This article is from WeChat official account:One (ID: yitiaotv), readme: Xue Fengxuan, editor: Ni Chujiao, source of the first picture: Organizer of the Digital Art Exhibition “Shanghe Picture 3.0 on Qingming Festival”
The Picture of Shanghe River on Qingming Festival is a legend. This silk painting, 5.29 meters long and 24.8 centimeters wide, was created by Zhang Zeduan between 1111 and 1120 AD. Subsequently, it entered the palace seven times and left the palace six times. It was once collected by 15 recorded private collectors, and disappeared for 370 years. After thousands of years and countless ups and downs, it was miraculously preserved perfectly.
Part of “Shanghe Picture on Qingming Festival”
The painting contains 684 figures, 95 animals, 122 houses, 29 ships, 15 cars, more than 20 shops, 8 sedan chairs… It truly restores the unprecedented grandeur of Bianjing, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty. Say it: “It’s not a photo, it’s better than a photo.”
Since the 1950s, when the original “Shang He Tu on Qingming Festival” was reappeared, there has been a trend of research, and many controversies have also followed: Is this a political painting? Who and when did they paint?
Professor Xue Fengxuan, who specializes in the history of urban development in China, has studied the “Shang He Tu on Qingming Festival” for 20 years. He started with more than 200 details in a different way. Not only did he resolve the above two disputes, he also interpreted the urban layout and government management of Bianjing , Commercial forms, and the cultural life of ordinary people…
In the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a vegetable basket area, a warehouse dock area and a city sub-center? What is the infrastructure of Bianjing? What kind of nightlife does the common people have? Is entrepreneurship encouraged? How does the government manage business licenses? How advanced was the technology at that time?
The following is Professor Xue Fengxuan’s narrative:
My name is Xue Fengxuan. I have taught at the University of Hong Kong for 30 years.After retiring, I mainly study the history of Chinese cities. Beginning with the earliest (large non-agricultural settlement before civilization) in the earliest city 5,000 years ago, how did it go through the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties until now.
When studying the Song Dynasty, of course, it is inevitable to pay attention to the “Shanghe Picture on Qingming Festival”. The greatest thing about it lies in the word “real”.
The painter Zhang Zeduan portrayed 684 figures, 95 animals, 122 houses, 29 ships, 15 vehicles, more than 20 shops and 8 sedan chairs, all of which were realistic and meticulous. It provided me with a great basis for studying Bianjing in the Northern Song Dynasty.
The painting itself is too complicated, so I only selected the most important 200 details to explain. These details show the government management at that time, the cultural life of the people, the appearance of the city, its architecture and all aspects of the city’s economy.
The “Vegetable Basket Area” in the “Shang He Tu on Qingming Festival”
Bianjing layout: vegetable basket area, dock area, sub-center, central city district
The cities before the Northern Song Dynasty mainly had administrative and military functions. Industrial, commercial and entertainment activities are restricted to a limited scope. The real emergence of the “city” as we understand it began in the Song Dynasty, and it began to serve both commercial and industrial functions.
Although the “Surfing the River on Qingming Festival” only drew a corner of Bianjing, we can see a very mature urban plan.
The beginning of the picture scroll is a scene of the suburbs. You will see large fields and several farm houses. This area, I call it the vegetable basket area, is the countryside, which is responsible for the supply of vegetables and meat in the city.
The “Wharf Area” in “A Picture of the River on Qingming Festival”
Going further, you can see a large number of ships docking on the shore, and porters are transporting bags of goods from the ship to the shore.
The “Wharf Area” in “A Picture of the River on Qingming Festival”
There are many matching small shops in the surrounding area, the decorations are relatively simple, such as some “fast food” restaurants and small tea shops. This is where the staff of the warehouse dock eats.
There are almost no people in the shop. It should be just after lunch. We call this area the warehouse and the “harbour dock area”.
The “Urban Sub-center” in “A Picture of the River on Qingming Festival”
The official house in “Shang He Tu on Qingming Festival”
After Hongqiao, it is very close to the inner city, there are lots of traffic and very busy. Large restaurants began to appear, selling spices, medicines, and various high-end hotels, including two large mansions for official houses. Be regarded as the city’s sub-center.
