 The loss of northern China , the cultural center of Chinese civilization , diminished the international status of the Song dynasty . After the Jurchen conquest of the north , Korea recognized the Jin , not the Song , as the legitimate dynasty of China . The Song 's military failures reduced it to a subordinate of the Jin , turning it into a " China among equals " . The Song economy , however , recovered quickly after the move south . Government revenues earned from taxing foreign trade nearly doubled between the closing of the Northern Song era in 1127 and the final years of Gaozong 's reign in the early <unk> . The recovery was not uniform , and areas like Huainan and Hubei that had been directly affected by the war took decades to return to their pre @-@ war levels . In spite of multiple wars , the Jin remained one of the main trading partners of the Song . Song demand for foreign products like fur and horses went unabated . Historian <unk> <unk> ( <unk> , b . 1930 ) believes that Song commerce with the north was profitable enough that it compensated for the silver delivered annually as an indemnity to the Jin . 
