Annotation: "Andrew Shen: In the final section of the Qingming scroll, the painter takes the viewers inside the unguarded city walls, providing..." (Annotation)

In the final section of the Qingming scroll, the painter takes the viewers inside the unguarded city walls, providing perspective on the prosperous and diverse urban commercial life which was glorified for much of the previous sections. In the circled area, one can find four individuals that stand out from the other pedestrians: they represent three of the religious traditions that played crucial roles in the social and political lives of people living in Song China. The bald Buddhist monk is conversing with presumably a Confucian or more general literati evident from his dark-colored robe and hat while two Daoist priests with pinned hair and long light-colored robes interact on the side.

Around Song time, these three beliefs flourished in society. Buddhist tradition saw extensive propagation in China during the Tang Dynasty with increased communication to Central Asia and India, where many cultural and religious exchanges took place. The founding emperor of the Song dynasty, Song Taizu, enacted many policies that terminated the destruction of Buddhist relics in regions following the Tang Dynasty and continued religious exchange through religious envoys until border instability prevented their mission. Buddhism’s impact on social life in China continued as temples existed in most Song townships and the Buddhist ideas of human mortality and reincarnation became more widely accepted. On the other hand, Daoism grew in popularity as emperors following Taizu supported their growing influence within the court and society. Their worldviews were largely reflected in literature that underscored the individual and its connection to nature. However, neither Daoism nor Buddhism surpassed the influence of Confucian ideas in the common Song Family. As the revival of classics learning transpired during the Neo-Confucians movement, Confucian ideas family and societal relationships solidified, recognizing some levels of fusion between the belief systems in impacting daily life. The development of the civil examination system which gradually augmented the value of studying classics catalyzed the process. The desire for social mobility through the venerated examination system propelled many students to study and abide by these teachings, facilitating these ideas to remain the social and ethical norms.

It is interesting to note that all of the Daoist and Buddhist practitioners painted were male when evidence suggests that both Buddhist and Daoist female nuns have existed before and during the Song dynasty. The artist plausibly painted the scroll under the influence of Confucian revival and reinforcement of traditional gender roles that sought to limit women’s influence outside the household. It is also reasonable that female religious practitioners were uncommon in the first place due to their families’ unwillingness for such conversion: their obligation to their family and the prevalence of practical marriages made them more valuable to the lineage through status-enhancing matrimonies, causing families to prevent their exposure to religious conversion thoughts that promoted celibacy. At the time of the scroll’s creation, the overarching influence of Confucianist ideas transcended that of the Buddhists and Daoist’s in spite of the three religions’ co-existence to date.