Zhao Kuangyin Founds the Song Dynasty

In early 960 CE, Later Zhou general Zhao Kuangyin marched north from the capital Bianjing (modern Kaifeng) to repel a reported Khitan invasion. At Chenqiao Bridge his officers acclaimed him emperor, reportedly draping the imperial yellow robe over him — an episode preserved in later Song historiography. Returning to Bianjing, he received the abdication of the seven-year-old Later Zhou emperor Gongdi without bloodshed and proclaimed the Song dynasty with himself as Emperor Taizu. The new dynasty inherited Later Zhou's bureaucracy and would systematically reunify most of the fragmented Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms territory over the following two decades.