1. Painting in the Song Dynasty is the peak of the development of painting art in China. Its great value lies in enriching the techniques of artistic expression and using refined and skillful description techniques to directly and indirectly reflect real life. Historically, the paintings of the Song Dynasty (and the prints of the Ming and Qing Dynasties) are closest to the people's hobbies and requirements in terms of the realism and artistry of the content.
In the sculpture works of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the ideal elements of the Tang Dynasty were reduced, and the breath of life was strengthened. Realistic ability has been significantly improved, but the modeling has been refined.
Arts and crafts in Song and Yuan Dynasties were the precursors of Ming and Qing Dynasties. The modeling, decoration and unified effect of Song porcelain have become unique examples in the history of arts and crafts.
Second, within the scope of painting art:
The development of religious painting has stopped. It is characterized by using secular lively scenes to improve the power of attracting the audience (such as the scene of Sokokuji mural in Kaifeng and the scene of showing off the ranks of other murals), and pursuing rich changes in appearance and excitement on the screen (such as the complicated and dense pleats and the diversity of characters' movements and positions in "The Legend of Immortals in the Yuan Dynasty", which replaced the personalized in-depth description of characters, etc.).
However, some religious paintings and sculptures are not strong in religious consciousness, and they turn to image description in life, which can be regarded as a part of secular art..
Paintings depicting aristocratic life are popular, paying attention to real and concrete descriptions, and can concretely show the certain relationship between people and the dynamic expression in life through instantaneous scenes. Portrait painting is still a specialized skill.
There are also those that have broken through the theme range of aristocratic life and expressed rural life and urban life, such as The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival, which can be regarded as the symbol of realistic art in this era, and it is consistent with the spirit of popular civic literature at that time.
At that time, the relationship between Han nationality and foreigners was also reflected in the paintings. The direct reflection is the picture of the Rui Ying of Zhongxing (Xiao Zhao) and the portrait of the Four Commanders of Zhongxing (Liu Songnian), while the indirect reflection is mostly based on historical stories, such as Bo Yi Shu Qi Cai Wei, Zhao Jun's departure from the fortress, Moon Hee's return to the Han Dynasty, Seeing Lu on the Temporary Bridge, and Seeing Uighur in Guo Ziyi. The life of foreigners has also become an important painting theme.
Landscape painting and flower-and-bird painting, which represent natural scenery, fully developed in the Song Dynasty and became a genre with a particularly important position in China ancient painting art.
Landscape paintings show the grandeur and beauty of the motherland's mountains and rivers, the rich and moving changes of mountains, rivers and trees due to different seasons and climates, and flower-and-bird paintings show the fresh and lively life scenes of flowers and animals. Although these two painting genres take natural things as the object of description, they are not simply the reappearance of natural things in the works of outstanding painters in the Song Dynasty, and they embody strong emotions and powerful ideals, which can inspire the audience and improve their spiritual life.
Third, there were important artistic creations in the Song Dynasty, focusing on the expression of people's mental state and thoughts and emotions, focusing on the touching beauty and interest of landscape flowers and birds, organizing pictures freely and flexibly around the requirements of clarifying and highlighting themes, not being dominated by any mechanical laws, and being good at grasping the external characteristics of objects to refine images. The creation of painting skills in Song Dynasty gradually formed the style characteristics of China's paintings, and increasingly strengthened its power to influence people ideologically and emotionally.
As a means of expression, the artistic effects of pen and ink were really realized by painters in Song and Yuan Dynasties. An important aspect of the charm of painting art is emphasized, which is one of the mature phenomena of China painting art.
The refined modeling of sculpture art in Song and Yuan Dynasties is an ideal application of realistic techniques.
Fourth, some literati and officials in the Song Dynasty directly engaged in painting activities, which also promoted the prosperity and improvement of painting art at a certain stage. However, its emphasis on historical themes and literary content in classics tends to avoid directly expressing real life and emotions from real life. And began a fashion of "game pen and ink".
In Song Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty, the scholar-bureaucrat painters had special artistic sensitivity in a certain aspect, such as their attention to the artistic effect of pen and ink and their conscious pursuit, which also made the painting art have a new performance and accumulated new experience for painting technology.
