Preface: The birth of the Song Dynasty ended the chaotic situation full of killing and strife for half a century, and after a long period of chaos, economic and social development was also restarted, and brilliant material and spiritual results were achieved, and some changes occurred in consumption.
First, the upper class consumption of the Song Dynasty
Clothing is an essential consumption in people's lives. In the early Song Dynasty, in order to be able to maintain the relationship between superiority and inferiority, the imperial court specially formulated a strict clothing hierarchy. Depending on the social class, clothing styles, colors, and accessories vary.
In addition to the official regulations, they also make all kinds of exquisite clothes, like to make gold and silver items into trinkets to hang on clothes, you can imagine that a piece of clothing is worth a lot.
In the dietary life of the Song Dynasty, mutton was an important source of meat, and the level of mutton consumption was also very high. According to historical records, the number of sheep used in the palace every year ranged from less than 14,000 to more than 120,000. In addition to the usual diet, a large amount of mutton is also consumed for the sacrifice activities of the temple and the reward of the ministers, and it can be imagined that the consumption of the entire upper class is really difficult to estimate.
The royal nobility is also more particular about diet, for example, in the diet must ensure a few meat and several vegetarians, the ingredients must also meet the regulations, different dishes also need different utensils and decorations to match.
As a durable consumer good, housing can be rented out after completion to receive a return, not only consumption but also investment, so the upper class of society generally spares no expense to buy or build. Most of the consumption of the upper class people tends to the beautiful environment and spiritual enjoyment near the big city.
In addition to the consumption of clothing, food, and housing, the upper class of the Song Dynasty also had a lot of consumption content in daily life. For example, festival consumption, home consumption, human favor consumption and amusement consumption.
The Song Dynasty attached great importance to festivals, so the amount consumed in festivals was large.
During the Lantern Festival, the Song Dynasty attached great importance to the activity of lantern viewing, and the imperial palace would hold a large-scale lantern exhibition. The House of Fortune will also display various forms of lighting in the upper Yuan Festival to show their financial strength, and this consumption has a certain luxury, and this luxury is also common in the upper class.
Lichun is also a very important solar term in the Song Dynasty, at this time the upper class people will find institutions to make some gifts, people give each other to celebrate the spring, it can be seen that the upper class consumes in the festival.
"Changsha craftsmen make tea ware extremely exquisite, straight, and equal to the amount of white gold used. There are many Shifu families, and they put a few cases in between, but they know that they are extravagant and boastful, and they are not commonly used at first. "This not only shows the refined luxury of the upper class in furniture consumption, but also shows its owners to show off their own wealth."
Fruit and flower consumption also accounts for a large proportion of the upper class.
They buy fruits and flowers either for food or as gifts. Therefore, in the purchase of such goods do not account for the price, often to double their value, this way of consumption caused a large number of fruit and flower merchants at that time to become rich overnight.
Human favor consumption is also a relatively large category of daily consumption. Song Dynasty officials not only had a lot of income, but also a high position in the upper echelons of society, so in the case of the ruined ethnic group of Mendi, mutual relations to seek official fortune Hengda became a necessary consumer expenditure for them. For example, in weddings or funerals, they are interspersed with human consumption.
In the Song Dynasty, there were many ways to play and consume in the upper class of society, and many significant characteristics also appeared. At that time, an event called "sekipo" appeared, and it became popular as a form of entertainment.
Second, the consumption of culture and education in the Song Dynasty
The continuous development of education in the Song Dynasty has also improved the cultural level of the entire society, and correspondingly made great breakthroughs in cultural and educational consumption. We will briefly describe the three aspects of pen, ink and paper, books and the development of academic education.
(1) Song dynasty pen, ink, paper and inkstone consumption
Encouraged by the "Right Text" policy, a large number of people who read and write appeared in the Song Dynasty, and there was a grand situation of "everyone respecting Kong Meng, and families reciting poetry books". Therefore, the huge demand for pens has made its consumption unprecedented prosperity, pens are consumables, the average literati will buy a lot at once, and will often buy. The variety of pens in the Song Dynasty market is very rich, which also reflects the diversity of consumption varieties of Song pens.
As one of the "Four Treasures of Wenfang", ink also had a very broad consumer market in the Song Dynasty, and it was not only used as a general cultural consumer goods, but also a part of it was used for collection. In the "History of Ink", there are records about literati and doctors who like to collect ink, such as "Wu Kaixi stores ink 'collecting ancient and modern famous products".
The expansion of papermaking raw materials and the advancement of papermaking technology in the Song Dynasty have improved the quality and quantity of paper. Paper has also become a necessity in people's lives and appears in all areas of life, such as printing books, paper money, banknotes and a large number of household paper products.
The "consumption of paper" discussed in this article is limited to paper as one of the "Four Treasures of the Library", that is, the consumer paper used for writing and painting. With the increase in the number of readers and the demand for paper in the Song Dynasty, the consumption of paper can be imagined to increase.
