February 4, AD 960

Chenqiao mutiny

Zhao Kuangyin takes the throne and founds the Song dynasty

The official history says Zhao Kuangyin woke to find his own officers draping a yellow imperial robe over him. Modern historians suspect the surprise was arranged.

A robe at Chenqiao

A report that Northern Han and Khitan forces were invading sent the Later Zhou palace army north out of Kaifeng under its commander, Zhao Kuangyin. At Chenqiao his officers acclaimed him emperor and, in the official narrative, placed a yellow imperial robe over him.

Most modern interpretations treat the coup as organized rather than spontaneous, and the self-exculpatory robe story cautiously. The traditional date of 4 February 960 is best kept for the formal start of Zhao's reign rather than for every stage of the affair, which unfolded over several days.

The condition he set before turning back

Zhao accepted his army's support on terms: the child emperor of Later Zhou, the empress dowager, the ministers, the population and the treasuries were not to be harmed or plundered.

He then led the troops back into Kaifeng. The Later Zhou court submitted, Zhao took the throne, and the capital changed dynasties with little fighting inside it.

What did not happen that day

Zhao adopted the dynastic name Song and the reign title Jianlong, and ruled from Kaifeng. What he did not do was reunify China: several southern states and Northern Han remained independent, and Northern Han survived until his brother conquered it in 979.

The Chinese Text Project's chronology puts the Chenqiao acclamation and accession sequence around 3 February, while its reign-era data begin Zhao's rule on 4 February 960.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 2 audit passes Traditional date

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

Traditional date. This date is the conventional one, not one fixed by a contemporary record.

What the sources leave uncertain

The coup, return to Kaifeng, accession and formal start of the Jianlong era unfolded over several days. Chinese Text Project chronology places the Chenqiao acclamation and accession sequence around February 3, while its reign-era data begin Zhao's rule on February 4, 960.
Some modern pages give February 2 for the 'Chenqiao mutiny' by attaching the date to the army's departure or encampment. February 4 is best retained for the formal beginning of Zhao's reign and the Song era, not for every stage of the coup.
Zhao was born in 927 and had not yet reached his birthday in 960; the listed description '33-year-old' reflects loose subtraction or a different age reckoning, not completed modern age.