Life of the Song people 3

After crossing the bridge,  the focus changed to that of street scenes. Businesses were flourishing in the city where most of the traders and merchants gathered here for business transactions. This is true even today where business dealings are part and parcel of everyday life in cities.

More business dealings were seen outside the shops.

 

Here there was a sedan chair stopping in front of an eatery. Most likely there was a lady inside the sedan chair. In those days, it was not appropriate for young women to wander around in the city. This woman went to the city to satisfy her curiosity. Maybe she had something in mind that prompted her to come to the city in secret. You can see a middle-aged maid standing outside the sedan chair. She seemed to be whispering something to her.

 

As horse carriages were the only mode of transport, you can see there were shops offering repair and service work to those who used these carriages. This is more like our car workshops in town that offer motorists repair and maintenance work.

 

Fortune telling was widely practiced those days. Fortune tellers set up their tent touting for customers. As common folks were uncertain about many things in life, they would consult these fortune tellers for advice. The one that was sitting next to the fortune teller appeared to be troubled, somehow he could have heard some unfavorable remarks from the master. This prompted the other by-standers undecided if they ever wanted to consult the fortune teller.

 

Today when you enter a restaurant, you will see there is a menu on display outside the restaurant to showcase what the restaurant has to offer to its customers. In those days, the menu was also displayed inside the eatery, telling people what was the meal of the day and its piece.

This was the city gate. Once you entered this gate, you would directly enter the city centre where the emperor resided. The shops and houses were even closely linked together. The society and life style became more sophisticated once inside the imperial city.

 

There were merchants coming from every corner of the country. This can be seen from the goods carried on the horses back. It was indeed good to do business in the city as people were generally more affluent than country folks.

 

Camels were seen entering the city. It seemed that the Song people were already doing business with people from the middle east. This must have the silk road where merchants form the far east exchanged their home-grown produce for silk and tea or even the Song porcelains.

 

You must be wondering what these people were doing. The one sitting down was actually a scholar who acted for anyone who needed to prepare documents for court hearings. This is what we called solicitors today. As most citizens were illiterate, they needed a scholar who knew the law to prepare such documents to present them to the magistrate in cases of disputes.

A shop was seen promoting fragrance things.

 

A man was seen testing on a bow in front of a shop that sold weapons. It was a tradition for people to arm themselves to ward off their enemies. As gun wasn't invented yet, they had to rely on swords and sabre, bow and arrow to arm themselves to the fullest.

 

People always think that supply chain and franchise are things of this modern world. Actually these things existed in the Song dynasty as early as 1000 ADs. Here a picture of a franchise shop was shown in the bottom left. No doubt Song dynasty in China was an era of prosperity and good fortune for the people of ancient China.

More goods were seen delivered to the city.

The houses in the city were more refine and exquisite than the harm houses seen earlier.

 

Court officials were seen wearing long gowns. They were more sophisticated than the common laborers and farmers. They were also well mannered as they greeted each other. This was a case of high society life style.

Common country folks were seen wearing simpler clothing, squatting everywhere when they went about doing their daily chores.

Another lady was seen inside the sedan chair. She appeared to poke her head outside to see what a busy city life it was.

 

A scholar was seen study hard inside a tavern. Usually, scholars from all corners of the country would gather in the capital to take the imperial examinations. They would stay in hotels and spend their time to study in preparation for the imperial exam. Once they scored well in the exam, they would become court officials and enjoyed a good life. Some very fortunate ones could go on and marry the emperor's daughters. There is an old saying in China that good fortune is found in books, pretty ladies are also found in books. When interpreted, it means if one studies hard and achieves fame by passing all the exams, good fortune and pretty ladies will hunt him down. This is like once you have obtained a good college degree, you are ensure to get a well-paid job and plenty of cash will come your way, no to mention a good looking wife.

This is the picture of the flag ship shop where many franchise outlets were seen earlier.

A shop that sold mutton soup. It seemed to attract a big crowd.

So you see, life in the Song dynasty more than a thousand years ago was indeed quite exciting.

To be continued...