Redefining Good Government: Shifting Paradigms in Song Dynasty (960-1279) Discourse on "Fengjian"

T oung Pao ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 97 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 301-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaeyoon Song
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Southern Song ◽  
Good Government ◽  
Northern Song ◽  
Constitutional Discourse

AbstractThis article describes changing political visions of the Chinese literati during the two halves of the Song dynasty, as reflected in their discourse on the fengjian (classical enfeoffment) system of antiquity. In the aftermath of the An Lushan rebellion (755-763), a group of political thinkers criticized that system as an ungrounded historical anachronism. This idea gained currency among a majority of the Northern Song statesmen and literati who supported the centralization project of the founding emperors. With the fall of the Northern Song, the ancient fengjian doctrine resurfaced as a sustained constitutional discourse on government. Contesting the imperial vision of centralization and interventionism, Southern Song literati redefined good government for their time.

Stages of Decline

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-378
Author(s):  
Ari Daniel Levine
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Memory ◽  
Song Dynasty ◽  
The Past ◽  
Southern Song ◽  
Counter Narratives ◽  
Social Trauma ◽  
Imperial Court ◽  
Northern Song ◽  
Historical Fact ◽  
The City

After the fall of the Northern Song [Formula: see text] (960–1127) capital of Kaifeng [Formula: see text] to Jurchen invaders in 1127, diasporic literati of the Southern Song dynasty [Formula: see text] (1127–1279) recreated and revisited its lost sites through textual commemoration, especially in memorabilia literature (biji [Formula: see text], lit. ‘brush notes’). As knowledge of the city passed from communicative memory into cultural memory, its decline and destruction became the focus of nostalgia and indignation for Yue Ke [Formula: see text] (1183–1234), the author of the Pillar Histories (Ting shi [Formula: see text]), a collection of counter-narratives of Northern Song history that expressed the shared experience of social trauma induced by dynastic collapse. Disconnected from their spatial context and even from historical fact, the city’s memory sites became stages for amoralistic declension narrative, in which the city’s destruction and occupation was assumed to have been instigated by the decadence of the imperial court of the passive Emperor Huizong [Formula: see text] (r. 1100–26) and his ‘nefarious ministers’. The most colourful elements of Yue’s ludic and fantastical narratives became the focus of his indignation, which encouraged his readers to denounce the traitors who had betrayed the empire by inviting the Jurchen invasion. In the Pillar Histories, Yue deployed textual imaginaries of nostalgia as forms of resistance by re-contesting the past events that led to dynastic collapse. By reconstructing the city in the cultural memory of his fellow diasporic literati, Yue was creating a vision of an ideal political, cultural and moral community that once existed at the dynasty’s inception, and might be reconstituted in the future, if and when Song subjects recaptured their lost homeland.

scholarly journals Technical Studies and Replication of Guan Ware, an Ancient Chinese Ceramic

MRS Bulletin ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Jiazhi ◽  
Deng Zequn ◽  
Xu Jiming
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
North China ◽  
Zhejiang Province ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Southern Song Dynasty ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Southern Song ◽  
Technical Studies

When North China was invaded in 1127, the emperor of the Song dynasty moved the capital to Lin'an (now called Hangzhou) in Zhejiang Province southeast of Shanghai. He established the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279 a.d.), known as a period of cultural flowering and stability in Chinese history. Several years later, official kilns were built by court officials to meet the need for the porcelains required for use at the Southern Song palace.

The Last Days of the Song Dynasty: Evidence of the Flight of Song Officials to Southeast Asia before the Mongol Invasions

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-337
Author(s):  
ADAM T. KESSLER
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Zhejiang Province ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Southern Song Dynasty ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Southern Song ◽  
History Of

AbstractIn the first part of the 13th century ce, Khubilai Khan's armies began their invasion of the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279). When they reached the Song capital Lin'anfu at Hangzhou City, Zhejiang province, at the beginning of 1276, the Song officials decided to flee south with the two Song child heirs to the throne. This article examines ancient records of the flight of the Song court with particular emphasis on the history of its famous Prime Minister Chen Yizhong. Archaeological evidence is further evaluated as it relates to Chen's exploits within China and in Southeast Asia.

scholarly journals Chemical studies of Chinese coinage II: from Qin to Yuan (221 BCE–1368 CE)

