Along the River during Pure Brightness Day: Kaifeng, a Flourishing Northern Song City
8 min readA long handscroll resides among the treasures of the Beijing Palace Museum. Painted by the Song-dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan, it is known as Along the River during Pure Brightness Day. It depicts the scenery, architecture, and people along the way and is a masterpiece, an absolute treasure. It is one of the most famous paintings in the history of Chinese painting. In addition to its artistic quality, surrounding its allure are many stories that have come down through the ages.
The painting is 24.8 cm high and roughly 528 cm long. The painter Zhang Zeduan was a Shandong man from Wucheng. In his youth, he went to the capital city then known as Bian tostudy. During the reign of Emperor Huizong he was appointed to Hanlin Academy and applied himself exclusively to painting.
The exquisite brushwork of the painting records the capital city of Bian at the latter period of the Northern Song Dynasty(960-1127), during the reign of Huizong. It depicts the city and river, with inhabitants, architecture, along the precincts just outside the city. The work is in the form of a long scroll, meant to be viewed sequentially as it is unrolled, so that the complex scene of the painting is both unified and full of changes. The attire and expressions of the people depicted are all different, and they are engaged in all kinds of activities. The dynamic quality of their movement is vigorous, the composition is detailed and has a rhythm of harmonious changes, the brushwork is marvelous. The scroll is divided into three stages or sections.
Part of Along the River during Pure Brightness Day.
Map of the East capitalof Northern Song. The East Capitalis also called the capital of Bian.
The first section is in the mist, with sparse trees and partially obscured thatch huts, bridges, running water, old trees, and boats. Two footmen are herding donkeys with packs loaded with coal. The top of a bridge is decorated with willows and various flowers, there are men riding horses, men shouldering carrying poles, they are all returning from the outskirts of the city where they have been sweeping graves. This section sets the time as Pure Brightness Day and establishes the setting as a kind of prelude to the rest of the painting. The middle section shows scenes along the banks of the Bian River, with grain transport boats tethered to the shore, with the awnings of many shops. Passersby are engaged in a variety of activities, resting in teahouses, getting their fortunes told, eating at shops. All is bustling and lively. In the river, boats are either being hauled by pullers or rocked by men with poles, all piled high with goods, many are docked at the banks getting their products unloaded. Crossing over the span of the river is a large bridge of wooden construction, something like a flying rainbow. One large boat is just waiting to pass through the opening of its arch, with people both inside and outside the boat busily preparing. The last section features a large city tower. There are teashops, wineshops, shops for footwear, butchers, and temples. In the shops are all manner of goods and customers, precious incense and paper horses for burning at the graves, there are apothecaries on both sides, cart repair, fortune telling, all kinds of trades and all kinds of people, from peddlers to gentlemen to scholars to the townspeople. Barefooted monks, visitors from the countryside, children listening to stories, sons of wealthy families drinking to their fill, men, women, old and young, scholars, farmers, workers, tradesmen, people of all religions and persuasions pass along. The humanity in the painting is itself flowing like a river that never stops.
In the total length of approximately five meters of painting, the painting depicts over 550 types of people, also some fifty or sixty animals, plus twenty bridges and more than twenty boats. The bridges and city towers are careful in detail, showing the special construction of Song-Dynasty architecture.
This Northern-Song-Dynasty painting shows one corner of life in the capital of Bian. It shows a high level of economic attainment, of agriculture, handicrafts,a flourishing commerce,a culture that is fast developing and that put emphasis on intellectuals. In military matters, however, the Northern Song was extremely weak. In order to strengthen its military defenses it expended a large amount on its army, to the extent that national granaries were emptied and national strength declined. Facing annual crises, the country’s territory was encroached upon, soldiers had no fighting spirit and were generally defeated. The Song EmperorHuizong and his son Qinzong were taken as prisoners by the Jin army, and territories to the north of the Yellow River fell under the control of northern enemies.
Although in a defensive posture for a long time in its wars with outsiders, the Northern Song court was still able to create a glorious cultural arena inside the country.A necessary precondition for culture to flourish is a political environment that is relatively open andenlightened. It may be said that Northern Song is the only dynasty in ancient Chinese history that had a court that did not kill intellectuals just because they held different political views.
It is probably due to this enlightened position that Northern Song could reach such peaks ofcultural attainment in the Chinese feudal system. Because of this, Bian or Kaifeng also became the only capital city not to experience a violent transition in imperial power. Although it was not grand and mighty, still it did not labor under a shadow of shame for murdering rationalityand perpetrating violence against all good conscience. On the contrary, looking at the glorious accomplishments that remain as evidence in the fields of literature, arts, science and technology, among many ancient cities, it uniquely possesses a propitious quality and therefore shines in the annals of history.
