Memory of the Southern Song, an exhibition on the lifestyle of the dynasty centered in Hangzhou (called Lin’an back then), is now ongoing till February 29 at China Wetlands Museum in Hangzhou.

The Southern Song (1127-1279) represents the best years Hangzhou had ever seen in the feudal era. Thanks to detailed historical records and books written during or shortly after the dynasty, we now know a great deal about cultural activities people had back then.

One of the entertainment and recreation centers of the capital city was West Creek, which was several kilometers outside the walled city in the past and is now hemmed in by the urban sprawl of Hangzhou. The name is still in use today. The creek area is now a national wetland park, which preserves the pristine wetland and the rural lifestyle that has been around for more than 1,000 years. Back in the Southern Song, West Creek was as famous as the West Lake as a tourist attraction for people in the city.

A large part of the exhibition is about the leisure lifestyle of West Creek.

The capital city had a market for flowers and pet birds. West Creek housed the city’s largest flower nursery. The Flower Festival, now held annually at West Creek, can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The celebration of the annual festival thrived in the Southern Song on February 15th on the lunar calendar. West Creek Lantern Festivities were a popular attraction on a day that local residents held a public sacrifice ceremony at five temples in honor of their ancestors. Among these festivities was a grand lantern parade.

In the Song Dynasty, people loved pets. The most popular pet was goldfish. According to history, Hangzhou was where golden fish was first cultivated. In the Northern Song (960-1127), religious temples across the country had goldfish in their ponds where disciples let go captive fish and turtles, etc. In the Southern Song, Emperor Zhao Gou had a goldfish pond in the Forbidden City. Goldfish Well in West Creek is said to have been built so that the emperor could stop there to view goldfish in the well on his way to visit the Dongxiao Temple.

Tea, flower and scented incense were popular fashions in everyday life of local people in the Song Dynasty. Many people including government officials wore flowers on “the lapel of their suit”, so to speak. If the statement that life in Hangzhou is fascinatingly and luxuriously slow is true, this seemingly leisure can at least be traced back to the Southern Song.

West Creek used to be the fish tank for the city’s fish market simply because there were high-quality fish ponds in West Creek. Taking a pleasure boat tour and having a fish banquet on the boat in West Creek where rivers and ponds were numerous was a must-have experience for royal visitors and common people. A fish banquet on a pleasure boat is available today for tourists to the West Creek.

The capital city offered shopping streets where separate shops combined to serve as a department store. A look at a list of all the businesses there would make one wonder how life was good and colorful and fancy back then. For example, the sweet beverage shop offered a great variety of sugared soft drinks. Many were fruit drinks and many were herbal drinks. Another big pillar of West Creek’s economy was wine making thanks to the high-quality water. The West Creek had many grand restaurants. The menus of these restaurants look mouthwatering even today.

When the Northern Song crashed, the royal house fled the north and set up the Southern Song in Lin’an (present-day Hangzhou), followed by a great number of people. The northern lifestyle was brought over to the south. “Dragon boat racing” was an event that carried the tradition of the northern even though the race started in the Tang Dynasty in West Creek. In West Creek, dragon boat racing was held twice a year. The first race started on the 8th day of the lunar February till the Qingming Festival in early April. The second race lasted 10 days from May 1 to 10 on the lunar calendar in celebration of the Duanwu Festival which occurs on the fifth day of the lunar May.

In addition to hobbies such as keeping pet birds, cricket fighting, ant fighting, sporting games such as wrestle, football, and chess were popular in the Southern Song Dynasty.