5. The high level of fine arts (painting, sculpture) and crafts in Song Dynasty was conditioned by the development of new economic factors in society at that time. However, the life attached to the scholar-bureaucrat class was precisely the bondage of feudal society to which all kinds of arts were bound. The fine arts in Song Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty, especially the paintings in Yuan Dynasty, show that there is little room for the development of the realism of fine arts if this bondage cannot be further broken.
Zhao Kuangyin (Song Taizu), the imperial commander of Chai Zhou, seized power in 96 and founded the Song Dynasty.
industry and commerce in the northern song dynasty were very developed. The government has mastered the mining of gold, silver, copper and iron. Shipbuilding technology is very advanced, and it can make ten masts and ten sails. It can take a big ship with 4 to 5 people and a load of 3, kilograms. It was the largest ship in the world at that time. Compasses began to be used in navigation. Gunpowder began to be used in the military. Printing has become very common, and movable type printing has begun. Government and private silk weaving and ceramics have a huge output every year, and have opened up vast markets at home and abroad. As a result of the prosperity of commerce, big cities have become more prosperous and their numbers have increased. Especially from the Southern Song Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, commercial ports for overseas trade, such as Guangzhou and Quanzhou. Commercial tax is the biggest income of the government in the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties. In Song Shenzong, the national commercial tax was 1 million yuan a year, and Kaifeng alone earned 55, yuan. There is a great demand for currency circulation, and gold and silver are generally regarded as currency, and paper money has been issued. Song Dynasty was an important period for the development of feudal commerce.
In terms of foreign relations, both the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty are often weak. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the opportunity to recover sixteen prefectures was lost. Liao maintained its dominant position that threatened the rule of Song Dynasty for a long time. Moreover, in the Shaanxi-Gansu area, Xia Guo emerged again at this time. The government of the Northern Song Dynasty only bowed their knees and made peace with Liao and Xixia.
in the middle of the northern song dynasty, the internal and external difficulties made some enlightened rulers demand political reform. The new policies of Zhao Yong of Song Shenzong and Wang Anshi, an outstanding politician at that time, were implemented one after another after 169 AD. The new laws objectively conformed to the interests of farmers and small and medium-sized landlords, and relatively suppressed the big bureaucratic landlords and wealthy businessmen. But this struggle was defeated in the end. Moreover, it later evolved into a struggle for power by bureaucratic groups, completely losing the significance of reform. The dispute between the old and new Party members continued until the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty.
At the beginning of the 12th century, the newly emerging Jurchen nationality behind the Khitan established the "Golden" Kingdom. After the Liao Dynasty was destroyed in 1125 AD, the Jinbing army began to go south, but the Northern Song Dynasty imperial court had no intention of resisting. In 1127 AD, the Jinbing army broke through Kaifeng, taking away Emperor Huizong and Qin Zong, and Kaifeng was looted, which was the largest city in the Middle Ages as a political, cultural and economic center and was completely destroyed.
Zhao Gou, the King of Kang, fled to the south and established the Southern Song Dynasty regime with Hangzhou as the capital. He and Qin Gui opposed the anti-Jin, and bowed their knees to make peace with Jin. The strong resistance organized by the people in all parts of North China and the brave and patriotic army * * * stopped the attack of Jin Bing, and Yue Fei was an outstanding representative of patriotic generals in the anti-Jin. The defeat of Nomads in quarrying in A.D. 1161 was the beginning of a stable confrontation between North and South.
Jiangnan area was further developed in the Southern Song Dynasty. Building water conservancy, building dikes on a large scale, and prevailing polder fields have greatly expanded the area of cultivated land. But at the same time of these improvements, land merger is also proceeding rapidly.
