1, central system

The political system of the Song Dynasty generally followed the political system of the Tang Dynasty, except that the prime minister was no longer the governor of the three provinces, but the minister was the flat chapter in charge of the same book. It also added a deputy minister who participated in government affairs, commonly known as ruling, and collectively referred to as "slaughter" with the prime minister. In the Song Dynasty, the relative power was greatly reduced, and it was only responsible for administrative functions. Zhongshumen and Privy Council are collectively called the Second House, which is in charge of civil affairs and military affairs. There are also three divisions, namely, Salt and Iron Division, Household Division and Expenditure Division, which are in charge of financial power, the so-called provincial plan. In this way, the three powers, namely, the three secretaries, the generals and the Tang Dynasty, balanced each other, thus weakening the relative power and strengthening the imperial power. In Song Dynasty, an admonition court and an admonition officer were set up outside Yushitai, which were the supervisory bodies responsible for impeachment and other affairs. After this reform, the emperor can take over the power.

The government of the Northern Song Dynasty divided power, with many people as prime ministers. At the same time, it also set up Tang envoys, political advisers and three secretaries to divide the military, political and financial power of the prime ministers, which made the emperor's power exceed that of previous dynasties.

The Song Dynasty also implemented an official appointment system that separated official titles from actual positions, that is, the system of "official, post and difference". An official is an official name, such as Shangshu and Assistant Minister, but it is only a virtual title, which is used for grading and fixing salary; Post, and competent, is awarded the honorary title of some civil servants, there is no actual post, such as bachelor, straight cabinet, etc.; Dispatching is an official's actual duty, so it is also called career officer, tang dynasty envoy, three department envoy, etc. , belong to this category. Ordinary officials put the words "examine, know, have the right, control and upgrade" before their posts, such as examining temple affairs, knowing state affairs and upgrading, to show their assignment. The purpose of this is also to concentrate power.

The measures to strengthen centralization in the Northern Song Dynasty have played an important role in solving the situation of towns and towns since the Middle Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties and safeguarding national unity, which is also conducive to social and economic development objectively. However, although these measures have solved the contradiction between the central and local buffer towns, they have laid the curse of "poverty and weakness".

2. Scholars govern the country

Through reform, the Northern Song Dynasty adopted the national policy of "building the country through literature" and practiced literati rule. Song Taizu regards the imperial examination system as the basic system for selecting talents, and those poor scholars, farmers and Sang people can enter and leave the temple. Civil servants are the highest chief executives of the central and local governments, ranking above military attache. The army is fickle and handsome.

Because the emperor of Song Dynasty could well carry out the ancestral training of Taizu, ministers and civil servants dared to express their opinions, which restricted the imperial power to a certain extent, and the power of ministers to participate in decision-making and implement policies was greater than that of the previous dynasty. Above the temple, the monarch and his subjects argued endlessly; In rivers and lakes, scholars give directions. This enlightened political atmosphere has enabled intellectuals to have political ideals, cultural innovation, moral pursuit and life security. This more enlightened politics was rare in other dynasties and provided a strong guarantee for the rapid development of the Song Dynasty.

3. Imperial examination system

In the imperial examination, Song Taizu broke away from convention and gave the final examination to the candidates in the way of palace examination. In this way, the bureaucratic ranks in the Northern Song Dynasty were expanded, from which a large number of outstanding politicians emerged and the political power was consolidated.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in the Northern Song Dynasty, many measures were gradually adopted, such as strict examination procedures, increasing the number of admission places, improving the treatment of admission personnel, and widely absorbing landlords' intellectuals to participate in political power. Since the late Song Taizu, Juren had to pass the "court examination" presided over by the Ministry of Rites. In this way, the admitted person becomes a "pupil of the son of heaven".

During the reign of Song Taizong in 2 1 year, nearly ten thousand people passed the imperial examinations. Song Renzong was in office for 4 1 year, and only 45 17 people obtained official positions from Jinshi. A large number of landlord class intellectuals became loyal servants of feudal countries, which consolidated the ruling foundation of the Song Dynasty.

