Culture of the Song dynasty

and her Xiongnu husband (Zuoxianwang) dating from the Southern Song. Chinese painting during the Song dynasty reached a new level of sophistication with further development of landscape painting. The shan shui style painting—"shan" meaning mountain, and "shui" meaning river—became prominent features in Chinese landscape art. The emphasis laid upon landscape painting in the Song period was grounded in Chinese philosophy; Taoism stressed that humans were but tiny specks amongst vast and greater cosmos, while Neo-Confucianist writers often pursued the discovery of patterns and principles that they believed caused all social and natural phenomena. The making of glazed and translucent porcelain and celadon wares with complex use of enamels was also developed further during the Song period. Longquan celadon wares were particularly popular in the Song period. Black and red lacquerwares of the Song period featured beautifully carved artwork of miniature nature scenes, landscapes, or simple decorative motifs. However, even though intricate bronze-casting, ceramics and lacquerware, jade carving, sculpture, architecture, and the painting of portraits and closely viewed objects like birds on branches were held in high esteem by the Song Chinese, landscape painting was paramount. By the beginning of the Song dynasty a distinctive landscape style had emerged. Artists mastered the formula of creating intricate and realistic scenes placed in the foreground, while the background retained qualities of vast and infinite space. Distant mountain peaks rise out of high clouds and mist, while streaming rivers run from afar into the foreground. porcelain bottle, 11th century. There was a significant difference in painting trends between the Northern Song period (960–1127) and Southern Song period (1127–1279). The paintings of Northern Song officials were influenced by their political ideals of bringing order to the world and tackling the largest issues affecting the whole of their society, hence their paintings often depicted huge, sweeping landscapes. On the other hand, Southern Song officials were more interested in reforming society from the bottom up and on a much smaller scale, a method they believed had a better chance for eventual success. spout, gray sandstone with celadon coating, 10th century. Ever since the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420–589), painting had become an art of high sophistication that was associated with the gentry class as one of their main artistic pastimes, the others being calligraphy and poetry. During the Song dynasty there were avid art collectors that would often meet in groups to discuss their own paintings, as well as rate those of their colleagues and friends. The poet and statesman Su Shi (1037–1101) and his accomplice Mi Fu (1051–1107) often partook in these affairs, borrowing art pieces to study and copy, or if they really admired a piece then an exchange was often proposed. The small round paintings popular in the Southern Song were often collected into albums as poets would write poems along the side to match the theme and mood of the painting. During the Northern Song (960–1126 CE), a new class of scholar-artists emerged who did not possess the trompe-l'oeil skills of the academy painters nor even the proficiency of common marketplace painters. The literati's painting was simpler and at times quite unschooled, yet they would criticize these other two groups as mere professionals, since they relied on paid commissions for their livelihood and did not paint merely for enjoyment or self-expression. The scholar-artists considered that painters who concentrated on realistic depictions, who employed a colorful palette, or, worst of all, who accepted monetary payment for their work were no better than butchers or tinkers in the marketplace. They were not to be considered real artists. During the Song period Buddhism saw a small revival since its persecution during the Tang dynasty. This could be seen in the continued construction of sculpture artwork at the Dazu Rock Carvings in Sichuan province. Similar in design to the sculptures at Dazu, the Song temple at Mingshan in Anyue, Sichuan province features a wealth of Song era Buddhist sculptures, including the Buddha and deities clad in lavish imperial and monastic robes. Paintings File:Cui Bai - Magpies and Hare.jpg|alt=A long, portrait-oriented painting. To the right is a small hill with a tree protruding from it. Two birds are swooping in from the upper right corner, one passing in front of the tree. In the bottom left corner is a hare with its head tilted upwards, facing the birds. The scroll uses dark inks, and has darkened and become orange with age.|Magpies and Hare, signed and dated by Cui Bai, latter 11th century. File:Su Han Ch'en 001.jpg|alt=A portrait-oriented painting depicting two young children, a boy and a slightly older girl, playing with figurines on a table in a garden. Behind them is a tall rock flanked by branches of a flowering tree.