• Two mineral colors, blue and green, together with gold, used to produce fine line drawing in landscape painting.
• First developed in the Tang wall paintings at the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang.
• In later periods, blue-green landscapes were used to reference the distant past or idealized paradisiacal realms.
• With the pigments associated with alchemical practices, the paintings represented not just the natural world, but also embodied magical properties linked to the realms of immortals.

• Sweeping ink-and-color on silk scroll painting: Measuring 51.5 by 1191.5 cm
• Only extant work from Wang Ximeng (1096-1119)

• What about this scene do we think is idealized?
• What do we learn from representations of idealized societies?
• What can we learn from what is missing from this representation?

• Early emperors transformed China by using a competitive civil service exam to select skilled scholar-officials.
• The education and competence of Song officials distinguished them from Tang officials and elites in other societies.
• Song China was efficient and pragmatic: Confucian rule through reliability and responsibility rather than fear or control.

• The Qingming scroll was created during the Southern Song period after the Jurchen invasion.
• The invasion caused mass displacement, with many fleeing south and the capital being relocated.
• The painting does not depict this upheaval; instead, the scroll highlights daily life, commerce, and community celebrations.

• The Jurchen first appeared in Chinese history in 903 and originally lived south of the Amur River in what is now Russia.
• After 926, some Jurchen settled in the Manchurian plains and along the Sungari River in present-day Heilongjiang province.

• Aguda, the founder of the Jin dynasty, died in 1123, before witnessing the military successes he initiated.
• His successor, Wuqimai (Emperor Taizong, r. 1123–1135), continued aggressive campaigns against neighboring states.
• In 1124, Taizong secured a peace treaty with the Xi Xia ruler, who recognized Jin suzerainty.
• In early 1125, Jin troops captured Liao Emperor Tianzuo near present-day Yingxian in Shanxi province.

• In 1123, the Song and Jin exchanged formal oath letters, with Song agreeing to pay the Jurchen silk and silver as tribute.
• The treaty equated the Song and Jurchen leaders as “august emperor,” indicating they were equals.
• Emperor Huizong abdicated in favor of his son Qinzong in a failed attempt to fend off the Jin threat.
• In 1127, the Jurchen captured the Northern Song capital of Kaifeng and took both Huizong and Qinzong prisoner.

• One of China’s greatest female poets.
• Married historian Zhao Mingcheng, sharing a passion for literature and art.
• After his death, she faced hardships, with her poems reflecting love, loss, and nostalgia.
• Remarried for financial reasons but later “divorced” second husband by suing him (for misrepresenting his record of taking the civil service exam!)

1110

• Northern Song registered 20.8 million households
• A population of approximately 104 million

1159

• 22 years after Jurchen Invasion
• Only 11.1 million households registered

The Jin census of 1187

• Population of 44.7 million, including 40 million Han Chinese and 4 million Jurchens
• Han Chinese comprised 90% of the Jin empire’s population.
• Kaifeng accounted for nearly a quarter of all households in the Jin empire.

The Southern Song’s 1187 figures

• 12.3 million households
• With 4-5 people as average household size, this suggests a population of about 61.8 million.

• Initial Southern Song figures are likely an undercount due to landholding concentration among the gentry and decreased state capacity in land registration.
• China’s total population could have reached 106 million by 1187, recovering from the wars and migrations of the 1120s.
• In the thirteenth century, nearly half of humankind lived in China.

• In 1141, the Song dynasty signed a peace treaty with the Jin, agreeing to annual tribute payments of 250,000 ounces of silver and 250,000 bolts of silk, marking the Song as an “insignificant state” under a “superior state.”
• The treaty confirmed the Song’s status as a subject state after fifteen years of conflict.

• The Battle of Caishi in 1161, won by the Chinese against Jurchen forces at the Yangzi River, was historically celebrated for preserving Chinese culture from “barbarian” destruction.
• Following this battle, a peace treaty was signed that replaced the humiliating term “vassal” for the Song dynasty with the more respectful terms “uncle” and “nephew.”

• Emperor Xiaozong, the next emperor, restored the reputation of military hero Yue Fei and other officials unjustly treated by the peace faction,.
• Xiaozong abdicated on February 18, 1189, after 27 years of rule, due to mental illness.
• In 1195, his successor Emperor Ningzong’s rule initiated a dynastic revival and appointed notable scholar-officials, including Neo-Confucian thinker Zhu Xi, to government roles.

Confucianism

• “junzi” (君子): superior man
• “ren” (仁): humaneness
• “li” (禮): ritual
• “dao” (道): the way
• “xiao” (孝): filiality

Neo-Confucianism

• “li” (理): principle
• “gewu” (格物): the investigation of things or the apprehension of the Principle of things
• “cheng” (誠): the exercise of sincerity or seriousness

• Born in 1130, after the northern conquest in 1127.
• His father protested against the humiliating peace treaty imposed on China and was demoted to a rural position away from the capital.
• Excelled in his education and passed the highest-level civil service exam at the age of 19.

• The Classics are deductions from the axiomatic nature of the world.
• To understand these deductions, you must first understand the axioms.

• A moral world derives from individuals who understand first their own coherence within the natural rather than looking to others to define that coherence.
• We already have our li within us to help us understand it.

• Zhu Xi’s “Collected Commentaries on the Four Books” was the most significant contribution to Confucian philosophy during the Song dynasty.
• This work became the authoritative reference for daotong, or the Transmission of the Way.
• In 1313, under the Mongol Yuan dynasty, Zhu’s interpretation of the Four Books became the standard for Confucian thought and the foundation for civil service education until the end of the examination system in the twentieth century.

• The examination system was first promoted by Tang emperors in the 7th century to limit the political power of the military aristocracy.
• Three levels: Prefectural, Provincial, Metropolitan
• In the Northern Song, degree-holders constituted nearly 40% of officials, compared to only 15% in the Tang Dynasty.

• By the mid-12th century, around 100,000 candidates registered for the prefectural exam annually, reaching over 400,000 by the mid-13th century.
• Low pass rate: Less than 1% passed the prefectural examination in the 13th century.
• Exclusive group: The top officials with the highest degrees represented only 0.005% of the population.
• The examination system was not designed to promote upward social mobility but to maintain exclusivity among the elite.

• Educated men participated in more than just civil service; they collected antiques, old books, and practiced arts like poetry, calligraphy, and painting.
• During the Song period, the elite excelled in calligraphy and landscape painting, with many becoming connoisseurs.
• Upper-class social life focused on these activities, including poetry composition, sharing treasures, and supporting new talents.