At the beginning of 13th century, Mongolian cavalry, led by Genghis Khan, rose up to become a force that shocked the world. In decades, Genghis Khan swept across Europe and Asia like a storm. In 1276, Lin 'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, also fell.
after the fall of the north, under the rule of Liao and Jin, people's lives were extremely painful. Agriculture and industry and commerce have regressed significantly, and many handicraft workers have fallen into the status of industrial slaves. Between Europe and Asia, land and sea traffic is greatly smooth. Many westerners came to China, among them, there were many skilled talents, and they all played a role in promoting cultural exchanges between China and the West.
under the rule of the yuan dynasty established by the Mongols, the people's resistance never stopped. The early anti-Yuan riots and uprisings were widespread but scattered, mostly in the south of the Yangtze River. However, after a long struggle, the uprising expanded day by day and developed to the north day by day. In 1351 AD, they merged to form a great uprising led by the Red Scarf Army, which led to the overthrow of the Yuan Dynasty.
During the 3 years of the Song Dynasty, science and technology made great progress, and systematic scientific works appeared, such as Architectural Method, Materia Medica of Pharmacology, General Introduction of Wu Jing of Weapons Manufacturing and so on.
Taoism developed in the Song Dynasty, and finally formed its strange and complicated system. During the Northern Song Dynasty, from Zhao Kuangyi, Song Taizong to Zhao Ji, Huizong, Taoist temples were constantly built, and great events were wasted. During the Southern Song Dynasty, Taoism was popular in the north, and various sects appeared. These new sects were an organization that resisted the rule of the Jin people at that time; However, when it evolved into the Yuan Dynasty, it became a tool of the rulers. Buddhism has become the largest Sect since the Tang Dynasty. Zen pays special attention to inner cultivation and advocates a quiet and simple life and mysterious intuition. The influence of Zen thought on Confucian philosophy resulted in Neo-Confucianism in the Song Dynasty. Neo-Confucianism is the further metaphysics of Confucianism. Masters of Neo-Confucianism, such as Cheng Yi in the Northern Song Dynasty and Zhu Xi in the Southern Song Dynasty, and their schools have deep prejudice against each other because of their different views, but their basic views and methods of idealism are the same. The development of Neo-Confucianism conforms to the needs of the ruling class to consolidate the feudal patriarchal ideology.
in the song dynasty, in order to adapt to the development of social economy, the utilitarian thoughts (Ye Shi and Chen Liang in the southern song dynasty) and the rural commune thoughts (Kang Zhi in the northern song dynasty and Deng Mu in the southern song dynasty) which reflected the simple and equal thoughts of farmers appeared.
ci is the most developed literature in the song dynasty. There are many famous poets and chapters that are told by people, including sentimental lyrics and slow tones that are generous, majestic or euphemistic. The scope of expressing emotions has expanded compared with the lyrics of the Five Dynasties. The Song and Yuan Dynasties are an important class in the development of opera novels. The Zhugong Tune, Zaju, and Miscellaneous Poems that began to develop in Zhongdu (now Beijing) in the Jin Dynasty during the Northern Song Dynasty, the Tales and Novels that developed in Lin 'an in the Southern Song Dynasty, and the Southern Opera that rose in Yongjia area are all treasures in the history of China literature. These literary works have not only served the emperor's bureaucrats and the literati class, but also served the common people (businessmen, police officers, soldiers, urban craftsmen, etc.).
In the Song Dynasty, religious art still accounted for a certain amount. Documentary records show that Taoist temples were built on a large scale several times according to the emperor's requirements, such as: Taiping Palace in Shangqing, Zhaoying Palace in Yuqing, Wuling Palace, Wuyue Temple, Baodi Palace, etc. In these temples, there were famous artists engaged in painting and sculpture at that time. The existing architectural examples of Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties are richer than those of the previous generation, and some of them are still quite well preserved, which can specifically illustrate the achievements of ancient architecture in China in technology and art. There are also many murals and statues in these buildings, some of which are still in their original state without reconstruction. The remains of sculptures (clay sculptures or wood carvings) in temples in Liao and Jin regions and Yuan Dynasty are of great value for understanding ancient sculptures.
The fine arts in Song Dynasty continued the ethos of Tang and Five Dynasties, and the secular fine arts broke away from the fetters of religion and developed independently. The scroll form of painting became very popular in the Song Dynasty. Some of these scroll paintings evolved from the decoration of screens and fan. The center of painting activities in Song Dynasty is the Royal Academy of Painting. As painting has become a handicraft industry, the needs of the market have also stimulated the prosperity of painting art.
