In her textbook The Cambridge Illustrated History of China, Second Edition, Chinese scholar Patricia Buckley Ebrey described the Song dynasty (circa 1000 CE) as a time of reunification of the various regions in China, revival in Confucian teachings and the rise of a scholar-official class, and a turn inward” whereby Chinese citizens, at the behest of Confucian scholars, began paying more attention to what they “could do themselves at the local level."  And while peasant life did not change drastically during the Song period, art, technology, and social and economic progress is evident in the artifacts that are extant today, such as silk paintings depicting advanced rice cultivation and irrigation strategies, or the complex localized industry of producing silk cloth.  This general overview of a modernizing, regenerative society embracing and enhancing traditional values and Confucian philosophy is also evident in character studies of prominent personalities of the time.  In particular, the life histories of poets Su Dongpo and Li Qingzhao offer unique insight into the ways in which the characteristics of the Song dynasty impacted people in their efforts at doing more ‘at the local level’.

Su Dongpo, a civil servant twice exiled for his essays and poetry denouncing a non-traditional, Confucian ideation of a circumspect government, is a celebrated figure in Chinese history today for his expressive and emotional defense of these ideals.  As scholar Fritz Shchoepflin demonstrates in his essay “Walking the Noble Eightfold Path: Hardship in the Life of Su Dongpo,” the poet was a man of the common people “whom birds sought solace from eh trees to perch from (sic)." Constructing his best poetry while in oppressive exile, Su eulogized his mother, lamented the implementation of new and harsh penal codes, and commiserated with the poor rice farming peasantry in beautiful poetic verse.  And in Li Qingazho, a poetess of the 12th century born into a wealthy family of intellectuals, as scholar Amanda Dionne describes her in her essay “Ling Qingzhao: (1084-1151 CE),” pushed the boundaries of women’s voices in Song-era Chinese society.  Paradoxically, “her femininity helped her procure a spot in the poetic world” and, as such, rose to a prominent status as a poet and author in her own right, also challenging the political elite in the mold of Su Dongpo, highlighting the woes of court intrigue and military overconfidence.  She wrote musical lines of poetry describing marriage and the grief at the loss of her husband.  Her voice and literary skill helped her to “conquer the male literary sphere” and cementing her place as a prominent person in Chinese history, an exceptionally rare feat for a woman in an otherwise traditional society.  Taken together, Ebrey’s methodical account of the transformational Song dynasty and histories of the prominent poets of the era, it seems clear that the inward focus of the Chinese people at the time, impacted by social, culture, technological, and (neo) Confucian ideals, resulted in a new sense of individualism that allowed people to both challenge the ruling elite in new and creative ways, as well as impact local politics and custom as individual agents.

As seems to be the case with much of the Chinese history presented by Ebrey and related scholarly articles, histories of individuals and telling artifacts may just be anecdotes in a much more complex narrative of the lifeways of the people who lived during the Song dynasty.  In this way, they may also be limiting in the field of view they present of what must have otherwise been a labor intensive, competitive, hierarchal, and demanding society.  It is, in addition, important to consider the physical conditions, including geography and climate, which may have, for instance, helped to precipitate increased agricultural activity, as factors contributing to the change toward a more inward, and to a more individualistic-expressive experience for Chinese people at the end of the first millennium.

References

Dionne, Amanda. “Li Qingzhao: (1084-1151 CE).” WSU Global Campus.  2008

Ebrey, Patricia Buckley. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. 2nd ed. New York, New York. Cambridge University Press. 2010.

Schoepfilin, Fritz. “Walking the Noble Eightfold Path: Hardship in the Life of Su Dongpo.” WSU Global Campus. 2016.