Jingkang Incident: Jin sack Kaifeng

January 9, 1127

Jurchen horsemen who had never been meant to leave Manchuria poured through the gates of the Song capital, looting imperial palaces stuffed with paintings, bronzes, and porcelain. Emperor Huizong and his son were paraded north in chains to die as captives of the nomads they had mocked. The artistic treasures accumulated over a century of Song patronage were scattered or destroyed, an irreplaceable cultural loss.