The Song Resistance Movement, 1276–1279: An Episode in Chinese Regional History

Abstract

The final years of the Mongol conquest of Song China, 1276 to 1279, were intensely eventful and fateful. In this short span of time the Song lost three emperors and all of its territory, and the largest land-based empire the world has ever known reached its fullest extent in the wake of a massive battle on the seas off the coast of Guangdong in March 1279. The fighting during these years was largely riparian and littoral, with Song and Mongol (Yuan) warships engaging in intense clashes and suffering horrendous casualties. The Song resistance movement that developed after the withdrawal of the Song royal family in 1276 was valiant and dogged in its struggle against the Mongol juggernaut but ultimately ineffectual because it was waged against spectacularly superior tactics. In southern China, particularly Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi, the Song resistance helped Sinicize the once-largely unassimilated and isolated southeast, and many families to this day in the region point with pride to their valiant forebears. Sun Yat-sen was himself a successor to the Song resistance movement.