Urban Literature and the Fall of the Southern Song
Urban Development During The Southern Song
During the late Northern Song there was a tremendous growth of cities, with one city - Bianliang (Kaifeng) - with a population of one million people, about 30 cities had a population of 40,000 - 100,000 or more each, sixty cities with a population of around 15,000, and approximately 400 county capitals with populations ranging from 4,000 to 5,000 each. A conservative estimate of 5% of China's total population were living in urban environments. The capital of Southern Song, Hangzhou, had a population of 1,500,000. Other cities, especially those port cities were equally important due to trade.(533)
Although most of the population resided within urban areas, their relationship with rural life was still crucial. Often, Chinese cities contained elements of rural life and there may be small urban groupings in outlying areas. People were free to travel as they wished between these two worlds. Everyone lived in accordance with the agrarian lunar calendar, which set the festivals and holidays throughout the year. (534) Of those, the major festivals were New Year, The Clear And Bright (Qingming), which occurred on the third day of the third month for people to sweep graves of their ancestors and relatives, the Double Fifth (Duanwu), when boat races were held, The Ghost Festival, when the Buddhist and Daoist temples performed services for the ghosts on the fifteen of the seventh month, and so on. On these major holidays, special foods were prepared and specific activities were carried out. People would come from the countryside to sell the special foods and necessary products for celebration. This pattern of openness between urban and rural areas, established during Song times, continued into subsequent dynasties. (534)
Urban Life In Poetry
The growth and importance of cities is reflected in the works of lyrics and poems:
The metropolis in all of the Wu region,
Qiantang has flourished from old.
Misty Willows and painted bridges,
Green curtains and windscreens -
There are a hundred thousand households of all sizes.
....
In the Markets, pearls are displayed,
Houses brimming with silks,
Wugui's a romantic place -
The houses are exquisite,
High and low, built by water's edge and on hilltop;
With jade terraces and crimson gates,
This could be Fairy Hill.
With a myriad wells, a thousand alleys, and a rich populace,
It surpasses all thirteen provinces.
Everywhere you see black-browed girls in painted boats,
(Qiantang was the old name of Hangzhou, and Wugui refers to the city of Suzhou.) These pieces by Liu Yong describe the cities as flourishing, grandiose places of irresistible attraction. During the Southern Song, "urban life became far more extravagant and ostentatious." (535) Some people were critical of the decadent behavior witnessed around them, of course, but generally the poetry of the day reflected a beautiful, ethereal quality:
Singing and dancing on West Lake - when will they ever end?
The warm breeze fumes revelers till they are drunk,
As with all lovely dreams, they must end. The poets of the Southern Song all agreed they were living in a marvelous time, a Golden Age, and all were aware of how lucky they were to be alive in such an era, but were under no illusion that this way of life was to last forever.
Urban Life In Prose
5 Texts
There are five texts which recount details about urban life and customs. "They constitute... a new genre of prose, a sort of journal or notebook devoted to recording the splendors and pleasures of the city." (537) There are three points that all five texts have in common: First, all seem to have been written by authors late in their lives. Second, all texts contain records of events the author has either witnessed firsthand or heard while living in the subject city. And, third, all contain the idea of "dream" or the word is used explicitly to describe events or the general quality of life during these times. The direct relation of a dream experience was not found prior to the late Song dynasty.
The Eastern Capital: A Record of the Dreamland (Dongjing menghua) by Meng Yuanlao was dated to ca. 1147. This volume was the only one written about Kaifeng and was the first of the capital city texts. Later writers would compare contemporary events nostalgically with Kaifeng, wistful about the "good old days."
A Record of the Capital City's Splendors (Ducheng jisheng) by The Old Man Of Forbearance Who Irrigates His Garden was dated ca. 1235. Portions of this text were found to have been copied in Wu Zimu's text. This was one of the two texts that did not use the word "dream" specifically.
The Old Man of West Lake's Record of Innumerable Splendors (Xihu laoren fansheng lu) by (of course) The Old Man of West Lake ca. 1235, after the above text was written. Also does not mention "dream" directly, but "it might not be far-fetched to say that the fear that the glories and splendors of Hangzhou would soon fade like dreams," (538) prompting the authors to record for posterity the beauty of their city.
A Record of the Millet Dream (Mengliang lu) by Wu Zimu was possibly written just before the fall of Hangzhou in 1276. This text contained portions of A Record of the Capital City's Splendors copied verbatim, but scholars still believe the text contained significant direct experiences of the author. Although the exact date is unknown, this text is believed to have been written before the Mongols captured Hangzhou, but with the foresight of impending doom for the glorious urban life Wu had known.
Old Events at the Martial Forest (Wulin jiushi) by Zhou Mi was estimated to have been written sometime between 1280 and 1290, after the fall of the Song dynasty. Wulin or "Martial Forest" was another name for Hangzhou. Zhou Mi was the only scholar, poet, and writer of repute among the authors of the five texts and when he recounted his past he recalls "it was like a dream."
Presentation Upload & Works Cited
Kang-i Sun Chang, Stephen Owen, eds., The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature 2 volume set (Hardcover), 1704 pages, Cambridge University Press; 1st ed. March 31, 2010. "The Pleasures of the City," and "The fall of the Southern Song," Shuen-fu Lin.
Media:Southern Song & Urban Lit by Jenny_R.pptx Powerpoint by Jenny R