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Elevating and Enhancing Wen

Elevating and Enhancing Wen. Song rulers considered peace and order more important than military expansion Only through elevating and enhancing Wen can the “peace and order” be achieved Nurture Shi, scholar-officials, to help bring peace

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Elevating and Enhancing Wen

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  1. Elevating and Enhancing Wen • Song rulers considered peace and order more important than military expansion • Only through elevating and enhancing Wen can the “peace and order” be achieved • Nurture Shi, scholar-officials, to help bring peace • Restructured education policy—increased number of school • Restructured the examination system • Large number of civil service families emerged

  2. Song Elite and Literati • Shi, or Shidafu (Shidaifu), scholar-officials constituted major civil servants and formed bureaucratic lineages on the basis of education and examination • Scholar-officials had a very strong sense of their mission: • They ruled the state with the emperor • The emperor ruled the state in collaboration with them

  3. Song Education • Educational institutions: • Private institutions: • Family schools • Academies • Public institutions: • Local government schools including prefectual and county schools, which were established in all prefectures and counties • Number of these schools thus increased dramatically • Government-run special schools, such as Military School and Law School were also established

  4. Supreme School, or Imperial University, • In early times, students were mostly from families of lower-rank officials and refined commoners • In later times, student number increased and three houses were built: Outer House, Inner Houses, and Superior House • The School of the Four Gates (Simen xue) • Students received stipends, meals, and a place in a dormitory • They had to study for 500 days, but they enjoyed privilege of being exempted from the prefectual examination and were allowed to proceed directly to the metropolitan exam

  5. Examination system • A three-tier examination system • Prefectual exam, metropolitan exam, and palace exam • Unlike Tang officials, the majority of Song officials passed the civil service examinations and were Jinshi degree holders • Candidates sitting for the civil service exams often numbered in hundreds of thousands

  6. Passing the prefectual exam qualified one for the metropolitan exam to get the jinshi degree. • Metropolitan exam took place in the capital once every three years • For the sake of impartiality, a number of practices were put in place for fair grading • Covering the names of the candidates on exam papers • Sealing the cover sheet • Having clerks copy the papers before they were handed over to examiners • Candiates’ bodies were searched for illicit aids before they enter the examination hall. • Guards supervised the exams and candidates were not allowed to talk to one another

  7. Jinshi degree holders could take palace exam, presided over by the emperor. • Passing with distinction were placed among the top two of five groups • The top one among the all passers was named “dragon head,” “the first name on the list” (Zhuangyuan) • Exams consisted of three parts: • Discourse on policy • A discussion essay based on the knowledge derived from Confucian classics including the four books and the five classics

  8. The four books: Analects, Mencius, Great Learning, and Doctrine of the Mean • The Five classics: the Book of Odes, the Book of Documents, the Book of Rites, the Spring and Autumn Annals with the Zuo Commentary, and the Book of Changes • Emphasis on memory in this test became an issue in later reform • Composition of a poem and rhyme prose • In the Song, number of jinshidegree holders increased dramatically; degree award rate raised from 1.5% in 1002 to 10% in 1109. • This resulted in inflationary growth in government

  9. The Greatest Period of Chinese Arts • Songliteratiwereexpectedtomasterfourarts:thelute,Chinesechess,calligraphy,andpainting(琴棋書畫 qín qí shū huà ) • Paintingsweredoneonpaperorsilkintheformofhorizontalandhangingscrollsinavarietyofformats.Sometimes,artistspaintedonfansandalbumleaves. • Wallpaintingsappearedintemples,palaces,andtombs.

  10. Likepoetry,paintingsreflectednatureanddailylife • Artistsengagedin“writinglife”(寫生)anddemonstrated“realism”intheirworks. • InnovativeandcreativeSongartistswerenolongersatisfiedwithimitationofthestyleorspiritofanearliermasterinTangtimes. • Eachdevelopedhisuniquestylethatreflectedhisownbeliefinacertainordering“principle”(理 lǐ )inherentinnature.