Because inkstone is a non-renewable property, coupled with the influence of the consumption preferences of the Song people, inkstone in the Song Dynasty, like ink, was not only used in cultural consumer goods, but also used for collection. Because of the different production areas and different materials, the production of inkstone has shown diversified characteristics, which reflects the diversity of Song people's consumption of inkstone.
The increase in demand, the easy consumption of cultural consumer products, and the special pen of literati and doctors for them made the Song Dynasty pen, ink and paper inkstone present the characteristics of large consumption, wide consumption and large consumption costs.
With the prosperity of the economy of the Song Dynasty, the development of handicrafts and commerce, and the popularization of woodblock printing technology, the number of books began to increase significantly. With the diversification of book sales, books began to spread throughout the country, and the book trade became more active. Books have become an important tool for cultural dissemination.
(2) Book consumption in the Song Dynasty
Book consumption refers to the act of buying books in the market. From the perspective of consumption theme, the book market mainly includes three ways: private book purchase, college book purchase, and temple temple and Taoist temple book purchase.
In the history of book collection, the Song Dynasty occupies a glorious page and has a milestone stage. During this period, book collection activities mainly had the characteristics of large number of people, wide distribution and large number of collections. The sources of private books in the Song Dynasty generally include inheritance, gifting, gifting, copying, exchange and purchase, among which purchase is undoubtedly one of the most important ways.
Most of the buyers of books are book lovers, in order to buy books, they will not spare money, and even spend most of their own income on buying books, such as "the gift of income, more to buy books", which reflects that in the daily life expenses of the Song people, book consumption accounts for a large proportion.
The college is a cultural and educational organization, mainly founded by private individuals, supplemented by official assistance and private learning. The educational function of academies became increasingly strong and became an important part of education in the Song Dynasty. A certain number of books are also collected in the academy to facilitate lectures and seminars.
The academy was an important consumer organization for books, and it was also very active in the book trade market in the Song Dynasty, and it was an important purchasing force.
(3) Consumption of education development in the Song Dynasty
Education flourished in the Song Dynasty, and gradually established a relatively complete education system, forming a three-in-one education system including school education, family education and social education, and various forms.
As an important way of personal development, education has spread to all walks of life. With the acceptance of education, there are also costs related to academic development. In the Song Dynasty, there were private schools, official schools, and three middle school education institutions in the academy.
The establishment of private schools in the Song Dynasty was very common, and it can also be divided into two forms: teacher teaching and family transmission. Family tradition means that parents teach their children themselves, so there is no tuition problem. Teacher teaching is also divided into private school, Yigaku Yijuku and family school, and this form of teaching has tuition fees or other related expenses.
The most popular teaching methods in the Song Dynasty were private school and family school. Private school is a school set up by the master at home to impart knowledge to his children.
A school is a school where rich people set up a school in their own home and hire a school teacher to educate their children. Both types of teaching are the same in that they need to pay tuition and other related fees, but the tuition fees for private schools are relatively small, and they can also be paid in kind such as grain and rice.
The Song people attach more importance to education, so even families with difficult lives will squeeze out a little money for their children to go to school and learn knowledge. For example, Li Xi's "Compilation of the Continuation of Zhi Tong Jian Chang" has recorded this phenomenon, "There are husbands who have a burden, and those who are very little, and the corn that seeks to be promoted and united every day, with a living wife and children, and one or two dollars in Shang Ri, so that the son can be enrolled, which is called a learning course." I also want to reward my children for reading and literacy and making progress. ”
Funding for Yixue is generally the main form of feudal family education in the Song Dynasty, which is funded by individual families or the joint efforts of the clan to build schools and invite teachers to educate and cultivate the children of the group. This form was also relatively common in the Song Dynasty, and some even became academies on a large scale.
Third, the life and consumption of women in the Song Dynasty
(1) Consumption of crown scarf jewelry
The names and shapes of women's crowns in the Song Dynasty were varied, and many of them were specially worn by concubines on some formal occasions, which were also the most expensive and expensive of the various crowns. For example, the horn crown, which is more popular in the palace, according to historical records, the cost of this horn crown is very expensive, so the consumption is generally noble women.
In the Song Dynasty, the flower crown was also one of the more popular in the crest. Originally, the flower crown was decorated with various flowers, but because the flowers did not last long, various silk and silk fake flowers were used instead of flowers. Because the cost of this kind of corolla is relatively low, it is widely used by consumers.
The crown of pearls is decorated with beads on the crown, and the value of the crown of pearls is also very precious, so it is not something that ordinary women can consume, and those who can wear the crown of pearls in the Song Dynasty are people with a very prominent status.
