What are the similarities and differences between the Song Dynasty and modern day clothing, food and housing?

The Song Dynasty was the era when the civic class was officially created in Chinese society, and a large number of craftsmen, merchants, and small business owners constituted the middle class in the Song Dynasty. They were economically affluent and had their own independent pursuit of values. The affluent and leisure life of the citizens and their aesthetic and lifestyle interests contributed to the high cultural prosperity of the Song Dynasty, and opera, acrobatics, music, poetry, novels, etc. all flourished in the Song Dynasty. Large-scale urbanization began in the Song Dynasty. For the first time in China, there were large cities centered primarily on commerce, rather than administration. The Song Dynasty's well-developed transportation was the greatest in human feudal history. In the Song Dynasty, there was a post office every ten miles and a post station every thirty miles. The official roads in different parts of the country were scattered and well connected. The Song government attached great importance to the postal service, and the practice of "ruling by law" ensured the normal operation of the postal service." The White Pagoda Bridge sells the map, and the Long Pavilion and the Short Pavilion are very clear." The maps of the Song Dynasty were already quite accurate. The four capitals of the Song Dynasty were Kaifeng Prefecture in Tokyo, Luoyang Prefecture in the Western Capital, Da Ming Prefecture in Beijing, and Yingtian Prefecture in Nanjing. The large cities of the Song Dynasty were concentrated in population, and both Bianliang, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, and Lin'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, were large cities with more than a million people. There were six Song Dynasty cities with populations over 200,000 as in Quanzhou. Cities with more than 100,000 households in the Song Dynasty increased from a dozen in the Tang Dynasty to forty-six. (The largest and most prosperous city in the West at the end of the Southern Song was Venice with a population of only one hundred thousand.) There was an hour hand hanging from a tower on all the arteries of the city. Each clock was tended by a watchman. He struck the brass roe to tell the time, a sound that echoed even in very narrow alleys, and then he showed the moments to the people in words. The Northern Song Dynasty was rich and powerful for more than 160 years, and the capital city of Bianliang (now Kaifeng, Henan Province) was "ten times more popular than the capitals of the Han and Tang dynasties", and Bianliang City was not only smooth and developed by dry roads, but also very developed by water transportation." The poopdeck of Bianliang City is always in the clear, and the waterway is also very well developed. Millions of households in Bianliang City were all on stone charcoal, and there was not a single household that burned fuel. Bianliang City in Song Dynasty was already warmed by coal (called burning stone in the West) instead of wood. At that time, the West was using wood to split wood for cooking and heating. This was not the case in China's major cities after the liberation in 1949. The birth of the emerging civic class, the affluent and comfortable life of the Song people strong consumer consciousness, greatly stimulated the tea house wine market, entertainment and other tertiary industries flourished. Unlike the cities of the Tang Dynasty, the cities of the Song Dynasty were dark as soon as the night came, and the Song City was a city of brilliant light in the dark. Because Song Dynasty did not impose curfew like Tang Dynasty, Song people had night life. At night, Song people lit lamps in their rooms, in front of their houses and courtyards, thus there were lights everywhere. People who traveled at night carried various kinds of lanterns. Therefore, the whole city was shining at night. At night, the city is brightly lit, and the sound of sales is heard until dawn. In the "wazi", "hook bar" and other fixed entertainment venues, a hundred plays are performed, and the public concentrates on watching them. At night, the food and beverage stores do a brisk business, and the streets are crowded with people until the sun rises." One or two places on the street noodle store and the city of West Square West food noodle store, all-night trading, the dawn of endless "," the rest of the bridge Road, Fang Lane, there is also a night market poker selling fruit sugar and other things, but also sell Gua Gua people Pan Street hawking, such as the top tray and stretcher to sell the city's food, to the three more unceasingly. Winter months, although heavy rain and snow, there are also night market pan sale." ." Wine shop Bose miscellaneous song call, night and night as long as the first half of the month." The "Liangyuan Songs and Dances are a great success, and the wine is like a knife to solve the sorrows. I remembered how much fun I had as a teenager, and I went up to the Fan Tower in the dead of night." "When I look back in the twilight, the man is at the end of the lights." When will the West Lake songs and dances stop? The warm wind makes the tourists drunk, making Hangzhou a bianzhou." The tourists are not only a few Song people such as royal relatives and dignitaries, but also the vast number of citizens in the city, the majority of Song people. The Song people were so rich and happy. The Song Dynasty did not have the poverty of "frozen bones" and the pessimism and despair of "the country is broken, the city is deep in spring." The pessimism and despair. Only "West Lake song and dance when to rest" drunken optimism, prosperity.