The development of painting in the Song and Yuan Dynasties can be roughly divided into five stages: ① In the early 1 years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the tradition of the Five Dynasties was maintained, the flower-and-bird painting followed Huang Quan's program, and the landscape painting was handed down to Li Cheng and Fan Kuan. ② During Yuanfeng period in Xining (168-11), there were significant new changes due to the appearance of Cui Bai, a flower and bird painter, and Guo Xi, a landscape painter. Because of the expansion of the scope of expression, the painting in Song Dynasty took a big step forward on the road of realism. At this time, the ideas put forward in the works of painting theory (Lin Quan Gao Zhi and Picture Knowledge) reflected the new requirements of creative practice. (3) Huizong Zhao Ji to the Southern Song Emperor Zhao Gou and Xiaozong Zhao Shen (A.D. 111-189) were the most active times in the Palace Painting Academy. There were many painters, and they tried their best to express their skills. (4) Most of the Southern Song Dynasty was a period in which the painting styles of Li Tang, Liu Songnian, Ma Yuan and Xia Gui played a dominant role. ⑤ During the reign of the Yuan Dynasty, the most striking thing was the development of ink landscape, especially the tendency to pay attention to the performance effect in pen and ink techniques and despise the content of life in painting thoughts. This part of painting in the Yuan Dynasty caused a great change in the history of China painting.
the arts and crafts of the song dynasty, like all kinds of handicrafts at that time, were generally improved in technology and art. The most outstanding achievement is ceramic technology. The origin of Song and Yuan ceramics is all over the world, and the elegant style of Song and Yuan ceramics is an outstanding example in the history of world technology.
The "Hanlin Painting Academy", which was established in the early Song Dynasty, is a manifestation of the continued prosperity of painting art.. Song Dynasty Painting Academy has a certain role in promoting the development of Song Dynasty painting. Important painting activities are carried out around the painting academy.
In society, as in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, painting has become an industry with a fixed position, and it has developed with the development of social economy. At the Sokokuji Temple Fair in the Capital of Song Dynasty (now Kaifeng), behind the main hall, there are pictures sold side by side with books in front of the Zisheng Gate; There is a special portrait business in the back porch. Many records reveal the fact that painting has entered the ranks of handicrafts and commerce. Liu Zongdao, a painter in the capital of song dynasty, is good at painting "children in a basin", which is very clever. Children use their fingers to draw their own shadows in the basin, and the shadows also refer to people. In order to prevent others from imitating competition, every time a new manuscript is created, it is sold after being painted into hundreds. Some painters in the capital of song dynasty are called "Du Haier" because they are good at painting children. Because he is good at painting palace buildings, he is called "Zhao Loutai". In the capital of song dynasty, there was a famous beautiful woman, Qin Miaoguan, whose portraits were painted by painters and sold everywhere. The capital of song dynasty is a cultural center, and pictures and woodcut books are sold everywhere; But also from other places to the capital of song dynasty. Yang Wei, a painter in Jiangzhou, Shanxi, specializes in painting vendors who supply rural life. If he knew that the vendors were selling to the capital of song dynasty, he told them to sell in front of the painting academy, and they could get high prices. Yan Wengui, a famous landscape painter in the Northern Song Dynasty, was originally a soldier. When he came to Bianliang, he sold his works on the street, thus attracting attention. The commercialization of painting works is a key to understand the development of medieval painting art, which needs further study.
Painting has entered the ranks of handicraft business, and the commercialization of painting works (not as precious elegance or antiques) has further established contact with the public than temple murals. Directly targeting a wide range of social masses (including working people, businessmen and the lower classes of the ruling class, such as soldiers and petty officials) is bound to reflect the psychology and emotions of the social masses at that time to some extent.
feudal rulers were plunderers of social material wealth and cultural wealth. Painting, like all works of art created by the people, has also become an ornament of their luxurious life, which not only meets their needs in life, but also reflects their psychology and emotions accordingly. Under such motivation, the early Northern Song Dynasty followed the old system of the Five Dynasties and expanded it to establish the Painting Academy. The works of the Academy are inevitable.