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Silk and the Song Dynasty
Silk and the Song Dynasty
Silk was the ultimate medieval cloth, and Song Dynasty China was its main producer. More than just the stuff from which clothing was made, it served as money, art, and symbol of imperial power.
As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.
Think about the following questions as you watch the video
Where was silk produced and exported during the Song Dynasty?
How did the economy work during the Song Dynasty?
In addition to clothing, what uses were there for silk?
What does the “Pictures of Tilling and Weaving” tell us about who did most of the work to produce silk?
What evidence is there for an industrial revolution in China in this period?
: There's an amazing scroll in the collection of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.
: It's called "Along the River during the Qingming Festival". Dating to the 11th century during the Song dynasty in China,
: the scroll illustrates a thriving society. We see farmers growing crops and herding
: animals, artisans producing goods, merchants transporting their products by ship and caravan,
: and people buying and selling those goods. A common thread running through this masterpiece
: is silk, quite literally. Not only does the image depict silk production and probably silk traders,
: but the scroll itself is made of silk, as is the canvas on which the image was painted.
: Silk is nothing but a fabric using thread made from a worm about as long as my pinky finger.
: So how did it shape culture diplomacy and politics in the Song dynasty? How important was it to this thriving society?
: To find out, we have to dig deeper into the history of China and its
: connections to the wider world in the era of the Song.
: The Song dynasty reigned over much of China
: between about 960 and 1275. To the north, other parts of China were under the control of mainly
: nomadic people in this period known as the Xia and Jin, and they produced lots of silk as well.
: As you already know, this period saw an expansion of trade across Afro-Eurasia. West African gold,
: Indian cotton, and many other products were flowing around the world's biggest landmass, both over the
: water by ship and over land by caravan. Within this system, Chinese silk was one of the biggest
: industries, producing a more expensive product that traveled much farther away than just about
: anything else. Some of the most important export markets for silk traders were the Philippines,
: Vietnam, India, Korea, and Central Asian states. Some markets may have been as far west as Europe.
: Hello, I'm Francesca Hodges, and I'm talking about silk because I find it really interesting, but I'm not an expert.
: Luckily, I know someone who is, so I'm going to interview Professor Xiaolin Duan to
: find out more about the role of silk in the Song dynasty and in both Chinese and world history.
: So my first question today is: what are the major themes of the Song dynasty period of Chinese history?
: So the Song dynasty was, politically speaking, it is not an expansional
: or military strong dynasty. It's different from the previous dynasty, the Tang, and also different
: from the next one, the Yuan dynasty, but the Song dynasty was known for its cultural achievements,
: and also the Song dynasty was a time of commercialization and economic development.
: How did the economy work during the Song dynasty?
: So speaking of the Song dynasty economic system,
: there was a strong state involvement. However, there was also a strong private
: commercialization going on. So in the other word is on one hand, there is a well established,
: national transportation network, and on the other hand, the small towns and the urban network started to prosper.
: And we also see the development of local industries, especially handicrafts
: and that involved with textile weaving and silk and other types of clothes productions.
: Who made the silk and where?
: It took place in different locations, different level, but in different scales.
: So on the state level, there was an official office called the
: Linjing Office, literally translated as Twill and Brocade Office. It have an average of 200
: silk workers annually, and they mainly produce silk and textiles for the imperial family.
: And then there are the urban workshops that either run commercially or
: under the major elite families, and those are for market use. But a majority percentage of
: silk production during the Song Dynasty still remained in individual households.
: And I would say, a large amount of the textiles produced by individual households were used by themselves and paid as tax.
: Song dynasty China was not the only producer of silk in this period.
: Their neighbors the Xia and Jin in northern China also made and exported large amounts of the fabric.
: These states were often at war with each other, and war was expensive. But just as often,
: they practice diplomacy, partly paying each other tribute or giving gifts. In this situation,
: silk wasn't just for clothing or tapestries. It was also used as a form of currency.
: That's right. Large purchases or wages for troops could be paid for in silk. Silk was
: also used in diplomacy as gifts or as tribute to and from neighboring kingdoms, but of course
: a lot of the silk was exported for sale in other parts of the world.
