Qinzong was the eldest son of Emperor Huizong. He ascended the throne in dramatic circumstances following his father's abdication. As the Song empire was faced with invasion by the Jurchen of the Jin Dynasty; Qinzong's father Emperor Huizong abdicated in Qinzong's favour. Uninterested in peace; the Jurchens invaded Kaifeng in January 1127 and captured 26 year old Qinzong; Grand-Emperor Huizong and the entire Song imperial family including dozens of government officials in the Jingkang Incident; thus ending the Northern Song dynasty.

The Song Dynasty (960-1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907-960) and preceded the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368); which conquered the Song in 1279. Its conventional division into the Northern Song (960-1127) and Southern Song (1127-1279) periods marks the conquest of northern China by the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) in 1127. It also distinguishes the subsequent shift of the Song's capital city from Bianjing (modern Kaifeng) in the north to Lin'an (modern Hangzhou) in the south.