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Why did the Southern Song court establish its capital in Hangzhou?

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Pure and Remote View of Streams and Mountains, detail of hand scroll in ink and paper by Xia Gui, early 13th century (Southern Song); in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan. — Xia Gui *Pure and Remote View of Streams and Mountains*, detail of hand scroll in ink and paper by Xia Gui, early 13th century (Southern Song); in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.

The Southern Song court established its capital in Hangzhou—which they renamed Lin’an, meaning "Temporary Safety"—primarily for strategic and economic reasons following the loss of northern China to the Jin (Juchen) dynasty in 1127.123

Emperor Gaozong, the founder of the Southern Song, rejected advice to place the capital in cities like Nanjing or other locations further up the Yangtze River, as he considered those sites too militarily exposed to northern incursions. Hangzhou offered a more defensible location while remaining situated at the corner of the lower Yangtze delta, which served as the wealthy economic core of the new empire.3

Additionally, the city was well-positioned for commerce, benefiting from its connection to the Grand Canal and its proximity to the fertile rice-growing regions of the south, which provided the fiscal resources necessary for the court to maintain its authority and defensive posture.23