Case file · Folklore / legend
Emperor Zhenzong's 'Heavenly Text'
In 1008 a yellow silk scroll said to have fallen from heaven was found hanging on a palace gate in Kaifeng, and Song Emperor Zhenzong used it to perform the feng and shan rites at Mount Tai.
1008 CE · 34.80, 114.35 · status: hoax
The account
After the humiliating Chanyuan treaty with the Liao, the chief councillor Wang Qinruo urged the emperor to restore prestige with heavenly signs. More 'texts' followed, and the reign was renamed Dazhong Xiangfu, 'Great Centre and Auspicious Talisman'.
The sceptical view
Song and later historians openly treated the texts as a court fabrication.