The Historical Position of Civilization in Song Dynasty

Song Dynasty occupies a prominent position in the history of China's ancient education, science and technology and cultural development. Mr. Chen Yinque believes that the culture of the Chinese nation has developed for thousands of years and reached its peak in the Zhao and Song Dynasties. ? [1] (P245) Mr Deng Guangming also said? The cultural development of the Song Dynasty reached its peak in the historical period of feudal society in China, which not only surpassed the previous generation, but also surpassed the Yuan and Ming dynasties. ? [2] (P 169) Mr. Qi Xia also holds the same view. However, some people think that the Tang Dynasty was the heyday of China's ancient culture. Let's compare the achievements of Tang and Song civilizations here. The most important representative of Tang civilization is Tang poetry, which is recognized as the peak of the development of ancient poetry, and Tang poetry is superior to Song poetry. However, the civilization of Song Dynasty is superior to that of Tang Dynasty in education, Confucian classics, science and technology, history, Song Ci and prose. Of course, the above comparison is not complete. People can still be elegant in such minor aspects as legendary novels and scripts, music, dance, architecture, painting, sculpture and calligraphy. , but I'm afraid it doesn't hinder the general comments above. The civilization of Song Dynasty was in a leading position in the world at that time. After the Song Dynasty, there was not no new progress in culture, such as Yuan Qu, novels of Ming and Qing Dynasties, Li Zhi's thoughts in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, and Ganjia School. But on the whole, Chinese civilization has become more and more backward. It can be seen that the previous conclusions quoted above are very convincing and can withstand scrutiny. Below, the author takes the educational, scientific and cultural achievements of the Song Dynasty as supplementary evidence. (1) On the comparison of Tang and Song civilizations, the author discussed with Zhang Zexian, an expert in Han and Tang history, and Zhang Zexian agreed and added an essay. 1. Education: Schools and academies in imperial academy, prefectures and counties blossomed everywhere in the Song Dynasty. Among them, the academy has a great influence on later generations. In Song Shenzong, imperial academy implemented the "three hospitals" method, that is, the upgrading system of the outer hospital, the inner hospital and the upper hospital, which was the first time in the history of education in China and even the world, and was the first of modern education grading system. In the Northern Song Dynasty, the education of the previous generation was divided into disciplines. Besides imperial academy, martial arts, law, medicine, arithmetic, calligraphy, painting, etc. have been established successively. Although other disciplines have not received enough attention, it is undoubtedly the bud of higher education department. Due to the development of printing, such as the popularity of literacy textbooks such as Hundred Family Names and Thousand Characters, the education in the Song Dynasty was much more popular than that in the previous dynasty, and many full-time teachers appeared in urban and rural areas, and many areas used their leisure time to hold winter schools. While affirming the educational achievements of the Song Dynasty, it should also be pointed out that it was from the Northern Song Dynasty that the trinity of Confucian classics, education and imperial examinations was completed, thus linking the function of education with official career simply and narrowly, which gave birth to the factors that led to the backwardness of education in China. Second, the study of the Song Dynasty: The Song Dynasty was the most important period for the development of Chinese ancient Confucian classics. Sinology? Where to? Song Xue? Transformation is from the study of chapters and sentences to the study of righteousness. However, for a long time, people simply attributed Song studies to Neo-Confucianism, which is inaccurate, because Neo-Confucianism was only a school of Song studies, and it did not become a prominent school until the middle and late Southern Song Dynasty, and then occupied the dominant position of Confucian classics for a long time. There are many schools of Song Xueliang, which is beyond Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism. Speaking of the emergence of Song studies, people can naturally trace back to the influence of Han Yu and others in the middle Tang Dynasty, but it was mainly formed in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty. Scholars not only annotate Confucian classics, but also boldly question them. ? In methodology, sinology belongs to the microscopic type, while Song studies belongs to the macroscopic type. In the ancient academic history of China, did Song Xue really create a new situation of academic exploration and show its unique new ideas and methods? . Song Xue? Strong vitality and outstanding features are also manifested in the combination of academic exploration and social practice, trying to show practical knowledge in social reform? . But what about Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism? And put the time of inner reflection in the first place, divorced from social reality, and work hard on yourself with a calm, sincere and respectful attitude? This is basically the basic view that Neo-Confucianism is different from many Song schools. Among the numerous schools of Song studies, Wang Xue of Wang Anshi and Neo-Confucianism of Zhu Cheng have successively occupied a dominant