4. Tax system

On the whole, the agricultural tax system in the Song Dynasty continued the two tax laws in the late Tang Dynasty, but increased the tax amount. However, the officers are very heavy, which has caused a burden on the people. Therefore, Wang Anshi implemented the exemption law during the political reform.

The land tax in the Northern Song Dynasty stipulated that land owners should be taxed per mu once a year in summer and autumn (following the two tax laws of the Tang Dynasty). In the north, about one stone can be harvested per mu of medium-sized land, and official tax should be paid. Due to the high output in all parts of the south of the Yangtze River, there are three taxes per mu. In the Tang Dynasty, both tax laws levied taxes according to the amount of assets, while in the Song Dynasty, they levied taxes according to the land area quota. Autumn tax is to collect grain per mu after autumn harvest; Summer tax mainly collects money, or folds silk, silk, cotton and cloth.

Taxation by mu is the basic standard of taxation, but there are so-called "shift" and "change" calculations in actual taxation, thus increasing the actual tax amount. "Transshipment" means that when the autumn tax is levied, farmers are required to transport it to the designated place to pay. If farmers are unwilling to accompany long-distance transportation, they have to pay an extra "transfer fee", that is, "foot money" "inflection point" refers to the change of money and goods when summer tax is levied, which also increases the actual tax payment.

The government collects land rent when it recruits tenant farmers to farm on official land, which is called "tax on commons". However, no one pays autumn tax and summer tax in Guantian itself, and often both taxes are imposed on tenants, which increases the amount of land rent. This is the so-called "repeated tax collection".

According to the regulations of the Northern Song Dynasty, a man is a man at the age of 20 and an old man at the age of 60. All men between the ages of 20 and 60 must pay physical taxes, money or silk, and both taxes.

The Northern Song Dynasty inherited the exorbitant taxes and levies of the Five Dynasties and Ten Countries and merged them into classes, collectively known as "miscellaneous changes". Among them, there are many names, such as agricultural machinery tax, cowhide tax, silkworm salt tax, shoe money and so on. , which is the so-called "when you come out, you will change and lose." Hybridization must also be accompanied by two taxes.

River fire is the grain and rice that the government forcibly collects from the people; Hemai is a compulsory acquisition of folk cloth by the government. At the beginning of implementation and purchase, the quantity of compulsory purchase is allocated according to the amount of land, and the price is paid. Later, it was "officials don't give money for nothing."

5. Justice

In the Five Dynasties, there was no judicial system, and the vassal towns were domineering, killing at will, abusing punishment, treating human life like dirt, and the punishment was useless. In the Song Dynasty, in addition to putting some criminal prisons in various routes to be responsible for the administration of justice and strictly enforcing the legal system, it was also stipulated that all death sentences must be reported to the central authorities for examination and approval. The judicial system was restored and power was basically returned to the central authorities.

Second, the economy

1, agricultural development

Progress in production technology

During the Northern Song Dynasty, farmers in the south generally used keel rollover for irrigation, and gondolas with greater driving power than keel rollover were also used to divert water up mountains and irrigate mountain fields. Fan Zhongyan's "Water Wheel Fu" has a sentence that "the device is like a system, and the water is the wheel-assisted", which reflects this kind of tubular car with wheels and driven by water or cattle. The government of the Northern Song Dynasty twice promoted "treading on plows" in areas with few cattle. "Treading plough" is a good tool for human excavation, and the efficiency of four or five labors is half that of Niu Geng. This has played a certain role in solving the farming difficulties in areas with insufficient animal power.

In the tombs of the Northern Song Dynasty, there were groups of iron farm tools, such as plows, hoes, rakes, hoes and sickles. Among them, there are many intertillage farm tools such as harrows and hoes, which shows that farmers attach importance to intensive cultivation and increase farming procedures. Farmers in the Northern Song Dynasty also paid great attention to the accumulation and fertilization of fertilizers. In the long-term production practice, they realized that the properties of soil are different and different fertilizers should be applied. The so-called "medicine with feces". At that time, I also knew the relationship between the depth and density of crop planting and yield. Monographs on agricultural production knowledge such as crop spectrum, agricultural instrument spectrum, agricultural books and silkworm books have appeared one after another, reflecting the improvement of agricultural production technology.

water conservancy

When he was in Song Taizong, he built a pond, a 600-mile-long dam and weir in Hebei, set up a bucket gate, diverted water for irrigation, planted rice and achieved a bumper harvest.

