To say that the most misunderstood and deepest dynasty in Chinese history is the Song Dynasty. The economy, technology, and culture of the Song Dynasty have always been second to none in China's imperial era, but because of the "weakness" of the military, people have not really "brained" to perceive the dynasty, and they are anxious to deny it.
The most intuitive picture of life in the Song Dynasty is the "Map of the Upper River of the Qing Dynasty", which can be called the "encyclopedia map" of the Northern Song Dynasty society. In the picture, the streets are crisscrossed, the houses are lined up one after another, the shops are full of miscellaneous, the merchants and travelers are gathered, and the traffic is busy, and a picture of the city customs that flourished during the Ming and Qing dynasties of the Northern Song Dynasty in the early 12th century was slowly unfolded. "Shu Ji opened the volume to see the prosperity of the time", which is the sentence corresponding to the "Qingming Upper River Map" in the "Tokyo Dream Record", which also highly summarizes the economic situation of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Map of the Upper River of the Qingming Dynasty (Partial)
It needs to be specially explained here that in history, "Sheng" does not mean strong, but the meaning of prosperity, so this article and this article "All Say that the Tang Dynasty is prosperous, and the real Great Song Dynasty is more prosperous than the Tang Dynasty" that the Song Dynasty is more prosperous than the Tang Dynasty, which is not wrong, it is not wrong, it is some people who misunderstand the meaning of Sheng. (Note: "Prosperous world" generally refers to the era of economic prosperity can be called prosperous, the rule of Chengkang, the rule of Wenjing, the rule of Yongyuan, the rule of Yuanjia, the rule of Renzong Shengzhi, the rule of Renxuan are all based on the economy, and even the rule of Zhenguan, kaiyuan shengshi, Yongle shengshi, and Kangqianshengshi at that time were mainly based on economic aspects, and only now have people focused more on the military)
Corresponding to the "great custom" of the "Qingming Upper River Map" is the "Xiyuan Yajitu", which is the "daya" scene of the top literati at that time, Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu, Li Gonglin, Cai Xiang, Qin Guan, and so on, who were chanting poems in the palace of Wang Xue, the duke of Tuoma. Li Gonglin, a famous painter of the Northern Song Dynasty who lived in it, depicted it in a realistic way, and The Rice Fu wrote the preface, "The water and stones are babbling, the wind and bamboo are swallowed, the furnace smoke is square, and the grass and trees are self-pleasing." The joy of the world, but that's it. ”
People always habitually believe that the Song Dynasty was weak and backward, and was beaten, and textbooks also described it as an era of "poverty and weakness". Deng Xiaonan, an expert in song history, commented on this view:
This framework of understanding is basically formed since modern times, containing the national sentiments of contemporary people and the understanding of reflecting on history: the vision of "standing on its own in the forest of nations" is often associated with the nostalgia for the prosperity of the Han and Tang dynasties.
The author believes that our vision of the prosperous Han and Tang Dynasties does not prevent us from loving the Song Dynasty. It would be extremely unjust to deny the whole song dynasty because of its military weakness. The reason why I love the Song Dynasty is because of its humanistic spirit, but I never deny the fact of military weakness and the tear-jerking imprint of the "shame of Jingkang". But when we do historical research, we must not mix personal emotions into it and affect correct and rational judgments. At the same time, the author also believes that this vision of "standing on our own feet in the forest of nations" is not wrong, but the consequences are biased, and for our contemporaries, we have not yet shaken off the shame of the national tragedy in modern times, which is extremely unfavorable for us to stand on our own feet among the nations of the world, because we still lack national pride, and lack so much that we must find our self-esteem by criticizing our ancestors. We should wash away this feeling, face our history with a detached mentality, face the past with correct and positive values, and face the Song Dynasty.
Although overseas sinologists are only international friends, their evaluation of the mentality of the Song Dynasty is still worth learning from the Chinese people. With a detached mentality, they gave a very high evaluation of the Song Dynasty. Sinologists generally agree that although the Song Dynasty was a weak dynasty in terms of military might and sphere of influence, it was in terms of economic and social prosperity. The Song Dynasty was indeed one of the most humanistic, educated, and thoughtful dynasties in Chinese history.
Mr. Fei Zhengqing, a professor at Harvard University in the United States, believes that the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty were the most glorious periods in Chinese history, and the Song Dynasty included many characteristics of modern urban civilization, which can be regarded as "early modern" in this sense. Professor Sun Longji of the University of Memphis further elaborated:
When we discuss whether the Song Dynasty was the early spring of the modernization of the world, we still have to use the criteria of Western "modernization", such as the development of the market economy and monetary economy, urbanization, political bureaucratization, new breakthroughs in science and technology, the secularization of ideas and culture, the formation of the nation-state, and internationalization. This set of factors, Song Dynasty China is all complete, and 500 years earlier than the West.
This evaluation is very objective and fair, you know, the word "modernization" comes from the West, and there are not too many problems with the Western "modernization" standard. And this evaluation is exciting that China's modernization is 500 years earlier than the West, which is what we need to be honored to build national pride.
Ge Zhaoguang, dean of the Institute of Literature and History of Fudan University, proposed:
Tang culture is the "peak of classical culture", while Song culture is "the abuse of modern culture".
