In order to truly understand the historical development of the two Song Dynasties, it is also necessary to understand the rise and destruction of the neighboring countries that existed at the same time as the Song.
First, the special historical and cultural background of the Song Dynasty
After the late Northern Song Dynasty experienced the drastic changes of the "Jingkang Difficulty", Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty established the Southern Song Dynasty in Hangzhou (Lin'an) in the midst of the storm, continuing the lifeblood of the Great Song Dynasty.
Lin'an, located in the rich land of Jiangnan, was also an important industrial manufacturing center in China at that time, and after becoming the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, it attracted a large number of people and commercial agglomerations, and its bustling city could not accommodate the scene of Beijing depicted in the "Map of the Upper River of the Qingming Dynasty".
However, although the Southern Song Empire had a wealth of industrial resources, the lack of proper service undertakings for the turnover, so that the economy failed to achieve a large breakthrough, or belonged to the small peasant generation after the upgrading of farming culture, affected by its influence, the military is also weak.
Therefore, under the influence of the nomadic culture in the north, the Jin and Mongols repeatedly invaded, the wind and rain fluctuated for 319 years, and finally embarked on the road to extinction.
Here is a very peculiar but difficult to interpret link, that is, the armed forces of the two Song Dynasties have been criticized by posterity, but his continuation time has exceeded the history of Chinese civilization, many dynasties are difficult to cross a big hurdle of three hundred years, and at this stage, the largest number of celebrities and poems have emerged, the most exquisite cultural and artistic creations, and have been respected by posterity.
Another feature is that all foreign policy during the Two Song Dynasties was peace purchased from the ethnic minorities in the north in the name of "nian coin". Such an outcome may be unexpected by those who are blindly arrogant, and as long as we understand that particular period of history, it is not difficult to explain how bizarre the result seems, but we must put forward a review of some plots that the ancient historians ignored and did not mention.
Second, the historical and cultural background of the Song Dynasty and the situation of the border neighbors of the Khitan Dynasty
The Northern Song Dynasty has always been accompanied by its humble neighbors, and the northeast is the Dynasty established by the Khitan - Liao.
The Liao Dynasty was a local ethnic regime established by the Khitan Yelü tribe, the cultural heritage is relatively shallow, the Khitan belongs to the Mongolian language family, but it has long been adjacent to the Han nationality, influenced by the advanced Central Plains culture, forming its own culture that integrates the farming culture, steppe nomadic culture and foreign Buddhist culture of the Central Plains. This race belongs to the nomadic culture, but traces of farming culture can be seen everywhere, they have been active in the northern region for more than 300 years, the Liao Dynasty is modeled on the Chinese Tang Dynasty cultural dynasty was established, it was founded 53 years earlier than the Late Northern Zhou Zhao Kuangyin founded the Song Dynasty.
The liao dynasty monarch Tongwen Mo, whose writing appeared in 920 AD, had received tribute from Goryeo, Uighurs, and Tubo. Before the founding of the Song Dynasty, even the Qian family known as the King of Wuyue in Zhejiang also paid tribute to the Liao Dynasty of the Khitans, so there are records of Liao invasions of the Song Dynasty in the history books of later generations, and it is at least not rigorous to interpret this passage from a historical point of view, it is earlier than the founding of the Song Dynasty, and it is the Song Dynasty that occupied most of its territory after the founding of the country.
In the liao dynasty's ruling methods, you can vaguely see the traces of the influence of the Tang Dynasty, that is, not only the central plains territory occupied by the Khitan had the bureaucratic governance of the Han people, but also in the rear of the Liao territory, according to historical records, countless officials, literati, craftsmen, elites, martial artists and monks and nuns also came from Middle-earth, which shows that on the one hand, it proves the depth of its sinicization, on the other hand, it also proves that the state and power of that period did not put the nation and blood in a particularly important position. It will attract and gather the common management of multi-ethnic personnel. From another point of view, the organizational ability of this semi-Hanized country is much more powerful than that of the simple nomadic peoples who were opposed by the strong Han and the Sheng Tang Dynasty. Those simple nomadic peoples are all wrapped up in nomadic raids, but they are only swift winds and thunder, but they are also fleeting charging forces, and learning the steady and steady fighting of the Han people has become extremely difficult to deal with.
Third, the historical and cultural background of the Great Song Dynasty and the characteristics of neighboring Western Xia
The eastern part of the Great Song Court was the Western Xia, and the Western Xia was not simply the barbarians we now think of. Their organization also belonged to the semi-Han chinese state influenced by Han culture, which was active in the areas it later occupied in the early Tang Dynasty, and when it confronted the Song people 400 years later, a Sinicized government already existed.
The Xixia script is based on the Tibetan language, and their acceptance of Chinese culture is beyond our imagination, and many important Confucian classics have long been translated into books. The Qiang people belong to the Tibetan ethnic group, and at this stage most of them have begun to cultivate agriculture and engage in agricultural production.