  11. “ASolitaryTempleamidstClearingPeaks”byLiCheng(919-967)

  12. “EarlySpring”byGuoXi(1001-1090)

  13. “On a Mountain Path in Spring”byMaYuan(1190-1279),knownforthe“one-corner”composition.Nicknamed“One-cornerMa”

  14. (Right:“SketchesofPreciousCreatures”byHuangQuan(903-968),PalaceMuseum,Beijing(Right:“SketchesofPreciousCreatures”byHuangQuan(903-968),PalaceMuseum,Beijing Left:“DoubleHappiness”byCuiBoin1061

  15. “CranesofGoodOmen”byEmperor Huizong (1082-1135)

  16. Zhao Ji, (Emperor Huizong) “Listening to the Flute” Beijing Gugong Cai Jing’s Poem inscribed on the painting

  17. A closer look at Zhao Ji’s “Listening to the Flute”

  18. Zhao Ji’s, “One-thousand Character Text” In grass script

  19. Huizong’s calligraphy in a unique “Slender Gold Style”

  20. Wax-plum and Birds Hibiscus and Golden Pheasant

  21. Song Literature • Two kinds of literature: highbrow and middlebrow: • Highbrow: Shi, Ci (used to express minor state of emotion, sometime, mildly erotic sentiment), Prose • Middlebrow: Vernacular stories

  22. Highbrow Literature: Shi Poetry • ForemostSongpoets: • MeiYaochen(1002-1060) • OuyangXiu(1007-1072) • SuShi(1037-1101) • WangAnshi(1021-1086) • Characteristics of their poems: • Narrative tendencies • The concern for daily activities (realism) • The sense of social involvement • The philosophical and discursive nature • The sublimation and transcendence of sorrow

  23. Mei Yaochen wrote poems about earthworms swarming in a muddy hole and about maggots, lice, and other unattractive creatures… • Li Gou wrote a poem describing his feelings as he sat in the examination hall • “The chief-examiner sits behind his curtain/not to be reached, although he is seen/the eunuchs stand right in the front entrance/they search every candidate from top to toe…” • realism in poetry also find its expression in painting

  24. Highbrow Literature:The Ancient [Style] Prose (古文 gŭ wén ) • Songreformersadvocatedthewritingoftheancientstyleprose,previouslyadvocatedbyHanYuinTangtimes • Scholar-officialswantedtopromotethesocialfunctionsofliterature,particularlythatofprose • Theyadvocated“literatureistoconveytheDao/Way”

  25. Middlebrow Literature • Vernacular stories formed “bourgeois literature” • Vernacular, because they were written by middle-class writer for the common audience; • Realistic, reflecting social activities • Supernatural and imaginative, reflecting Buddhism and Daoism at work • “plot books” • short story cycles were written into pamphlet called for story telling • “prompt books” • for theatrical performance, • later on, integrated into a more polished and organized novels and dramas in the Yuan and Ming

  26. Mostadmirablepoets (Northern Song) • Su Shi (Su Dongpo, 1037-1101) • The greatest poet of the Northern Song • Prose writer, calligrapher, literati-style painter, philosopher, theorist of art, literature, and medicine, … • Outspoken policy critic • 2,700 poems survive • Characterized by a remarkable variety of subject matters and minute attention to detail • Expressed his dissent when the New Policies were implemented

  27. Su Shi (cont’d.) • “Reply to Wang Anshi, Former Chief Councilor” (dated, 1084) • Riding a donkey, I come from afar to visit you, • Still imagine you as healthy as I knew. • You advise me to buy a house at your next gate, • I’d like to follow you, but it is ten years late.

  28. Rhyming with Ziyou’s “Treading the Green” East wind stirs fine dust on the roads, Fine chance for strollers to enjoy the new spring. Slack season—just right for roadside drinking, Grain still too short to be crushed by carriage wheels. City people sick of walls around them Clatter out at dawn and leave the whole town empty. Songs and drums jar the hills, grass and trees shake; Picnic baskets strew the fields where crows pick them over. Who draws a crowd there? A priest, he says, Blocking the way, selling charms and scowling: “Good for silkworms—give you cocoons like water jugs! Good for livestock—make your sheep big as deer!” Passers-by aren’t sure they believe his words— Buy charms anyway to consecrate the spring. The priest grabs their money, heads for a wine shop. Dead drunk, he mutters, “My charms really work!”

  29. Spring nightSu Shi 春宵一刻值千金 花有清香月有陰 歌管樓臺聲細細 鞦韆院落夜沈沈 Spring night—one hour worth a thousand gold coins; Clear scent of flowers, shadowy moon. Songs and flutes upstairs—threads of sound, In the garden, a swing, where night is deep and still.

  30. New Year’s Eve New Year’s Eve—you’d think I could go home early But official business keeps me. I hold the brush and face them with tears; Pitiful convicts in chains, Little men who tried to fill their bellies, Fell into the law’s net, don’t understand disgrace. And I? In love with a meager stipend I hold on to my job and miss the chance to retire Don’t ask who is foolish or wise All of us alike scheme for a meal The ancients would have freed them a while at New Year’s— Would I dare do likewise? I am silent with shame.