position. Although the two factions have sharp differences, they have the same sex on the issue of respecting Mencius. It was under the advocacy of the two factions that Mencius was promoted to the status of a saint by one of the philosophers in the Song Dynasty, and Confucianism began a new stage called the Tao of Confucius and Mencius. ? There is a tendency in the history of China's academic thought, that is, to emphasize the views of the portal and orthodoxy, and always think that only his own theory is fallacious, and all other thoughts are heretical, and always hope that there is only one voice in the world? [4](p 1 10). Wang Xue's founder Wang Anshi emphasized? A moral? , against? Different opinions are different? [5] (Volume 1 15, Electoral System). What does Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism emphasize? Since Mencius, the sacred learning has been lost? , only yourself? What have you learned from the legacy? Will you learn from the people? [6] (Volume 1 1). In fact, both sides believe that only their own theory is the third milestone in the history of Confucianism. This is essentially a kind of cultural absolutism, especially the implementation of a theory in the imperial examination, which has played a serious role in imprisoning ideas. This is an important lesson left by the exhibition of Song Xuefa. When we admit that the world is rich and colorful, we should also admit that our thoughts are rich and colorful. Truth can only be tested through practice and equal discussion. If you miss the truth, you don't need to rely on the support of power. China has a deep tradition of centralization, and it was not until modern times that Cai Yuanpei put forward the opposite policy in Peking University? Tolerance, that is, group chat According to the thinking of ancient Confucian scholars, they prefer abstraction, synthesis, generalization, imagination, vagueness and even confusion, rather than concrete, analysis and argumentation. According to modern scientific experiments, there are two levels, one is theoretical scientific experiments and the other is technical scientific experiments. China just lacks the thinking and tradition of ancient theories and scientific experiments. China's ancient philosophy focused on politics and ethics, while most philosophers were not interested in observing and studying nature in detail, but were content to create a world view from some abstract concepts. For example, the concepts of infinity, Tai Chi, Yin and Yang, and Five Elements have been used for a long time and stagnated, but they lack the spirit and way of thinking to constantly explore the mysteries of the universe and nature through argumentation and analysis. Song studies also followed this tradition and developed. This hides the factors of China's philosophy from advanced to backward. Because philosophy has strong vitality only if it is rooted in the fertile soil of natural science. This is another lesson in the exhibition of Song Xuefa. China's ancient philosophy, including the mode of thinking of Song studies, could not but affect the development of natural science. Third, science and technology: The Song Dynasty was the golden age of ancient science and technology development in China. In the world-famous four great inventions of ancient china, the compass, printing and gunpowder were mainly applied and developed in the Song Dynasty. Shen Kuo was the main representative of science and technology in Song Dynasty. He was handed down from generation to generation with the note novel Meng Qian Bi Tan and the medical book Liang Fang. His scientific achievements are varied. There were two famous supernova records in the astronomical history of the Northern Song Dynasty. Su Song and Han Gonglian made an elephant stand and an armillary sphere, which became the world's first astronomical clock and a fake celestial sphere. Others, such as agronomy, agricultural technology and architecture, have made remarkable achievements. At the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, the construction of a large pontoon bridge on the Yangtze River was a pioneering work in the history of bridges. During the Southern Song Dynasty, cars and boats were widely used, using primitive propellers, and so on. (1) There are many discussions in Song studies, mainly using the arguments of Deng Guangming and Qi Xia. See Deng Guangming's A Brief Comment on Song Studies (published by Zhejiang People's Publishing House 1987) and SJGH's Development and Evolution of Song Studies (published by Exploration Collection of Hebei University Press, 65438). Some people think that to study the history of science, we must pay attention to the coherence of scientific development, that is, future generations will continue to add achievements on the basis of previous studies before they become the history of science. From this point of view, the ancient science in China should mainly include mathematics and medicine, which corresponds to the provision of medicine and arithmetic in schools in the Song Dynasty. Mathematics in Song Dynasty has its achievements, but it has little influence on modern mathematics. China's unique theoretical system of traditional medicine is undoubtedly deeply influenced by ancient philosophy. During the Song and Jin Dynasties, medical theories made new progress, and forensic monographs appeared. The medical disciplines in the Northern Song Dynasty are similar to those in modern times. Jurchen has no medicine, and Jin medicine is actually the continuation and development of Northern Song medicine. The mechanism of human meridians and qigong is an important crystallization of oriental scientific thinking, although it has not been analyzed