[5] Although he was a descendant of Emperor Gaozu of Han's younger brother Liu Jiao,[6] he was still born into poverty.

Regarded as one of the best generals of the Northern and Southern dynasties, Liu Yu started off by reclaiming much of the territory the Chinese had lost during the Sixteen Kingdoms era.

Surprising the Shu forces, he quickly captured Chengdu and re-annexed that area back into Jin.

After his departure, the state of Xia attacked Guanzhong and reoccupied it, and the loss of these lands prescribed Jin's frontier at the Yellow River.

The name of the dynasty was taken from Liu's fief, which occupied roughly the same territory as the Spring & Autumn era State of Song.

The Book of Song does not mention whether the Liu family had any blood relationship to the ancient state's ruling House of Zi, or by extension to the Shang dynasty.

However, the emperor's martial abilities were not equal to his father, and his inability to crush the remaining barbarian states allowed Northern Wei to complete the unification of the North, to the detriment of Liu Song.

Under the able general Dao Yanzhi, however, Liu Song recovered the four cities of Luoyang, Hulao, Huatai and Qiao'ao south of the Yellow River.

However, the emperor's unwillingness to advance past this line caused the destruction of the empire's ally, Xia, by the Wei.

He wrongfully executed the general Tan Daoji, who had hitherto commanded the Song armies, and took charge himself.

The empire's decline was shown in 450 CE, where the emperor attempted to destroy the Northern Wei himself, and launched a massive invasion.

The Wei lured the Liu Song to cross the Yellow River, and then flanked them, destroying the Eastern army.

[7] Liu Shao's assassination of his father in 453 CE raised indignation across the empire, as it disobeyed one of Confucianism's fundamental principles, that of filial piety.

The civil war at first was a great success for Liu Zixun, who quickly overran nearly the entire empire.

Emperor Ming quickly sent an army westward, captured Kuaiji, a vital food supply.

However, Emperor Ming grew arrogant and refused to grant a pardon to those who had supported Liu Ziye.

This action was extremely detrimental to Liu Song and its successors, as the governors of the northern commandries, fearing their lives, surrendered to Wei rather than face execution at Jiankang.

This loss would eventually lead to the destruction of the southern regime, and resulted in North China languishing under a barbarian yoke for another 150 years.

Upon his death, his son had to be assisted by the general Xiao Daocheng, as nearly all of Emperor Ming's brothers and nephews had been killed.

[17] Despite, and certainly to some extent because of, the chaotic warfare between the Northern and Southern dynasties, the Liu Song produced much poetry (shi 詩) notably the rhapsody, fu 賦.

The court of Emperor Wen was especially active in literary circles, with Liu supporting the compilation of a large collection of short prose anecdotes, A New Account of the Tales of the World (Shishuo Xinyu).

Buddhism also began to be better understood and more widely practised at this time, and some officials such as Xie Lingyun, were Buddhists.