|Playing Children, by Su Han Chen, 1150. File:Mao I 001.jpg|alt=A square painting depicting four cats, two in the bottom left tussling and two on the bottom right not doing anything in particular, in a garden with small flowering bushes.|Cats in the Garden, by Mao Yi, 12th century. File:Fan Kuan - Travelers Among Mountains and Streams - Google Art Project.jpg|alt=A long, portrait-oriented scroll depicting a very tall mountain in the background and a stream with trees in the foreground, near the bottom of the painting. Contrary to the name of the painting, there are no travelers shown.|Travelers among Mountains and Streams, by Fan Kuan, 11th century File:Loquats and Mountain Bird.jpg|alt=A square painting depicting a small bird, with a grey top and white underbelly, perched on a branch that ends with a large cluster of orange tinted fruits, each about half the size of the bird.|Loquats and Mountain Bird, anonymous painter of the Southern Song File:Li Anzhong's Bird on a Branch.gif|alt=A square painting with irregularly sloped curved corners depicting a puffy bird with a blue-grey back and white underbelly perching on top of a bamboo branch.|Bird on a Branch, Li Anzhong, early-mid 12th century File:Song Duckling.jpg|alt=A square painting of a duckling with a grey back, white underbelly, and yellow-tinted face. The duckling is looking down towards the lower, right hand corner.|A duckling, anonymous painter of the Southern Song File:Song Palace Children Playing.jpg|alt=A square painting of four well dressed small boys playing in a circle. Unused toys sit in a corner. The background uses darker colors while the children are wearing mostly white and bright colors.|Palace children playing, Northern or Southern Song File:Guo Xi - Early Spring (large).jpg|alt=A landscape-oriented painting of gnarled looking trees on top of wavy mountaintops. A large collection or square, red seal stamps are arranged at the corners and edges of the work.|Early Spring, by Guo Xi (c. 1020–1090), 1072. File:Zhang Shengwen. L'enseignement de Bouddha Sakyamuni .jpg|alt=A landscape-oriented painting showing a Buddha in red robes, seated in a throne, surrounded by sixteen adult figures and one baby. With the exception of the baby, all of the figures, including the Buddha, have blue halos.|The Sakyamuni Buddha, by Zhang Shengwen, c. 1173–1176 File:Songhuizong5.jpg|alt=A long, landscape-oriented painting. On the right half are several white birds flocking around the roof of a building. On the left half is a block of vertically oriented text.|Painting by Emperor Huizong of Song, a renowned scholar and painter, 1112 File:Chinesischer Maler des 11. Jahrhunderts (III) 001.jpg|alt=A long, portrait-oriented painting of a bare-chested, bearded man sitting on a mat under a tree, reading.|A Scholar in a Meadow, 11th century. File:Chinesischer Maler des 11. Jahrhunderts (II) 001.jpg|alt=A portrait-oriented painting depicting a six-armed figure with a red halo sitting inside of a white lotus flower. The flower is resting on the back of a peacock, whose tail feathers are fully extended.|The Peacock King, Gunsho Mingwang, 11th century. File:Chinesischer Maler des 12. Jahrhunderts (III) 001.jpg|alt=A portrait-oriented painting of four birds perched on a set of vertical branches originating from the same short tree. A fifth bird is hiding behind the base of the tree.|Birds in a Bamboo and Plum Tree Thicket, 12th century. File:Chinesischer Maler des 12. Jahrhunderts (I) 001.jpg|alt=A square painting of a branch with a cluster of white flowers at the end. The branch is superimposed over a red square with rounded edges.|The White Jasmine Branch, 12th century. File:Likan Bamboo and Rocks.jpg|alt=A painting of a cluster of bamboo sprouting up among rounded rocks. The background of the painting is bright yellow.|Bamboos and Rock, by Li Kan (1244–1320) File:Cloudy Mountains1.jpg|alt=A long, landscape-oriented scroll depicting a mountain range wrapped in clouds. The painting uses only dull colors.|Cloudy Mountains, by Mi Youren (son of Mi Fu), 1130. File:Huxisanxiaotu.jpg|alt=A landscape-oriented painting showing three men dressed in thick robes standing on a patch of land at the edge of a large stream, laughing with one another. Their attendants are on either side.|Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism are one, a painting in the Litang style, 12th century. File:Huang Zhucai, Mountain Magpie, Sparrows and Bramble.jpg|alt=a portrait-oriented painting with a large white bird with a black head in the foreground, and several smaller birds perched on a cluster of small branches and fern in the background.|Mountain Magpie, Sparrows and Bramble, by Huang Zhucai (933–after 993). File:B Song Dynasty Cao Empress Sitting with Maids.JPG|alt=A square painting of a woman in an intricately decorated blue dress and a large blue hat, sitting in a throne. She is flanked by two female attendants in black dresses with flower covered black hats.|Official Song era portrait painting of Empress Cao, wife of Emperor Renzong of Song File:Nine-Dragons1.jpg|alt=A landscape-oriented painting of a dragon drifting though clouds. The painting is done entirely in black, white, and grey.