Jia Sidao (August 25, 1213 – October 1275),

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theo ...

Shixian, was a Chinese politician. He was a

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

of the late

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the res ...

of China, the younger brother of a concubine of

Emperor Lizong Emperor Lizong of Song (26 January 1205 – 16 November 1264), personal name Zhao Yun, was the 14th emperor of the Song dynasty of China and the fifth emperor of the Southern Song dynasty. He reigned from 1224 to 1264. His original name was ...

, who subsequently had a relationship of special favor with

Emperor Duzong Emperor Duzong of Song (2 May 1240 – 12 August 1274), personal name Zhao Qi, was the 15th emperor of the Song dynasty of China and the sixth emperor of the Southern Song dynasty. He was a nephew of his predecessor, Emperor Lizong, and reign ...

, and had roles in the Mongol-Song

Battle of Xiangyang The Battle of Xiangyang () was a protracted series of battles between the Yuan dynasty and the Southern Song dynasty from 1267 to 1273. The battle was a significant victory for the Yuan dynasty and ended a 30-year defensive campaign waged by ...

and a land nationalization program in the 1260s. During the Mongol Yuan invasion of the Song, the Song failed in many battles. There was intense political infighting among Song generals, with Jia Sidao and members of the Lü Wenhuan's family actively opposing another Song general Li Tingzhi. Eventually Jia was assassinated by a Song dynasty court-designated sheriff charged with his custody in 1275. However, the Song would ultimately be destroyed by the Mongol Yuan.

Early life

Jia Sidao was born in 1213, to Jia She and Lady Hu; Hu was a renounced concubine of Jia She. Jia She died when Jia Sidao was 11. By the time he earned his ''

jinshi ''Jinshi'' () was the highest and final degree in the imperial examination in Imperial China. The examination was usually taken in the imperial capital in the palace, and was also called the Metropolitan Exam. Recipients are sometimes refer ...

'' at the age of 25 in 1238 CE, his elder sister was already a concubine of the

with the rank of ''guifei''.

Career

Jia Sidao was a

from 1260 - 1273 during the late

of China. According to '' History of Song'', he is reported to have risen to the rank of chancellor because his sister, Lady Jia, was a favored concubine of the

. Jia is best known for his intervention in the

, where he hid the true situation (Xiangyang was under heavy attack from the Mongols and would almost certainly fall without reinforcements) from the Song court. Jia enjoyed the special favor of the

. Being Jia's junior by 27 years, the Emperor used to stand up upon his entrance, called him "teacher" (though Jia was not an imperial degree holder, and never held such a formal post), and is said to have knelt in tears on one occasion, begging Sidao to remain in office. Jia pioneered a policy of land nationalization highly unpopular among the

Confucians Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or a ...

, who favored low taxes and a small role for the state. The land survey, endorsed by several other officials, was undertaken ca. 1262. It was driven by pressing military needs, and by rampant concentration of land in the hands of powerful landlords, who were often high-ranking court officials. In 1263, the (公田, "public field," a northern Song feature) system was re-introduced, whereby the amount of land held by individuals was restricted, and the excess land being classified as . The income from was then used to supplement military expenditure; this system functioned for the next 12 years. Jia's land reform activities went even further than those undertaken by

Wang Mang Wang Mang () (c. 45 – 6 October 23 CE), courtesy name Jujun (), was the founder and the only emperor of the short-lived Chinese Xin dynasty. He was originally an official and consort kin of the Han dynasty and later seized the th ...

during the Han dynasty, as under Wang Mang, the state monopolized only 1/3 of the excess land holdings, and at least provided some minimal compensation. In contrast, Jia's reforms offered no compensation; another of Jia's aims was to abolish the ''hedi'' policy, and reduce the amount of paper money in circulation, as under the ''hedi'' policy, with the government purchasing more grain, they had to issue more paper money, resulting in rising

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduct ...

. Later, at the Battle of Yihu, Jia Sidao, while leading an army of 130,000, panicked and escaped the battlefield in a small boat. The troops, seeing that their commander had abandoned them, retreated hastily; the result was a defeat whereby the remnants of the Song army were routed, allowing the Mongols to advance on the capital, Lin'an. As a result of this defeat, Sidao was demoted from the post of chancellor.

Death

The possibility of executing Jia Sidao for his court failures was hotly debated in Lin'an (now

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also Chinese postal romanization, romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the prov ...

) on the verge of its fall. Dowager Empress Xie objected to this as a cruelty, but issued progressively severe decrees of banishment and property confiscation that included Sidao and his family under the pressure of the public. Ultimately, in 1275, Sidao was assassinated by a court-designated sheriff, Zheng Huchen (郑虎臣), who had been charged with his custody. Whether the execution was court-sanctioned remains unclear.

In popular culture

In the 2014

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

TV series ''Marco Polo'', Jia Sidao is portrayed by Chin Han, while the sister to whom he owes his position is played by Olivia Cheng. In the series he was assassinated (ahistorically) by the invading Mongols, some time after he (ahistorically) assassinated Dowager Empress Xie.

References

*'' History of Song'', volume 474

Early life

Career

Death

In popular culture

References

Further reading

See also