S19: Song Splendor

水調歌頭: 明月幾時有

人有悲歡離合，月有陰晴圓缺，此事古難全。但願人長久，千里共婵娟。

Shuidiao getou (Song of the Water Melody): When Will the Bright Moon Appear

People experience joys and sorrows, partings and reunions; the moon has its phases of brightness and darkness, fullness and emptiness. This has been difficult to achieve since ancient times. I only wish for lasting togetherness, sharing the beauty of the moon even when miles apart.

• Born in 1037 to a literary family, he passed top civil service exams at 19.
• Su Shi was a leading scholar of the Song dynasty, known as a poet, politician, writer, calligrapher, painter, and aesthetic theorist.

• Su Shi angered Wang Anshi’s faction and was arrested in 1079 for satirizing the reformist movement.
• His exile works expressed desolation, featuring elegant bamboo and rock brushstrokes.
• He was recalled to the capital in 1086 after a power shift favored conservatives.
• In 1094, he was banished again. Though pardoned in 1100, he died the following year en route.

• Rise of Jurchen and Invasion of Northern Song: How to co-exist with the northern tribes?
• How did Song become the most advanced economy in the world in 1000?
• How to read a Chinese scroll: Up the River during Qingming Time

• In April 1074, Wang Anshi was accused of causing chaos with his reforms. He retired in October 1076.
• Emperor Shenzong initially kept appointing pro-reform officials.
• In summer 1081, the Song army invaded Xi Xia but faced logistical problems.
• By late 1082, after losing 600,000 troops, Emperor Shenzong gave up on the war against the Tangut empire.

• After Emperor Shenzong’s death, Empress Dowager Gao was regent for the young Emperor Zhezong (r. 1085–1100).
• Sima Guang became chief councilor.
• Wang Anshi’s New Policies were canceled within seven months.
• The conflict between reformers and anti-reformers lasted until the Northern Song ended.
• After the Northern Song fell in 1127, scholars falsely blamed Wang Anshi for the failed reforms.

Wang Anshi

• Reinforced centralization and bureaucratization
• Money lending in the interest of the state: Increase revenue from the commercial economy
• In the process, the state should reduce economic inequality

Sima Guang

• Not the state’s business to profit from money transactions
• Frugality and belt-tightenening

• Between 960 and 1022, early Song emperors like Taizu (r. 960 to 976), Taizong (r. 976 to 997), and Zhenzong (r. 997 to 1022) set high standards for governance and conduct.
• Taizu and Taizong were recognized as wise leaders, while Zhenzong strengthened the realm and maintained peace with northern neighbors.
• These emperors promoted Confucian values such as humaneness and loyalty, supporting an educated elite that guided society.

• The Song empire needed a reliable system to supply civil servants, unlike the aristocratic lineage reliance of the Tang dynasty.
• A new class of scholar-officials from diverse backgrounds was introduced to fill this role.

“The empire cannot be ruled by Your Majesty alone; the empire can only be governed by Your Majesty collaborating with the officials.”

Zhang Fangping to Emperor Renzong in the 1040s

“You govern the nation with us, the officials, not with the people.”

Wen Yanbo in 1071, when Emperor Shenzong remarked that Wang Anshi’s New Policies were for the benefit of the people, not the scholar officials.

• In 1004, Emperor Zhenzong’s military campaign against the Khitans failed.
• In 1005, the Song and Liao emperors signed two oath documents.
• The agreement required the Song to pay an annual indemnity of silk (2.5% of the Song’s annual silk tax income) and silver to the Liao.
• Song recognized the Liao emperor as his counterpart and vice versa.

• A strong economy increased demand for metals, making paper currency practical.
• Advanced printing technology produced high-quality, secure notes.
• Foreign policy: Concerns about bronze coins leaving circulation by northern and western neighbors prompted the shift to paper.

Along the River at a Qingming Time

• Zhang Zeduan (Song Dynasty)
• 24.8 x 528.7 cm  Ink and light color on silk
• The Palace Museum, Beijing

• Handscrolls (卷)
• Hanging scrolls (軸)
• Album leaves (冊頁)

Full scroll link

Select a scene in the painting and discuss:

• What do you see?
• What does the image tell you about Northern Song society?
• What is missing from the image?
• What new questions does this image bring up for you?

• Farmers in Song China focused on market production rather than self-sufficiency.
• They sold surplus produce locally and bought goods like charcoal, tea, oil, and wine.
• Many specialized in commercial crops such as sugar, oranges, cotton, silk, and tea.

• Tea-drinking increased during the Song period, making tea a household essential.
• Roasted tea leaves were pressed into bricks for easy storage and then ground into powder for brewing.

• Merchants formed partnerships and joint stock companies with separate owners (shareholders) and managers.
• In large cities, they organized into guilds by product type.
• Guilds helped with sales from wholesalers to shop owners and set prices.
• The government dealt with guild heads for requisitions and taxes.

• The commercialized economy increased the demand for transport, using backpacks, wheelbarrows, wagons, donkeys, and camels.
• Camels carried goods from Inner Asia across deserts.
• Water transport was cheaper than land transport, benefiting southern rivers and northern canals.
• The Grand Canal linked the North to the Yangzi River region.

• A strong agricultural economy increased demand for iron products like nails, tools, and suspension bridge chains.
• The military required iron for arrows, armor, and high-quality swords.
• A growing national market spurred innovation; coal replaced charcoal in iron production by the late 11th century, reducing deforestation.

• A new coal coking process spurred large blast furnaces and steel-making.
• Major iron-producing areas near the capital, Kaifeng, with a population of about 750,000.
• Kaifeng’s armories employed over 13,000 ironworkers for weapons and tools.
• The iron industry produced 125,000 tons per year by 1078 CE, a sixfold increase since 800 CE, not surpassed by England until the Industrial Revolution.

• Iron was valuable for making farm tools and weapons.
• Iron woks became popular in the Song Dynasty, improving cooking by enabling stir-frying instead of just boiling and stewing.

• Transport of humans includes the use of litters or sedan chairs, donkeys, and horses.
• Women typically rode in the seclusion of the covered sedan chair (with one peering out from one in the detail)
• Only officials or members of the scholar class are seen on horseback.

• Foot binding was not mentioned by Tang poets and likely started among the upper classes in the Song Dynasty.
• It involved tightly wrapping young girls’ feet to create small, deformed feet for tiny silk shoes.
• By the 13th century, foot binding became more common.
• This practice limited women’s mobility and confined them to domestic roles, reducing their freedom.

• As the money economy grew, foot binding helped women compete for marriage.
• The practice arose from societal changes that valued female attractiveness, influenced by concubinage.
• By the Southern Song period, foot binding affected all women, including those from non-courtesan families, as they aimed to improve their marriage prospects.

• What, where, how, and why?
• What was the impact of Song China’s foreign trade – domestically and globally?

Exports

• Textiles (especially silk)
• Ceramics
• Metal goods

Imports

• Aromatics (foreign woods, resins, and spices), mostly from Southeast Asia
• Horses, from the northwest