The plaque shows a prosperous Southern Song Dynasty starting from 1127 until 1279. The society and social structure changed dramatically：A hint of capitalism appeared, women’s status lowered and Chinese arts boomed. Paradoxically, women became more literate in the meantime. The Song Dynasty was weak militarily, but its development in social literacy and arts was unprecedented. The neo-Confucianism that was brought up by Zhu Xi has influenced Chinese culture even until today. However, in the meantime, the wars between the Song and Jurchen Jin, as well as the Song and Mongols weakened the Song’s military force. This already militarily weak country became more vulnerable.
My plaque introduces a typical Southern Song Dynasty. In the middle of the paper there are two people, a man and a woman. The lady is the typical Song Dynasty’s relatively fancy family. It is obvious to see her narrow cuffs, which is narrower than those of previous dynasties. It is obvious that her feet are bound to be small. The foot-binding tradition started from the Song Dynasty all the way until the end of China’s feudal period. It can be seen that the bones of her feet have already been distorted. The man on the right is a highly literate one, holding a book that is probably one of the Four Books and Five Classics. The Four Books and Five Classics includes Great Learning; Doctrine of the Mean; Analects and Mencius. Great Learning is one chapter in the Book of Rites, introducing Confucius’s ideas written by his disciple Zengzi, the main idea is about Chinese philosophy; Doctrine of the Mean introduces another chapter in the Book of Rites, introducing Confucius’s grandson Zisi, the main idea is about the perfect virtue and the way to achieve this perfection; Analects includes Confucius’s speeches; And Mencius introduces Mencius’s philosophy. The Five Classics includes Classic of Poetry, Book of Documents, Book of Rites, Book of Changes and Spring and Autumn Annals. Classic of Poetry is the collection of 305 poems in pre-Qin dynasties, the earliest collection of Chinese songs; Book of Documents documents the speeches and proses by early Zhou rulers and officials; Book of Rites introduces the ancient rites; and Book of Changes discusses phenomena of the nature and their philosophy behind that and the philosophy of changes; Spring and Autumn Annals is a historical record during Spring and Autumn period. Zhu Xi clarified the books for “must-learn” for literates. In the man’s head, he is thinking about “Xiu Shen, Qi Jia, Zhi Guo and Ping Tian Xia” in Great Learning.
The Song had the very first paper money in the history of China, paper money appeared in Sichuan firstly in the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty. It could be used as a function of the coins too, thus in the lower right of my paper I drew both paper money (Jiao Zi) and the coins. Beyond that, Jiao Zi is the one of the famous academy called Yuelu Shuyuan in Hunan Province.
The upper side on the paper, which indicates the north, shows the wars between the Song, Mongols, Jurchens and Khitans. Jurchens are the ancestors of Manchus coming from the northeast region, and Khitans are Muslims. Mongols come from northwest regions. Those countries were warring for a long time, and finally the Mongols and Jurchens destroyed the militarily weak Southern Song.
Forgeting about the military force, Southern Song had splendid progress on the seas. With the capital changing from north to south, the dynasty’s international trade shifted its weight from the land to the sea. The new silk road on the sea was built. The Song exported teas, silks and medicines, and imported elephants’ teeth and pearls. The Song Dynasty also had advanced technology in making vessels.
The Song Dynasty also nurtured the splendid arts and Song’s proses. It was a splendid dynasty in Chinese history. A progressed lifestyle and historical background are quite intriguing, and without those contributions from Southern Song, the world would be totally different, we might still live in a dark age with little hints of arts. Though the dynasty was short militarily, it did not influence its epic existence that ever thrilled its offspring, and will continue surprise them in future history.

HANYUAN ZHANG is an English Literature major. She grew up in Xi’an and went to high school in Hong Kong. She has always been interested in learning more about my own culture and society. Hanyuan is an art person for life, mainly enjoying contemporary dance and reading..