Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges during the Southern Song and Yuan dynasties

The last emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, Emperor Huizong (reign: 1100–1126) contacted the Japanese authorities more than once to urge them to establish diplomatic relations with China. His proposal, however, was shelved due to the Japanese side’s refusal to be a vassal state. As a result, the relations between the two countries didn’t gain any breakthrough. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Japanese government imposed the quota policy on Chinese merchant ships. Consequently, many Chinese merchant ships had to avoid the official ports and entered the privately owned ports to trade directly with the Japanese private manor owners. Therefore, in a period of time after 1116, no records of Chinese merchant ships were kept in Japanese history.