The rule of Yuanjia refers to the historical period when the national power of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Northern and Southern Dynasties were the most powerful during the period from Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty to Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty. It is called “the rule of Yuanjia” in history.
Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty, Liu Yu, was born at the bottom and knew the sufferings of the people at the bottom. Therefore, Liu Yu implemented a number of reform policies from when he took power to when he became emperor.

Politically, he was sympathetic to the people’s sentiments, centralized the central government, rectified the administration of officials, reused poor families to select officials, made up for the defects of the nine-rank system, abolished harsh laws, lightened corvees and taxes, helped the poor, cracked down on powerful gentry, and restricted gentry landlords. Annex the land and return it to the people. He presided over the “Tu Duan”, streamlined many overseas Chinese counties and counties, and expanded the government’s tax and service objects. At the same time, develop education, vigorously win over literati, promote culture, and widely collect pictures and books.
In terms of military affairs, because Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty Liu Yu conquered the north and the south at the end of the Jin Dynasty, he pacified the warlord forces such as Sun En, Lu Xun, Liu Yi, and Sima Xiuzhi, and destroyed Huanchu, Xishu, Nanyan, and Houqin. The northern defense line of the Liu Song territory reached Tongguan and the Yellow River area, providing a large buffer barrier in the north for the people in the Jianghuai River Basin to recuperate.
In 422 A.D., after the death of Song Wudi Liu Yu, who reigned for only three years, the eldest son Liu Yifu came to the throne. Liu Yilong, the third son of Liu Yu, the king of Yidu, was known as Emperor Wen of Song Dynasty in history.
Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty continued to implement Liu Yu’s strategy of governing the country (“Song Shu · The Preface to the Biography of Liang Officials”). During his 30 years of reign, he worked hard to govern, recuperate, develop production, and created the most powerful historical period in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties. rule”.
During this period, although Liu Song and Northern Wei fought many times, the wars between Song and Wei all took place in Henan and Huaibei in the north, while Huainan and Jiangnan in the south were quiet for a long time.
The academic circles generally believe that the failure of Emperor Song Wen’s second Northern Expedition led to the decline of the “Yuanjia Reign”. But in fact, as a political situation, the “Yuanjia Reign” declined after Prince Liu Shao killed Emperor Wen. The balance system of checks and balances and the mutual containment between the Chinese military and foreign troops were completely broken.
After Emperor Xiaowu of Song came to the throne, he carried out a series of reforms to the Yuanjia system, trying to restore the prosperity of the Yuanjia period of Emperor Wen of Song.
In terms of official system, he weakened the officials of the Eastern Palace, strengthened the guards of the imperial palace, established the system of censor Zhongcheng, abolished the number of years for county officials to enter office, shortened their tenure, and expanded and institutionalized the system of serving relatives.
In terms of administrative regions, he divided Jing and Yang, and restored Nanyan, Yan and Nanyu.
In terms of ruling policy, he suppressed the clan and reused close officials.
In terms of economy, he promoted land cuts, rewarded horses, restricted the closure of mountains and water, changed coins, and set up Taiwan envoys.
But the “Yuanjia Reign” as a political situation is gone forever.
Liu Shao (424-May 27, 453), courtesy name Xiuyuan, was born in Pengcheng County, Pengcheng County (now Tongshan District, Jiangsu Province), the eldest son of Emperor Wen of Song Dynasty Liu Yilong, and the fourth emperor of Liu Song Dynasty (453 AD ).
In the first year of Yuanjia (424), he was born in Jiankang Palace. At the age of six, he was established as the crown prince, and he was favored by Emperor Wen for more than 20 years. Later, because of his opposition to the Northern Expedition, he had a conflict with Emperor Wen. Under the instigation of the witch Yan Daoyu, he practiced witchcraft without permission, which made Emperor Wen intend to abolish the crown prince. He conspired with Liu Jun, the king of Shixing, and launched a palace coup in February of the 30th year of Yuanjia (453), led the Eastern Palace Guards to break into the palace and kill his father, and then proclaimed himself emperor and changed Yuan Taichu. But after only three months in power, he was defeated and killed by his younger brother Xiaowu Emperor Liu Jun at the age of thirty.
Liu Shao is the emperor who seized the throne by “killing his father” in Chinese history, and his act of killing rebels was unanimously condemned at that time and later generations. Emperor Xiaowu Liu Jun said that “since the birth of the people, we have never heard of this disaster”, while Xie Zhuang said that “the poor and extremely rebellious, the pioneering has never been heard”. Shen Yue called Liu Shao the “culprit” in “Song Shu”, and included him and Liu Jun in “The Biography of the Two Murders”. Historians of later generations also referred to him as “Yuanji Shao”, “Thief Shao”, and “Ni Shao”, and did not recognize him as the orthodox emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty.

Yuanjia’s Governance Wiki

The rule of Yuanjia(Yuanjia’s Governance) refers to the reign of Emperor Wen of Song Dynasty Liu Yilong in the Southern Dynasty (Yuanjia). It also worked hard to implement various policies for economic and cultural prosperity, resulting in a political situation in which the economy finally recovered in a short period of time and people’s lives were relatively stable.
During this period, the politics, economy, and culture of the Liu Song Dynasty were greatly developed. Xie Lingyun, Liu Yiqing, Bao Zhao, Pei Songzhi, Fan Ye, Yan Yanzhi, Zu Chongzhi, He Chengtian and other celebrities who had a profound influence on the culture of later generations were active in this era , Jiankang literary history reached its peak during this period. Masterpieces such as “Shishuoxinyu”, “Hanshu”, “Three Kingdoms Notes” were born during this period, and the rule of Yuanjia created the best society since the Wei and Jin Dynasties. This situation is also the historical period when the national power of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties were the strongest.