One is the old-fashioned traditional prejudice, that is, the theory of accumulating poverty and weakness. Once upon a time, when people mentioned the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty, they were full of praise: governing the country in a prosperous time; When it comes to the Song Dynasty, it is relegation and suppression: poverty and weakness. In fact, the Song Dynasty was weak but not poor. It can't be called poor just because it is weak, that is, the social productivity is low and the social economy is underdeveloped. It is an indisputable fact that the Song Dynasty was weak, but not poor. If we must say that the Song Dynasty was poor, it can only show that the central government was in financial difficulties for a period of time. There were many revolutions in the Song Dynasty. Some scholars call the extensive use and application of Carboniferous coal in smelting in Song Dynasty coal-iron revolution or fuel revolution, and its essence is energy revolution. The sharp increase in crop yield per unit area is called the agricultural revolution; Changing the appearance of the city, breaking the market system and stopping the restrictions of commodity trading in space and time are called the commercial revolution; Call the emergence of paper money a financial revolution; The improvement of printing technology and the gradual popularization of books caused by it are called printing revolution. Its essence is the information revolution, and the way people store and transmit information has undergone fundamental changes. Wait, wait, wait People can question the actual level and degree of the above phenomenon and whether the word revolution is appropriate. However, it is hard to deny the great development of the Song Dynasty in many fields, and some fields can even be described as rapid progress. It is unwise to talk about poverty and weakness. The other is the new traditional prejudice, that is, the theory of ascending and descending stages. This theory began in the 1950s and was introduced by the Soviet Union. Historical Issues, the authoritative historical journal of the Soviet Union, once discussed the internal stage of feudal society, and finally published a summary article in the name of the editorial department. This paper holds that the development process of feudal society can be divided into two stages: the first stage is the rising stage, and the relations of production adapt to the nature of productive forces and promote the smooth development of social economy, even the leap-forward development; The second stage is the fading stage, which is the fading stage. The relations of production do not adapt to the nature of productive forces and become the fetters of social development, resulting in social and economic stagnation or even retrogression. The popular language at that time was: today in the Soviet Union is our tomorrow. American historians in China, like all walks of life in China, blindly study the Soviet Union. Therefore, the theory of ascending and descending stages was transplanted into the study of China's ancient history, and the so-called theory was used to obliterate history. Without argumentation, it is judged that the Song Dynasty entered a stage of decline and the society stagnated. This is a rigid understanding and mechanical application of the principle that relations of production must adapt to the nature of productive forces. It simply describes the social development model as a slipway herringbone composed of two straight lines, which is inconsistent with historical reality and unreliable. Nowadays, it is often said that the transformation in the Tang and Song Dynasties was not a stagnant downward transformation, but a progressive upward movement. Since the Song Dynasty, China ancient society has entered a new historical stage of continuous development and further development, which is by no means stagnation or recession. To grasp the historical position of an era, we must put this specific historical era in the overall process of historical development and evolution for dynamic investigation. We should not only look at history, but also look at it backwards. In other words, we should look forward and backward. Li Qingchen, the minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, boasted of imperial civilization and was worthy of the Han and Tang Dynasties. Hao Jing, Mongolia and the United States sent missions to the Southern Song Dynasty, praising the Song Dynasty and the previous Han and Tang Dynasties as the last three generations: the rule of the Han people seemed to be in the summer, the rule of Li Tang seemed to be in business, and your country enjoyed the country for a long time, probably the last three generations. Li and Hao's theory is forward-looking, that is, the same
At present, the academic circles talk a lot about the changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties, but little about the connection between the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty. Of course, it is not absolutely not. For example, Zhu Ruixi traced the embryonic form of eight-part essay in Ming and Qing Dynasties back to Song Dynasty, and Li Hongqi thought that all kinds of treatment and privileges enjoyed by Juren in Ming and Qing Dynasties existed in Song Dynasty. There are many such phenomena, but we haven't studied enough. For example, the famous squire who lived in the countryside in the Ming and Qing dynasties was similar to the official but different from the official, similar to the people but higher than the people, representing local forces. They appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty, especially in the Southern Song Dynasty. Second, leave a legacy to future generations. According to the research of senior scholars, there are mainly two kinds: one is the Jiangnan economy with developed material foundation; The second is the neo-Confucianism of spiritual inheritance. As far as these two heritages are concerned, the Song Dynasty has a far-reaching influence on later generations. The late American scholar Liu Zijian pointed out that American culture has been a pattern in China for 800 years, headed by the Southern Song Dynasty, with emphasis on Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Previously, Yan Fu, as an enlightenment thinker, had a higher and deeper understanding. He said: The ancients liked to read the first four histories and listen to their words. If we study the changes of people's political customs, we'd better study the history of Zhao and Song Dynasties. So China has become a phenomenon today, because he has no distinction between good and evil, and was created by Song people. It is quite possible to assert. As we all know, the Tang Dynasty is famous for its amazing absorption of excellent elements from foreign cultures in history. For foreign cultures, people in the Tang Dynasty have a good appetite and a strong digestive ability, and they are not afraid that foreign species will become heterogeneous after eating them. Because the Tang Dynasty is in the process of digesting foreign cultures, people in the Tang Dynasty will inevitably have some so-called exotic feelings. The culture of Song Dynasty is a culture with China style and China style, which was established after the digestion process basically ended. Today, people in China and China have their own unique personalities in values, ways of thinking, aesthetics and even ways of expressing emotions, which are obviously different from those of foreigners. Yan Fu believes that all these have a profound relationship with the Song Dynasty and the harmony between Song people. No wonder some foreign scholars, such as the late French scholar balaz, who initiated the international research project on the history of the Song Dynasty in 1950s, think that we should start to understand the present China from the Song Dynasty. It can be seen that the Song Dynasty not only had a far-reaching influence on later generations, but also had its special cognitive value. One tendency masks the other. At present, whenever the academic circles discuss historical topics, they must first discuss their status, among which there are many exaggerated words. As far as the history of the Song Dynasty is concerned, the main tendency in the past was to belittle the Song Dynasty. At present, this phenomenon still exists, which seems to have a tendency to overestimate the Song Dynasty. Today, if we still follow Miyazaki Hayao's dating theory and regard the Song Dynasty as the Renaissance of the East, and think that the Renaissance of the East triggered the Renaissance of the West, which was hundreds of years earlier than the Renaissance of the West, it will definitely push up the historical position of the Song Dynasty. Nowadays, it is found from time to time in related books that Yan in Song Dynasty is called the ideal and best realm of traditional society. In my opinion, I'm afraid these are all exaggerated. Reference: Lv Zuqian. Emperor Wen Jian. The first edition of a four-part series. Hao Jing. Lingchuan collection. Ge Ku's complete book, Chen Yinque's collected works: Volume II. Shanghai: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1980. Zhu Ruixi's Song and Yuan Dynasties. Historical research, 1990. Li Hongqi. Juren in Song Dynasty. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Song History. Taipei: Chinese Culture University, 1988. Liu Zijian. A compilation of studies on the history of Song Dynasty. Taipei: Lianjing Publishing Company, 1978. An overview of the compilation of historical materials in Song Dynasty. Taipei: Wenhai Publishing House