Why is the Song Dynasty the pinnacle of ancient art in China?

It is said that the Japanese only learned three things from China, that is, "the martial arts of the Han Dynasty, the economy of the Tang Dynasty and the art of the Song Dynasty". After the Song Dynasty, China had nothing to learn. Although the summary is a bit biased, it makes sense to think about it carefully.

The martial arts of the Han Dynasty were in the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and the territory was expanded, even though the Huns had reached Volga Lake in Russia, Daxinganling in the northeast and Vietnam in the south. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing laid a territory of more than 25 million square kilometers, which is more than twice the land area of China now. Now we are called Han people because of the appellation of Han people by northern minorities in Han Dynasty. The economy of the Tang Dynasty is mainly reflected in the improvement of agriculture and production tools, as well as the high development of handicrafts and commerce. Due to the unprecedented economic development in the Tang Dynasty, Chang 'an was almost the same as new york in the United States at that time, and it was definitely the political, economic and cultural center of the world. The Art of Song Dynasty The mutiny of Zhao Kuangyin and Chen Qiao established the Song Dynasty, known as Song Taizu in history. Zhao Botao, born as a soldier, knows the importance of force. In order to strengthen imperial power and centralization, Zhao Botao began to have a glass of wine to relieve the military power and pursue the purpose of governing the country not long after he took office. Zhao Botao set an oath tablet in the ancestral temple, one of which was "don't kill the scholar-officials, write letters to people", which made the status of literati at that time quite high, and the culture of Song Dynasty was therefore unprecedentedly prosperous. We popularized the art of Song Dynasty from calligraphy, painting, poetry and ceramics. Music Poetry: Nian Nujiao-Red Cliff Nostalgia Author: Su Shi, a romantic figure through the ages. Old camp west, people say it's the war of the Three Kingdoms, Battle of Red Cliffs. The steep rock wall, like thunder waves lapping against the river bank, waves like rolling up thousands of snow. The majestic rivers and mountains are picturesque, and many heroes emerge at once. Looking back on Zhou Yu's spring breeze era, young and beautiful Joe just married him, and he was full of heroic spirit. A white figure with a feather fan came face to face, and while talking and laughing, the enemy warships burned to ashes. I am wandering in the battlefield today. I feel a feeling heart and give birth to white hair prematurely. Life is like a dream, and a bottle returns to the moon. Jade case Yuan Author: Xin Qiji spent thousands of trees in the east wind night, but also blowing down, the stars are like rain. BMW carved cars are full of incense. Phoenix flute moves, jade pot turns, fish dragon dances all night. Moths, snow, willows, gold thread, laughter and incense are all gone. Looking for him in the crowd, suddenly looking back, the man was there, dimly lit. Baidu, the search engine that China people use most online now, comes from here. Song ci has qupai, originally lyrics, which are used for singing. Due to the limitation of notation, we can't hear how these songs are sung, but we can imagine that almost all the literati could write songs at that time, and the first-class literati were first-class singers. Calligraphy: Calligraphy in the Song Dynasty is still artistic, which is caused by the environment in which Zhuzi advocated Neo-Confucianism and emphasized the expression of connotation, and the literati were relaxed and free, which made calligraphy in the Song Dynasty have unprecedented originality and romantic feelings. Do you think that Xiao Zhao can create a groundbreaking thin gold body, and other calligraphers are not more encouraged? The running script of Mi Fei, who thinks he is the most awesome calligrapher in history, is actually one of the most awesome calligraphers:

Mi Fei is eccentric and crazy, and is called "Mi Dian". Elegant, super powerful and full of surprises. The formation of this style is inseparable from the free environment of literati at that time. Huang Tingjian is actually a poet, and calligraphy is now a figure of "Su, Mi, Huang and Cai". Writing poetry is awesome. In fact, he is a pioneer of Jiangxi Poetry School. Painting: Listening to the Piano by Song Huizong Evonne.

Maybe you think that Evonne is just an emperor and his painting level is not very good, then you are all wet. If you observe some details, you will know that Xiao Zhao is a master of painting.

To appreciate paintings, we must go deep into their surroundings and pay attention to the dynamics and expressions of these three people. It is said that the violinist was Evonne himself, and even the emperor dreamed of living in the mountains, which shows how noble the literati was at that time.

Fan Kuan, another master painter in the Northern Song Dynasty, painted a trip to the Western Hills.

Maybe you think the picture is dark and you can't see anything. What happened? Actually, it's not. This painting was more than 800 years ago, and it is not easy to preserve it. Give a close-up to understand the greatness of Fan Kuan:

This pen and ink is smart and pungent. I can't tell it was painted by the ancients 800 years ago. Now, I'm afraid few graduate students or professors in the department of Chinese painting have such pen and ink ability. Near, this donkey painting is lifelike, and Huangzhou probably sighed when he saw Yu and He Shengliang, right? Let's take a look at the great freehand brushwork, Liang Kai's "Painting Immortals with Ink" in the Southern Song Dynasty:

Freehand brushwork is handsome enough. If you don't think this work is great, compare it with the freehand brushwork of contemporary master Qi Baishi: Do you feel the gap? No wonder some people say that contemporary Chinese painting masters are 800 years behind! Porcelain articles Ruyao celadon: Burning the color of the sky with clay. The celadon of Ruyao contains agate in its glaze, which is turquoise in color and jade in glaze juice. Jun porcelain, as long as you are careful, you can easily feel its beauty. Ge kiln, if the lighting is also beautiful, is this aesthetic dialectical?

Speaking of porcelain, there is a problem. Why do people like porcelain? Porcelain is made of clay, and then the surface is coated with minerals. After high temperature firing, the texture of light changes, and the soil becomes the texture of jade. This is why the world worships porcelain. Song porcelain has a religious aesthetic, called Zen flavor. Simply put, it is closer to the aesthetic temperament of philosophy. Compared with the later blue and white, famille rose, enamel and bucket color, it is completely different in style and aesthetic concept. It is called the peak of porcelain art, and any phenomenon is not accidental. The environment created the elegant temperament of Song people and helped them find the transformation of life value. Compared with modern people, economic material comes first, so personality, thought, religion and even anything can be priced.