Song Dynasty is the age of literati. Scholar-officials are good at poetry and songs, and are also keen on gardens and landscapes.

A highly civilized and peaceful society.

Qian Mu, a famous modern historian in China, said that the Song Dynasty was the poorest and weakest link in the Five Dynasties, the Song Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. Isn't that a dynasty that always lost the battle and gave up the capitulationists?

In fact, compared with the Han Dynasty, there was no civil strife in the Song Dynasty. Compared with the Tang Dynasty, the culture of the Song Dynasty was more prosperous. Compared with Ming and Qing Dynasties, Song Dynasty was more enlightened and peaceful. Although the Song Dynasty always gave people a weak impression in the past, it did reach an unprecedented height in civilization. For example, in four great inventions of ancient china, except papermaking, the other three items: compass, gunpowder and movable type printing all appeared in the Song Dynasty. At that time, the scientific development of China was in a leading position compared with other regions in the same period. Mathematics, astronomy, smelting and shipbuilding technology, and the use of fire weapons are all world-class levels.

The Song Dynasty was a real scholar-bureaucrat era, which was respected and practiced by educated people. The Emperor of the Song Dynasty had great respect for the literati, and he never killed anyone in 100 years. For those who hate, you can only exile, miss and then recall. As a result, there was a debate between the monarch and the minister in the temple, and there was a situation in which scholars gave directions in the rivers and lakes. Which dynasty, which generation, literati have such identity and status?

In addition, there are quarrels among scholars, but they will not end in death. When Wang Anshi was engaged in political reform, Sima Guang quarreled with him in the hall, and Wang Anshi drove him to Luoyang. After Sima Guang arrived in Luoyang, he buried himself in compiling information to treat the mirror. Tired of editing, I wrote an open letter to scold Wang Anshi. Wang Anshi saw it and wrote an open letter to scold it. It's over.

Tea culture has reached its peak.

The emperor of the Song Dynasty loved tea, so tea culture reached its peak.

Tea culture, which influenced Asia, also reached its peak in Song Dynasty, and was called "Dragon and Phoenix Prosperity" by tea scholars.

Since the establishment of the Song Dynasty, drinking tea has been very popular in the court. Mao Zhao Kuangyin likes drinking tea, and so does the Emperor of Song Dynasty. An important form of court tea culture in Song Dynasty is the court tea ceremony, which was held in spring and autumn. The emperor often sent tea to officials, students, monks and people, and also sent tea when he met with the Khitan envoys in the Northern Dynasties.

Scholars also regard the tea ceremony as a gathering ceremony. When they come down from the town, they also treat guests with tea and give each other tea. The custom of drinking tea permeated the whole society of Song Dynasty. Song Huizong also personally wrote "Daguan Tea Theory", with more than 2,000 words. The first preface is divided into 20 items, including real estate, weather, material selection, steaming, manufacturing, identification, cooking, storage and baking, and tea products. From tea planting and collection to cooking and identification; From cooking water, utensils and fire to the color, fragrance and taste of tea soup; From famous tea and tea maker to the essentials of storage and baking, the methods of ordering tea are all-encompassing.

Song Huizong himself advocated drinking tea with the respect of emperors, and dignitaries loved to play with tea lanterns, while literati praised him in the form of poems, songs, paintings and calligraphy. People in the town entertain guests with tea, offer tea to each other and offer sacrifices to the guests. The custom of drinking tea in Song Dynasty has penetrated into all aspects of social life.

Painting reached its peak.

The Song Dynasty was the peak of China's painting skills, which was far behind later generations. There are many important creations in the art of painting in Song Dynasty. Figure painting pays attention to excavating the mental outlook and touching plot of the characters, and to shaping the artistic image with distinctive personality.

Flower-and-bird painting and landscape painting pursue beautiful artistic conception, pay attention to true and ingenious artistic expression, strive to refine images, and have high realistic ability.

Scholar-type official

Scholar-bureaucrats' contribution to literati painting in the Northern Song Dynasty is more manifested in theoretical achievements. Ouyang Xiu proposed to pursue depression and indifference as an aesthetic realm, while Su Shi proposed that painting should be similar to that of children. In other words, the essence of China's literati paintings is not superficial similarity, but frank and natural similarity.

In the traditional life of China, literati and officialdom have already formed a network, and literati painting and Su Shi's thoughts spread rapidly, even to the Liao and Jin areas ruled by barbarians, becoming the pioneers of the development of literati painting in Yuan and Ming Dynasties.

Businessmen have loose rules, and urban management and vendors live in peace.

Song dynasty was very tolerant of businessmen. In the Han dynasty, businessmen had to wear clothes with special colors and could not ride in covered carriages; In the Tang dynasty, the Tang law still stipulated that businessmen were forbidden to ride horses and only allowed to trade goods in the official market; In the Song Dynasty, these regulations disappeared, and the children of businessmen could take the imperial examinations and become officials.

In addition, the scale of cities and the proportion of urban population in Song Dynasty exceeded many dynasties before and even after. It is said that Xi has a population of one million. At that time, the largest city in Europe had only 6.5438+0.5 million people.

Everyone knows that it was painted by Zhang Zeduan in the Northern Song Dynasty. In the five-meter-long scroll, there are more than 550 figures of various colors, including fifty or sixty cows, horses, mules and donkeys, more than 20 cars and bridges, and more than 20 ships. Houses, bridges, towers, etc. They also have their own characteristics, reflecting the prosperity of the corner of the capital of song dynasty, and there are no paintings by urban management.

There are historical reasons for the harmonious relationship between urban management and vendors. Because the management of the Song Dynasty is both rigid and flexible, with laws and regulations, the law enforcement team is necessary. The composition of urban management in Song Dynasty is rather complicated. For example, the county government does not have full-time urban management, and most of them are served by the government chief and Garbo. At the state level, there are city or foreign directors, a busy commercial street, and a street department. The function of the street department is very close to that of the American urban management law enforcement team today. For example, the Kaifeng government has several street departments, and each street department has 500 soldiers to maintain market order, with functions such as urban management, taxation, and industrial and commercial management. There are thieves and fire disaster relief. This work is quite heavy.

Therefore, in the case that the propaganda of urban management civilization law enforcement is in place, the status of vendors is far less than that of farmers, and the awe and obedience to urban management law enforcement can be imagined. Therefore, as long as they know the law, they must abide by it. For most vendors, as long as it is stipulated by the court, there is basically no disobedience.

Journalism is developed.

It was also the heyday of the development of ancient newspapers in China in the Song Dynasty. There are not only government-run newspapers, but also 33,354 privately issued tabloids. According to the "Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival" compiled by Vae in Qing Dynasty, there was a single note in the Northern Song Dynasty, which was recorded outside the official newspaper, and the copied single note was the so-called tabloid.

The tabloids equivalent to American Entertainment Weekly today often break news that North Korean newspapers are unwilling or afraid to report. As the earliest unofficial newspaper in ancient China, tabloid has no fixed registration and name, and it is not the work of one person and one family. Tabloid is just a general term for Song people. However, the prosperity of tabloids has broken through the official newspaper system, which has occupied an important page in the history of ancient news in China.

Having said that, you can imagine why the Song Dynasty fascinated westerners so much.