Cai Lian (蔡琏) later accused him of having harbored a different design at the abdication; the court ordered the arrest and interrogation of Peng Guinian and Zeng Sanpin (曾三聘), and the matter was stopped only after the Secretariat Drafter Fan Zhongyi (范仲艺) argued the case before Han Tuozhou.²

Assessment

According to a 2004 study in the Journal of Shaanxi Normal University, the standard history's compiler judged him favorably, and this evaluation matches the facts: he was the only prime minister the Song drew from the imperial clan and an outstanding representative of clansmen who established themselves by their own efforts.⁹ The traditional narrative, followed by the annals, makes Zhao Ruyu the organizer of the abdication: he obtained the Grand Empress Dowager's consent through Han Tuozhou and carried the accession through.^{2 • 10} The historian Wu Zhengqiang has argued that this account is a later construction: in his reading the coup was driven by the Grand Empress Dowager, with Han Tuozhou acting as her agent, and Zhao Ruyu's leading role was written into the story only after Han Tuozhou's fall.¹¹

Legacy

In Tongxiang, Zhejiang, a shrine to him, the Zhao Zhongding shrine, was built by the local people; the shrine burned, was rebuilt in 1611 with a commemorative inscription by Qian Mengde (钱梦得), and rebuilt again in the Guangxu era.⁸ He is counted among the twenty-some meritorious officials of the Zhaoxun Pavilion.^{5 • 8} According to the Encyclopedia of China database, his dates are 1140 to 1196 and his origin is Yugan in Raozhou, in present-day Jiangxi.^{12 • 6}

References

1. 《宋史》卷三百九十二 赵汝愚传, Wikisource transcription. https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/宋史/卷392
2. 《宋史》卷三十七 宁宗本纪, Wikisource transcription. https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/宋史/卷037
3. China Biographical Database (CBDB), person 3200 赵汝愚. https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0003200
4. 中国古籍保护网：赵汝愚《宋朝诸臣奏议》研究. https://www.nlc.cn/pcab/zx/xw/20250611_2646410.shtml
5. 上海图书馆古籍数据库·赵汝愚规范档. https://data.library.sh.cn/entity/person/myc0a6ntk8013egp.html
6. 赵汝愚与南宋中期政争，《辅仁历史学报》第26期（2011）. https://www.airitilibrary.com/Article/Detail/10232850-201103-201210170021-201210170021-83-106
7. 《宋史·赵汝愚传》原文及白话译文. https://m.guoxuedashi.com/yiwen/130268rgju/
8. 赵汝愚简介（南宋名臣）. https://www.lishiqiwen.com/article/5704.html
9. Zhao Ruyu the Prime Minister from the Imperial Family of the Song Dynasty and Fujian, Journal of Shaanxi Normal University (2004). http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTOTAL-SXSS200403015.htm
10. 「绍熙内禅」的主心骨, , 南宋名臣赵汝愚（国学参考）. https://www.guoxueck.com/zshixuerw/2023/2032.html
11. 《中外论坛》2022年第2期出版说明（吴铮强论文介绍）. https://www.trueart.com/news/564149.html
12. 赵汝愚, 中国大百科全书数据库. https://www.zgbk.com/ecph/words?ID=107277&SiteID=1&SubID=44128&Type=bkzyb

Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Asian history › China › Southern Song (1127 to 1279) › Officials and politics

Initially written Sep 23, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026

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