The “Taxation Yamen” in “Shanghe on Qingming Festival”
Going further in, you will see a tower, and you will be in the real main city. The first thing I encountered was the office of (Taxation Officials) of Simen Langzhong. There was a “Tax Notice” on his back and beside him Large scales, and officials to help him count the goods. Transportation of goods from outside the city to the inner city requires the payment of “excess tax”, which is 2%. Then there is the Sun Yangzheng shop, the largest in the painting. The real downtown area has arrived.
Part of “Shanghe Picture on Qingming Festival”
Booming happiness index: perfect infrastructure, rich nightlife, free market
There are a total of 684 characters in the whole painting, and 80% of the people are very happy and very leisurely. People in small teahouses, high-end restaurants, or standing in the streets all smiled. There are a lot of people at leisure, dozens of people are telling stories around Mr. Heard and He has a high happiness index.
Let’s look at the Mediterranean after the Renaissance, especially Italy and France. There is a small square in the middle of its cities, where many people drink and chat. It seems that there has never been such a concept in China, but in “A Picture of a River on the Qingming Festival”, Tongqu Street is full of people, chatting, greeting, talking, and even ignoring the surrounding vehicles. The sight of close interpersonal communication in such a society is very touching to me.
Part of “Shanghe Picture on Qingming Festival”
This benefited from the enlightened literati class at the time.
First of all, they have assumed basic responsibilities, and the infrastructure is very complete, giving the people a safe, convenient and comfortable life.
There are more than 300 official wells in the whole city. Looking closely at its design, it is very careful. It can feed 4 people at the same time. There is a low wall next to it to protect the water intake space from being occupied by neighboring houses. The sides of the well are paved with bricks, and the middle is high and the sides are short to prevent sewage from flowing into the well head.
Look at the water-carrying people again. They have uniform clothing, which shows that they are professional water-carrying companies and have water-carrying companies.
Part of “Shanghe Picture on Qingming Festival”
There are also specially constructed ditches to drain rain and flood water. A row of trees was planted on both sides to consolidate the soil on the shore.
Part of “Shanghe Picture on Qingming Festival”
There is a wind vane next to the Hongqiao Bridge, which is convenient for boats to prepare for crossing the bridge. There have been many accidents of boat crossing bridges in Bianjing, and then a wise man invented Hongqiao. The bridge is relatively high, and the ship can pass by simply putting down the mast. But when crossing the bridge, I was still afraid that the ship would collide with the shore on both sides. Therefore, under the bridge, a space is specially designed for people to walk in, so that people can supervise the ship and pass safely. The Hongqiao was built and managed by the government.
Moreover, the scholar-officials have a long-term vision to create the competitiveness of the city. Bianjing has a core competitiveness, that is, its accessibility to the outside world. The Bian River is connected to the canal. What Bianhe brought in was not only the city’s tax collection, but also BianheBeijing became a commercial center in northern China. Good things are concentrated in Bianjing through the canal. You will come here to buy them all over the country, right?
Small vendors in “A Picture of the River on Qingming Festival”
Secondly, they are very relaxed in policy, which gives the market many opportunities. At that time, the government had a regulation that self-employed, small vendors, and street vendors were not taxed and encouraged entrepreneurship. So on the street, you can see all kinds of vendors, selling medicine, selling ironware, repairing shoes, selling steamed buns, and selling wicker for Qingming Festival. The whole market is very prosperous.
Tang Chang’an city restoration map
Part of “Shanghe Picture on Qingming Festival”
It can be said that Bianjing in the Northern Song Dynasty isA very important turning point in the development of Chinese cities. Before the Song Dynasty, you would hear “East Market” and “West Market”. If you want to buy things, you can only buy things in the official “city”. It is a circled area and there is a curfew. This is called the Lifang system and the market system. But in the Northern Song Dynasty, there were no square walls, so there were shops along the street, along the river, and along the bridge.
