EVERYDAY LIFE · SHANG TO QING
Stories
Small questions open a window onto a different world.
Four Rivers, Twenty-Four Bridges: Getting into a Song City by Boat
Four rivers ran through the Northern Song capital, with eleven bridges on one and thirteen on the other; one bridge was too low for boats. Six chi of water, six million shi a year, and the names of Lin'an's boats.
Beating Charcoal into Cakes: A Winter Trade in Song Cities
Kaifeng began winter with charcoal for the braziers and five days' warning of vegetables. By Hangzhou the trade was called “beating charcoal cakes,” listed among small trades found nowhere else. No price, no recipe.
Five Dou of Rent, Fourteen Years: A Land Case from Southern Song
Two deeds for one field, a rent of five dou a year, and fourteen years in court. A Southern Song judgment lays out the deeds and then turns its anger on a county school that accepted land already sold.
A List of Things: What Was Inside a Song House
A Southern Song market list records tables, stools, bamboo beds, summer mats, a bamboo bolster called the 'bamboo wife', washbasins, a chamber pot, a bronze hand-warmer and charcoal cakes.
Thirty-Nine Days of Spring: The Business of a Song Outing
Kaifeng's Jinming Pool opened on the first of the third month and shut on the eighth of the fourth. Waterside booths were rented, fish sold back at double price, boats priced by size.
Twenty-Two Acts on a Temple Stage: Acrobats and Street Troupes in Song China
On the twenty-fourth of the sixth month the temple stage ran twenty-two acts from dawn until dark. Two banner poles belonged to two rival government workshops, and the pole-climbers were summoned to amnesties.
Riddle Sellers: The Guessing Trade in Song Cities
In Song cities riddle-guessing was a paid street act: a drummer drew the crowd, a seller set verbal traps, and lanterns carried hidden lines for passers-by to puzzle over.
Double Ninth in Song China: Named Chrysanthemums, Lion Cakes and Palace Lanterns
In Song China the ninth day of the ninth month brought five named chrysanthemums, flour lions on steamed cakes, hilltop feasts and, in the palace, chrysanthemum lanterns lit as at New Year.
Water on Four Sides: The Warehouse Business of Song Lin'an
Inside Lin'an's north water gate, palace and wealthy households built dozens of warehouses with thousands of rooms, let by the month to shops and travelling merchants — water on all sides for fire and thieves.