by modern precision science so far. Making two bronze statues of acupuncture and related medical books in Song Dynasty is an epoch-making progress in the field of acupuncture and moxibustion. Different from ancient mathematics, China traditional medicine still benefits the Chinese nation and makes more and more contributions to human health. Fourth, history:? China historiography flourished in the Song Dynasty? [1](p240). The Song Dynasty was the heyday of China's ancient historiography. There are numerous official history books, and some new historical schools have been established one after another, as well as the compilation of local chronicles and local chronicles. The field of history has expanded to epigraphy, which was initiated by Song people and is the object of modern archaeology. All these, together with the voluminous works, are great enough for historians to surpass Han, Tang, Ming and Qing Dynasties. However, compared with the historiography of the Tang Dynasty, there is no historical work with unique views, strong pursuit of truth and critical spirit in the Song Dynasty like Liu Zhiji's Shi Tong. V. Words: The most important difference between words and poems is musicality. Although some ancient poems and Yuefu can also be sung, the musical features of the poems are more distinct, and their long and short sentences and rigorous rhythm are more convenient for singers to sing. Ci is a popular song in Song Dynasty. Although lyrics written according to fixed music scores can be traced back to earlier times, it has been established as music literature, or a kind of music with China characteristics, mainly starting from the literary genre of ci. In the Song Dynasty, many literati participated in the creation of Ci, especially the so-called bold poets. From the literary point of view, the bold school opened up a new realm of ci creation, and Xin Qiji and others engaged in patriotic ci creation in the Southern Song Dynasty. However, from the musical point of view, the bold use of words leads to the deviation between words and musical emotions. Because the music score of words is generally? Humble? 、? Plan ahead? what's up Gorgeous words? If we infer from the epitaph name of Niannujiao, this is to express the beauty of prostitutes in brothels with music. This kind of music is obviously created by Su Shi with this epigraph. River of no return? The words of are not harmonious. It's a pity that the music score of Ci is basically lost, but the development of Ci has created an important musical model, which has a great influence on the development of drama. From Yuan Zaju to modern Peking Opera and local opera, the basic mode of composing ci is based on a fixed score, which can be called the origin of ci. People often refer to Ci as Song Ci, which of course shows that Song Dynasty is the highest level of this literary genre. 6. Prose: From the Tang Dynasty to the early Northern Song Dynasty, parallel prose dominated. The new ancient prose movement, which began in the Northern Song Dynasty, won a great victory in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty. Many famous writers came forth in large numbers, and their prose was never lost. Descendants? Eight masters in Tang and Song Dynasties? The Northern Song Dynasty occupied six people. Chinese characters are square characters, and the genres that are most suitable for expressing their aesthetic feeling are generally parallel prose, ancient poems and couplets. Parallel prose should not be completely denied, but compared with parallel prose, the so-called ancient prose at that time undoubtedly expressed ideas and described and analyzed things more freely and fully. Generally speaking, the prose achievements of the Song Dynasty surpassed those of the Tang Dynasty. Seven, poetry: Song poetry is not as good as Tang poetry, this is the conclusion. But Song poetry also has its own characteristics. Important poets such as Su Shi and Lu You appeared in the Song Dynasty. Lu You's patriotic poems, in particular, have had a far-reaching impact on China's spiritual civilization. In a word, we should comprehensively evaluate the splendid civilization of the Song Dynasty as the heyday of ancient civilization in China in a realistic way, but we should also try our best to explore the defects of the civilization of the Song Dynasty and the factors that led to the backwardness of Chinese civilization. This is dialectical materialism. Only in this way, the study of history is not simply to settle accounts with the ancients, but to open the way for present and future generations. References: [1] Collected Works of Mr. Chen Yinque: Volume II [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1980. [2] Selected Works of Deng Guangming [M]. Beijing: Capital Normal University Press, 1994. [3] Wang Zengyu. The establishment and influence of Mencius' sainthood in Song Dynasty [a]. Collection of essays celebrating Professor Deng Guangming's 90th birthday [C]. Shijiazhuang: Hebei Education Press, 1997. [4] Yu. Song Guangzong Song Ningzong [m]. Changchun: Jilin Literature and History Publishing House, 1997. [5] Tuotuo, etc. History of Song Dynasty [M]. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1977. [6] Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi. Two-way setting? Henan Cheng Wen Ji [m]. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 198 1. (Institute of History, China Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing 10008 1) Wang Zengyu (1939? ), male, Shanghainese, researcher and doctoral supervisor of Institute of History, China Academy of Social Sciences, distinguished professor, Hebei University, studying the history of Song Dynasty. Journal of Hebei, No.5, 2006