Bianjing Spectacle: Soundscapes of Bianjing and Identities in Song Dynasty Literature

By closely examining the literary works of the Song Dynasty,such as prose,poetry,rhyme-prose,lyrics,notes,and miscellaneous theses,this paper combines historical and literary evidence to rediscover the 13 types of soundscapes and their corresponding spaces in the Bianjing City,the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty,and it reveals the causes and historical-cultural significance of these soundscapes.Focusing on the key issues of soundscapes,this paper analyzes the sound spaces,identities,discourses,and literary achievements depicted in the writings about Bianjing.It argues that the“Bianjing Spectacle”of vendors’cries described by the Southern Song people can be used as a summary of the soundscape characteristics of Bianjing.Furthermore,it interprets the special silence,crying,and the absence of the sounds of production from an aesthetic perspective.By rediscovering,analyzing,and interpreting the soundscapes of Bianjing,this paper reveals significant differences between the Tang and Song dynasties at the sound level and differentiates various“auditory communities.”It thereby demonstrates the portrayal of Bianjing in Song literature,addresses theoretical hot topics in literature and geography,and builds on Marx’s arguments to propose that a thorough understanding of history,the world,and ourselves requires an in depth study of the soundscapes in literature.

The Research on the Battle of Yanmen Pass

During the war between Liao Dynasty(907-1125)and Northern Song Dynasty(960-1127),there was a classic battle that happened in Yanmen Pass(located in today’s Dai County,Xinzhou,Shanxi Province,China).It was a well known battle of ancient China because a commander of the Song army named Yang Ye(?-986)was really famous in both classical Chinese fictions and Chinese war history.He is the early protagonist of a famous Chinese classic fiction named The Romance of the Yang family’s generals(written in the 16th century,Ming Dynasty of China).The story of his family also appears in other novels.Besides,in history,he was a general who was active in the early stages of the war between Liao Dynasty and Northern Song Dynasty.The battle of Yanmen Pass(980)was one of the most important battles of Yang’s military career.His combat style especially his cavalry tactic can be summarized through researching this battle.

Reconstruction of Lu-level cropland areas in the Northern Song Dynasty （AD976-1078）

Based on data on taxed-cropland area and on the number of households in historical documents, a probabilistic model of cropland distribution and a cropland area allocation model were designed and validated. Cropland areas for the years AD976, 997, 1066, and 1078 were estimated at the level of Lu（an administrative region of the Northern Song Dynasty）. The results indicated that（1） the cropland area of the whole study region for AD976, 997, 1066, and 1078 was about 468.27 million mu（a Chinese unit of area, with1 mu=666.7m2）, 495.53 million mu, 697.65 million mu, and 731.94 million mu, respectively. The fractional cropland area（FCA） increased from 10.7% to 16.8%, and the per capita cropland area decreased from 15.7 mu to 8.4 mu.（2） With regard to the cropland spatial pattern, the FCA of the southeast, north, and southwest regions of the Northern Song territory increased by 12.0%, 5.2%, and 1.2%, respectively. The FCA of some regions in the Yangtze River Plain increased to greater than 40%, and the FCA of the North China Plain increased to greater than 20%. However, the FCA of the southwest region（except for the Chengdu Plain） in the Northern Song territory was less than 6%.（3） There were 84.2% Lus whose absolute relative error was smaller than 20% in the mid Northern Song Dynasty. The validation results indicate that our models are reasonable and that the results of reconstruction are credible.

Nature as Harmony： The Foundation of Chinese Poetry

This paper argues for the very foundation of Chinese poetry, that is, nature itself. To this end, I have chosen three well-known poets, Wang Wei （706-761） in Tang Dynasty （618-907）, Su Shi （1037-1101） and Zhou Dunyi （1017-1073） in Northern Song Dynasty （960-1127）. All three poets were also high ranking governmental officials. They were leaders of high personal integrity.