In the past, when the market opened and closed, drums and bells would be played. This is the government’s control of commercial activities. By the Northern Song Dynasty, it was already a government decree that the curfew was lifted, and you can operate at will in accordance with the needs of your industry 24 hours a day.
The “Neon Lights” in “A Picture of the River on Qingming Festival”
With the permission to operate at night, “neon lights” came into being. You see, there is a light box on the outside of these shops. After the sun goes down, a box made of thin paper, with a large candle inside, and the name of the shop and the goods written on the white paper, is equivalent to our neon lights today. This scene was truthfully memorized by “A Picture of the River on Qingming Festival”, and it is unique in the world.
Part of “Shanghe Picture on Qingming Festival”
Song Dynasty wine culture has reached its peak, behind it is a set of meticulous systems
It’s worth mentioning alone, it’s to the northSong has reached the pinnacle of wine culture.
According to Qing statistics, the Song Dynasty was the dynasty that wrote the most wine scriptures. There are many varieties of wine, and there are more than 280 famous wines. Although the wine industry is unprecedentedly prosperous, it is firmly controlled by the government.
All places where liquor is sold must be registered and display official signs: liquor flags and liquors in accordance with regulations. From the picture, you can see that there are three types of restaurants, namely, Zhengdian, Jiaodian and Paihu.
The “Sun Yangdian” in “A Picture of Shanghe on the Qingming Festival”
The Zhengdian is the largest restaurant. There are 72 Zhengdians in Bianjing. The government gave it a special wine-making brand. It can make wine by itself or wholesale wine. Sun Yangzheng Store is one of them. It is a mutton restaurant, but its wine is also very good.
Part of “Shanghe Picture on Qingming Festival”
In the Sun Yangzheng shop, you can see several high-end things. For example, this gardenia lamp means that there are girls who accompany the wine, and it has many VIP rooms with girls who accompany the wine and sing with you.
In addition, it has red branches, which is a fence surrounding the restaurant. This red branch is famous. It shows that an emperor had visited this store before, he thought it tasted very good, and he wanted to eat it in the future. So red branchZi is a status symbol and a royally licensed thing, not every store can have it.
Part of “Shanghe Picture on Qingming Festival”
Part of “Han Xizai Night Banquet”
In addition, you can also see the “Cailou Huanmen”, the Huanmen of Sun Yangzheng store is decorated with flower balls, flower branches, and the most fashionable auspicious swan decoration at that time. You can find this pattern on the dress of the maid in “Han Xizai Night Banquet”. The size of the color building can reflect the size of the store and the scale of operation.
Part of “Shanghe Picture on Qingming Festival”
There is also a small detail. Behind the main store, you can see empty wine jars piled up like a mountain, which shows, It is engaged in winemaking and wholesale business. Then there is a small shop in front, there are 8 big wooden barrels, all wooden barrels for wine, it is used for wholesale.
Part of “Shanghe Picture on Qingming Festival”
The second level is a foot shop, which is also a pavilion style, two stories high, very beautiful, it also has wine flags and wine wine, it also has red branches, it also has a light box, but it does not have the function of a companion girl. Second-level stores cannot make wine or wholesale wine.
Part of “Shanghe Picture on Qingming Festival”
In addition to these two, there are 6 small shops, they only have Jiuqi and Jiuyu. They are generally open along small roads and piers in the suburbs, serving lower-class citizens.
From the perspective of this management system, the Northern Song Dynasty government attaches great importance to the wine industry. Because at the time of Shenzong (1077), alcohol tax accounted for about 18% of the country’s total tax revenue. The government imposed severe penalties on private wine making and private sales, and the raw material “jiuqu” for wine making was only in the hands of the government. 75 jin of illegal wine, or 15 jin of brewing music, is sentenced to death.
These findings are very important for us to study economic and social history. Because 1000 years ago, drinking was popular all over the world, such as Egypt, Europe, The Arab Empire, Eastern Rome… But none of the historical documents clearly tell us how the wine industry contributes to the government’s tax revenue? What are the popular channels for wine? The “Surfing the River at Qingming Festival” was drawn directly for us, and we have a very clear understanding by comparing historical data.