The achievements of water conservancy construction in South China are more remarkable, among which the larger ones are Jiangbei Hanhai Weir, Zhejiang Hanhai Shitang, Qiantang River Dike and West Lake. For example, the Qiantang River levee has been repaired many times before and after, and the one repaired by Zhenzong is the most effective. This kind of building has absorbed the experience of five generations, put stones in bamboo cages, piled them into dikes, and put wooden stakes outside the dikes, thus enhancing the ability to stop tidal erosion. The West Lake used to irrigate more than 1000 hectares of fertile land, but now it has been abandoned for a long time.

When Su Shi was in Song Zhezong, he was appointed as the magistrate of Hangzhou and presided over the dredging project of the West Lake, which benefited all the farmland nearby. In addition, Mulan Back in Putian County, Fujian Province was also a famous project at that time. There is a dam in the north of Mulan with a width of 80m, a height of10m and a length of160m, which can hold back floods, store water and irrigate farmland, so as to protect farmland from droughts and floods. It is still strong, fully demonstrating the wisdom and creativity of the working people.

suit measures to local conditions

Farmers in the Northern Song Dynasty overcame the limitations of natural conditions and cultivated large areas of fertile land in mountainous areas, rivers and beaches according to local conditions. Polder fields have been further developed in the south, and the scale has been continuously expanded. For example, the famous Wan Chunwei in Wuhu County (now Anhui Province) has a field of127,000 mu. In addition, farmers have created many new types of fields, such as mountain fields, silt fields, shatian fields and shelf fields. During the reign of Emperor Taizong, the cultivated land in China was 3125,200 hectares. During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong, it increased to 5,247,500 hectares. It will continue to increase in the future.

Extension and exchange of crops

With the unification of the Northern Song Dynasty, the varieties of crops in the north and south have been exchanged. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the government advised Jiangnan, Fujian, Guangdong and other places to plant major grain varieties such as millet, wheat, millet and beans in the former north. Excellent varieties of rice have also been popularized everywhere, among which the most famous variety "Zhancheng Rice" was introduced to Fujian from Vietnam. Later, it was extended to Jianghuai and the north. The planting range of cash crops such as sugarcane, cotton, tea and Sang Ma has also been expanded.

manufacture

During the Northern Song Dynasty, handicraft production developed greatly, especially embroidery and Song embroidery. At that time, the scale of various handicraft workshops and the fine degree of internal division of labor exceeded the previous generation. Production technology has made remarkable progress, and the variety, quantity and quality of products have been greatly increased and improved. The most prominent is all kinds of porcelain in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Porcelain; (China) China

Porcelain in the Northern Song Dynasty, both in output and production technology, has been greatly improved compared with the previous generation. At that time, kiln households burned porcelain all over the country, and the porcelain produced had their own characteristics. Official kilns, Jun kilns, Ru kilns, Ding kilns and Ge kilns are the five famous kilns in the Northern Song Dynasty. The products of the official kiln are fine, thin and green, with fine powder and different shades; Jun kiln has fine soil grain, five colors of glaze and rabbit silk grain; Ru kiln has both rouge and cinnabar, and the glaze is bright; Ding kiln is famous for white porcelain, which can make red porcelain, and the products are very beautiful; Zhang's brother kiln and his younger brother Zhang's young kiln are rich in celadon, and their products are known as "Thousand Peaks and Cuises". During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Jingdezhen, an official kiln was set up in Xinping, Jiangxi Province, and the words "Jingdezhen Year System" were written on the bottom of the tribute porcelain, which later became famous at home and abroad. Carving and painting patterns on porcelain is a new creation in the Northern Song Dynasty. The pattern is carved with a knife, embroidered with needles, printed on the board, the tapered flowers are chiseled into patterns with the tips of cones, piled into convex shapes with pens dipped in powder, and then white glaze is applied. Song porcelain is not only a commodity, but also a fine handicraft. A large number of porcelain in the Northern Song Dynasty were sold abroad and unearthed in various parts of Asia and Africa, which proved that porcelain was an important export at that time. Song porcelain has become a famous work of art in ancient China, enjoying a high reputation at home and abroad.