|One of the Nine Dragons by Chen Rong, 1244. File:Ma Lin 010.jpg|alt=A portrait-oriented painting of a man in white robes sitting under a tree with crooked bends. The painting, with the exception of the man in white, is in brown tones.|Listening to the Wind, by Ma Lin, 1246. File:猴貓圖.jpg|alt=A faded, landscape-oriented fragment of a painting depicting a black and white cat and a monkey staring at each other and clinging to one another.|Monkey and cats, by Yi Yuanji, 11th century. File:Holding a Wand under the Pine Tree by Xu Daoning.jpg|alt=An oval painting mounted on a square background depicting a man in a white robe, holding a small stick, next to a tree. Strong wind blows everything in the painting leftward. The painting is done mainly in green tones.|Holding a Wand Under the Pine Tree, by Xu Daoning, 11th century File:Liu Songnian-Luohan.jpg|alt=A long portrait-oriented painting depicting two figures, the man to the right is a man in blue robes, facing right. The figure to the left is a much larger, bare-chested, outwardly male figure with an oversized head, also facing right.|A Luohan, painted in 1207 by Liu Songnian, Southern Song period File:Mother Hen and Chicks, Song Dynasty.jpg|alt=A long, portrait-oriented scroll. The top quarter is a block of vertically oriented text, the bottom three fourths depicts a large yellow hen bending down near four yellow chicks, each about the size of the hen's head, all on a black background.|Mother Hen and Chicks, anonymous Song artist File:Three Friends of Winter by Zhao Mengjian.jpg|The Three Friends of Winter by Zhao Mengjian, c. 1199–1264 Ceramics image:Inkstone.jpg|alt=A white, rectangular stone tablet with two sections. The top quarter section contains a carving of a fish, and the bottom three-fourths contain a shallow, circular indent for the ink.|A Song dynasty Chinese inkstone with gold and silver markings, from the Nantoyōsō Collection, Japan Image:B-Qingbai-Kanne.JPG|alt=A white teapot with an almost perfectly spherical body and a large, cylindrical cap in the center which is topped with a small crown shaped embellishment. Several vertical lines are glazed into the body of the pot.|A Song teapot in the Qingbai style, from Jingdezhen. File:Grön vas från Kina gjord 1127-1279 - Hallwylska museet - 95508.tif|Longquan ware black stoneware vase with celadon glaze, Song dynasty. Image:Petite jarre Musée Guimet 2418.jpg|alt=A green-grey bowl with a small bottom, a very wide center, and a top opening wider than the base but not as wide as the center. A pattern of out-dented large leaves covers the body of the bowl.|A cut and engraved sandstone and celadon jar from Yaozhou in Shaanxi, 10th–11th century. Image:Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst Dahlem Berlin Mai 2006 046.jpg|alt=A green-tinted grey teapot with a small base and a tall body in the shape of a cone with the smallest point facing downwards. The cap covering the point that the water is poured into is a tall cylinder, and fits into a thick, wide cylindrical rim in the pot.|Stoneware with greenish glaze, Northern Song, 10th to 11th century. Image:Pot tripode Musée Guimet 2418.jpg|alt=A blue-green tinted grey pot with a wide bottom supported by three stubby legs, a wide body, and a smaller opening at the top. A large five petal flower pattern is out-dented on the body of the jar.|A small celadon tripod from Yaozhou in Shaanxi, dated to the late 10th century. Image:Porcelaine chinoise Guimet 231107.jpg|alt=A blue-grey bowl with a nearly perfect half sphere body, and a rim that narrows from the edge of the half sphere, then goes up slightly.|A small "qinbai" porcelain jar from Jingdezhen in Jiangxi, 11th–12th century. Image:Porcelaine chinoise Guimet 231105.jpg|alt=A grey-green shallow bowl with a painted decoration on the inside consisting of dozens of small petals moving outward from the center of the dish in a spiral pattern.|Gray sandstone dish with a celadon coating, decorated with a peony motif, from Yaozhou in Shaanxi, 11th–12th century. Image:Figurine Zodiaque Musée Guimet 2418.jpg|alt=A grey statue of a thin figure in a flat topped hat and loose robes holding a piglet. The robes and hat are painted brown.|A funerary porcelain figurine in the personification of the Chinese zodiac, from Jingdezhen in Jiangxi, 12th century. Image:Porcelaine chinoise Guimet 231101.jpg|alt=A grey-green shallow bowl or curved plate with a large orchid design painted into the inside of the bowl.|Celadon plate from Yaozhou in Shaanxi, 10th–11th century. Image:Box with floral medallions Asian Art Museum SF B60P190.JPG|alt=A blue-grey, cylindrical case with three white bowls inside of it.|A Song ceramic box with floral medallions Image:Vase with applied dragons Asian Art Museum SF B60P7.JPG|alt=A tall, thin, off white vase with an eastern dragon wrapped around the portion where the main body of the vase and the beginning of the rim area meet.|A Southern Song (1127–1279) vase with applied dragons and painted floral sprays Image:Song celadon 5-tube jar and cover.JPG|alt=A tan jar with several rounded bands carved into the body and five upward-facing tubes equidistantly spaced along the top area of the jar. The lid is crowned with a lotus flower carving.