Part of “Shanghe Picture on Qingming Festival”
Leading technology in the world
Besides the development of urban management and industrial and commercial activities, Bianjing at that time was also world-leading in technology.
In the last few decades of the Northern Song Dynasty, most Bianjing people used coal as their fuel. In this picture, we can see a coal specialty store. There are bags of coal piled in the store. The boss calls coal on the side, and there is a donkey team carrying coal beside it.
Part of “Shanghe Picture on Qingming Festival”
This is a cargo ship at the dock. You can see tile stoves and coal baskets.
Part of “Shanghe Picture on Qingming Festival”
In the literati’s study, you can also see coal stoves for making tea. We were able to use coal in our homes, at least 500 years earlier than in the West.
Part of “Shanghe Picture on Qingming Festival”
I also mentioned the use of iron in my book. In the Northern Song Dynasty, ironware had been used to make ship rivets.
Part of “Shanghe Picture on Qingming Festival”
In a small stall, you can see small iron tools for general household use. It shows that ironware was quite popular in China at that time, and it was again the world leader.
The water boat in “A Picture of the River on Qingming Festival”
Let’s look at the ships drawn in the scroll. Zhang Zeduan drew a total of 29 boats, with a total of 6 types. Each design is different.
The first type is a watercraft. The hull is flat and wide, with a large cargo capacity, so it can drive more stably. Every 30 ships are organized into a fleet, which is owned by the state and transports grain back to the Yangtze and Huai rivers every year. It is a super-large “state-owned shipping enterprise”.
The passenger-cargo mixed ship in “Along the River on Qingming Festival”
This is a mixed passenger and cargo ship. The upper floor is for residents, and the lower floor is for cargo, mainly cargo. They were basically privately owned and operated, and belonged to the “large and medium-sized enterprises” at that time.
Passenger ship in “A Picture of the River on Qingming Festival”
Next is the passenger ship. It is characterized by a long and narrow hull, a prominent front deck, a neat and spacious upper building, and a relatively fast speed. It is more luxurious, with many windows and many guest rooms. Belonging to “private large enterprisesIndustry”.
Painted boats in “A Picture of Shanghe on Qingming Festival”
There are also painting boats for sightseeing. There are viewing areas on the bow and top of the ship, and windows are opened on both sides to facilitate you to see the scenery on both sides of the strait.
The dining boat in “A Picture of the River on Qingming Festival”
There is also a boat specially used for catering, which can be moved, but basically docked in a fixed place. People can go in for a drink, it’s more luxurious, spacious, and it also provides a lot of food.
The work boat in “A Picture of the River on Qingming Festival”
The last type is the work boat, which is relatively small, transports guests from a large ship to shore, or carries a fewA guest went to some small places.
Here, I really want to sigh the greatness of Zhang Zeduan. The details in his pen are called engineering design drawings.
Recently, some shipwrecks in the South China Sea have proved that the ships of the Song Dynasty are indeed as painted in the paintings. Many Japanese scholars specialize in the study of ships in the “Surfing the River at Qingming Festival”, and the China Shipbuilding Association has also published a monograph. Everyone unanimously said: Without the “Surfing the River on Qingming Festival”, I would not understand how specific the development of the Song Dynasty on the sea was.
Our bridge-building experts also spent decades and were unable to decipher how the Hongqiao bridge was built. Because it can’t be made of stone, the output of iron was not so high at that time, so how can it be made of wood? Can’t figure it out. Later, they figured it out after the original version of “A Picture of Shanghe on the Qingming Festival” appeared in the late 1950s.
Inner City Corner Gate in “A Picture of Shanghe on the Qingming Festival”
Is this a political painting?
There is a lot of controversy in academia about this picture.
First of all, is this a political painting? Did Zhang Zeduan want to express some opinions to Huizong through the picture scroll, telling him that there was a big crisis in society at that time, and you should be careful?
Some people argued that the city wall in the painting had no defensive measures, and there was neither a place for soldiers nor weapons. In Qiuying and Qingyuan, there are both soldiers and weapons inside the city walls, and there is even a slogan “Watch out for foreign aggression.” But in the real book, this is not painted. Therefore, some people think that this is Zhang Zeduan’s intentional act, to tell Huizong that we are negligent in city defense now, which is very dangerous and will be attacked at any time.