Therefore, in the 10th century AD, these ethnic minorities were characterized by a semi-Han state, obviously with the guidance and help of the Han people, which had greatly improved their cultural level, and perhaps they also had Han Chinese positions in their imperial court, so that the border defense problems faced by the Song Dynasty were different from those of its previous dynasties.
These nomads already had strong agricultural bases, and they fought defensively by learning to build cities. Moreover, the difficult geomorphological situation in the north is more favorable to them, and at the same time they also retain the characteristics of the rapid mobilization of the whole people to fight, and master the mobility on the battlefield, which is closely related to their traditional grassland living habits.
Although the Liao of khitan and the Qiang of Western Xia often clashed, they were consistent with each other when they fought against the Song. Become Song's lingering evil neighbor.
Fourth, the historical and cultural background of the Great Song Dynasty and the characteristics of neighbors
The three humble neighbors are jurchens, which originate in the upper reaches of the Songhua River in the northeast, and the language belongs to the Tungusic family, which is also associated with the manchurians in the future. In the early days, they were all Liao tribes, and in 1113 they rebelled against the suzerainty Liao and became independent, and a year later they called themselves "Jin", when the Northern Song Dynasty had paid taxes to the Liao for 110 years.
In 1118 AD, the Court of Zhao Tuo, in view of the success of the Independence of the Jin people, allied with them, looking forward to jointly attacking the Liao, hoping to take advantage of the success of military operations to recover Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures and complete the long-cherished wish of the dynasty.
Jin's attack on Liao, such as destroying and decaying, is effortless. In 1125 AD, without waiting for the assistance of the Song Dynasty, Jin destroyed the Liao.
The following year, these warriors who were far away in the north felt that they could take advantage of the new victory to deal with the Northern Song Dynasty, so they invaded the south in a big way. At the last moment, Zhao Biao passed on the eldest son. The Jin people immediately invaded Kaifeng, captured the current emperor of the Song Dynasty and the Emperor Taishang, and sent them to the northeast, where their father and son never returned to the south, and in the same year (1127) the Northern Song Dynasty collapsed.
Zhao Zhao's son Zhao Zhuo established himself as emperor and was historically known as the Southern Song Dynasty.
Chinese lack of strong national ideas also constituted a major weakness of the Zhao and Song dynasties. First of all, he negotiated peace and sought peace, then he borrowed foreign forces to eliminate barbarians, and finally cooperated with the Mongols to destroy Jin, which was also the main reason for the destruction of the Song Dynasty.
V. The historical and cultural background of the Song Dynasty and the characteristics of jade art
Our writing today focuses on the description of liao dynasty jade, as part of the Khitan Liao culture, it has distinct Khitan national characteristics and also contains many components of the jade art of the Central Plains culture.
In terms of creative design, most of the jade craftsmen should come from the education of the Tang and Song dynasties cultural background, combined with the cultural creation of the Khitan without too much constraint. In particular, according to the characteristics of nomadic life, the ability to shape and convey gods is very strong.
The shape and pattern are mainly animal themes, and there are fewer plant, geometric or human themes.
The work is full of vitality because it is not stylized and deliberately modified, and it is full of its strong atmosphere of life and cultural style.
Sixth, the basic characteristics and key points of appreciation of Liao Dynasty jade
Liao Dynasty jade refers to the jade made during the Liao rule and the ruling area, from the perspective of modeling style, it can be mainly divided into two categories:
The first type is jade with the characteristics of the Central Plains culture, which obviously inherits the relics of the Tang and five generations of jade, and is less influenced by Song jade, mainly including bowls, jars, cups, cups, cups, Yantai, water cups and other traditional Han daily life utensils and stationery utensils, and the ornamentation is also based on the dragon, phoenix, lotus lotus of the Han cultural system, and the artistic level is high.
The other type is the jade that belongs to the characteristics of the steppe culture, which not only reflects the living habits of the Khitan people, but also represents the cultural concept of the Khitan people, mainly including the belt, horse ornament, lid box, bottle, pendant, pendant, group pendant and some nomadic practical tools type.
The ornamentation is based on the animals and plants common in nomadic life, such as swans, birds, deer, bears, fish, bamboo, lotus flowers, and leaves, while jade pictures are the most rich works of art with Khitan ethnic characteristics.
There are also some jades that represent the Buddhist culture of the Khitan religious beliefs, mainly based on the Buddhist flying sky, Capricorn, gold-winged bird, etc. as the theme of modeling or ornamentation.
The ritual and religious use of jade by the Khitan nobles of the Liao Dynasty advocated white, especially hetian white jade.
The characteristics of the production process are: the shape is more likely to take the shape of the portrait, mainly animals, the natural and clumsy form, and the subtle and ingenious processing;
Flaky jade often uses hollowing techniques, which are intended to highlight the contours of the pattern, and the hollow shape is irregular; the use of random parallel yin lines to carve the ornament without showing the traces of rigidity and restraint.
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