Mining and smelting

During the Northern Song Dynasty, the mining and smelting scale of gold, silver, copper, iron, lead and coal was quite large. Li Guojian is an important iron smelting center in the northeast of Xuzhou, with 36 smelters and about 4,000 miners. Jiangxi Xinzhou and its vicinity are rich in copper and lead, "often raising more than 100 thousand people, digging day and night, getting tens of millions of kilograms of copper and lead." In Fanchang, Anhui, there is a scrap iron pile with a height of about 2 meters and an area of 750 square meters, which reflects the smelting scale at that time. On the basis of the expansion of mining and smelting scale, the number of products has greatly increased. Taking copper and silver as examples, Song Shenzong spent140,000 kilograms of copper and 200,000 kilograms of silver. According to the tax rate levied by the government, it can be inferred that the annual output of copper is more than 70 million kilograms, and that of silver is10 million kilograms, which is several times higher than that of the Tang Dynasty. In addition, great progress has been made in mining and smelting technology.

Silk industry

The textile industry in the Northern Song Dynasty mainly includes silk, hemp and wool, among which silk weaving still occupies the main position, and Zhejiang and Sichuan are the most developed. From Hebei East Road to Jiangnan East Road, the silk industry is also quite large. There are many kinds of silk fabrics, including more than twenty kinds of silk and forty or fifty kinds of brocade. There are many treasures in the north and south, such as Shu brocade, which lasts for a long time and sells well all over the country; Dingzhou silk (kè grade) weaves beautiful and realistic flowers and birds with various colors, just like carving, a must; Shaanxi Province (now Shaanxi County, Henan Province) is thin (jiān shoulders), and each horse only weighs four or two, so if it is foggy, it will be analogized. In some developed areas of silk industry, a group of independent operators have appeared to produce goods in the form of family handicraft workshops, which reflects the new situation of silk industry production and development.

Waterway shipbuilding

Kaifeng, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, is very important in the water transportation in the southeast. Ships are indispensable means of transportation, and the prosperity of overseas trade has promoted the progress of shipbuilding industry. Government-run workshops mainly build oil tankers, as well as ships, warships and troop carriers, while private workshops build boats and cruise ships. Take an oil tanker as an example. During the Zhenzong period, the annual output reached more than 2,900. Ships in the Northern Song Dynasty were quite large in size and load. The ship built by Hui Zong to go to North Korea is called "Shenzhou". It is estimated that it can carry more than 20,000 stones with a carrying capacity of about 1 100 tons. Seagoing ships are all sharp-bottomed ships with a flat top and a blade bottom, which have the advantages of deep water and strong wind and wave resistance. The main mast on the seagoing ship is ten feet high, the headmast is eight feet high, and the sail 1 10. The whole ship is divided into three cabins, and the middle cabin is divided into four halls. This bulkhead waterproof equipment is the first of its kind in China Shipyard.

There are many shipbuilding sites in the Northern Song Dynasty, which are distributed in Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Hunan, Shaanxi and other places, among which Ganzhou (now Ganzhou, Jiangxi), Jizhou (now Ji 'an), Wenzhou (now Zhejiang) and Mingzhou (now Ningbo) are famous shipbuilding bases. During the reign of Emperor Taizong, the country built more than 3,300 ships every year, far exceeding the Tang Dynasty. Shipbuilding in the Northern Song Dynasty was in a leading position in the world at that time. In foreign trade, most China and foreign businessmen use ships made in China.

Changes in the status of craftsmen

During the Northern Song Dynasty, the identity and status of craftsmen in official and private handicraft workshops changed.