But in fact, the “Shanghe on Qingming Festival” painted the inner city corner gate. For the entire defense of Bianjing, the main barracks are placed on the outer layer. The 12 gates of the outer city are very strong, with two floors, threeStratum Urn City. Moreover, Song Shi made it very clear that there were several gates and soldiers stationed in Wengcheng.
The gate in the picture is the inner city gate. Since the outer city wall was built, it has been mainly a taxation place, because there are many goods entering the inner city from the logistics warehouse area.
I think these disputes, in fact, many details in the picture have been solved, but some people pretend not to see it. Or if there is no drawing on the picture, he starts to think, why not draw it? Did you intentionally not paint?
Part of “Shanghe Picture on Qingming Festival”
Another term is the fire protection system. The Song Dynasty originally had a very strict fire prevention system, but some people said after reading it that no fire prevention building can be seen in the picture.
Finally, they finally found a small high-rise building in the suburbs. He saw that there was no one inside, and there was no alarm drum, so he said “Negligence of defense”.
A scholar further imagined. He said that it turned out to be a high platform to watch the fire. Later, it was pulled down by half, and a pavilion was built on the remaining half. It was originally the place where firefighters lived, but it was taken over. In fact, this is a small teahouse, and the pavilion on the high platform behind is a small teahouse. Its location is covered with vegetable fields on three sides, there are no buildings at all, and fire prevention does not need to be used for border defense.
Part of “Shanghe Picture on Qingming Festival”
In fact, the tower in the painting is the fireproof tower. The painter painted it very clearly. There is a big drum in the main hall above the tower, and there is a person standing outside the hall, looking into the city.
Part of “Shanghe Picture on Qingming Festival”
Another very popular example is that some scholars hypothesized that Zhang Zeduan asked “three questions” at the end of the painting. At the very end of the painting, there is a person asking for directions. Nearby is the home of Chinese medicine doctor Zhao Taicheng, which is a place for selling medicine. Downward, a group of people were listening to the story, and they hung up a “solution” in front of the house next door, which was only a short distance away from the main road.
As a result, the scholar said that this is the main theme of this painting-three questions. Ask for directions, where is our country’s road and where is it going? Ask the doctor, how can we treat so many diseases in this country? Asking for fate means fortune-telling.
Part of “Shanghe Picture on Qingming Festival”
I think this is too interpretation and too subjective. What does the sign of the word “solution” mean? Actually this is a pawnshop. It was called “pawn” in the Han and Tang Dynasties, and it was called “Xieku” in the Song Dynasty. The pawnshop must be located in a suitable location in a busy area with a lot of people, but it must also be lively and quiet, and the entrance and exit must be hidden.
So I think that we must respect the painter, what is painted in his painting, and we must use historical documents to help us explainread.
The storytellers in “A Picture of the River on Qingming Festival” are all very happy
When was this picture painted?
The second major controversy is about the time when this painting was completed. Was it the Northern Song Dynasty? Southern Song? Or the Jin Dynasty?
I don’t think that this painting can be from the Southern Song Dynasty or the Jin Dynasty, because I miss Bianjing back then and I painted it through memory. With such a rigorous composition and clear details, it must be that the actual object was in front of his eyes at that time, and he had observed the object dozens of times, and how many drafts he made before he put different boats and different cars in such a detailed and specific manner. Draw it out.
But is this painting painted during the period of Zhenghe and Zhixuanhe, especially the last five years of Huizong? I began to doubt.
Because of the flooding of the Yellow River during the second half of Huizong’s reign, there was also the rebellion of Songjiang and Fangla. The four provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Anhui are all in chaos, and Bianjing mainly relies on them. At this time, is the artist in the mood to paint in such detail and carefully? And the people in the painting are very happy. If it were during the war, it would not be like this.
I guess that it may have been painted in the Shenzong era, after Xining’s reforms, in the peaceful and heyday.