|A Song five-tubed jar with lotus petal design, made of Longquan celadon Image:Stoneware tea bowls, Song Dynasty.jpg|alt=Two small polished black bowls. One has a large blue streak in it, the other has a polka-dot pattern on the inside consisting of black spots on a dark grey background. All of the coloring is created by features of the stone, rather than paint.|A pair of stoneware tea bowls from the Song File:Bluish-white glazed figurine, Northern Song dynasty, from Bijia Shan, Chaozhou - Hong Kong Museum of History - DSC00878.JPG|Bluish white glazed figurine, Northern Song period Sculpture File:Guanyin 00.jpg|Seated Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Guanyin), wood and pigment, 11th century File:Kuan-yan bodhisattva, Northern Sung dynasty, China, c. 1025, wood, Honolulu Academy of Arts.jpg|The bodhisattva Kuan-yan (Guanyin), Northern Song dynasty, China, c. 1025, wood File:Köln Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst 03012015 Bodhisattva Dynastie Song.jpg|Bodhisattva, Song Dynasty, 11th–12th century File:Baby pillow.JPG|White-glazed pillow in the shape of an infant boy; ding ware, Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127) File:Avalokitesvara (musée Guimet) (5422671631).jpg|Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Guanyin), limestone, Song dynasty File:Standing Bodhisattva, China, Song dynasty, 12th century, painted wood - Worcester Art Museum - IMG 7553.JPG|Standing Bodhisattva, China, Song dynasty, 12th century, painted wood ==Poetry and literature==

. of mixed styles written by Song dynasty poet Mi Fu (1051–1107) Chinese literature during the Song period contained a range of many different genres and was enriched by the social complexity of the period. Although the earlier Tang dynasty is viewed as the zenith era for Chinese poetry (particularly the shi style poetry of Du Fu, Li Bai, Bai Juyi), there were important poetic developments by famous poets of the Song era, with the flourishing of the ci form being especially being associated with Song poetry. Song developments in poetry included the works of the social critic and pioneer of the "new subjective style" Mei Yaochen (1002–1060), the politically controversial yet renowned master Su Shi (1037–1101), the eccentric yet brilliant Mi Fu (1051–1107), the premier Chinese female poet Li Qingzhao (1084–1151), and many others. Although having roots in the Liang dynasty (502–557 AD), and further development during the brief existence of the Southern Tang immediate preceding the Song, the ci form of Chinese poetry found its greatest acceptance and popularity during the Song dynasty, and was used by most Song poets. The high court Chancellor Fan Zhongyan (989–1052), ardent Neo-Confucian Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072), the great calligrapher Huang Tingjian (1045–1105), and the military general Xin Qiji (1140–1207) were especially known for their ci poetry, amongst many others. The great ci poet Li Yu (who ruled the Southern Tang under the name Li Houzhu) wrote some of his most famous works during his time as a prisoner at the first Song court, following the demise of his former kingdom: Li Yu is an important transitional figure, sometimes considered to be the first major Song poet, and sometimes acclaimed as the last major Tang poet. Historiography in literature remained prominent during the Song, as it had in previous ages and would in successive ages of China. Along with Song Qi, the essayist and historian Ouyang Xiu were responsible for compiling the New Book of Tang by 1060, covering the history of the Tang dynasty. Chancellor Sima Guang (1019–1086), the political nemesis of Wang Anshi (1021–1086), was responsible for heading a team of scholars that compiled the enormous historical work of the Zizhi Tongjian, a universal history completed in 1084 AD with a total of over 3 million written Chinese characters in 294 volumes. It covered the major themes and intricate nuances of Chinese history from 425 BC during the Warring States all the way up to the 10th century and the fall of the Tang. In 1189 it was compiled and condensed into fifty-nine books by Zhu Xi (1130–1200), while this project was totally complete with the efforts of his disciples around the time of his death in 1200. style; from Zhejiang province, Northern Song era, 10th or 11th century. There were also very large encyclopedic works written in the Song period, such as the Four Great Books of Song compiled first by Li Fang in the 10th century and fully edited by the time of Cefu Yuangui in the 11th century. The largest of these was the 1013 publication of the Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau, a massive encyclopedia consisting of 9.4 million written Chinese characters divided into 1000 volumes. There were also rhyme dictionaries written during the Song dynasty, such as the Jiyun of 1037. Although Neo-Confucianism became dominant over Buddhism in China during this period, there was still a significant amount of Buddhist literature. For example, there was the collection of Zen Buddhist kōans in the Blue Cliff Record of 1125, which was expanded by Yuanwu Keqin (1063–1135). 