By 1100, the civilian population within the city walls was 1,050,000 the army stationed there brought the total to 1.4 million. Kaifeng, which served as the capital and seat of government during the Northern Song (960–1127), had some half a million residents in 1021, with another half-million living in the city's nine designated suburbs.
Advances in early forensic science, a growing emphasis on gathering evidence, and careful recording by clerks of autopsy reports and witness testimony aided authorities in convicting criminals.Ī small section of Along the River During Qingming Festival by Zhang Zeduan, depicting Kaifeng City in the 11th or early 12th century.Ĭhinese cities of the Song period became some of the largest in the world, owing to technological advances and an agricultural revolution. Song magistrates were encouraged to apply practical knowledge as well as written law in making judicial decisions to promote social morality. The Song justice system was maintained by sheriffs, investigators, and official coroners, and headed by exam-drafted officials acting as county magistrates. Older beliefs in ancient Chinese mythology, folk religion, and ancestor worship also played a large part in daily life, with widespread belief in deities and ghosts of the spiritual realm acting among the living. Women's property rights improved gradually with the increasing value of dowries offered by brides' families.ĭaoism and Buddhism were the dominant religions of China in the Song era, the latter deeply affecting many beliefs and principles of Neo-Confucianism throughout the dynasty, although Buddhism came under heavy criticism by staunch Confucian advocates. Although strict domestic and familial duties were expected of women in Song society, they enjoyed a range of social and legal rights in an otherwise patriarchal society. The military also provided a means for advancement for those who became officers, though soldiers also were not highly respected. Merchants frequently colluded commercially and politically with officials, despite the low prestige of mercantile vocations. Wealthy landowners and officials possessed the resources to prepare their sons for the rigorous civil service examinations, yet they were often rivaled in their power and wealth by merchants in the Song period. 1046–256 BC)-categorized society into a hierarchy of four occupations (in descending order): shi (scholars, or gentry), nong (peasant farmers), gong (artisans and craftsmen), and shang (merchants). Frequent disagreements amongst ministers of state on ideological and policy issues led to political strife and the proliferation of factions, giving entry for a multitude of families into the civil service.Ĭonfucian or Legalist scholars in ancient China-perhaps as far back as the late Zhou dynasty (c. Civil service examinations became the primary means of appointment to an official post as competitors for offices dramatically increased.
In many ways, scholar-officials of the Song period differed from the more aristocratic officials of the Tang dynasty (618–907).
Conversely, shopkeepers, artisans, city guards, entertainers, laborers, and wealthy merchants lived in the county and provincial centers along with the Chinese gentry-a small, elite community of educated scholars and scholar-officials.Īs landholders and examination-drafted degree holders, the gentry considered themselves the leaders of society gaining their cooperation and resources was essential for the county or provincial bureaucrat overburdened with official duties. The rural population were mostly farmers, with some hunters, fishermen, and workers in the imperial mines and salt marshes. AD 1181–1186 although Buddhism was in decline and under attack by Neo-Confucian critics in the Song era, it nonetheless remained one of the major religious ideologies in China.Ĭhinese society during the Song dynasty (960–1279) was marked by political and legal reforms, a philosophical revival of Confucianism, and the development of cities beyond administrative purposes into centers of industry and of maritime and river commerce. The Sakyamuni Buddha, by Song painter Zhang Shengwen, c.
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