Why was the Song Dynasty called the pinnacle of Chinese civilization? Why did China civilization go downhill after the Song Dynasty?

Why was the Song Dynasty called the pinnacle of Chinese civilization? Why did China civilization go downhill after the Song Dynasty? It should be an indisputable fact that the Song Dynasty was weak, but it is a bit exaggerated to say that it was a "peak" period in the history of China's cultural development. Its role in China's later history is incompatible with this so-called "peak". But there are several points worthy of recognition. 1. The national rejuvenation has produced countless national heroes, which is the most in the history of China. Although the fate of heroes is tragic in the end, as a kind of "spiritual" inheritance, the Song Dynasty is still worth mentioning. After all, it is an era when national heroes are prolific. 2. Due to the above reasons, the literary works of the Song Dynasty are the most "positive energy" works in the history of China, full of "patriotism, revival, change, innovation and bloodiness", and it became fashionable at that time to unite with foreign countries and recover lost land. Although it is getting smaller and smaller, it still needs to inspire people. Unfortunately, these "positive energy" did not reach more people, and did not reach the goal of "appealing to all tastes", which should not have much effect at that time.

Of course, today, as a "spiritual" heritage, it is still very valuable. 3. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the defeated dynasty began to make some scholars constantly reflect, especially on Confucianism, which almost became the only historical period in China's history to reflect on orthodoxy. Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism is the highest symbol. This theory tries to rescue Confucianism from the "desperate situation" of learning from the scriptures, that is, to achieve the purpose of "reason" by "learning from the scriptures" (reason can be regarded as a concept). Although it didn't succeed, it was the highest achievement of Confucianism research, and there was no breakthrough so far.

From this point of view, the study of Confucianism (Zhu Cheng Neo-Confucianism) in the Song Dynasty reached its peak, which is also reasonable. 4. The Song Dynasty's expansion to the south of China was the biggest and most successful in history. Really found the feeling of "facing the sea, bloom is warm in spring". Since then, the south has become more and more important to our country, eventually surpassing the north. Song dynasty contributed a lot. However, all this seems to be a joke of history. "There is always a silver lining behind the dark clouds" undoubtedly fell from the sky. The Song Dynasty lost, but it made the China of later generations. The "peak" was given by later generations, and people at that time didn't know how "ashamed" they were.