'Travel record literature' ('youji wenxue') was also a popular category of literature during the Song period, which was accounts of one's own travel experiences typically written in narrative or prose styles, and included authors such as Fan Chengda (1126–1193). A great example of Chinese travel literature in the Song period would be Su Shi's (1037–1101) Record of Stone Bell Mountain. There were many technical and scientific writings during the Song period. The two most eminent authors of the scientific and technical fields were Shen Kuo (1031–1095) and his contemporary Su Song (1020–1101). Shen Kuo published his Dream Pool Essays in 1088 AD, an enormous encyclopedic book that covered a wide range of subjects, including literature, art, military strategy, mathematics, astronomy, meteorology, geology, geography, metallurgy, engineering, hydraulics, architecture, zoology, botany, agronomy, medicine, anthropology, archeology, and more. As for Shen Kuo's equally brilliant peer, Su Song created a celestial atlas of five different star maps, wrote the 1070 AD pharmaceutical treatise of the Ben Cao Tu Jing (Illustrated Pharmacopoeia), which had the related subjects of botany, zoology, metallurgy, and mineralogy, and wrote his famous horological treatise of the Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao in 1092 AD, which described in full detail his ingenious astronomical clock tower constructed in the capital city of Kaifeng. Although these two figures were perhaps the greatest technical authors in their field during the time, there were many others. For producing textiles, Qin Guan's book of 1090 AD, the Can Shu (Book of Sericulture), included description of a silk-reeling machine that incorporated the earliest known use of the mechanical belt drive in order to function. In the literary field of agronomy, there was the Jiu Huang Huo Min Shu (The Rescue of the People; a Treatise on Famine Prevention and Relief) edited by Dong Wei in the 12th century, the Cha Lu (Record of Tea) written by Cai Xiang in 1060 AD, the Zhu Zi Cang Fa (Master Zhu on Managing Communal Granaries) written by Zhu Xi in 1182 AD, and many others. There were also great authors of written works pertaining to geography and cartography during the Song, such as Yue Shi (his book in 983), Wang Zhu (in 1051), Li Dechu (in 1080), Chen Kunchen (in 1111), Ouyang Wen (in 1117), and Zhu Mu (in 1240). Although an early form of the local geographic gazetteer existed in China since the 1st century, the matured form known as "treatise on a place", or fangzhi, replaced the old "map guide", or tujing, under the Song. The major differences between the two were that fangzhi were products of local initiative and decision-making, were typically ten to fifty chapters in length, and were almost always printed for a large audience, whereas tujing were products of infrequent demands from the central government and were typically only four chapters long. The widespread availability of printing in the Song allowed many ordinary people to access materials that were once read almost exclusively by experts, such as printed texts and handbooks on agriculture, childbirth, pharmacy and medicine, domestic economics, geography, divination, and Taoist rituals. ==Performing arts==

" (傀儡婴戏图轴), a painting by Liu Songnian (刘松年 1174–1224 AD) feather banner like the one used in dramatical theater to signal an acting leader of troops. Theatre and drama in China trace their roots back to the academy of music known as the Pear Garden, founded in the early 8th century during the Tang dynasty. However, historian Stephen H. West asserts that the Northern Song era capital Kaifeng was the first real center where the performing arts became "an industry, a conglomerate involving theatre, gambling, prostitution, and food." The rise in consumption by merchants and scholar-officials, he states, "accelerated the growth of both the performance and the food industries," asserting a direct link between the two due to their close proximity within the cities. Of the fifty-some theatres located in the 'pleasure districts' of Kaifeng, four of these theatres were large enough to entertain audiences of several thousand each, drawing huge crowds which nearby businesses thrived upon. The chief crowd that gathered was composed of those from the merchant class, while government officials only went to restaurants and attended theatre performances during holidays. From Kaifeng, the zaju dramatic style employed the beiqu style of poetic lyrics. These two different regional genres of musical drama used different regional dialects of speech, recitation, and dialogue, entailed their own unique sets of role types (juese), and employed different types of musical instruments playing different tunes. In Kaifeng drama, one singer was preferred for each play, accompanied by string and percussion instruments. Similar to vendors who wore specific outfits to identify which guild they belonged to, actors' generic costumes reflected the role type they played on stage, whether it be student, young