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Pollard ◽  
Ruiliang Liu
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Southern Song ◽  
Northern Song ◽  
Chemical Studies ◽  
Diachronic Study ◽  
Plausible Mechanism ◽  
Changes Over Time ◽  
The Yuan Dynasty ◽  
Over Time

AbstractThis paper surveys of the chemical composition of the copper alloy coinage in China from the Qin Dynasty to the end of the Yuan Dynasty (221 BCE–1368 CE). It shows a dramatic change in the alloying practice used to cast these coins from the Qin unification (after 221 BCE), compared to that practiced in the pre-Qin. There are a number of shifts in the quality of the coinage from dynasty to dynasty, such as the obvious debasement of the Southern Song coinage (1127–1279 CE) when compared to that of the previous Northern Song dynasty (960–1127 CE). Particular attention is paid to the low levels of zinc in the coinage over the period. Although not as obvious as the switch to brass coinage in the Ming, certain periods do show occasional values of zinc up to 2–4%, which we suggest could reflect the sporadic input of recycled brass (Cu–Zn alloy) into the raw material melt. There were several major suppressions of Buddhism during this period, when Buddhist brass statuary was recycled into the coinage, providing a plausible mechanism for the injection of small quantities of zinc into the coinage alloy. A diachronic study of the amounts of iron in the metal, taken to indicate changes to the manufacturing process of copper, also show changes over time. The median levels of iron jump from the Qin (221–206 BCE) to the Western Han (206 BCE–9 CE), possibly reflecting the adoption of slagging processes in the production of the copper, followed by a gradual decline to the Northern Song (960–1127 CE), and a rapid increase during the Southern Song (1127–1279 CE). Finally, a study of changes in the content of silver over time reveals differences in the sources of lead, or changes in lead and silver extraction technologies, over the period.

scholarly journals A Gift from the Buddhist Monastery: The Role of Buddhist Medical Practices in the Assimilation of the Opium Poppy in Chinese Medicine during the Song Dynasty (960–1279)

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 475-493
Author(s):  
Jose A. Canton-Alvarez
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Medicine ◽  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Medical Application ◽  
Opium Poppy ◽  
Medical Practices ◽  
Materia Medica ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Southern Song ◽  
Medical Treatises

This paper aims to critically appraise the incorporation of opium poppy into medical practice in Song-dynasty China. By analysing materia medica and formularies, along with non-medical sources from the Song period, this study sheds light on the role of Chinese Buddhist monasteries in the process of incorporation of foreign plants into Chinese medicine. It argues that Buddhist monasteries played a significant role in the evolution of the use of opium poppy in Song dynasty medicine. This is because the consumption practices in Buddhist monasteries inspired substantial changes in the medical application of the flower during the Southern Song dynasty. While, at the beginning of Song dynasty, court scholars incorporated opium poppy into official materia medica in order to treat disorders such as huangdan  and xiaoke, as well as cinnabar poisoning, this study of the later Song medical treatises shows how opium poppy was repurposed to treat symptoms such as diarrhoea, coughing and spasms. Such a shift in the medical use of the poppy occurred after Chinese literati and doctors became acquainted with the role of the flower in the diet and medical practices of Buddhist monks across China. Therefore, the case study of the medical application of opium poppy during the Song dynasty provides us with insights into how the spread of certain practices in Buddhist monasteries might have contributed to the change in both professional medical practices and daily-life healthcare in local communities in that period.

scholarly journals Imagining a Universal Empire: a Study of the Illustrations of the Tributary States of the Myriad Regions Attributed to Li Gonglin

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-148
Author(s):  
Zhaoguang Ge (葛兆光)
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Song Dynasty ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Artistic Representations ◽  
The World ◽  
Northern Song ◽  
History Of ◽  
Liang Dynasty ◽  
Lasting Influence

