Technological advancements, domestic and international trade, a denser population, and effective government led to economic progress in the Song era. With it came an increasingly wealthy merchant class who could build wealth without having a corresponding social status or responsibility to the government.
Explore the life of this new rich class through a renowned painted scroll from the era.
Social Hierarchy
The Song Dynasty was an era of administrative sophistication and complex social organization that gave rise to a rich culture of public pleasures. Citizens gathered to view and trade precious artworks, and cities hosted lively entertainment quarters. Though women were generally on a lower social tier than men, they enjoyed some degree of freedom and power at home and in their own small businesses. In addition, they could become famous artists or writers.
The upper classes, including the gentry and nobility, lived a life of luxury separate from the peasants. Their income came from land and commercial activities. Many of these aristocrats were from merchant families and continued to engage in commercial trade even after inheriting their lands. They also sought political influence, which they achieved through advanced education and accomplishment in the civil service exams (which gained them government offices).
Family structure was patrilineal, meaning that lineage traced back through a father's side of the family. Each member of the family was expected to contribute to society, and the eldest male acted as the leader of the household. Peasants worked long hours in the fields, but they enjoyed leisure time at annual festivals and holidays when they could gather with other members of their community to play games, observe theatrical performances, or take part in juggling and clowning.
The aristocrats and nobility were religious, but they practiced a variety of beliefs, from ancient Chinese Taoism to ancestor worship and foreign-originated Buddhism. Most of the population, however, was non-religious and agrarian. The majority of the populace lived in villages, which were surrounded by walls and included houses, storage buildings, and kitchens. Farmers grew wheat and a grain called millet, and in the south they grew rice. They paid taxes on their crops and one month each year built roads and other large government projects. Peasants also leased some of their fields to other farmers who were not tax liable.
Daily Life of Different Classes
Under Song, merchants, workers, and peasants lived a fairly decent life. With the boost of commerce, markets blossomed and jobs were adequate for most people. The founder of the dynasty followed Confucian ideals and listened to his ministers, curbed excessive taxation, and emphasized military discipline. This made his army the strongest and best in the country and allowed him to defeat warlord armies that had been supported by their own private wealth. These warlords usually absorbed defeated rivals into their own forces, which lowered the overall quality of the military and resulted in the emergence of bandits, large groups of deserters and rogue soldiers who would raid the villages for food, goods, and horses (Gernet, 230-235).
The home was a place of family life and leisure activities. Chinese homes varied depending on social class, but most had a small garden and a courtyard. The home also served as a center of education, with many children attending schools run by family members. These schools offered a variety of subjects, including music, painting, calligraphy, literature, and history.
In the Song era, business people largely ran their own companies, rather than being employed by the government as civil servants or bureaucrats. Commerce required careful organization, and wealthy families began to rely on paper receipts that could be exchanged for goods at the other end of a long journey, instead of bulky cash (Gernet, 80-81). This new form of currency, called “flying money,” created financial instability because it relied on stable economies in both places to stay in circulation. The lack of stability contributed to a weakening economy in the later part of the dynasty.
Although peasants still provided the raw goods needed for the economy, they became more specialized in their jobs. Some grew fruit, vegetables, and silk; others worked in the fields. Some acted as spies or informants to the authorities, while others were heavy laborers, peddlers, street entertainers, or prostitutes. Others purchased gentry status, becoming artisan or merchants, and had more respectable jobs in the household (Gernet, 91-96).
A strict hierarchy of status maintained order in the Song era. Religion played a significant role in daily life, with most citizens following Neo-Confucianism and some Buddhist beliefs. Folk religion and ancestor worship were also important. Some were attracted to foreign religions, such as Islam and Kaifeng Jews. In the arts, painting and calligraphy continued to flourish. Artists often remade scenes from earlier dynasties, but added their own style and artistic expression. These works included Along the River During Qingming Festival by Zhang Zeduan, a 11th-century silk scroll painting; and a pair of oxherds by Wang Juzheng, an early Song painter. Printmaking was also popular in this era and allowed more Chinese to become literate. This new literacy gave rise to a resurgence of interest in ancient culture, known as protoarchaeology.
Customs of the Era
As with all Chinese dynasties, the Song Dynasty saw a variety of customs that influenced daily life. In addition to the Confucian ideal of filial piety, which emphasized respect and obedience for parents, elders and ancestors, religion also played an important role in society. The major deities of Taoism and Buddhism were prominent, as well as ancient Chinese folk religion and the worship of specific ancestors and local spirits. With the rise of trade, foreign ideas and goods also poured into China, and with it, some foreign religions such as Islam and Kaifeng Jews (Gernet, 235).
For those who did not have to work long hours to stay alive, Song culture provided many leisure time activities. Art and literature enjoyed a boost in popularity, partly due to the invention of printing. This new technology made it possible to mass-produce written works such as histories, classics and even philosophical treatises.
Homes were an important center of family life, regardless of social class. Peasant families lived in huts, while merchants and other middle-class people built houses of wood with a garden at the back or around a courtyard. The Chinese liked to decorate their homes with beautiful artwork and ceramics. Black and red lacquerware was very popular, and often incorporated miniature nature scenes, landscapes and simple decorative motifs.
The Song era also brought medical advances. Doctors continued to diagnose illness by examining the patient, taking his pulse and observing his symptoms. Treatment remained a mix of practical remedies including herbs and other medicine, massage and exercise prescriptions, and more supernatural solutions such as driving out demons, placating angry ghosts or appealing to the gods for help.
Song era artists were also prolific, and a number of important styles emerged. Song artists were not afraid to borrow from earlier dynasties, especially the Tang and Ming. For example, painters like Wang Juzheng remade paintings from the 8th and 10th centuries, while adding their own unique touches.
Story-telling was a popular pastime and a variety of Chinese literature emerged, from folk tales to ghost stories with a moral message. Animals were often featured in these tales, and one of the most prized animals was a pig. In fact, the pictograph for home, a roof with a pig underneath it, was used as early as the 7th century to symbolize wealth (Gernet, 205).
Song Dynasty society had some of the most complex and sophisticated social structure in any era of Chinese history. Class was not inherited as it had been in other dynasties, and people could move up or down in the social hierarchy through education and government service. In general, those who worked with their minds (scholar-officials and gentry) were ranked higher than those who worked with their hands (peasants, farmers, artisans and merchants). This system of classification was called the "four occupations." (Gernet, 214).
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