Song porcelain is the national symbol of China at that time. The five famous kilns of the Song Dynasty were Ru Kiln, Guan Kiln, Jun Kiln, Ge Kiln and Ding Kiln. It can be said that the first commercialized industry in the human world was the porcelain industry of the Song Dynasty. Song porcelain is the perfect combination of the finest art and precise craftsmanship. Song porcelain divine civilization and popular culture clever fusion and unity. Porcelain was produced in large quantities in famous kilns around the world, not only for the use of the royal aristocracy, but also for the officials and scholars, as well as the public class to cherish and use. Song porcelain of various types of kiln manufacturing method to produce an endless variety of porcelain. Let all see the people are marveled at. Song porcelain many of the process has been lost. Song porcelain many of the craft level even modern are difficult to achieve. Song dynasty porcelain is so exquisite, it can be said that the Song dynasty left behind the famous kiln porcelain almost all worth a lot of money. During the Song Dynasty China's popular silk craftsmanship went from practical to delicate and sophisticated. The silk of the Song Dynasty was exceedingly advanced. Very sophisticated looms contained 1800 moving components. Various embroidery methods made Chinese silk more artistic and aesthetic. The rich foreigners wore coarse cloth and linen, the Chinese commoners wore soft silk. Some peasants also wore silk." Walking pawns resemble soldiers' clothes, and peasants tiptoe on silk shoes."

In the Song Dynasty, people suing officials was also common, and anti-corruption rules and regulations were posted at the entrance of government offices at all levels, and people could appeal and sue officials until they won.

The Song Dynasty became the second period of academic freedom in Chinese history since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. For the first time, the Song Dynasty showed signs of a merging of the artisanal and philosophical traditions. The four famous academies of the Song Dynasty (Yuelu Academy, Bailudong Academy, Goose Lake Academy, Songyang Academy) became the holy place for Confucian disciples to absorb the milk of culture, and "the Taoist forest of 300 people, the academy of a thousand disciples". Song Renzong Zhaozhen love to learn to worship Confucian classics. Zhao Zhen for the first time the Analects of Confucius, Mencius University of the Middle Ages out together for students to learn. Four Books and Five Classics for the Imperial College required mandatory courses. The military aspect of the highest school called wuxue, equivalent to the military university. Song also has a specialized school of science and technology, such as arithmetic, medicine and so on. In addition, Song also has a large number of family schools, house museums, book clubs and other places of learning." Every lane shall be one or two. The sound of strings and chanting is often heard. In the case of the year of the big than, between the first to make up in the house election." In the Southern Song Dynasty, there were at most 1,700 students in the Imperial College, which used to be Yue Fei's residence. Taixue has student dormitory and stadium. Candidates for the Imperial College came from all directions. The admission ratio was 3% - 6%. Taixue practiced a five-year system of three houses. Initially into the school in the outer house to study, one year after the study of qualified people into the inner house in the study of two years, qualified people into the upper house to study. In the upper house and then study two years of further study, the examination passers graduated. The food costs of the students completely by the government, each person to spend about three thousand kan per year. The Song government just to too college students of the food expenses one, every year to spend more than five million kan. Science and education not only contributed to the prosperity of science and technology, commerce, literature and art, but also to the establishment of political pluralism, the establishment of factions of democratic and enlightened political vengeance, and so on.