Hijab was also a popular type of headdress at the time. Women wear hijabs when they go out, which not only protects against wind and sand, but also can be used to "avoid faces". Hijabs are suitable for women of all levels and various occasions, so the consumption of hijabs in the Song Dynasty is also very large.
(2) Jewelry consumption
It is the most common type of jewelry in women's head jewelry in the Song Dynasty, so its consumer group is also very extensive. In the court, the hair of the empress and concubines will be meticulous and costly. Ordinary women love beauty, and sometimes they also have valuable gold.
Katsuya is a headdress, a flower or branch-like ornament carved from gold, jade, and gemstones. In the victory, it will also be divided into gold victory, silver victory, Luo Sheng, weaving victory, treasure victory, human victory and other forms. Because the wearing occasions of victory are very extensive, women's consumption of victory is also more extensive.
Combs and grates are all items used by ancient women to comb their hair or for head decoration, mostly made of wood, crystal, rhino jade, ivory and other materials. Women in the Song Dynasty generally liked to insert combs as decoration for their hair buns.
Huadan is a face ornament of women in the Song Dynasty, also known as "huazi", which developed from plum blossoms on the forehead into a variety of huadan used to decorate the face.
Earrings and earrings were also widely circulated among women at that time. There are not only earrings made of precious materials, but also relatively cheap copper ring earrings suitable for ordinary women's consumption, and copper ring earrings are the most widely used people.
(3) Consumption of cosmetics
What did women use as foundation for makeup in the Song Dynasty? The most important of these is lead powder. Its main ingredient is basic lead carbonate, which must be mixed with water when used in makeup, so it is also called "gouache". Women in the Song Dynasty were very fond of lead powder, so lead powder had a large consumption. In addition to lead powder, women's foundations include snow dan, cinnamon powder and pollen.
There were two main types of oils used by women in the Song Dynasty - tea oil and flower seed oil. In addition, they also have many specific names, such as balsam, because it usually has a strong aroma, so it is called balsam. It is generally formulated from sesame oil, flowers and spices. This balm is popular with women because it is applied to the face to make the skin look pink and natural.
Eyebrows were also an important step in the makeup of women in the Song Dynasty. In the past, women used dai, but in the Song Dynasty, women used ink without dai, and in the Song Dynasty, they invented the technique of light coal eyebrow pointing, as well as a hundred eyebrow diagram, which can change an eyebrow style every day. In the market, there are also products for women specifically for thrush - thrush chika pills.
Rouge is also a kind of facial cosmetics, women in the Song Dynasty will use it to modify the face, can achieve the visual effect of the face is more charming, so in the Song Dynasty, the consumption of rouge is huge, and then it also drives the development of the commodity economy. Lip fat is a special rouge type of cosmetics, and dyeing vermilion lips is also an important process in makeup.
(4) Consumption of incense medicine
The prosperity of overseas trade in the Song Dynasty and the large supply of imported incense medicines made its consumption of incense medicines also a fashion, from royal families and aristocratic women, to commoner women and Qinglou singers. In addition to consuming incense in the form of burning incense and smoking clothes, wearing sachets also became fashionable at that time.
Incense can not only be used as an accessory to smell its fragrance, but also after processing, it can also be eaten. In "Pingzhou Can Talk", it is recorded: "In this world, secular guests will sip tea, and go to sip soup." The soup takes the sweet and fragrant crumbs of medicinal herbs, either warm or cool, and those who do not use licorice, this custom is all over the world. "The variety of foods that can be processed by incense medicine is very rich, and most of them are favored by women.
The most amazing thing is that the Song Dynasty even invented the use of high-grade spices to make women's ornaments. For example, there are "familiar brains" that can be made into face flowers, earrings, and wear. There are also "fake rose noodle flowers" made from various spices, which not only have a beautiful shape and color, but also emit a fragrance.
IV. Conclusion
The concentration of wealth and the increase in economic income are nothing more than laying the foundation for high consumption. The increase in high consumption, from the macro structure of consumption, is mainly the development of enjoyable consumption, developmental consumption and spiritual consumption, and from the perspective of consumption mode, it is the popularity of certain fashionable, extravagant, and conspicuous consumption.
Bibliography:
[1] Taiping Guangji, [Song] Li Fang, Beijing Zhonghua Bookstore, 1982.
[2] Song Wenjian, [Song] Lv Zuqian, Beijing Zhonghua Bookstore, 1992.
[3] "Mozhuang Manga", [Song] Zhang Bangji, Beijing Zhonghua Bookstore, 2002.
[4] "Capital City Jisheng", [Song] Neidwen, Taipei Wenhai Publishing House, 1981.
[5] "Song Dynasty Facts Garden", [Song] Jiang Shaoyu, Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1981.
[6] Tokyo Menghua Record, [Song] Meng Yuanlao, Shao Zhicheng's Note, Beijing Zhonghua Bookstore, 1982.