  31. Critique Public Officials “Lament of the Farm Wife of Wu” … We camped in a grass shelter a month by the fields the it cleared and we reaped the grain, followed the wagon home, Sweaty, shoulders sore, carting it to town— The price it fetched, you’d think we came with chaff, We sold the ox to pay taxes, broke up the roof for kindling We’ll get by for the time, but what of next year’s hunger? Officials demand cash now—they won’t take grain; The long northwest border tempts invaders Wise men fill the court—why do things get worse I’d be better off bride to the River Lord!

  32. “Written on a Painting Entitled ‘Misty Yangtze And Folded Hills’ in the Collection Of Wang Dingguo” A poem by Su Shi Calligraphy by Zhao Mengfu Yuan, Yuan

  33. Wang Shen’s “Misty Yangtze and Folded Hills” Complete version, Shanghai Art Museum, on silk, 42.5x166 mm

  34. Later artists often reproduced Song paintings Original painting By Wang Shen A reproduction by Dong Qichang, Ming

  35. Southern Song Poets • Lu You (Wuguan, Fangweng,1125-1210) • A jinshi degree holder • The most prolific of all Chinese poets; ten thousand poems were left behind • Poetry characterized by two recurrent themes • patriotism: Deep and abiding concern for the fate of his nation • celebration of the quiet joys of everyday life

  36. Lu You’s Poetry: Patriotism • “Long Sigh” (p.316) • “Written While Drunk” (p.317) • “Songs and Poems in Grass Script” (p.317) • “Border Mountain Moon” (p.318)

  37. Border Mountain Moon Fifteen years ago the edict came: peace with the invader; Our generals fight no more but idly guard the border. Vermilion gates still and silent; inside they sing and dance; Stabled horses fatten and die, bows come unstrung. From garrison towers the beat of kettles hurries the sinking moon; Lads who joined the troops at twenty, white-haired now. In the sound of the flutes who will read the brave man’s heart? Above the sands emptily shining, moon on warrior bones. Spear-clash on the central plain—these we’ve known from old. But when have traitorous barbarians lived to see their heirs? Our captive people, forbearing death, pine for release, Even tonight how many places stained with their tears?

  38. Joys and Regret in life “A Trip to Mountain West Village” 莫 笑 農 家 臘 酒 渾 豐 年 留 客 足 雞 豚 山 重 水 復 疑 無 路 柳 暗 花 明 又 一 村 蕭 鼓 追 隨 春 社 近 衣 冠 簡 朴 古 風 存 從 今 若 許 閑 乘 月 拄 杖 無 時 夜 叩 門 • Don’t laugh because it’s muddy—year-end wine brewed in country homes; • Harvests were good—to make the guest linger, fowl and pork aplenty. • Mountains multiply, streams double back—I doubt there’s even a road; • Willows cluster darkly, blossoms shine—another village ahead! • I’ll take my stick and, uninvited, come knock at your evening gate.

  39. Pipe and drum sounds tagging me—spring festival soon; • Rob, cap of plain and simple cut—they honor old ways here. • From now on, if I may, when time and moonlight allow,

  40. Addressed Women’s Plight • “Madam is Cruel”

  41. “Madam Is Cruel” A girl grows up hidden in far-off rooms, No glimpse of what may lie beyond her wall and hedge. Then she climbs the carriage, moves to her new lord’s home; Father and mother become strangers to her then. “I was stupid, to be sure, yet I knew That Madam, my mother-in-law, must be obeyed. Out of bed with the first cock’s crowing, I combed and bound my hair, put on blouse and skirt. I did my work, tidied the hall, sprinkling and sweeping,

  42. In the kitchen prepared their plates of food. Green green the mallows and goosefoot I gathered--- Too bad I couldn’t make them taste like bear’s paws. When the least displeasure showed in Madam’s face, The sleeves of my robe were soon damp with tear stains. My wish was that I might bear a son, to see Madam dandle a grandson in her arms. But those hopes in the end failed and came to nothing; Ill-fated, they made me the butt of slander. Driven from the house, I didn’t dare grumble, Only grieved that I’d betrayed Madam’s kindness.” On the old road that runs along the rim of the swamp, When fox fire glimmers through drizzling rain, Can you hear the voice crying “Madam is cruel!”? Surely it’s the soul of the wife sent home.

  43. Examples of Song Poetry Examples of Song Ci Examples of Song Shi Song Ci in Chinese Song Shi in Chinese

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