man, young woman, official, soldier, etc. Although trained to speak in the erudite Classical language, acting troupes commonly drew their membership from one of the lowest classes in society: prostitutes. Themes enjoyed in stage skits varied from satires about corrupt officials to comedy acts with titles like "Setting fire when delivering the soup," "Raising a ruckus in the winehouse," "The peony smells best when the wine is stolen," and "Catching a monkey in a restaurant." The only xiwen play to have survived from the Southern Song era is the Zhang Xie zhuang yuan (张協狀元), featuring interludes such as a clown stealing food and wine at a wedding banquet in act 16 and a quick comedy sketch about renting a room in act 24. Surprisingly, actors on stage did not have a wholesale monopoly on theatrical entertainment, as even vendors and peddlers in the street, singing lewd songs and beating on whatever they could find to compensate for percussion instruments, could draw crowds. This practice was so widespread that West claims "the city itself was turned into a stage and the citizens into the essential audience." Many of the songs played for stage performances were tunes that originated from vendors' and peddlers' songs. Contests were held on New Year's Day to determine which vendor or peddler had the best chants and songs while selling wares; the winners were brought before the imperial court to perform. Puppet shows in the streets and wards were also popular. ==Festivities==

), a large horizontal scroll painting by Zhang Zeduan (1085–1145) In ancient China, there were many domestic and public pleasures in the rich urban environment unique to the Song dynasty. For the austere and hardworking peasantry, annual festivals and holidays provided a time of joy and relaxation, and for the poorest it meant a chance to borrow food and alcoholic drink so that everyone could join in the celebration. The festivities on New Years were considered the most important of the year by the Chinese, its momentous occasion correlating with the beginning of February on the Western calendar. The widely popular Lantern Festival was held every 15th day of 1st lunar month. According to the scholar-official Zhou Mi (AD1232–1298), during the Xiao-Zong period (1163–1189) the best lantern festivals were held at Suzhou and Fuzhou, while Hangzhou was also known for its great variety of colorful paper lanterns, in all shapes and sizes. Meng Yuanlao (active 1126–1147) recalled in Dongjing Meng Hua Lu (Dreams of Splendor of the Eastern Capital) how the earlier Northern Song capital at Kaifeng would host festivals with tens of thousands of colorful and brightly lit paper lanterns hoisted on long poles up and down the main street, the poles also wrapped in colorful silk with numerous dramatic paper figures flying in the wind like fairies. the female musicians in the center of the image are playing transverse bamboo flutes and guan, and the male musician is playing a wooden clapper called paiban. With the advent of the discovery of gunpowder in China, lavish fireworks displays could also be held during festivities. For example, the martial demonstration in 1110 AD to entertain the court of Emperor Huizong, when it was recorded that a large fireworks display was held alongside Chinese dancers in strange costumes moving through clouds of colored smoke in their performance. The common people also purchased firecrackers from city shopkeepers and vendors, made of simple sticks of bamboo filled with a small amount of gunpowder. Chinese carnival celebrations were held nationwide when the emperor felt a great occasion warranted a grand display of his benevolence and generosity, such as renowned military victories, abundant harvests after long droughts or famines, the granting of grand amnesties by the throne, sacrifices to deities, the installation of a crown prince, marriages within the imperial family, etc. It was during the Song dynasty that the custom of sitting on chairs instead of floormats became commonplace. However, the older practice continued to be customary for some time, with an Imperial birthday banquet in the Southern Song reportedly involving "officials sitting on sheets with purple edges on the ground". Southern Song scholar Lu You testified that the custom of low-level furniture was preserved in the palace but became phased out among the commoners, and the etiquette rules against the use of chairs was increasingly outdated. ==Clothing and apparel==

