Abstract: Since Qian Mu put forward the theory of "poverty and weakness" in the Song Dynasty, people have almost regarded it as the basic characteristic of the Song Dynasty, but this does not correspond to the facts. The territory of the Song Dynasty was smaller than that of the Tang Dynasty, but the economy was more developed than that of the Tang Dynasty, and the fiscal revenue was also higher than that of the Tang Dynasty. Three of the four major inventions were mainly in the Song Dynasty, which was not poor compared to any previous dynasty, and was even richer. If we look at the strength of the Song Dynasty in terms of military strength, the Song Dynasty was slightly weaker than the Liao and Jin, and the offensive strength was insufficient, while the defense was more than enough. Compared with Xixia, the strength is slightly stronger. Mongolia was the most powerful empire in the world at that time, and only the Song Dynasty could resist for decades, and from the perspective of the world, it could be regarded as a powerful country. If we consider the overall national strength, Song not only cannot be said to be weak, but should also be said to be quite strong. Compared with the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the territory is about the same, and the economy is much more developed, and the Eastern Jin Dynasty does not call it "poor and weak", why just put this hat on the Southern Song Dynasty, which is obviously unjust.
Source: Journal of Shaanxi Normal University, Issue 03, 2004
The Song Dynasty was originally an extremely glorious dynasty in Chinese history, but the four words "poverty and weakness", like a thousand pounds of burden, pressed on its head, and firmly attached to the Song Dynasty like a magnet, when the Song Dynasty is mentioned, people will immediately think of the four words "poverty and weakness", thinking that this is the biggest feature of the Song Dynasty, and thus mistakenly think that it is the worst dynasty in Chinese history, and even have an aversion to it, it seems that in addition to the Song Dynasty, the history of the Song Dynasty is not worth mentioning. In the face of this well-established conclusion and its significant impact, I think it is absolutely necessary to conduct a serious investigation and in-depth study to see where this theory came from, and whether it really corresponds to the facts.
1. The origin of the theory of "poverty and weakness".
The people of this dynasty should know the history of this dynasty best, but a closer examination of the theory of "poverty and weakness" has not been proposed by anyone in the Song Dynasty. Even when Song Renzong and Shenzong changed the law, in order to persuade the monarch and support the reform, Fan Zhongyan, Wang Anshi and other reformers tried their best to list various problems, and even exaggerated the seriousness of the problems. Looking at the Yuan and Ming books in the "Siku Quanshu", no one has mentioned the words "poor and weak".
In other words, no one said the word "poverty" in the Song Dynasty. In the late Southern Song Dynasty, in the first year of Duanping (1234) and the second year, Zhen Dexiu, Wei Liaoweng and others successively mentioned that the national situation was "weak", but Zhen Dexiu also believed that the strength and weakness could be changed, saying: Shaoxing was weaker than Jin in the early Song Dynasty, and after Han Shizhong, Yue Fei and others fought hard, they became stronger (Note: Zhen Dexiu's "Xishan Anthology" volume 14 "Manuscript of Yue Yi", Wei Liaoweng's "The Complete Works of Mr. Heshan" volume 33 "Dai Nan's Uncle Brother Shangfei Participates in Politics", Li Zengbo's "After Kezhai Continues" volume 3 "Hui Chenhan Fu Zhi Shi Song", Wang Yishan's "Jiacun Class Manuscript" volume 3 "Yihai March Shangdian Wheel Pair Second Book", Wenyuan Pavilion Siku Quanshu. ）。 Lü Zhong, Lin Ji and others refer to Ren and Ying (Note: Lü Zhong's "Memorabilia Handouts" volume 11. It was made after the 7th year of Chunyu (1247). Lu Zhong's "On Han Fan Concentric" cloud: "Yuan Hao dares to rely on the mausoleum." Everyone thinks that Baoyuan and Kangding are weak", Wenyuan Pavilion four libraries are full of books. Volume 4 of Lin Ji's "Decisive Branch Source Flow to the Later Collection" was compiled in the second year of Baoqing (1226), and the whole book of the four libraries of Wenyuan Pavilion. Volume 19 of "Qunshuhui Yuan Jiejiang Net", compiled in the 11th year of Chunyou (1251) to 12th (1252), the whole book of the four libraries of Wenyuan Pavilion. ）。 As for those who only say "weak", there are quite a few, such as Ye Shi of the Southern Song Dynasty said: "The weakness of the world is not much better than that of this dynasty after counting the ancients...... and Yuan Hao's rebellion,...... The situation is a big song, and the world understands that it is weak evidence. [1] ("Shuixin Collection" volume 5 "Ji Gang III") This statement that "the ancients have been the country, no more than the people of this dynasty" is too exaggerated, is it possible that Shi Jin, who cut the land and founded the country and died in ten years, is also stronger than the Song Dynasty? However, it is worth noting that in such a high tone, he did not mention the words "poor and weak".