Private workshops use hired craftsmen, who collect money and rice as employment value, and the employment value varies from place to place and from department to department. Artisans employed in government-run workshops include those transferred from the army but still registered in the army, as well as those recruited and employed by the people. In addition, there is another kind of craftsman who works in body double, called "when body double" or "when body double". This kind of craftsman was only used as an assistant in the Northern Song Dynasty, and they were different from those in the Tang Dynasty. Instead of providing free services, they paid a certain "employment value". Some production departments, such as the mint workshop, have also appeared similar piecework employment methods. All these indicate that the feudal personal bondage of craftsmen in the Northern Song Dynasty has been relaxed.

2. Business development

The earliest paper money in the world appeared in Sichuan in the early Northern Song Dynasty. Northern Song Dynasty paper money has a currency that spans the Northern Song Dynasty.

There are three kinds: jiaozi, Yin Qian and Xiao Qian.

With the development of commodity exchange in the Northern Song Dynasty, the currency circulation also increased significantly. During the Tianbao period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, 320,000 coins were minted every year, reaching 800,000 coins every year since Emperor Taizong of the Northern Song Dynasty. After that, it gradually increased to more than 6 million in the sixth year of Shen Zongxi Ning (1073). Besides copper and iron, gold and silver are also used as semi-circulating currencies. Silver is used for tax collection, official salaries and foreign trade. There are gold and silver shops and exchange houses in big cities, which specialize in buying and selling gold and silver and changing money. The proportion of silver in national tax revenue has gradually increased, from 883,900 yuan in 102 1 year (the fifth year of Tianxi) to1/860,000 yuan in 2020 (the second year of Xuanhe). Although gold is in circulation, it does not occupy an important position.

The Northern Song Dynasty also produced the earliest paper money in China and even the world-"Jiaozi". After the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty, Sichuan used iron money for a long time. At the end of A.D. 10, the so-called "Jiaozi Shop" appeared in Chengdu market, issuing paper money "Jiaozi" instead of iron money. In the winter of the first year of Renzong Tiansheng (1023), the government saw that it was profitable to issue Jiaozi, that is, under the pretext of constant disputes among businessmen, it officially set up Jiaozi service office, changed Jiaozi into an official office, and issued it regularly, with a reserve of 360,000 iron coins, and the circulation area was still limited to Sichuan. During the reign of Hui Zong, it was changed to "Yin Qian" to expand its circulation area. However, money is not prepared for capital, and printing in large quantities has become a great scourge to the people.

Shangshui specialty shop

Due to the development of commerce, the Northern Song government paid special attention to commercial tax. Set up fields, offices and other institutions throughout the country to collect taxes.

There are two kinds of commercial taxes in Song Dynasty: one is over-taxation, and the other is levying taxes on businessmen; The residence tax is worth three tenths, which is for Zuo Jia. In addition to regular taxes, there are miscellaneous taxes. With the prosperity of business, business tax has increasingly become one of the important financial resources of the government. During the Zhenzong period of Jingdezhen, the business tax was only 4.5 million yuan, and it increased to 22 million yuan by the time of Renzong.

In order to search for more money, the northern song government monopolized salt, tea, wine and alum, that is, the government controlled the production of these items and monopolized their sales. The implementation of the monopoly system in the Northern Song Dynasty benefited the feudal government greatly, but affected the normal development of private industry and commerce.

urban economy

Regular fairs around big cities, which began in the Tang Dynasty, have generally existed around large, medium and small cities in the Song Dynasty. They are called "fairs" in the north and "fairs" in the south. There are also small cities in rural areas that hold them regularly.

