1. Brief description:
The economic base determines the superstructure, and the development of culture is determined by the level of economic development and is affected by political and other factors. After the Song Dynasty, cities developed and citizens increased, creating a great demand for civilian literature. The prosperity of the city also breeds the soil for the emergence and growth of citizen culture.
2. Expansion:
The economic prosperity of the Song Dynasty was unprecedented, with major developments in agriculture, printing, papermaking, silk weaving, and porcelain making. The navigation and shipbuilding industries have made outstanding achievements, and overseas trade has developed. It trades with more than 50 countries in the South Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and other regions. The Song Dynasty's large-scale development of the south promoted the economic center to move southward.
The urban commodity economy in the Song Dynasty was particularly developed. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, there were 46 cities with a population of more than 100,000. Including Kaifeng, Luoyang, Lin'an (Hangzhou), Daming, Yingtian (today's Shangqiu), Zhenjiang, Pingjiang (Suzhou), Jiangling (Jingzhou), Guangzhou, Chengdu, Fuzhou, Tanzhou (today's Changsha), Quanzhou, etc. Kaifeng Prefecture in Tokyo, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, had a population of more than one million and more than 6,400 shops. The Song Dynasty broke the zoning system of cities and towns, shops could be opened at will, and night markets and dawn markets also appeared. During the Southern Song Dynasty, the population of Lin'an Prefecture (Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province) reached 1.25 million in 1274. The city was extremely prosperous and it was called the first state in the southeast. Even after the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, Marco Polo still called Hangzhou the "Heavenly City".
The literature of the Song Dynasty was fully developed, with great achievements in poetry, lyrics and prose. The master who made prose flourish in the Song Dynasty and inherited the ancient prose movement was Ouyang Xiu. Ouyang Xiu's prose has clear themes, substantial content, and is easy and natural, setting the tone for the prose style of the Song Dynasty.