The unprecedented economic and cultural prosperity of the Song Dynasty was also evident in the tombs. Influenced by the funeral concept of "regarding death as life", the tomb decorations also tended to be secular and civilian.
Tombs usually use brick murals to imitate multi-layer paving, and build leaning columns, bucket arches, beams, doors and windows, etc., and some also have brick-carved furniture such as tables and chairs, clothes hangers, mirror frames, and lamps. The burial chamber creates the living room or courtyard layout of the living person.
Among the many murals, the emergence of female subjects vividly outlines a colorful picture of women's life in the Song Dynasty.
female red
Fu Wenxiu, chanting Jizhu
The term female red refers to women picking mulberry, raising silkworms, weaving, embroidery, sewing and other things.
On the left side of the mural on the east wall of the Huaixi Song Tomb in Xingyang, Henan Province, there are many women's tools, such as cross scissors, irons, etc., and two women on the right are dressing in front of the mirror. The whole picture implies dressing, sewing, ironing, etc. A series of daily life scenes create a special space for women.
keep pets
Wrapped in salt to hire a raccoon slave, the scorpion will go away
Song people like to domesticate smaller pets, such as cats, fish, dogs, birds and so on.
At that time, a kind of lion cat with long white and yellow hair appeared. Because of its handsome appearance, it was often kept at home by dignitaries and nobles, and it was very popular.
"Yizi" is a kind of puppy introduced from the Western Regions to the Central Plains in the Tang Dynasty. However, due to the difficulty of the introduction route, only one or two were occasionally seen in noble families at that time.
By the Song Dynasty, dog-raising families had expanded from court aristocrats in the Tang Dynasty to wealthy people, and even specialized pet markets appeared in cities.
In the tomb murals, there are also scenes of puppies standing in front of the door waiting for their owners. It can be seen that pets have become an indispensable part of people's daily life.
In addition, women also enjoy growing flowers at home.
The images of flowers in the tombs of this period increased suddenly. Not only were flowers arranged in slender flasks, but some women also wore hairpins on their hair.
Feast
The ancient music sings together, and the long sleeves are good at dancing
People in the Song Dynasty had to drink and have fun at banquets and gatherings.
Song Zaju is generally composed of roles such as Mo Ni, Yin Xi, Fu Jing, Fu Mo, Gu, and Dan.
Joining the army is a play, also known as a bamboo pole; if Mo Ni participates in a performance, it is more positive; among them, Fu Jing is a character who often pretends to be deaf and dumb, and makes funny performances; Fu Mo is a character who plays with Fu Jing as a joke ; Solitary is the role of an official; Dan is a female role.
When performing zaju, there is also playing zaju to match it.
Sanyue has been recorded as early as the Zhou Dynasty, and in the past dynasties, it was mostly mixed with acrobatics, including a variety of folk skills and music forms.
For example, in the Sanyue performance in the murals unearthed from Baisha Song Dynasty Tomb in Yuxian County, Henan Province, except for a dancer in the middle, the other ten people all played musical instruments, including one playing the sheng, one playing the pan flute, three playing the zither, and one playing the flute. Play the fife, one person plays the pipa, one person plays the clapper, one person plays the big drum, and one person plays the waist drum.
raising children
Colorful pillows accompany dreams, pray for peace
From the late Northern Song Dynasty to the Southern Song Dynasty, wars were frequent, childbirth was difficult, and the infant mortality rate was high. People at that time believed that children were easily infested by evil spirits. In addition, in the Song Dynasty, there was a practice of "not raising children" (that is, giving birth to a child without raising it, and drowning the baby to death) or thrown away), many images of babies appeared in the tombs to pray for the children's health and longevity.
Innocent children are either naked or wearing bellybands, standing or kneeling, playing with stick puppets and other toys in their hands.
The boy puppet play pillow unearthed in Xunzhang Village, Jiyuan City, Henan Province is also a typical representative of praying and blessing children.
Song people regarded pillows as important objects in contact with the body, and endowed them with the functions of town house, exorcism, and men. They believed that if children sleep on such pillows, they can protect their health.
Filial piety
At the age of three, I was a wife, and I was exhausted
In China's feudal society based on the farming economy and linked by the patriarchal clan system, "loyalty and filial piety" are the most basic ethical norms.
For women, loyalty and filial piety are also the foundation of self-cultivation and life.
When a woman is married, it is considered a duty of a good daughter-in-law to serve and obey her parents-in-law wholeheartedly.
They bear the important responsibility of "the Lord's Feed". In the banquet preparation picture unearthed from Tomb No. 196 in Tanxi Cemetery, Hubei Province, there is a mistress standing with her arms folded, her eyes calmly supervising the waiter's preparation of the banquet, and cooking herself. Obedient and filial piety.
When family banquets are held, the daughter-in-law sometimes stands respectfully, and sometimes brings food or wine to offer, always maintaining her duty in the family and never daring to overstep.
The mural images of tombs in the Song Dynasty are not only the reproduction of the life of the deceased, but also their good wishes for life after death.
These images include not only the true representation of women's inner life, but also the ideal model of women's virtues. Together, they constitute various silhouettes of women's daily life in the Song Dynasty.
Text/Feng Yu (Major of Archeology, Renmin University of China)