liao 593the New Year’s Day of Jan.20, 1075 (Sung shih 15:12a).
On Jan.15, 1075, envoys from Tao-tsung and from the Empress
Dowager arrived at the Sung court to congratulate on the New Year’s
Day of Jan.20 (Sung shih 15:12b; Hsü Tzu-chih t’ung-chien ch’ang-pien
pp.2426-2427).
In the 3rd month (Mar./Apr.) of 1075, a Liao envoy arrived at
the Sung court with a proposal for border demarcation. Shen-tsung
rejected this and made a counterproposal. This was in turn rejected
by the envoy. After having been given a banquet, the envoy departed
on Apr.22 with a letter from Shen-tsung (Hsü Tzu-chih t’ung-chien ch’ang-
pienp.2453;Wen-hsien t’ung-k’ao 346:24b). The conflict wasa finally
resolved in 1076.
On Apr.23, 1075, envoys from Tao-tsung and from the Empress
Dowager arrived at the Sung court to congratulate on the birthday
of Shen-tsung^178 (Sung shih 15:13b; Hsü Tzu-chih t’ung-chien ch’ang-pien
p.2462).
On Sep.19, 1075, Shen-tsung sent envoys to the Liao court to
congratulate on the birthday of Tao-tsung and on the New Year’s
Day of Feb.8, 1076 (Sung shih 15:14b).
On Feb.3, 1076, envoys from Tao-tsung and from the Empress
Dowager arrived at the Sung court to congratulate on the New
Year’s Day of Feb.8 (Sung shih 15:15a; Hsü Tzu-chih t’ung-chien ch’ang-
pienp.2560).
On Apr.11, 1076, the Empress Dowager, mother of Tao-tsung, died.
On Apr.12, Tao-tsung sent the Palace Assistant Inspector-general to
announce her death to the Sung court (Liao shih 23:4a).
On May 11, 1076, Liao envoys arrived at the Sung court to con-
gratulate on the birthday of Shen-tsung. On May 15, which was the
birthday, Shen-tsung cancelled the celebration to observe the mourning
for the Liao Empress Dowager (Sung shih 15:16a).
On May 26, 1076, Shen-tsung sent envoys to condole at the Liao
court (Sung shih 15:16a).
On June 3, 1076, Liao envoys to the Sung court instructed Shen-
tsung that he should wear mourning garments for the Empress Dowager
and suspend the court for seven days (Sung shih 15:16a).^179
On Sep.6, 1076, Shen-tsung sent envoys to the Liao court to con-
(^178) It fell on Apr.27.
(^179) According to Hsü Tzu-chih t’ung-chien ch’ang-pien p.2588, he had apparently
failed to do so because of the late arrival of the Liao envoys.