The Song Dynasty signed the "Alliance of Still Waters" with Liao in a victorious situation, making the two countries brotherly states. At the same time, the Song Dynasty agreed to give Liao 100,000 taels of silver and 200,000 pieces of silk (equivalent to 300,000 kan) every year. In 1021 AD, the state revenues of the Song Dynasty totaled 15,000,000,000 guan. The average annual revenue of the Song government during the Northern Song Dynasty should have been more than 10,000,000 guan. One tael of silver was equal to one consistent coin, and 300,000 guan was not worth mentioning for the huge annual revenue of the Song Dynasty. Renzong Bao Yuan years only Shaanxi a place, peacetime military spending 20 million guan, wartime 33 million guan. In Shaanxi alone, the military expenditure in war was 13 million guan higher than that in peacetime. The most important thing is that the "Stillwater Alliance" made the Song Dynasty still occupy Ying and Mo states, which were the "south of Guan" of the Liao Kingdom. The "Stillwater Alliance" was an agreement to reward the loser with goods, not to pay tribute to the loser. The "annual coins" did not put the slightest pressure on the Song government and people. The "Stillwater Alliance" brought Song and Liao into a period of peace and friendship for more than 100 years, restored stability to the north of China, and promoted economic and cultural exchanges between the Han and Khitan races, as well as the Sinicization of the Khitan people. By the time of Yelu Hongji, there was little difference between the Khitans and the Han Chinese, and they could not even speak the Khitan language. When the obituary of Song Renzong's death was sent to Liao, "the people of Yan border without far and near all weeping", Liao Emperor Yelu Hongji also held the messenger's hand and cried bitterly, "forty-two years do not know the military revolution to carry on." Since then Song to develop the economy, improve people's living standards, cultural construction as a national policy, so that China at that time away from the primitive expansion of force, looting financial savagery stage. Northern Song took a little money in exchange for long-term stability and peace, stable development. The Song business, economy, science and technology, technology and so on have made great progress and development. Resulting in the Northern Song Dynasty, the country is strong, the peace of the sea, the whole country is filled with a gas. Also make people in a state of abundance and leisure for a long time. Long-term peace also makes the Song and Liao countries gradually degraded the ability of savage fighting. It also made the Song Dynasty far away from the primitive and backward world. In 1040 A.D., Fan Zhongyan went to Shanbei and repeatedly repelled the Western Xia army, and since then the Western Xia did not dare to offend. In the spirit of stabilizing the borders, Fan Zhongyan took the initiative to introduce himself to the Qiang leaders to strengthen good neighborly relations. The people praised him as "having tens of thousands of armored soldiers in his chest". According to historical records, when the sad news of his death reached the border, "hundreds of Qiang chiefs, crying like father." The government of the Northern Song Dynasty opened up more than 3,000 miles to the west, and 200,000 Tibetans were adhered to China. The government of the Northern Song Dynasty opened up more than 3,000 miles to the west, and 200,000 Tibetans came to China. Wang Anshi: "Now the Qingtang and Taohe rivers, covering more than 3,000 miles, raise the Rongqiang's crowd of 200,000 people, offer their land, because of the familiar households." The Tibetans who were recruited and resettled were called ripe households. Song did not pour out the whole country's troops, all the wealth of the people of the reaction to the Liao, the attack on the Western Xia because of the lessons learned from the Sui Yang Emperor, Han Wu Di. What you get from war and aggression is far less than what you create. Enlightened policy so that the people of the Song Dynasty for a long time without war, military service, taxes, the three major "disaster" of suffering. The people of the Song Dynasty have been living in wealth and comfort for a long time.

The soldiers of the Song Dynasty were all recruited as mercenaries, and these mercenaries were paid very generous salaries, and the military expenses paid by the state were staggering. The government's huge revenues were sometimes not enough to cover the costs, and in 1065 (the second year of the reign of Emperor Zhiping) the state's revenues amounted to 116,138,405 coins, while its expenditures amounted to 120,343,170 coins, resulting in a fiscal deficit of 4,200,000 coins. This move was ironically called "redundant troops" and "accumulated poverty" by some modern scholars." Redundant troops", "accumulated poverty" is the result of the internal democratic and enlightened state policy of the Song dynasty, not the pressure of foreign enemies.