There were only a dozen cities with more than 100,000 households in the Tang Dynasty, and the number increased to more than 40 in the Northern Song Dynasty. Kaifeng, Luoyang, Hangzhou, Yangzhou, Daming, Yingtian (now Shangqiu, Henan), Suzhou, Jingzhou, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Fuzhou, Tanzhou (Changsha) and Quanzhou are all famous prosperous cities. Kaifeng, as the national political and economic center, is the most typical. The population of this city is not less than one million, and there are more than 6,400 shops in the city. There is heavy traffic on the street. The goods on the market range from daily necessities to rare treasures. Cities before the Northern Song Dynasty were generally divided into "Fang" (residential area) and "City" (commercial area), and transactions could only be carried out in the city, and only during the day until the evening. In the Northern Song Dynasty, it began to break the boundaries of "square", "city" and day and night. In Kaifeng, shops can be opened everywhere, as well as night markets and markets. At that time, there were "Wazi" (or "Washe" and "Wasi") in Kaifeng City. There were "Goulan" (song and dance venues), restaurants, teahouses, storytellers and singers, which were very lively. [43]

Advertising competition

The economic prosperity in Song Dynasty promoted the market competition, and all industries had their own unique management methods. Most businesses compete with "advertising". Businessmen in Song Dynasty had a strong advertising consciousness, the fundamental reason was the pursuit of economic interests, and the objective reason was the fierce market competition and the influence of social ideology and culture at that time. Businessmen made a big fuss about advertising, and a series of advertising forms such as "voice advertising, commodity display advertising, hanging advertising, media advertising and holiday advertising" appeared in the Song Dynasty.

Overseas trade

In the Tang Dynasty, only Guangzhou set up a trading company to take charge of foreign trade affairs. In addition to Guangzhou, the Northern Song Dynasty

Maritime?Silk?Road

The scale of foreign trade in Hangzhou, Mingzhou, Quanzhou, Mizhou (now Zhucheng, Shandong) and Xiuzhou (now Jiaxing, Zhejiang) has doubled. In the mid-Northern Song Dynasty, the annual income of local businessmen reached 630,000 yuan, which became an important fiscal revenue of the government. The commodities exported in the Northern Song Dynasty are mainly silk, porcelain and metal. And the imported goods are mainly spices, medicinal materials, ivory, jewelry and so on.

In Song Dynasty, ocean-going ships had huge hull structure, huge operation scale and a large number of members. The labor organization of ship operation is also very different. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the shipbuilding industry in China rose suddenly, with a large scale and a large number of ships. According to Wu's Dream Beach Record (Volume 12) and ship records, China large-scale seagoing ships can carry 500 ~ 600 people with a load of 1 10,000 ~10.2 million stones (500 ~ 600 tons). Medium-sized seagoing ships carry 2000 ~ 4000 stones (100 ~ 200 tons) and 200 ~ 300 people.

Urban and rural market towns

During the Northern Song Dynasty, the development of ancient cities in China took a new turn. Cities before the Northern Song Dynasty were generally divided into squares and cities, that is, residential areas and commercial areas were strictly separated. During the Northern Song Dynasty, with the development of commodity economy and the increase of urban population, the boundary between "square" and "city" was completely broken, and shops could be opened everywhere instead of in a centralized way.

3. National population

In the fifth year of Taiping (980), there were 6418,500 households in China, reaching about 3,265,438+10,000 people [77]. If you add the number of households that are not included in the statistics of major customers, there were 6.87 million households in that year, nearly 3,765,438+10,000 people. In Song Huizong, there were 20,882,258 households with 46,734,784 people in four years (110). Scholars believe that the actual population at that time was112.75 million, and put forward the population of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Third, culture.

The Northern Song Dynasty was a very strange and unbalanced era. On the one hand, although the northern song dynasty had a huge army, its military strength was not strong, and it was at a disadvantage for a long time when it confronted Liao and Xixia. Although the economy was very prosperous, the government of the Northern Song Dynasty often had an empty treasury and could not make ends meet. Because the Northern Song Dynasty was weak militarily and poor economically, it was regarded as "the poorest dynasty in the history of China" by historians.

On the other hand, however, the Northern Song Dynasty is one of the dynasties with the most advanced science and technology, the most prosperous culture and the most prosperous art in the history of China. Many important inventions in the history of China appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty. In the 1 1 and12nd centuries, the living standards of big cities in China can be compared with those of any other cities in the world. During the Northern Song Dynasty, in terms of literature and art, celebrities came forth in large numbers and reached their peak. The Northern Song Dynasty was one of the most prosperous dynasties in the history of China. As Mr. Chen Yinque said: "The culture of the Chinese nation has evolved for thousands of years and reached its peak in the Zhao and Song Dynasties."

