Tag Archives: Song

Felix Yang

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Plaque: Felix Yang

Plaque Info
Time Period Song Dynasty
Geographical Region Southern China, Modern Day Hangzhou
List of Symbols
  1. Silver Tael
  2. Moveable Type Printing
  3. Paper Money
  4. Song Emperor Gaozong
  5. Song General Yue Fei
  6. Invading Jurchen Jin
  7. Bolts of Silk featuring Dragons and Phoenixes
  8. Song Merchant Junk
  9. Song Marketplace
  10. Paying tribute to the Jurchens

My Golden Plaque for the Song Dynasty conveys the message that we are looking at a society that focuses more on economic development and less on military confrontation. The largest features of the plaque in the left corner feature a silver tael, moveable print type, and paper money, major features of the Song Dynasty. Both the silver bullion and the paper money were indicative of the Song focus on their economic power, while moveable type was a noteworthy invention during the Song Dynasty.

To the lower middle of the plaque, you see a Song Emperor (Gaozong) dressed in a typical manner for Song Emperors. Behind him is a silk tapestry of dragons and phoenixes, symbols of Chinese royalty and indicative of his command. The Song Emperor is shown calling a military general back away from battle. This general is Yue Fei, cloak billowing in the wind, who very much wanted to fight the invading Jurchen Jin to the north. General Yue Fei is shown on horseback with a book, and bearing a standard of the Song military, to differentiate him from his soldiers. His soldiers trudge behind him in the retreat, decked in typical Song military gear replete with swords and quivers.

The Song military is retreating from the force to the north, the Jurchens. These non-Chinese invaders wield maces and sport a different kind of armor to separate them from the Song troops. Here the military leader of the Jurchens is raising his weapon high above his head in a gesture of superiority as he looks upon the yearly indemnity that the Song must tribute to them. A Song ambassador is shown with a standard. He has a worried expression and submissive body language, gesturing toward the tribute of silver taels and bolts of silk (shown with the royal symbols of dragons and phoenixes; the Jurchens demanded symbols of royalty on their silk tribute) that lie at the Jurchens’ feet.

These bolts of silk and silver are both indicative of the strength of the Song economy, which is depicted in the bottom of the plaque. There is a Song merchant ship (a junk) pulling into harbor, with a not-to-scale depiction of a local marketplace. In a scene very similar to the one depicted on Song paper money, merchants deal with their goods packed up in round bags on the ground of the marketplace. One man can be seen presenting paper money currency to one merchant, who looks upon the offer with crossed arms.

Such was the story of the Song Dynasty, which focused on its economic power and strength, but quite literally turned their back on military confrontation. The Song preferred to pay a tribute to invading non-Chinese forces rather than fight, and in this way the life of the Song marketplace remained undisturbed and prosperous.

Thumbnail: Felix YangFELIX YANG is a pre-med strategist who runs a story like a game of chess.  More by Felix

Ziyu Liu

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Plaque: Ziyu Liu

Plaque Info
Time Period Song Dynasty
Geographical Region South of Yellow River
List of Symbols
  1. Yellow River
  2. Bowl of rice
  3. Gunpowder Warfare
  4. Paper money
  5. Bounded feet

I am a female who lives during the Song Dynasty, my family, along with our relatives, moved from the north of the Yellow River to the south during a massive migration. I’m creating this plaque to document who I am, where I live, what kind of world this is and some significant items from this dynasty that will help people in the future to identify it.

Yellow River – the symbol represents where I live. My family is originally from the northern part of China. When I turned 10 (around 970), we decided to move to the southern part of the yellow river, where the majority of the people live. On the plaque, I drew a figure of the river with the orientation. From what I know, the Yellow River flows from West to East and I indicated the direction of the river using small arrows. For the direction for the mass migration, I indicated the move using bigger arrows with shading and I drew some small human figures near the arrows. The arrows show that we moved from the northern side of the Yellow River to the southern side of the Yellow River.

Bowl of Rice – the symbol represents what we eat. Since the majority of the population moved, our diet changed drastically. We used to live in the wheat and millet-producing region (indicated by the drawing on the north of the river), but then we moved to the rice-growing region of the Yangzi Valley. We were able to use new gates and waterwheels to flood and drain the rice fields when we need and we also planted new, improved type of rice. There were new strains of double-cropped rice in China from Vietnam but they tasted pretty bad and didn’t last long. But then we figured out a way to develop a hybrid of rice using that and increased the production of the rice significantly. A lot of the farmers were freed up to produce goods for market because they don’t have to spend so much time on the field any more.

Gunpowder Warfare – the symbol represents one of the inventions. The iron industry became huge. Thousands of workers used the iron to produce swards, armor and other weapons. Some people even figured out the formulas for explosives and they invented weapons called gunpowder and bombs. Since the iron industry is massive, the city of Qingzhou was able to manufacture a lot of strong iron cased bombshells per month in order to engage in the war with the Mongols.

Paper Money – the symbol represents one of the inventions. Because of the shortage of bronze coins, the government decided to replace the materials for coins with iron. However, the value of the iron didn’t match up with the value of the bronze and the government set the price for iron lower than the actual price. The common people were not content with this so there was chaos around the places. In response to those chaos, the local government developed a new form of money – paper money and they gradually replaced the iron coins because the paper money are very light and are great for long distance transactions.

Bound feet – the symbol represents the trend in fashion. A painful fashion trend became popular during my time. Girls started to bind their feet using cloth. They would force their toes inwards toward the sole but leave the large toe. This left them with very small feet and most of the time; women cannot walk in those shoes because it would be painful. As a result, I saw less and less women outside of their house. I think this fashion was conducted because the husbands are trying to turn their wives feet into a private part what only they could see. Since women could not walk outside the house without help, they are served only as the sexual item for their husbands.

Thumbnail: Zoe Ziyu Liu

ZIYU LIU is a senior at University of Rochester majoring in Financial Economics and Psychology. Ziyu is moving to New York City after college to work in an investment bank. She enjoys spending times with friends in her spare time. More by Ziyu