: I wanted to know more about that trade, so I asked Dr. Duan about it.
: How did the silk export trade work?
: Both official organizations and private merchants.
: So the government had the shibao, which is roughly translated as exporting port cities,
: and the government used those organizations to deal with the foreign merchants.
: So the government definitely exports silk, and on the other hand, there are a number of private merchants
: who are engaged in international trade both legally and illegally.
: Would you say that the Song dynasty silk trade is part of a wider Afro-Eurasian world system?
: So first of all, the Song dynasty started in this so-called maritime Silk Road.
: So the Indian Ocean trade started to played an increasingly important role during that time.
: So the Euro-Asia connections, which is emphasized in this Afro-Eurasian world system, was definitely
: sustained and also energized because of the exportation of silk during the Song dynasty.
: I understand that a lot of what we know about Chinese silk production and trade during this
: time period comes from visual art pieces. Can you tell me a little bit more about what we see
: in these pictures of tilling and weaving from the Freer Art Gallery? The original picture of
: tilling and weaving was made by a scholar called Lou Shu, and he actually made this in response to
: Emperor Gaozong's call of persuading the farmers to really engage in tilling and weaving at the time.
: And this one had I think 24 images that detailed every step of weaving, from cultivating silkworm
: seeds into how to feed silkworms, how to pick up mulberry leaves and how to weave, and including how
: to worship the goddess of silkworm. So there are a number of interesting features of the
: picture of tilling and weaving. The first one is is showing weaving as a female-centered practice.
: So most of the people as we can see are female and including younger ladies and older ladies
: and also the infants who were carried by the ladies, so they were showing that this is a family-based production.
: When I saw there were so many more women than men in these images, I realized
: I wanted to better understand the role of gender in silk production. My expert did not disappoint.
: You mentioned that silk industry or the silk trade in China created
: almost a gendered economy. Do you think you could expand a bit on that?
: It's probably important, an important assertion because it empowered women
: especially when the Song dynasty started this commercialization of silk production
: and women started to found that they can make money by making silk. They not only make
: clothes for their family members, but also made for the market. I wondered about the impact of all this silk production.
: The Song dynasty was a period of great innovation. Gunpowder, the compass, and
: movable type printing were all invented. It was also a period of great philosophy and art with
: an expanded system of schools and a big government bureaucracy. These innovations were largely funded
: by this huge expansion in silk production. Could we compare this 11th and 12th century
: economic miracle to the Industrial Revolution in 18th and 19th century Britain? I had to ask.
: Now some historians argue that there was an industrial revolution of sorts occurring during the Song dynasty.
: Would you agree? So yes, I do think there was an industrial revolution of some sort
: during the Song dynasty, especially if we look at say three things, the using of coal as the main energy sources,
: and the second one is the production of iron, and the third one is the accumulation of technological development
: and the documentation of those practical knowledge reached a new level. But however, we have to admit that there was
: quite some difference between the Song dynasty industrial revolution and the Industrial
: Revolution we all know about in British history, especially in speaking of the monopolizing of
: wealth among several major merchants. We didn't see that concentration of wealth in the Song dynasty.
: And the second one is the British history witnessed a strong desire for the use of machine,
: but that didn't happen to the same extent in the Song history because China was blessed by the
: large amount of labor, so that was an advantage, but on the other hand also restricted the strong
: motivation of developing machines. The comparison to Britain's Industrial Revolution six centuries
: later helps me to understand the incredible scale of silk production in the Song dynasty.
: Some of this silk flowed into the vast Eurasian trading system, some even reaching Europe, but
: most of it was absorbed by the massive economy of China. It was used to pay taxes, used as currency,
: and of course was used in the way we use it now as clothing decoration or as a canvas for artwork.
: The Song dynasty would end with the Mongol invasion of China in the 13th century,
: and China's economy would grow and decline in cycles for centuries after. Today, China has the
: world's largest economy once again. Silk is no longer one of its most valuable products, but
: China's silk output still dominates the global market. In many ways, silk is permanently linked