At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Wang Fuzhi's "Song Treatise" volume 6 said: "Renzong reigned for forty-one years, dissolved the world and rested...... The country is weak", "Renzongzhi is too loose and weak, but it is not poor". "The mistake of the Divine Sect is that he is anxious to worry about poverty, but he does not know that the trouble is not poverty." In the whole book, he only talked about Song Renzong when he talked about the word "weakness", and categorically denied the theory of "poverty".
Where does "poverty and weakness" come from? It is difficult to determine who first proposed it and when, but in terms of the works that have influenced the views of today, the representative early book is probably Qian Mu's "Outline of National History" published in 1939, in which the title of Chapter 31 of the sixth part of the two Song Dynasty departments is "The New Central Committee of Poverty and Weakness", and the subdivisions below it are "The Song Dynasty's External Weakness" and "The Poverty Inside the Song Dynasty Is Difficult to Treat", which makes a fairly detailed discussion of the "poverty" and "weakness" of the Song Dynasty, and its conclusion is that "the fate of poverty and weakness cannot be extricated from it". By 1963, the third volume of Jian Bozan's "Outline of Chinese History": "Song Shenzong...... Will...... Wang Anshi was summoned to the government to participate in political affairs, and he should rely on him to change the law and establish the system, enrich the country and strengthen the army, and change the status quo of poverty and weakness. The phrase "poor and weak" has been introduced. As a very authoritative textbook, they have a great influence, not only by scholars, but also deeply rooted in the minds of students, so that there is a great misunderstanding of the history of the Song Dynasty, thinking that the Song Dynasty was really poor and backward.
2. On the issue of "poverty".
"Poverty" refers to poverty, and "accumulated poverty" refers to long-term poverty. Qian Mu said: "Song Dynasty...... Internally, there is poverty all the year round, and the more troublesome it becomes, the more fierce it becomes, almost too poor to support. Was the Song Dynasty really "poor" to such an extent? From the perspective of the national economy as a whole, the Song Dynasty was not poor. Let's start by looking at the state of agriculture. The cultivated land in the Tang Dynasty was 6.2 million hectares, and in the Song Dynasty it was 5.24 million hectares (the above is only calculated according to the tax land held by the state, excluding hidden land). Because the Tang ruler is smaller than the Song ruler, one mu in the Tang Dynasty is about 0.783 mu today, and one mu in the Song Dynasty is about 0.974 mu today, and the above cultivated land is converted into today's mu, the cultivated land in the Tang Dynasty is more than 4.85 million hectares, and the Song Dynasty is more than 5.11 million hectares. According to another algorithm, the cultivated land in the Tang Dynasty was 3.37 million hectares, and the cultivated land in the Song Dynasty was more than 4.72 million hectares, which was 40% more in the Song Dynasty than in the Tang Dynasty. Although the territory of the Song Dynasty was much smaller than that of the Tang Dynasty, there was more arable land than the Tang Dynasty. It can be seen that in the degree of land development, the Song has surpassed the Tang.