Grand Xiangguo Temple in Kaifeng，a famous Buddhist temple in China，built in 555 AD.In the Northern Song Dynasty，Xiangguo Temple received homage from the emperor and was expanded several times.Later it became the biggest temple in the capital and the buddhist activity center of the country.
The relatively benign governing environment of the Northern Song was built on the foundation of an approach first encouraged by the founding emperor of the dynasty，Zhao Kuangyin（960-976）.A political posture of rule by the”wen”or civic side as opposed to”wu”or the military side，then became the ongoing tradition of the dynasty.Zhao Kuangyin hada painful understanding of the results of military rule dating from the closing years of the Tang Dynasty.He yearned to have”civic”officials hold the reigns to government.He aimed fora government by”good”men.In order to cultivate and protect a contingent of civic officials who were of high quality and stable in their occupations，he instituted a number of policies that are worth enumerating.One was emphasis on using old intellectuals，rediscovering their latent potential and putting it to use for the new government.These so-called“old intellectuals，”
simply meant those scholars who had exited from public life due to the historical background of the Five Dynasties（907-960）.Generally these men had previously been officials.Zhao Kuangyin was put on the throne by a military group，but he preferred that the country be entrusted to civic officials.He carefully selected intellectuals to serve，he revised official ranks，he upgraded official quality.One outstanding aspect in this regard was his further development of the keju examination system.His careful monitoring of the examination turned it into a large-scale employment system，and overcame the influence of the practice from Han and Tang times of using warlords as the source of high officialdom.This increased the chances of advancement for small and medium-sized landowners and for the lower ranks of intellectuals.
An excellent exam system gradually formed into a tradition.The later Song Dynasty produced many superlative oficials who had come from impoversished families-the reason to a large degree was this healthy examination system.Extending relatively free latitude to intellectuals and ruling in a permissive political environment were conscious decisions on the part of the Emperor.A Song-dynasty writer has dcescribed the way Zhao Kuangyin erected a large stele in the sleeping chamber of the Royal Ancestral Temple.It was seven or eight feet high，and was called the Oath Stelae.The most important lines made it clear that rulers and those in powerwere forbidden to kill officials who presented contrary points of view，or officials who made unpleasant reports to the emperor. The wording of the Oath Stelae was simple but defineda bottom line of safety for intellectuals which was of extreme importance in motivating their intelligence, wisdom, and candid views. That so very many outstanding political, philosophi cal, and literary leaders emerged in the Song Dynasty was in large part due to this: the government was stable and effective and people who stood to benefit in different ways maintained balance and stability in the midst of competing with one another so that they did not end up drawing blood. The government derived its strength from this principle of “not killing people.”
In the long course of Chinese history, this intelligent policy of protecting intellectuals was unique.
The development of culture and the development of commerce are closely related.
Kaifeng was a prime example. Compared to management of capitals in previous dynasties, Kaifeng was a supremely commercialized city. Kaifeng destroyed the distinction that had been followed in the Chang’ an capital of Sui and Tang of keeping the “lanes,”or the residentialsection, separate from the “market,”or the commercial section. It also got rid of the distinction between day and night-there were shops and wine houses everywhere, and many were open for business 24 hours a day. Night business was an important mark of a commercialized city.
This was not restricted to eating and drinking; entertainment naturally was a part of the scene too. In this regard, Kaifeng could be considered a city that benefited from break-through developments. One was the uncoupling of the entertainment business from imperial monopoly control. Only in the time of the Song dynasty did the theatrical industry finally move towards”min-jian”status, or”of the people.”The theater enjoyed unprecedented development as a result. There was an infinite variety of forms of theatrical entertainment, shadow-puppets, acrobatics, singing, acting, cross-talk… Each developed its highly skilled “stars”who were adored by the public.
As an ancient city, there is no substitute for the position of Kaifeng in Chinese history.
If you were to view the long course of Chinese history as a long scroll, you would see bloody scenes throughout the early and the late sections. But in the middle, in the Northern Song capital of Kaifeng, although it lasted over 160 years there was no occasion on which the people were subjected to large-scale slaughter. Intellectuals were given particular protection. Since they were living under an autocratic rule, this was all the more a matter to be celebrated. Why is this painting by Zhang Zeduan so treasured by people throughout the ages? One important reason may be because viewers see an ideal lifestyle in the painting. They catch glimpses of bygone times and recognize hopes that are worthy of preserving.
