Song Taizong's Cultural Revolution: the Transformation of Imperial Art, Literature, and Statecraft during the Late Tenth Century

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel Proposal Application

Abstract

[Co-chairs: Tracy Miller and Ping Foong]

In 960 the Later Zhou general Zhao Kuangyin usurped the throne to become Taizu, the Song dynasty's first emperor. Yet historically the Song dynasty is known for the richness of its civil society, whose advancements in the areas of literature and the arts came to be defining features of “Chinese” culture for later generations. The shift from military conquest to civil efflorescence was initiated not by Taizu, however, but by Zhao Kuangyi (later Song Taizong), Taizu's younger brother, a man ruthless enough to assassinate Taizu and shift the imperial line to his own, but sufficiently politically savvy and culturally sophisticated to maintain dynastic stability.

This panel focuses on the impact of Song Taizong on the trajectory of Song dynasty politics, literature, and visual culture. In order to develop a political power base distinct from the northern military elite that enthroned his brother, Taizong quickly initiated a variety of civil and cultural projects that would distinguish his rule: expanding the number of civil service degree holders; supporting an empire wide, book collecting effort to create an imperial library rivaling that of the previous Tang dynasty; producing encyclopedic works to order imperial knowledge in areas as diverse as calligraphy and medicine. The four papers in this panel consider Taizong’s influence as a patron of architectural monuments and historiographical projects, a model imperial artist and founder of art institutions, in order to reassess the modern association of the Song dynasty with aesthetic distinction but military weakness.

Area of Study

• China and Inner Asia

Session Organizer

• Ping Foong, University of California, Berkeley

Chair

• Ping Foong, University of California, Berkeley

Individual Presentations

• Song Taizong and the End of the Ten States - Johannes L. Kurz, Universiti Brunei Darussalam

• The Mandate of Heavens: Song Taizong’s Quest for Imperial Legitimacy and its Architectural Legacy - Tracy Miller, Vanderbilt University

• Representing Nation at the Painting Academy of Song Taizong - Ping Foong, University of California, Berkeley

• A Tale of Two Taizongs - Peter Lorge, Vanderbilt University

Discussant

• Alfreda Murck, Independent Scholar