Abstract This article is not concerned with the history of aesthetics but, rather, is an exercise in intellectual history. “Illustrations of Tributary States” [Zhigong tu 職貢圖] as a type of art reveals a Chinese tradition of artistic representations of foreign emissaries paying tribute at the imperial court. This tradition is usually seen as going back to the “Illustrations of Tributary States,” painted by Emperor Yuan in the Liang dynasty 梁元帝 [r. 552-554] in the first half of the sixth century. This series of paintings not only had a lasting influence on aesthetic history but also gave rise to a highly distinctive intellectual tradition in the development of Chinese thought: images of foreign emissaries were used to convey the Celestial Empire’s sense of pride and self-confidence, with representations of strange customs from foreign countries serving as a foil for the image of China as a radiant universal empire at the center of the world. The tradition of “Illustrations of Tributary States” was still very much alive during the time of the Song dynasty [960-1279], when China had to compete with equally powerful neighboring states, the empire’s territory had been significantly diminished, and the Chinese population had become ethnically more homogeneous. In this article, the “Illustrations of the Tributary States of the Myriad Regions” [Wanfang zhigong tu 萬方職貢圖] attributed to Li Gonglin 李公麟 [ca. 1049-1106] and created during the period between the Xining 熙寧 [1068-1077] and Yuanfeng 元豐 [1078-1085] reigns of the Shenzong emperor 神宗 [r. 1067-1085] of the Song dynasty, is used as a case study for investigating the actual tributary relations between the Northern Song [960-1127] state and its neighboring countries. In doing so, I demonstrate that while certain parts of the “Illustrations of the Tributary States of the Myriad Regions” are historically accurate, a considerable portion of the content is the combined product of historical remembrance and the imagination of empire. In the international environment of the Song empire, China was captivated by the dream of being a universal empire envied by its “barbarian” neighbors. Particularly worth emphasizing is the fact that the artistic tradition of painting “Illustrations of Tributary States” as well as the accompanying idea of China as a universal empire continued well into the Qing [1644-1911] period, reflecting the historical longevity and lasting influence of the traditional conception of the relationship between China and the world.

Court and Region in Medieval China: The Case of Tang Bianzhou

T oung Pao ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 102 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 74-120
Author(s):  
Anthony DeBlasi
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
Initial Period ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Good Government ◽  
Imperial Capital ◽  
Medieval China ◽  
Northern Song ◽  
The Tang Dynasty ◽  
Civil Service Examinations

Although Bianzhou (modern Kaifeng) is well known as the imperial capital of the Northern Song dynasty, its history prior to the tenth century reveals much about the political fortunes of the Tang dynasty, especially after the An Lushan rebellion. A careful analysis of the backgrounds of the Military Commissioners appointed to govern the region indicates that following an initial period of instability, the Tang court was able to maintain control over this strategically vital transportation hub late into the ninth century and to repeatedly appoint commissioners who had passed the civil-service examinations. This experience helps explain the continuing optimism of Tang elites about the dynasty’s prospects and made Bianzhou itself an important example for the educated elite of why civil values were essential to good government and the survival of the Tang dynasty.
Si Bianzhou (actuel Kaifeng) est bien connu comme capitale impériale des Song du Nord, son histoire avant le Xe siècle nous en apprend beaucoup sur le destin politique des Tang, particulièrement après la rébellion de An Lushan. L’analyse minutieuse du parcours des commissaires militaires successivement nommés à la tête de la région révèle qu’après une période initiale d’instabilité, la cour des Tang a été en mesure jusque tard dans le IXe siècle de maintenir son contrôle sur ce qui était un nœud stratégique de communications et d’y poster l’un après l’autre des commissaires passés par la voie des examens civils. L’expérience contribue à expliquer l’optimisme persistant des élites des Tang concernant l’avenir du régime, le cas de Bianzhou étant à leurs yeux un exemple important des raisons pour lesquelles les valeurs civiles demeuraient essentielles à la qualité du gouvernement et à la survie de la dynastie.


Shi Jing culture of the song dynasty in China - song dynasty Ci in a musical context

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (10-4) ◽  
pp. 159-165
Author(s):  
Teng Yue
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Cultural Symbols ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Southern Song ◽  
Two Stages ◽  
Musical Context ◽  
Education Science ◽  
Culture Education

The song dynasty (960-1279) in Chinese history is divided into two stages: the Northern and southern song, and includes a total of eighteen emperors who reigned for a total of three hundred and nineteen years. The song dynasty attached great importance to literature and despised force. The song dynasty era is an era of prosperity for China’s commodity economy, culture, education, science. The song dynasty’s “Ci” genre is a kind of musical literature. The full name of the genre is “song dynasty Ci”, abbreviated as “Ci”. The song dynasty Ci are an integral treasure of Chinese culture and are cultural symbols of the era that cannot be ignored.

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