Life of the Song people 1

Do you want to know how the people of the Song dynasty lived their life more than 1000 years ago in China? What was life looked like back then? What were the things they do, etc.?

It is fortunate for us that somebody recorded the life in the Capital city of the Northern Song dynasty a few years before the dynasty collapsed due to foreign invasion in 1127 AD. How did it happened?

The city life was captured in a scroll painting kept in a museum in Shanghai. It is called the ChinMing Shang He Tu, literally means picture of river in autumn. There were fine details of how common folks went about doing their everyday chores from rural area to busy city streets. It was reported that the per capital income was the highest in the world.

Here was how it all began. The last emperor of the Northern Song dynasty, Emperor Huizong, commissioned an imperial artist, Zhang ZeTuan, to capture the life of his citizens in a painting. That seemed to be an impossible task but the talented artist painted the various scenes of people's life along the river, from country side to the capital. That river was an important transport route bringing in goods (provisions, etc) from the south to the north where the capital was situated. It was reported hat over 7000 vessels sailed along the river each year. Life was exciting at each stage of the river showing the life style of the people and the things they did during those time. This was vividly recorded by the artist who was known to have only produced this painting in his whole life.

The painting began from the country side where farm houses bare trees were drawn. This indicated the season was autumn as the trees had shed all their leaves.

From the farm houses, one can see a wooden bridge followed by an entourage of merchants coming to town. These were traders who came from every corner of the country to do business in the capital.

 

Mean time, there was another group of people, husband and wife with servants, leaving the town. They were leaving their dwelling place for a reason only known to them.

 

 

In close-up view, one can see the woman turning her head back to check on her husband, It was customary that time for the wife to travel ahead of the husband. Both were cladded with woolen cloth and hear gear, just to remind you of the cold and chilly weather. The servants are seen carrying the things needed for the journey ahead.

 

Husband and wife team leaving town

 At the far end there was yet another group of people coming to town. There was a sedan chair and a servant in front shouting to people not to obstruct the path of some important person. Obviously, this was the entourage of a court official who usually had some one ahead of him to clear the path as he did not like to be delayed or obstructed by common folks. In those days, court officials were VIP and enjoyed good treatment from the state. What a way to get yourself out of a traffic jam.

 

The noise created by this group of people upset the tranquility of the country side. This prompted a woman carrying a baby to come out of her farm house to check what was happening. The farm equipment and a cow could be seen not far away.

 

At some stage in the painting the river appeared and boats could be seen along the river bank. People were seen loading and unload goods. Where you have boats stopping over, you would find shops and settlements.Businesses would strive only where there were people. People were seen eating and drinking, most likely the place must be a restaurant or modern-day café.

Boats were essential transport equipment

One can also see clearly how the boat was made those days. The hull was adjustable to cater for the different levels of tides on the river.

 

Even the shops carried all sorts of flags, in a way to promote their goods and services. If you notice the houses were no longer farm houses made of hay. People were still busy with their daily chore as things were stuffed in front of the houses.

 

As more and more boats were seen, life got more exciting now. There were people working o=inside the boats, some repairing the roof, others were moving their goods. One man was even seen cooking inside his boat. He was obviously too poor to afford a decent meal at the restaurant onshore.

 

This two chaps were seen greeting each other, may be they had not seen each other for a long time. Ideally, thy would settle for a meal at the eating house on the right. They would drink , eat and talk the whole night for old time sake. Many shops and eateries could be seen in the vicinity.

Here there was a big ship where people were seen hoisting up the mask. Everyone was busy doing his own work.

A lot of activities could also  be seen inside the ship. The artist was very careful about details as he recorded the things people do at each stage of his painting.

 

Somewhere one can see a woman staring outside, she was away from home for a long time. As she gazed into the water, she must be thinking of her home town and the friend and relatives she missed.

 

On top of the ship, people were seen doing different type of chores. Their emotions and feelings could also be gauged at the small scale painting of their figures.

Can't tell you what they were doing, honestly, as I have not seen the painting myself.

Life away from the river can be as exciting!


Anyway, will stop here and continue my story later. It is just too many things to report on this very unique painting done some one thousand years ago. May be when you are in China, yo can explore the details yourself.

To be continued.