Episode 35: Intellectual and Cultural Life of the Song

Foundations of Eastern Civilization

Dr Craig Benjamin (2013)

Film Review

The Southern Song Dynasty (960 -1279 AD) produced a culture of unprecedented wealth. At the same time, Song society was deeply divided, with rural peasants living in extreme poverty. When he visited the Song court in 1275 AD, the Venetian explorer Marco Polo gave the West their first glimpse of Song society. Towards the end of the thirteenth century, luxury Song exports traveled as far as Africa, South East Asia and the Middle East.

Byzantine, Muslim, Indian and Central Asian Silk Road merchants and foreign religions (Manichaeism, Nestorian Christianity, Buddhism and Islam) were all well represented in Song cities. The generous support of Buddhism by northern China’s (Jurchin) Jin dynasty, as well as the growing wealth (and tax-free status*) of Buddhist temples under the southern Song led a reaction against Buddhism and the rise of Neo-Confucianism among scholars keen for a return to China’s more traditional values.

In competition with one another for preeminence, both Buddhist and Confucian doctrine changed during the thirteen century. Chan Buddhism (known as Son Buddhism in Korea and Zen Buddhism in Japan), tended to focus more on meditation and insight (like Daoism) and less on written text. Likewise Neo-Confucianism moved more towards Buddhist practice by exploring the individual;s role in the universe and other metaphysical questions.

The return of Confucian dominance over society prompted a return to family values and an increase in patriarchal control. It also led to an increase in scientific study, owing to the Neo-Confucian belief that it was only possibly to know oneself through an understanding of the natural world. There was an explosion in the fields of medicine (leading to inoculation for small pox), astronomy, chemistry, zoology, algebra and map making.

Although there were instances of widows managing inns and wives and widows gaining control of their own dowries, Song women on the whole tended to be better educated but less involved in the public space. Neo-Confucianism taught that women should have no desire to buy property or object to a husband taking a concubine. Elite women were veiled and expected to bind their feet.** Peasant women who farmed or engaged in silk weaving had to retain physical capacity for their work and didn’t bind their feet.

The Southern Song Dynasty collapsed in 1279 when invading Mongols from the north invaded southern China.

*Their tax-free status related to the storage of rice and grain Buddhist temples stored and released to the poor during famines.

**Presumably  to keep them small and dainty, footbinding had the additional impact of increasing their helplessness, as many lost the ability to walk.

Film can be viewed free on Kanopy.

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/5808608/5808677