The best indicator of the level of agricultural development is the yield per unit area. In the Tang Dynasty, the fertile Guanzhong region produced two stones of rice per mu[2], while many areas in the Song Dynasty had reached two to three stones per mu. Chen Fuliang said: "Fujian and Zhejiang Shangtian collect three stones of rice, and two stones of inferior class"[3] ("The Collected Works of Mr. Zhiyi", vol. 44, "Guiyang Jun's Persuasion of Nongwen"). In the Song Dynasty, "two stones of rice, one stone of rice" [4] ("Song Hui Yao Manuscript", food and goods 63-217). According to this, the rice is converted into grain, and the yield per mu reaches four to six stones. Fan Zhongyan's "Answering the Edict of Chen Shice" said: In the area of Suzhou, "the benefits of Zhongni can get two to three stones of rice per mu"[5] ("Fan Wenzheng's Public Collection· on the Recital Volume). Zhu Xi said: In eastern Zhejiang, "the six counties are 2 million mu of land, and each mu produces two stones of rice" [6] ("Zhu Wen's Official Document Collection", vol. 16, "The Matter of Famine Relief"). Wang Yan said: In the area of Ezhou, "the fields of ointment, one acre of grain and three hu, and the inferior fields, one mu of two hu", [7] ("Shuangxi Collection", vol. 1, "Shanglin Ezhou Book"). The most prominent example is in Mingzhou (present-day Ningbo) in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, due to the benefit of Guangde Lake irrigation, "Yinxian Seven Township Folk Fields", "six or seven shuo per mu of grain harvest" [4] ("Song Hui Yao Manuscript" Food and Goods 7-45). It set a new record for the yield per mu in ancient times. At the peak of the Tang Dynasty, 3 million stones of grain were transported to the national capital every year, and 6 million stones of grain were transported to Bianjing every year by the six roads of Lianghuai, Jiangnan and Liangzhejiang in the Song Dynasty.
The handicraft industry in the Song Dynasty was also very developed, the most typical example is that a foreign scholar calculated that the output of iron in the Song Dynasty exceeded the output of Britain and France during the Industrial Revolution combined.
The prosperity of commerce is obvious to all, the city square area was broken, the shops are no longer limited by the city square, a large number of towns have risen, Kaifeng and Hangzhou have become the most prosperous metropolises in the world at that time, and Hangzhou has become a paradise in the pen of Marco Polo.
With the great development of overseas trade and the invention and widespread use of the compass, Song money has become the common currency of many countries, as evidenced by the fact that many countries in Asia and Africa often unearthed Song money. The economic development of the Song Dynasty has reached an unprecedented height, and the predecessors have discussed a lot, and we can only point to it here. Can a "poor" country have such a good record?
Many people interpret "poverty" as government poverty, which refers to a long-term fiscal deficit. First, is a deficit in government finances the only measure of a country's wealth and poverty? The United States government often runs deficits, but who can deny that it is a superpower? Before the "Cultural Revolution," the mainland had been balancing its balance of payments for a long time, and was it not still in the ranks of the third world, and the people's living standards were quite low? There are deficits year after year, but who can deny that the economy is now more developed than in the past and the national income is much higher than in the past? Only when the national economy has declined sharply and the fiscal deficit cannot be made up can it be considered "poor". If this situation persists for a long time, it can be called "poverty".
Secondly, look at the specific situation of the government revenue and expenditure in the Song Dynasty, is there a long-term deficit? This is not the case. During the period of Taizu, Taizong, and Zhenzong in the Northern Song Dynasty, income has always exceeded expenditure, and this is still the case in the early and middle periods of Renzong. In the reign of Huang You, it was mentioned for the first time in the "Huang You Accounting Record" that "wealth is more than Jingde, and the income of the years is more than what is entered"[8] ("History of the Song Dynasty", vol. 292, "Tian Guo Biography"). But at the same time, another book says that this record records the income of the year, "there is no surplus"[9] ("Yuhai", vol. 185, "Huangyou Accounting Record"), which means that after the expenditure, there is no surplus, in other words, the income and expenditure are generally balanced. Taken together, there is probably a bit of an overrun, but it's not huge. Zeng Gong's "Discussion of Funds Notes" said: "The annual income of the world, the emperor and the peace are more than 100 million, and the annual fee is also more than 100 million" [10] (Zeng Gongji, vol. 30). Or is it that the balance of income and expenditure is basically balanced. It is clearly recorded that the income is greater than the expenditure in the first year of Zhiping (1064) and the second year, "Literature General Examination · National Use": in the second year of Zhiping, 116 138 405, out 120 343 674, out of 11 821 278, and Zhulu Ji 160 292 093. If the latter can be understood as local fiscal revenue, then if we look at the situation of the central government alone, the revenue is greater than the expenditure, but with the addition of local fiscal revenue, the revenue is still greater than the expenditure. It is precisely because the national economy is in the midst of a continuous rise that although the central government has seen a financial change in the short term, the nongovernmental and local finances are still relatively good, so as soon as Wang Anshi implements the reform, the fiscal deficit will be resolved immediately. During the period of Wang Anshi's reform, there was no essential change in the means of production and the relations of production, and it was impossible for the productive forces to be significantly improved. Yuan You overthrew the change of law, the central government reappeared financial difficulties, so Shaosheng once again implemented the new law, the central finance was changed, it is precisely because of the abundant financial resources as support, there is a move to copy the Western Xia, the war in Hexi is victorious, so that the Western Xia is in a passive situation of being beaten.
In addition, the income of the central government of the Song Dynasty was divided into two large parts, in addition to the government, there was also the emperor's inner treasury, the number of which was considerable, such as the Fengchun treasury of Shenzong, which could be used to recover the sixteen states of Youyun. When there is a gap in the treasury, it is often filled by the treasury. For example, once in June of the second year of the Qingli calendar, he took out 2 million taels of silver and 2 million horses of silk to make up for the shortage of funds for the three divisions[11] ("The Complete Works of Music", vol. 23, "On the Cashier of the National Budget"). By the late Northern Song Dynasty, the emperor's money and goods in front of the emperor had increased significantly, and of the 1.8 million guan tea in the third year of Daguan (1109) alone, 1 million guan were included in the emperor's pocket [8] ("History of the Song Dynasty", vol. 186, "Food and Goods"). The so-called "Fengheng Yuda" in the Song Huizong period, unlimited extravagance and waste, although it is absurd, can also reflect from one side that the financial situation at that time was by no means poor.
There is a hypothetical belief that the Song Dynasty gave Liao, Xia, and Jinnian coins, which made it poor and had to be desperately looted, which comprehensively intensified social contradictions and eventually led to the collapse of the regime [12]. In fact, the number of annual coins was very limited, accounting for only a small proportion of the state revenue, and it could be compensated in mutual trade, taking the tea trade between the Song and Jin as an example, the Jin side had to pay 300,000 taels of silver per year (700,000 taels per piece), which alone was more than the 250,000 taels paid by the Song side in the Shaoxing Peace Conference[13](p84).
3. On the issue of "weakness".
Was the Song Dynasty weak? On the surface, its territory is far inferior to that of Han and Tang, and it was successively bullied by Liao, Western Xia, Jin, and Mongolia until it lost its country. However, the truth is not so simple, see the analysis below.
Look at the Northern Song Dynasty first, its opponent Liao State is indeed very powerful, and the Song side sent troops several times to recover You, Yun and other places, but they all ended in failure. But then the Liao soldiers repeatedly went south, there was no progress in Hedong (now Shanxi), in Hebei, only took Yizhou, and even the Ying and Mo Erzhou captured by Zhou Shizong from the Liao side were not recaptured, and then the two sides finally reached an alliance of Yuanyuan, and the price of the Song side was to give the New Year's coin every year. In a society where Confucianism dominates to save face, this is naturally considered a shameful thing and should be condemned. However, the Song people did not see it that way, and Wang Anshi, who is most praised by modern historians, wrote in the poem "Lanzhou": "From now on, the Prime Minister Lai Gonggong is the first"[14] (Linchuan Collection, vol. 5). Not only did he not think that the alliance of the abyss was a disgrace, but he thought that it was Kou Zhun's great achievement. How should this be explained? In terms of cavalry, Liao was stronger than Song, but although the Song side lacked offensive strength and had more defense, its economic strength was far superior to that of Liao, and it was more durable than Liao. If we continue to fight like this, no one will be able to eat anyone, and it will only be an endless war of attrition, which will be a disaster for both sides, but only peace can be negotiated and better for both sides, and there can be a stable environment, production can develop normally, and life will be improved accordingly. As for the content of the peace treaty, it is always necessary to make more concessions to the side with a slightly inferior military force. As far as the economically powerful Song side is concerned, it is not an incompetent burden to pay some money, and besides, it can also be compensated through border trade (mutual market). In modern language, spend money to buy stability.
As far as the Western Xia is concerned, the strength of the Song side should be said to be stronger than that of the Western Xia, but the Western Xia defected to the Liao, and the Liao contained the Song, so that the Song could not deal with the Western Xia with all its might, and the war had each other's victories and defeats, and gradually transformed to the aspect that was favorable to the Song, and by the time of Zhezong and Huizong, the Song had formed a three-sided encirclement of the Western Xia, and the Western Xia, which lacked economic strength, could not afford a war of attrition.
Compared with the strength of the Southern Song Dynasty and Jin, at first, Jin was strong and Song was weak, but after more than ten years, the situation was different, and the two sides entered the stage of strategic stalemate, so there was the first peace negotiation. Soon, Wushu took power, tore up the peace treaty, and went all out to the south in an attempt to destroy the Southern Song Dynasty, but under the repeated blows of Yue Fei, Liu Qi and other armies, they had to retreat step by step, and the Song side began to turn to a counteroffensive. If it weren't for the deliberate sabotage by Gaozong and Qin Hui, the removal of the general's military power, and even the killing of the famous general Yue Fei, it would be entirely possible for the Song side to recover the lost territory, at least the land south of the Yellow River could be recovered. The two sides finally reached a peace agreement, and Song ended it with New Year's coins. Later, Wanyan Liang went south, but still failed. Generally speaking, the strength of Song and Jin is basically equal, and Song is slightly weaker.
Compared with Mongolia, the Southern Song Dynasty was inferior to Mongolia, this is a fact, but it should be noted that the Mongolia army was a superpower that broke the invincible hand of the world at that time, and was regarded as a yellow peril by the West, and they often leveled a country in only a few months, but the Southern Song Dynasty persisted in resisting for decades, allowing the Mongolia khans to die under the Diaoyu City. What country in the world can do that? In terms of its strength, it can almost be said that it is second only to Mongolia, and it is also a powerful country in the world at that time. Just like now, United States is a superpower, should Britain, France and other countries be included in the list of "poor and weak"?
