Song Dynasty

If I could travel swiftly in time, I would choose to jump back to the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty is not as famous as the Qing Dynasty, which is well known for sophisticated architectural masterpieces such as the Terra-Cotta Clay Warriors, the Great Wall, and the Epang Palace, or the Tang Dynasty, which many historians regard as the apex of Chinese civilization. In reality, Song was the most prosperous dynasty in Chinese history, with economic vitality, flourishment of art and literature that no other regalties could match.

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Economic Vitality

The Song Dynasty, both northern and southern, was by any consideration extremely prosperous. Its height of wealth and splendor could be glimpsed by the famous painting Riverside Scene at the Qingming Festival(Fig.1), illustrated by famous court painter Zhang Zheduan. The painting reveals the street scenarios of Song’s capital, KaiFeng. On crowded streets filled with gorgeously dressed pedestrians and exaggeratedly decorated sedans, merchants selling all kinds of goods from fresh fruits to newly assembled wagons could be seen yelling to solicit customers. Besides the avenues, there stood extravagant hotels, restaurants soaked in formless lumps of steam, and workshops where all kinds of metal tools clanged and banged all day long. Flowing in the Huai River, giant ferries full of passengers sped down the torrential river towards the crossing on the other bank. Right above the river, there stood a delicately built wooden bridge forming a beautiful moon-like curve above the water.

Moreover, the prosperity of the kingdom could also be demonstrated from glorious achievements on the sea. The kingdom’s Merchant fleets, equipped with delicately designed seacrafts-- crystallization of the wisdom of craftsmen, had voyaged to remote realms and even other continents. Archaeologists today are surprised to discover that the trade routes of the Song Dynasty had extended to far-off cities like Cairo and Mecca. It is true that Song Dynasty didn’t have powerful military force. However, it is definitely inaccurate to consider the Song Dynasty as weak and dim.

The glory of the dynasty could also be easily seen through data deduced by historians from available documents. At the peak of the dynasty, the kingdom’s GDP(Gross DomesticProduct)reached over 26,500 million dollars. In the eyes of most economists today, that might not appear to be a lot of money. However, at that time, it was approximately 50% of the world’s total GDP.

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Flourishment of Literature and Art

Aside from the vitality in finance, there are many other characteristics that make Song one of the most attractive dynasties in Chinese 5000-year history. Art flourished during the Song Dynasty as well. It is most likely the result of open thoughts and policies that have never occurred in previous or subsequent regimes. The Song Dynasty was a period teemed with great poets and painters—Su Shi, the writer of famous poems like The Prelude to WaterMelody and Meditate of the Red Cliff ; Xin QiJi, the author of the Green Jade Cup Lantern Festival, The Swords and the Song, and The West Lake Moon; Zhang Zeduan, the genius painter of the River Side Scene At QingMing Festival and Emperor HuiZong of Song, the illustrator of countless exquisite landscape paintings and calligraphy; They were all eminent artists in the Song Dynasty.

Besides these masterpieces in ink and paper, the Song Dynasty was also known for its subtle potteries. There were five major pottery workshops in the Song Dynasty: Gwanyao, Ruyao,Geyao, Junyao and Dingyao. Guanyao is well known for making bare smooth textured pottery ; Ru yao is famous for producing cyan porcelains with delicate cracks ; Geyao is celebrated for making vessels with small ridges; Junyao is renowned for baking dark red pottery with texture like a path trodden by earthworms and Dingyao is the only kiln of the five that is able to make flawless white porcelains.

Gwan yao Ru yao Ge yao Jun yao Ding yao

In my opinion, the strength of a dynasty cannot only be measured by the number of armadas or the height of ramparts because these things would fade into the flow of history. Ramparts will crumble into dust, and fleets will sink into the sea. The only thing that future generations will remember is the depth of thought and the beauty of art.