During the Song dynasty (960-1279), Chinese cities underwent unprecedented changes in what some Western scholars such as Mark Elvin described as a “urban revolution". Among the distinct features of this revolution are: (1) the relaxation of the restriction that only one officially controlled market could be allowed in every county capital; (2) the decline and eventual collapse of the official marketing organization; (3) the scrap of the Fang-Shi (walled ward) System, under which no marketplace could be freely organized; (4) the rapid expansion of urban centers as well as the booming development of commerce in suburban areas; and (5) the emergence of a large number of market towns with important economic functions.

Urbanization saw marked increased in the Song dynasty, unsurpassed by any Chinese dynasties before or after. It not only far outstripped its predecessors, even its successors failed to reach such a height. One study put the proportion of urban population in the Northern Song (960-1127) and Southern Song (1127-1279)at 20.1% and 22.4% respectively. Another deemed the figure to be roughly 20%, not taking account into some of the migrant workers and vagabonds. The estimates of a third study were lower, 12% for Northern Song  and 13% for Southern Song , but they are still among the highest in Chinese history.   

Growing urbanization and urban populations heralded the birth of modern cities. According to statistics, over 40 major urban and commercial centers, which increased to above 50 during the reign of the Huizong emperor (1082-1135), had a population of more than 100,000 households in Northern Song, including Xijing (present-day Luoyang), Chengdu, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Jiangning (present-day Nanjing), and numerous medium-sized cities with a population exceeding 200,000.

Together with the Tang (618-907) capital Chang’an (present-day Xi’an), Dongjing (present-day Kaifeng), capital of Northern Song, and Lin’an (present-day Hanagzhou), capital of Southern Song, are regarded as the three most metropolitan and prosperous cities of ancient China, the latter two regularly housing a population in excess of one million, and over 1.5 million sometimes. Around Lin’an, 15 satellite towns also popped up.

On the other hand, rapid development and urbanization also brought myriad problems, including traffic jams, shortage of fresh water, environmental degradation, inadequate sanitation, frequent fire outbreaks and spread of diseases. Housing prices in Kaifeng and Lin’an at their heyday were believed to be the world’s highest. While market was developed more than ever, irregularities and illegal activities were also spawned. For example, unscrupulous merchants and street rascals openly sold inferior, even fake, goods. They also bullied those who were trying to do a proper business.

These problems prompted the Song rulers to adopt a series of measures and improve the urban management. A comprehensive fire protection was established, urban waste management and treatment was strengthened, disease prevention mechanisms were installed and a social relief structure was put into place, among other administrative innovations. Or as the US sinologist G. William Skinner argued in his edited volume The City in Late Imperial China, “The great cities were greater, the urban population vastly enlarged, the integration of city systems much tighter; but perhaps the most significant change of all was the greatly reduced proportion of central places that were capitals. For this feature of urban development signaled an ongoing revolution in the manner in which the entire society was managed.”

Of particular significance is the establishment of the Xiang-Fang System, which replaced the previous Li-Fang System with free movement and mixed land use. Fang is generally a rectangularly residential quarter divided by a main road and branching street, and Xiang is the street linking dwelling units. Essentially, every Xiang-Fang is akin to a neighborhood community or a subdistrict in today’s China. Specialized positions were set up in each Xiang-Fang for fire safety and guarding against thievery and burglary. Residents in each Xiang-Fang were also enlisted to help with urban management. From transportation to fresh water, from sanitation to public facilities, major cities of Song dynasty showed characteristics only found in modern urban management.

To alleviate housing pressures and strengthen social stability, Song rulers offered low-rent housing to residents, which could be further lowered or exempted if crop failures struck. In Lin’an, the Southern Song capital, the world’s earlier professional fire brigade was born. Indeed, in the latter years of the Southern Song, Lin’an boasted seven such professional brigades. In 1699, roughly five centuries later, the first professional fire brigade was formed in Paris.

Meanwhile, a consumption-oriented urban culture featuring a rich selection of entertainment options flourished. In Northern Song, Washe (also known as Washi or Wazi), a special area for public entertainment, appeared. According to Dongjing Menghua Lu, or The Eastern Capital: A Dream of Splendor, a book that recorded in detail the urban life of the Northern Song capital, Washe could be found in every part of the city, with over 50 Goulan, the theatres in the form of fenced-off rings. In Southern Song, the number grew further: as many as 23 washe were in the capital Lin’an, and in Beiwa (literally Northern Washe) alone, the largest one, there were 13 Goulan. Day and night, rain or shine, entertainment and performances would be on. Music, chess, calligraphy and painting—the so-called four arts of Chinese scholars—also flourished, and specialized markets for artworks appeared. Diversified entertainment, culture and leisure activities became strong magnets for urban residents and migrant populations, which further spurred the development of urban culture. As the French sinologist Jacques Gernet observed in A History of Chinese Civilization, “The men of the eleventh to thirteenth centuries travelled about more often and more willingly than those of the T’ang, Six Dynasties, and Han periods. … the difficulties of rural life, the number and diversity of the small urban trades, and the attraction of the towns, centers of wealth and entertainment, caused a flow of vagabonds and impoverished peasants toward the big agglomerations.”

The social attitudes of urban residents and their consumption-centered lifestyles were not only far ahead of their rural peers but of their times. Merchant class was much respected, and preference for sons over daughters was upended. Urban residents had no qualms about pursuing material as well as spiritual pleasures. Efficiency and speed, hallmarks of a modern society, were much valued. Although scholars of latter dynasties derided it as debauch and depraved, they overlooked the dynamism, the entrepreneurship and the liberalized attitudes within the lifestyle, precisely because these values went against the traditions.  

While Song’s urban development should not be overestimated, successive dynasties all followed its city models and layout. All in all, urban civilization in Song dynasty reached quite a height in various aspects and the Japanese sinologist Miyazaki Ichisada called it “the renaissance in the Orient”.