Social customs and mores have played an important role in China’s feudal system. This is what the ancients meant when they said, “customs and mores are the foundation of a society throughout ages.” The rulers of the Song dynasty (960-1279) were well aware of their importance, and generally believed that the rise and fall of a country were closely linked with social customs and mores, as the Song historian Sima Guang (1019-1086) once argued, “The crux of the governance of a country is in li (rituals), while the good and evil of social customs and mores are tied to traditional practices." Su Shi (1037-1101), the renowned Song poet and statesman also contended," The reason why a country prospers or collapses lies in its morality or lack thereof, not in its power or lack thereof; The reason why a dynasty lasts or not lies in the strengths of its customs or lack thereof, not in its wealth or lack thereof.” It is no coincidence that rulers historically spent a lot of effort on guiding and educating the public through influencing and changing customs, so as to stay in power for generations upon generations.

While largely stable in a certain period of time, social customs and mores, in the process of being passed down, tend to mutate with the input of new social, political, economic, and military factors, especially during the time of rapid economic transformation as in the Song dynasty, when a series of changes took place, symbolized by the elevated status of the common people and the merchant class, and the breakdown of barriers between the gentry and the commoners.

With the lift of curfew, eating and dining habits were among the first changes. Taking three meals a day was the new norm, replacing the old one of taking two a day. The variety of food and drinks was more enriched, including staples and various dishes, as well as tea, wine, soup and fruit. Food flavors also took on a more distinct regional characteristic: the southerners, with rice as their staple food, preferred a saltier taste, while the northerners, with wheat and poultry meat as staples, preferred a sweeter taste; in the central region and in urban areas, people preferred a lighter taste. In terms of greeting the guests, there appeared to be no regional variation: everywhere, guests were welcomed with tea and fruit. Meanwhile, the Song people began to care more about food hygiene and food waste, and the ideas have since taken root for later generations to live a healthier life.

As an indispensable item, clothing has been a perennial concern in people’s daily life. In a class society, clothes were not only to meet the basic needs, but to decorate and, more significantly, act as a symbol of hierarchy. It is no wonder that throughout Chinese history, great importance had been attached to dressing, which was even codified in rituals and laws. Therefore, clothing styles generally remained stable over time. However, in the Song dynasty, clothing fashions shifted every few years and pecking orders reflected through attires quickly broke down, as the Song people increasingly expressed their own interests, wealth, status and values through all kinds of fast-changing wear. 

The Song period witnessed transformations in housing as well, which drastically differed from the Tang dynasty (618-907). Scholar-officials lived in the now popular garden residences, and whose architectural style went from being grand and majestic to being delicate and exquisite. Wealthy families were fond of not only building rockeries but planting a variety of exotic flowers. In the process of building houses, a whole set of customs were established, for example, the choice of a house’s location and orientation, offering sacrifices to ancestors and the God of Land when breaking ground, hosting banquets when the house was built, and so on. Besides, the houses of scholar-officials usually had a separate study room for reading and learning, and Taoist, Buddhist and ancestral shrines were also a regular feature. Most notable of all, perhaps, was the popularization of chairs. Until the time, Chinese people had generally sat on mats or low platforms with low tables, but then gradually moved to use high tables with chairs, laying a solid foundation for the development of classical Chinese furniture.

The transportation habits of the Song people also saw quite a few changes. Take sedan chairs, one of the means of land transport, as an example. An exclusive privilege reserved for the royal family at first, the right to ride sedan chairs were later granted to ailment-afflicted senior and elderly officials as a special favor, who were only allowed to ride horses before. At the end of the Northern Song (960-1127), sedan chairs had become so popular that not only officials and rich people, but commoners and even prostitutes took to them. Indeed, sedan-chair-renting services appeared in the capital. In the Southern Song (1127-1279), riding sedan chairs were even more prevalent, that it was said “nobody goes out without a sedan chair”.

When it came to wedding customs, one significant reform in the Song was that the six rites which had been traditionally followed were streamlined into three, namely formal proposal, sending of betrothal gifts between the groom’s and the bride’s families, and wedding ceremony. In fact, there had been no celebration and no merrymaking in weddings until the Song, when the folkways took a new turn: on the wedding day, the brides would wear decorated dress and ride in an ornamental litter, guided by upbeat music; ceremonies such as the “three kowtows” (i.e. kowtowing to heaven and earth, kowtowing to the parents and kowtowing to each other) and drinking cross-cupped wine had all been adopted by later generations. 

Similar to weddings, funerals have been endowed with as much, if not more, cultural and social significance. During the Song, a good number of funeral rites needed to be observed. When people were usually expected to attend in person the funerals of their kith and kin; even if for some reason they could not make it, they should send a letter and gifts as a tribute. When scholar-officials paid their tribute, they often brought with them the elegiac couplets, which are now generally believed to have originated from this period. Another invention of the time was burning paper articles for dead people, including joss paper, paper clothes, and paper gold and silver ingots. Joss paper, more commonly known as “hell money”, is still widely burnt today to commemorate deceased family members, relatives, and friends. 

Moreover, a range of traditional festivals was marked in the Song, including the Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival, the Qingming Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival, among others, as well as a host of unique religious and political festivals, which, apart from their cultural importance, were also celebrated for leisure, and helped stimulate economic development and spur domestic consumption, as they were closely tied to commercial activities. Lesser known was the Song people’s concern for the environment. They advocated for the protection of forests, pastures and animals, strictly forbade rampant logging, and called for the rational use of natural resources.

In light of the important role of those social customs and mores, the Song rulers and officials had tried a few approaches to popularize “good” ones and curb “bad” ones. One way was by leading by example: the emperor, the imperial court, and the capital city would lead the way in observing the customs that were deemed desirable, and shrines and temples would be built for the paragons of virtue and those who followed harmful practices, such as witchcraft, would be punished. Another was by codifying these customs through Confucian rituals, imperial edicts, and official laws. Finally, through the school education system, good social values were inculcated into the general public.

used to be attributed to Xu Daoning, a Northern Song painter.

Ink Orchid. Painting / Zheng Sixiao (Southern Song).