In fact, Mr. Ge refers to the trend from The Tang to the Song, showing a trend of "popularization, secularization, and human culture". One of the most obvious changes from the Tang to the Song was the collapse of the Tang Chang'an Chengfang city system and the curfew system. "Fang" is a residential area, surrounded by walls, only two or four doors for people to enter and exit, the average person is not allowed to chisel the wall to open a private door, let alone open a shop towards the street; the city is a trading area, the day drumming two hundred times to open the market, before sunset to hit the three hundred under the market. The capitals of the Northern Song Dynasty, Bieliang and the Southern Song Dynasty, abolished the division of Fang City in Lin'an, allowing shops to be opened facing the street, mixed with residential buildings. For the first time, "Fangguo Household" was listed as a national statutory household registration management classification. During the Song Dynasty, the curfew was postponed until one o'clock in the morning, after which it was completely canceled, and there was an all-night night market.
The literary center of gravity of the two Song Dynasties sank, and the civic culture flourished. Secular culture can be seen everywhere in the thoroughfares of roads, fences, storytellers, jugglers, historians, art sellers, tea drinkers, and everywhere. The British historian Mauna Kok commented:
At this time, China was the most urbanized society in the world.
According to statistics, during the Northern Song Dynasty, the officials from the imperial examination reached 40% of the total number of officials, higher than the 15% data of the Tang Dynasty, which contributed greatly to the development of civil and official politics in the world.
Influenced by the rise of the imperial examination, more Confucians penetrated into the folk, and they spread knowledge, thoughts, culture, and beliefs rapidly through family rules, family etiquette, and village covenants, down to songs and lyrics. Their cultivation and aesthetic taste of "traveling in art" have been constantly formed and improved in the overall spiritual pursuit of "aspiration to the Tao, according to virtue, and according to benevolence", and elegance has become a temporary trend.
Compared with other dynasties, the Song Dynasty is the closest dynasty in Chinese history to the Confucian ideal of ruling the world. After the Song Confucians re-turned Confucianism into official learning, the study of scriptures began, and the theories excavated were more approachable, close to the lives of the people at the bottom, and really penetrated into daily affairs and private life, and by the 13th century, Confucianism became the orthodox ideology of the state for the first time in Chinese history (Confucianism in the Han Dynasty was only a code of conduct for the upper class, and did not really integrate into the whole society, and by the Song Dynasty, Confucianism began to move from politics, thought, culture, education, Society and so on are fully integrated into the lives of all classes in China, forming a comprehensive state ideology in these aspects), and then reshaping the entire society and becoming a model of traditional China.
It is true that after the Yuan Dynasty unified China, the "early modernization" represented by the Song Dynasty was interrupted in form, and history underwent a certain degree of resurgence (the Chinese imperial dynasty after the Yuan Dynasty began to move towards a comprehensive cultural autocracy), but from the perspective of the "people's hearts" and "political customs" in modern times, whether it is political ideas, ideological and cultural innovations or conformity, the influence brought by the Song Dynasty has deeply penetrated into the body of Chinese society.
The German Song historian Dieter Kuhn pointed out that many social norms and values born out of Confucianism in the Song Dynasty accelerated the transformation of Chinese society in the long years that followed, and many of them have national typical cultural characteristics, which are still shining today.
Why people today love the Song Dynasty, why the object of "crossing" is the Song Dynasty the most, and why the "Song Dynasty fever" has risen in recent years is a noteworthy problem.
Today, the connection point between us and the Song Dynasty is precisely the "aesthetics of life". Today's life is happening "aesthetic generalization", "art of life" and "art of life" is exactly in the Chinese local ideological tradition, art and life, creation and appreciation have always been intrinsically integrated, in a certain sense, the Chinese classical aesthetics represented by the aesthetics of the Song Dynasty is a living "aesthetics of life". On the other hand, that is, the "aesthetic upgrade", some of the "beauty of silence" and "craftsman spirit" transmitted from Japan can find the source from the Song Dynasty artifacts, and the minimalist style of the Song Dynasty can coincide with the spirit of contemporary art.
Whether it is the peak of Traditional Chinese culture and aesthetics, or the source of life aesthetics of art and life, it should be promoted by the Song Dynasty, especially the cultivation and aesthetic tastes of the Song Dynasty scholars, through the cultural lineage, which will be admired by future generations. As Yang Zhishui said:
The Two Song Dynasties were the era of cultivating "scholars", and the "literati" and "scholars" whose images and concepts were still somewhat vague before began to become clear. Outside of political life, it belonged to a relatively independent living space for scholars, and thus became richer and more concrete. Playing the piano, mixing incense, enjoying flowers, viewing paintings, playing chess, cooking tea, listening to the wind, drinking, watching waterfalls, picking chrysanthemums, poetry and painting, hand in hand with the song people to practice and put into imagination of the various tastes of life.
Well, at this point, this article is over for the time being. The humanistic spirit of the Song Dynasty left people with a vivid and vivid brand, and the thinking and enjoyment it left for people were fulfilling. This article is the general discussion of the Song Dynasty cultural series, is the beginning of the entire series, the article has been prepared for a long time, today, we will take a look at where the culture of the Song Dynasty is flourishing.
For more information, please refer to the Xinhua News Agency article:
"Song Dynasty Aesthetics, Why Is It So Advanced?" 》
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