1, poetry

The imperial examination system in Song Dynasty allowed the literati to develop freely. Ci in Song Dynasty reached a high level, and became the treasure of China classical literature and art together with Tang poetry.

Song Lian, a scholar in Ming Dynasty, said: "Since Qin Dynasty, civilization has flourished in Song Dynasty." Among the "Eight Masters of Tang and Song Dynasties", only Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan were from the Tang Dynasty, and the other six were from the Northern Song Dynasty. "Six people in addition to the" three Su "(Su Xun, Su Shi, Su Zhe), and Ouyang Xiu, Wang Anshi,.

Ci originated from the folk, began in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Five Dynasties and flourished in the Song Dynasty. In the Northern Song Dynasty, there were many poets and many excellent articles, which can be said to be the heyday of Ci. Yan Shu, Ouyang Xiu, Yan, Fan Zhongyan, Liu Yong, Su Shi, Qin Guan, Huang Tingjian, Zhou Bangyan, Li Qingzhao, etc.

2. Painting and calligraphy

Many famous painters and calligraphers emerged in the Northern Song Dynasty. Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, Mi Fei and Cai Xiang have the highest achievements in calligraphy, and are known as the "Four Great Masters in Northern Song Dynasty". In addition, The Book of Thin Gold, written by Song Huizong, is also unique and has a strong personality.

There were famous painters such as Li Cheng, Fan Kuan, Yan Wengui and Wen in the early Northern Song Dynasty, and Su Shi, Li, Zhang Zeduan, Mi Fei, Mi Youren and () in the middle and late period. Landscape painting in the Northern Song Dynasty can best represent the highest artistic level of Chinese painting.

Zhang Zeduan's The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival is the first one. By depicting the scenery of Kaifeng, Tokyo, this long scroll made nearly 600 people jump to the page and became an immortal masterpiece in the history of China painting.

3. History

The two historical books, The Book of the New Tang Dynasty and The History of the New Five Dynasties, are biographical history books, and this genre of history books mainly focuses on biographies of people. The Book of the New Tang Dynasty was written by Ouyang Xiu, and the History of the New Five Dynasties was written privately by Ouyang Xiu.

The Book of the New Tang Dynasty is not only a supplement to the Book of the Old Tang Dynasty, but also helps to understand the history books of the Tang Dynasty. Compared with the old history of the Five Dynasties, the new history of the Five Dynasties has a wide range of materials and vivid narration. In addition, Ouyang Xiu's writing is concise and clean, and more readable.

Sima Guang's historical achievements are even higher. He and Taishi Gong Sima Qian are also called "Second Sima". His Zi Zhi Tong Jian is the highest achievement and concluding work of China's ancient chronological history books. Zi Jian (294 volumes) records the historical events of the Warring States Period (403 BC) from the beginning of Jin Sanfen to the end of the Five Dynasties (959 AD) 1362. There are also 30 volumes of catalogues and 30 volumes of textual research. The book is "detailed in managing the ups and downs of chaos", and in terms of materials, "specialized in the ups and downs of the country, is the cohabitation of the people. Good can be a law, and evil can be a commandment. " Gu believes that Zi Tong Zhi Jian is an indispensable ancient book for later generations.

4. Philosophy

The northern song dynasty far surpassed the Tang dynasty in philosophy, and a number of neo-Confucianists appeared. Neo-Confucianism is a special form of Confucian philosophy. Neo-Confucianism is called Neo-Confucianism and Taoism because it pays attention to the study of righteousness and life. At the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, Shi Jie, Hu Yuan and Sun Fu were called "Three Masters of Neo-Confucianism", but the actual founders were "Five Scholars of the Northern Song Dynasty", namely Zhou Dunyi, Zhang Zai, Shao Yong, Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi.