The Song Dynasty can be said to be a historical period that was "born of sorrow and good at worrying"; under this general situation, the Song Dynasty's economic development, culture and art still achieved a lot of achievements, and these achievements are in line with the activeness of the gentry masses. Active activities are inseparable. In the process of moving toward popularization, secularization, and humanistic culture and art, the squire's understanding of his own literary and artistic activities is actually within the overall framework of "aiming for Tao, relying on virtue, relying on benevolence, and wandering in art." Understood. During the Song Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, in the face of severe internal and external challenges and life pressures, the country gentry showed perseverance and perseverance in pursuing a happy life, creating rich material wealth and touching spiritual wealth.

Deng Xiaonan: Expert professor in the History Department of Peking University and President of the Institute of History and Humanities. He is the author of several classics such as "The Law of the Ancestors: A Brief Introduction to the Politics of the Early Northern Song Dynasty", "Aspects of the Civil Service Selection System in the Song Dynasty", "Results, Qualifications and Inspections - A Side Story on the Civil Service Assessment System of the Tang and Song Dynasties", "Langrun Academic History Collection", etc. book. The general trend of the world is divided into north and south

In the Zhao and Song dynasties, I think most of them can be summarized simply by the eight words "born from worry, good at worrying".

20 In the middle and late period of the new century, academic circles have been accusing the Zhao and Song dynasties of being "poor and weak" regarding the overall national strength. Mr. Qian Mu's "Outline of National History" painfully felt that the Song Dynasty was "poor and weak". "Treatment" and "accumulation of weakness", many textbooks later also used this term. Such a conclusion reflects, to a certain extent, the historical characteristics of the Song Dynasty that were “born in sorrow and good at worrying”.

In the history of the Song Dynasty, there were indeed situations of "poverty" and "foreign invasion". In the Song Dynasty's terminology, "poverty" generally refers to people's livelihood projects rather than fiscal expenditure considerations; "foreign aggression" refers to the country's weakness and sluggishness in the opening-up war. The two are not talking about the same problem; the attention and criticism directed at the relevant situation reflect the continuous existence of the problem and the people's sense of crisis.

The historical period of the Song Dynasty was always faced with very serious external pressure. The Zhao and Song dynasties were not a unified dynasty in the strict sense. In the words of the Song people, "the world was divided into the north and the south." In fact, it was another "Han Dynasty" stage in China's history. In the north, there were always Khitan, Chinese political parties such as the Dangxiang, Jurchen, and Mongolian ethnic groups coexist with them. The territory of the Song Dynasty was the narrowest among the major dynasties in China; in the Song Dynasty, the Yellow River-Dasanguan line was used as the boundary between the Song and Jin Dynasties, which was also a small corner. The overall pattern of internal and external troubles

The history of the Song Dynasty showed many seemingly different situations. From this perspective, it can also be said that this period had a very broad space for scientific research. We have not only seen the glorious achievements in economic development, culture, and organizational construction during the two and three hundred years of the Song Dynasty, but also painfully felt the vicissitudes of the end of the dynasty. In such a period, on the one hand, there were kings like Song Huizong who were particularly fond of plastic arts, who imposed and exaggerated the "prosperous age"; on the other hand, this stage was not three hundred years of peace, but was followed from beginning to end. Challenges from environmental factors.

The decline in military strength of the Song Dynasty has been criticized over the years. Some experts and scholars pointed out: "Looking at the key battles between the Song Dynasty and the Liao, Northern Wei, Jin, and Mongol empires, if we consider the two basic methods of warfare, attack and defense, and the purpose of each other's war, the failure of the Song Dynasty's national defense was greatly Some of them occurred at the level of offensive wars launched by the Song Dynasty. However, most of the offensive and defensive wars that the Song Dynasty launched in the region to resist attacks from the Liao, Northern Wei, Jin, and Mongols were able to achieve good results. ""The most sensitive and strategic framework of the Song Dynasty. What is most unable to withstand the test is the stage where friendship suddenly turns into a strategy." This kind of passive state in national defense is incompatible with my country's basic national policy of "defending the internal and external" and "strengthening the weak branches" that Song Taizong had up to now. Closely related: the key is to prevent internal chaos, while opening up to the outside world reduces defense capabilities. "Establishing Discipline" and "Invoking Harmony"

The Song Dynasty was not a period when China was more prosperous and powerful in history, but a period of prosperity for the development of civilized behavior.

In terms of the depth and breadth of its territory, what the Song Dynasty carried out was not unification in a true practical sense compared with the previous dynasty; and the depth and scope of its control over the territory were beyond what the previous dynasties could achieve. Difficult to compare. Since the Song Dynasty, there has never been a more serious situation in China's history where warlords collapsed. This is directly related to the "ancestral method" that the Song Dynasty paid attention to to prevent defects.

The political situation of the Song Dynasty respected stability and valued adjustment. "Stability above all else" was an important goal of official government. Scholars generally believe that the Song Dynasty court was "called the wiser among all dynasties in China" and did not interfere much in terms of folk culture, economic development, social development and other aspects. "Establishing discipline and principles" and "calling for harmony" are the two important axes of the policies and setbacks of Zhao and Song's rule. "Ji Gang" (or "Gang Ji") is actually laws and regulations, policies and regulations, or rules and regulations; so-called "easy-going", in the hearts of Song people, is a kind of harmony that interacts with the yin and yang of heaven and earth and operates naturally. gas. The paired t-test of these two axes formed the political theme at that time.

Part of the painting of auspicious cranes by Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty is collected by the Liaoning History Museum. On the eve of the Shangyuan Festival in the second year of Zhenghe of the Song Dynasty (that is, the sixteenth day of the first lunar month in the year 1112), clouds suddenly suspended in the sky in Bianjing, the capital of the country, and a group of cranes flew. The sound echoed in the sky of the castle and lingered for a long time. Huizong thought it was a sign of China's strong national destiny, so he happily painted the scene he saw with his own eyes on silk and wrote a poem to commemorate it.

The position of the Song Dynasty in ancient Chinese history

With regard to the position of the Song Dynasty in the five thousand years of ancient Chinese history, some literary giants from modern times to the present have established their comments. In the early 20th century, Mr. Yan Fu, a realist educator of enlightenment education, once said: Ancient people liked to read the first four histories ("Historical Records", "Hanshu", "Later Hanshu" and "Three Kingdoms"), and they also listened to their texts. If we study the changes in people's hearts and political customs, the history of the Zhao and Song dynasties is the most suitable time to study the hearts. As a result, China has become what it is today, regardless of whether it was good or evil, but it was definitely shaped by the people of the Song Dynasty.

The well-known historian Mr. Chen Yinke described the diversity of the development trend of Chinese culture. He said: The culture and art of the Chinese nation have evolved over thousands of years and reached their peak in the Zhao and Song Dynasties. It will gradually weaken and eventually revive. Mr. Qian Mu, a classic Chinese scholar, compared the social transformation in each historical period and pointed out: The changes in social development in China throughout the ages were mainly in the Song Dynasty. Before the Song Dynasty, it can be roughly called ancient China; after the Song Dynasty, it was called China for future generations. As far as the Song Dynasty is concerned, political economy, social development and life paths have all changed compared with previous generations.

Although the perspectives of these old gentlemen are different, they are all concerned about the changes of this era, including changes in people's hearts, political customs, the rise and fall of culture and art, and the development of society through the ages. Change. This also reminds us to pay attention to the characteristics of the times during this period and the changes that occur in the long-term evolution process.