-
China Local
- Eighteen Songs
- Qingming
- Hou Wu Walkabout
- Eight-sided Hall of the Huangshan Chen family
- Headquarters of the Taiping Assistant King
- Lingxia Tang Village
- Old City of Wuyi
- Seven Pillar Hall
- Shantouxia Village
- Shanxia Bao Village
- Siping Village
- Upper Tang Village
- Yanfu Monastery
- Yao Village
- Zhuge Village
- Bailu Walkabout
- Fangyan Walkabout
- Dayuan Walkabout
- Tangxi Walkabout
- Yuyuan Walkabout
- Wenlou Walkabout
- Browse Items
- Browse Exhibits
- About
- Browse Catalogue
- Documentation
- Local History in Jinhua
- Zhiyan Village
- Lu Family
- Guodong Village
- Tianning Monastery in Jinhua
- Jinhua Prefectural City God
Annotation: "
The Qingming scroll has been interpreted as depicting the Northern Song (962–1127 CE) imperial capital of present-day Kaifeng or an..."
Created by: Veronica Peterson
Title: |
Annotation: " |
---|
On Canvas: |
d06f37b7-34cb-48a8-b653-943f21268ed2 |
---|---|
Text: |
The Qingming scroll has been interpreted as depicting the Northern Song (962–1127 CE) imperial capital of present-day Kaifeng or an idealized city (the painting lacks any identifying features of Kaifeng).[i] Whether the river depicted is the historical Bian which ran through the capital or a conceptual vision of daily life along a river, the scroll highlights the importance of landscape management to major patterns of life in the Northern Song as enacted on a spring (and possible festival) day. The Bian River served as a thoroughfare for trade in the Tang and Song dynasties. It was constantly dredged to prevent a buildup of silt from bogging down river barges and other boats.[ii] Rivers that carried a lot of loess, like the Bian or the Yellow River, deposited silt into nearby fields when they flooded, adding a vital source of nutrients for growing crops. River water was diverted for irrigation. Over time, the river was severely silted due to greater soil erosion as more land was cleared for a larger population to grow crops and trade. Groves of trees, like the willows here on the water’s edge, were pruned over the winter to promote root growth and prevent soil.[iii] However, as the viewer moves along the river from the countryside to the commercial hub, fewer groves are found along the embankment; large compounds, restaurants, and shops take their place, an odd tree framing a gate or courtyard. Land clearance, failure to consistently dredge the river, and bureaucratic mismanagement of the water as a resource was exacerbated by the chaos of Jurchen invasion—Kaifeng besieged twice in one year—and the shift of governance in the region to the northeast. The river eventually disappeared. By the late 12th century, the old riverbed had become part of the road system.[iv] As more silt entered the river, water flow weakened; less silt was deposited into the surrounding farmland and fields became arid. The disappearance of the river and the teeming life it supported may stand, too, as a comment on the Song elite whose cultivation of a commercial hub contributed in part to the loss of political control in the north and to local environmental degradation. [i] Valerie Hansen, The Beijing Qingming Scroll and Its Significance for the Study of Chinese History (Albany: Journal of Sung-Yuan Studies, 1996). [ii] Hao Wang, “略论北宋汴河漕运的维护与管理 - On the Maintenance and Management of the Bian River Water Transport in the Northern Song Dynasty,” Journal of Cangzhou Normal University 30, no. 2 (2014): 76–79. [iii] Hansen, The Beijing Qingming Scroll and Its Significance for the Study of Chinese History, 17. [iv] Hong-bo Jing and Yu-xia Yang, “唐宋汴河的变迁及其对生态环境的影响 - Changes in the Bian River of Tang and Song Dynasties and Its Impact on Ecological Environment,” Journal of Henan University of Science & Technology (Social Science) 30, no. 3 (2012): 27–31. |
Tags: | landscape, management |
---|