, showing the long robes and official headgear of the emperor. This type of headgear, along with the headgear of officials and merchants, was made of black-colored silk. The clothing material preferred by the rich was silk, and for special occasions they had silk robes with gold brocade. and so was the case for the upper class and elite. In fact, wealthy and leading members of society followed accepted guidelines and ritual requirements for clothing. In the upper class, each stratified grade in the social hierarchy was distinguished by the color and specific ornamentation of robes, the shape and type of headgear, and even the style of girdle worn. This rigid order was especially so during the beginning of the dynasty. However, the lines of hierarchy slowly began to blur as the color purple, once reserved solely for the attire of third rank officials or higher, began to diffuse amongst all ranks of officials who bore the color indiscriminately. Yet there were still visible distinctions between civil officials and the class of rich merchants and business owners; the officials were distinguished by their long robes reaching to the ground, while merchants often wore a blouse that came down below the waist with trousers. every soldier wore trousers as part of his uniform, while trousers were also worn by the common people. The attire of Song women was distinguished from men's clothing by being fastened on the left, not on the right. Only Buddhist monks shaved their heads and strolled about with no headgear or hat of any sort to cover their heads. For footwear, people could purchase leather shoes called 'oiled footwear', wooden sandals, hempen sandals, and the more expensive satin slippers. ==Food and cuisine==

s such as these were imported to Song China from South Asia and the Middle East. An official from Canton was invited to the home of an Arab merchant, and described the jujube as thus: "This fruit is the color of sugar, its skin and its pulp are sweet, and it gives the impression, when you eat it, of having first been cooked in the oven and then allowed to dry." Other additional seasonings and ingredients included walnuts, turnips, crushed Chinese cardamon kernels, fagara, olives, ginkgo nuts, citrus zest, and sesame oil. Regional differences in culture brought about different types of foods, while in certain areas the cooking traditions of regional cultures blended together; such was the case of the Southern Song capital at Hangzhou. Descendants of those from Kaifeng owned most of the restaurants found in Hangzhou, but many other regional varieties in foodstuffs and cooking were sponsored by restaurants. This included restaurants catering Sichuan cuisine that emphasized use of pepper, dishes and beverages from Hebei and Shandong, and coastal foods of shrimp and saltwater fish. The memory and patience of waiters had to be keen; in the larger restaurants, serving dinner parties that required twenty or so dishes became a hassle if even a slight error occurred. This included fried tripe, pieces of mutton or goose, soups of various kinds, hot pancakes, steamed pancakes, and iced cakes. According to one Song source on Kaifeng, the night markets closed at the third night watch but reopened on the fifth, while they had also gained a reputation for staying open during winter storms and the darkest, rainiest days of winter. Although grape-based wine had been known in China since the ancient Han dynasty Chinese ventured into Hellenistic Central Asia, grape-wine was often reserved for the elite. Dairy products and farming were foreign concepts to the Chinese, which explains the absence of cheese and milk in their diet. Beef was also rarely eaten, since the bull was an important draft animal. Common fruits that were consumed included melons, pomegranates, lychees, longans, golden oranges, jujubes, Chinese and Japanese quinces, apricots and pears; in the region around Hangzhou alone, there were eleven kinds of apricots and eight different kinds of pears that were produced. Specialties and combination dishes in the Song period included scented shellfish cooked in rice-wine, geese with apricots, lotus-seed soup, spicy soup with mussels and fish cooked with plums, sweet soya soup, baked sesame buns stuffed with either sour bean filling or pork tenderloin, mixed vegetable buns, fragrant candied fruit, strips of ginger and fermented beanpaste, jujube-stuffed steamed dumplings, fried chestnuts, salted fermented bean soup, fruit cooked in scented honey, and 'honey crisps' of kneaded and baked honey, flour, mutton fat and pork lard. Dessert molds of oiled flour and sugared honey were shaped into girls' faces or statuettes of soldiers with full armor like door guards, and were called "likeness foods" (guoshi). ==Philosophy==

statue from the Song dynasty Song intellectuals sought answers to all philosophical and political questions in the Confucian Classics. This renewed interest in the Confucian ideals and society of ancient times coincided with the decline of Buddhism, which was then largely regarded as foreign, and as offering few solutions for practical problems. However, Buddhism in this period continued as a cultural underlay to the more accepted Confucianism and even Taoism, both seen as native and pure by conservative Neo-Confucians. The continuing popularity of Buddhism can be seen with strong evidence by achievements in the arts, such as the 100 painting set of the Five Hundred Luohan, completed by Lin Tinggui and Zhou Jichang in 1178. The conservative Confucian movement could be seen before the likes of Zhu Xi (1130–1200), with staunch anti-Buddhists such as Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072). In his written work of the Ben-lun, he wrote of his theory for how Buddhism had so easily penetrated