To summarize the characteristics of a dynasty, we must consider using the same ruler as other dynasties. The Tang Dynasty was glorious for more than 100 years, but after the "Anshi Rebellion" to its demise for more than 150 years, the time was about the same as the entire Northern Song Dynasty, and the territory was not much larger than that of the Northern Song Dynasty. It was also often bullied by the Hui and Tubo, plagued by peasant rebellions, and threatened by warlords, and was also breached in the capital, and in order to thank the Hui for helping to recover the eastern and western capitals, it also paid 20,000 horses of silk every year[15] ("Zizhi Tongjian" volume 220 Suzong Zhide 2nd year November), and even a very unequal mutual market, exchanging a large amount of money for a batch of unusable inferior horses, which did not even happen in the Song Dynasty, but happened in the Tang Dynasty (Note: Sima Guang's "Zizhi Tongjian" volume 224 in the eighth year of the Great Calendar (773)" In May, Hui Hui since the Qianyuan Dynasty years to seek peace in the city, each horse is easy to forty pieces, moving to tens of thousands, the horses are barren and useless, the court is bitter, and the city can not be counted. Those who are waiting to be sent back to the future are often endless, and they want to please their wishes, and they will do their best. Autumn and July are ugly, return to the resignation, and carry more than 1,000 rides of the legacy and horse price sharing. "Wenyuan Pavilion Siku Quanshu.). If you want to talk about the degree of poverty and weakness, I'm afraid it's worse than Song, at least it's hard to be a brother! Why has no one ever called it "poor and weak"? The Western Jin Dynasty and the Eastern Jin Dynasty are the most similar to the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty, both of which had two emperors as prisoners, both of whom moved south from the capital, so why not call the Jin a dynasty that was "poor and weak"? Why can't dynasties be measured in the same size?
From the present point of view, the criterion for judging a country's strength or weakness is more important to look at its comprehensive national strength. If analyzed according to the comprehensive strength, Song should be said to surpass Liao and Jin. As mentioned earlier, its economic strength is stronger than that of Liao and Jin. Its science and technology far exceed Liao, gold, the world history played a revolutionary role in gunpowder, papermaking, printing, compass, are in the Song Dynasty appeared or promoted, a large number of gunpowder use is in the Song Dynasty, papermaking, printing technology has been invented for a long time, but only when used in large quantities, can really play a major role in the national economy and culture, the Tang Dynasty is mainly printed Buddhist scriptures and calendars, science and technology and culture of the book is only a handful of a few, to the Song Dynasty is completely different, the books of various disciplines are all printed in large quantities, Professional households that rely on printing to make a living have appeared, and the great development of the printing industry has made the invention of movable type printing a reality. Although the Silk Road was not accessible, the more important seafaring routes were smoother and more developed because of the extensive use of the compass.
The quality of the people is higher than that of the previous dynasties and the Liao and Jin dynasties, and this is reflected in the great development of education, not only the government and schools are very developed, but also the large number of private or government-private academies have emerged, and in terms of academies, the Tang, Liao, and Jin dynasties combined are less than 10% of those of the Song Dynasty. The proportion of scholars in the Song Dynasty far exceeded that of the Tang, Liao, and Jin. Taking Chaozhou as an example, when Han Yu went to the assassin history in the Tang Dynasty, there was only one Xiucai, and in the Northern Song Dynasty, it increased to several hundred, to the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty, nearly 2,000, in the middle of the Southern Song Dynasty more than 4,000, and at the end of the Song Dynasty, it reached tens of thousands, and among the more than 140,000 people, there were tens of thousands of people studying [16] ("Yongle Dadian" volume 5343, quoted in "Sanyang Zhi"), what a considerable proportion! You know, it was not a developed area in the Song Dynasty!
Under the relaxed policy of intellectuals, the academic culture has been highly developed, and the academic atmosphere is unprecedentedly active, and it can be said that after the Warring States Period, another era of a hundred schools of thought contended, and many philosophical schools emerged: Lixue, Xinxue, Shuxue, Xinxue, Xinxue, and ....... Many new academic fields have been opened, such as epigraphy and paleography, and new genres such as chronology, poetry, and bibliography have been created. With the great development of the imperial examination system, the distribution of jinshi is also more reasonable than in the past, and there were many blank spots in the south in the past, which were filled in the Song Dynasty, and the rational distribution of talents has played a good role in narrowing regional differences.
The above shows that if we consider it from the perspective of comprehensive national strength, the Song Dynasty can not only be said to be weak, but should also be said to be quite strong.
In short, it is inaccurate to summarize the characteristics of the Song Dynasty as "poor and weak", it does not reflect the essence of the Song Dynasty, and it is easy to cause misunderstanding of Song history, which should be corrected.