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The
Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279)
Another imperial son fled south and settled in 1127 at Hangzhou, where
he resumed the Song rule as the emperor Gaozong. The Song retained control
south of the Huai River, where they ruled for another one and a half centuries.
Although militarily weak and limited in area, the Southern Song represented
one of China's most brilliant periods of cultural, commercial, maritime,
and technological development. Despite the loss of the north, trade continued
to expand, enabling a commercial revolution to take place in the 13th
century. Cut off from the traditional overland trade routes, Sung merchants
turned to the ocean with the aid of such improvements as compasses and
huge oceangoing ships called junks. The development of a paper money economy
stimulated commercial growth and kept it going. At the end of the Southern
Song Dynasty, the ruling class and the imperial court indulged themselves
in art and luxurious living in the urban centers; the latest nomad empire
arose in the north. The formidable Mongol armies, conquerors of Eurasia
as far west as eastern Europe and of Korea in the east, descended on the
Southern Song.
Culture in the Song period
The Song period was noted for landscape painting, which in time came to
be considered the highest form of classical art. The city-dwelling people
of the Sung period romanticized nature. This romanticism, combined with
a mystical, Taoist approach to nature and a Buddhist-inspired contemplative
mood, was reflected in landscape paintings showing people dwarfed by nature.
In philosophy, the trend away from Buddhism and back to Confucianism,
which had begun in the late Tang, continued. Pure and simple restoration
of the ancient teaching was impossible, because Confucianism had been
challenged by Buddhism and Taoism. Confucianism needed to explain humanity
and the universe as well as to regulate human relations within society.
In the late Tang and early Song, several strands of Confucianism emerged.
The great scholar Zhu Xi synthesized elements of Confucianism, Buddhism
and Taoism. This reconstituted philosophy became known as Neo-Confucianism,
and it was the orthodox state doctrine until the end of the imperial system.
Zhu Xi’s philosophy was one that stressed dualism, the goodness of human
nature, and self-cultivation by education through the continuing "investigation
of things." comprehensive view of things combined the five essential
of the universe, metal, wood, water, fire, and earth) and the theories
of Yin and Yang. He proclaimed, following Confucians that men were innocent
at birth and this goodness can be cultivated. He also tried to preserve
the family as the basis of society and maintained that the emperor was
the father of his people.
Flower of arts were blooming in the Song. Many litterateurs appeared.
Ci of poetry was popular. Chinese calligraphy and painting flourished.
The Sung scholars and historians also attempted to synthesize history.
Si-ma guang made the first effort at producing a comprehensive history
since Si-ma Qian of the Han. In 294 chapters, he wrote a chronological
account of the period from 403 BC to AD 959, which was abridged by Zhu
Xi in the 12th century. Another first in Song scholarship was the creation
of encyclopedias. `Assembled Essentials on the Tang', a collection completed
in 961, became the example for the various types of encyclopedic literature
that followed.
The Sung period is famous for porcelain with a celadon glaze, which was
one of the most desired items in foreign trade (See Pottery and Porcelain).
The development of gunpowder led to the invention of a type of hand grenade.
In shipbuilding, the great seagoing junks were admired and imitated by
Arab and Western sailors. By far the largest ships in the world at the
time, they had watertight compartments and could carry up to 1,000 passengers.
Oceanic and coastal trade was concentrated in large ports such as Canton,
Hangzhou, and Quanzhou (Marco Polo's Zayton), where large foreign trading
communities developed. Koreans dominated the trade with the eastern islands,
while Persians and Arabs controlled commerce across the western seas.
Along with commercial expansion came the urbanization, or increasing importance
of cities, in Sung society. Hangzhou, the Southern Sung capital, had a
population of more than 2 million. Commercialization and urbanization
had a number of effects on Chinese society. People in the countryside
faced the problems of absentee landlordism. Although many city residents
enjoyed luxury, with a great variety of goods and services, poverty was
widespread.
A change associated with urbanization was the decline in the status of
women of the upper classes. With the concentration of the upper classes
in the cities, where the work of women became less essential, women were
treated as servants and playthings. This was reflected in the practices
of concubinage and of binding girls' feet to make them smaller. Neither
practice was banned until the 20th century.