Chinese culture during the earlier Southern and Northern Dynasties period. He argued that Buddhism became widely accepted when China's traditional institutions were weakened at the time. This was due to many factors, such as foreign Xianbei ruling over the north, and China's political schism that caused warfare and other ills. Although Emperor Wen of Sui (r. 581–604) abolished the Nine Ranks in favor of a Confucian-taught bureaucracy drafted through civil service examinations, he also heavily sponsored the popular ideology of Buddhism to legitimate his rule. Hence, it was given free rein and influence to flourish and dominate Chinese culture during the Sui and Tang periods; historian Arthur F. Wright describes Confucianism in this period as being reverted to a state of "stale archaism". Ouyang Xiu wrote: "This curse [Buddhism] has overspread the empire for a thousand years, and what can one man in one day do about it? The people are drunk with it, and it has entered the marrow of their bones; it is surely not to be overcome by eloquent talk. What, then, is to be done? Buddhist Wuzhun Shifan, painted in 1238 AD. In conclusion on how to root out the 'evil' that was Buddhism, Ouyang Xiu presented a historical example of how it could be uprooted from Chinese culture: Of old, in the time of the Warring States, Yang Zhu and Mo Di were engaged in violent controversy. Mencius deplored this and devoted himself to teaching benevolence and righteousness. His exposition of benevolence and righteousness won the day, and the teachings of Mo Di and Yang Zhu were extirpated. In Han times the myriad schools of thought all flourished together. Tung Chung-shu deplored this and revived Confucianism. Therefore the Way of Confucius shone forth, and the myriad schools expired. This is the effect of what I have called "correcting the root cause in order to overcome the evil". Although Confucianism was cast in stark contrast to the perceived alien and morally inept Buddhism by those such as Ouyang Xiu, Confucianism nonetheless borrowed ideals of Buddhism to provide for its own revival. From Mahayana Buddhism, the Bodhisattva ideal of ethical universalism with benevolent charity and relief to those in need inspired those such as Fan Zhongyan and Wang Anshi, along with the Song government. In contrast to the earlier heavily Buddhist Tang period, where wealthy and pious Buddhist families and Buddhist temples handled much of the charity and alms to the poor, the Song government took on this ideal role instead, through its various programs of welfare and charity (refer to Society section). In addition, the historian Arthur F. Wright notes this situation during the Song period, with philosophical nativism taking from Buddhism its earlier benevolent role: It is true that Buddhist monks were given official appointments as managers of many of these enterprises, but the initiative came from Neo-Confucian officials. In a sense the Buddhist idea of compassion and many of the measures developed for its practical expression had been appropriated by the Chinese state. , from Yaozhou, Shaanxi, 11th to 12th century Although Buddhism lost its prominence in the elite circles and government sponsorships of Chinese society, this did not mean the disappearance of Buddhism from Chinese culture. Zen Buddhism continued to flourish during the Song period, as Emperor Lizong of Song had the monk Wuzhun Shifan share the Chán (Zen) doctrine with the imperial court. Much like the Eastern Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate promoting Roman paganism and Theurgy amongst the leading members of Roman society while pushing Christianity's influence into the lower classes, so too did Neo-Confucians of the 13th century succeed in driving Buddhism out of the higher echelons of Chinese society. In terms of Buddhist metaphysics, Zhou Dunyi influenced the beliefs and teachings of Northern Song-era Confucian scholars such as Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi (who were brothers), and was a major influence for Zhu Xi, one of the leading architects of Neo-Confucianism. They emphasized moral self-cultivation over service to the ruler of the state (healing society's ills from the bottom-up, not the top-down), as opposed to statesmen like Fan Zhongyan or Su Shi, who pursued their agenda to advise the ruler to make the best decisions for the common good of all. The Cheng brothers also taught that the workings of nature and metaphysics could be taught through the principle (li) and the vital energy (qi). The principle of nature could be moral or physical, such as the principle of marriage being moral, while the principle of trees is physical. Yet for principles to exist and function normally, there would have to be substance as well as vital energy. His approach to Confucianism was shunned by his contemporaries, as his writings were forbidden to be cited by students taking the Imperial Examinations. However, Emperor Lizong of Song found his writing to be intriguing, reversing the policy against him, and making it a requirement for students to study his commentaries on the Four Books. ==See also==