Event

In the conventional understanding of Chinese history, the Song dynasty (960-1279) appears as a period during which civil officials, fortified by a renewal of Confucian values and recruited through an expanded civil service system, inaugurated a period of civilian rule that led to a domination of literati over military officials in the administration of the dynasty. This view derives ultimately from the official Song History (Songshi) of 1345. Based on an examination of the dynasty’s financial administration, my present research challenges this assumption and proposes that the deeper structure of Song government was based upon two contrasting political visions of how government should function.  Against the formal political structures advocated by literati such as Ouyang Xiu and Sima Guang, coalitions within the monarchy and the military allied themselves with financial interests to govern through fluid, ad hoc administrative units. My lecture will focus on the rise of widespread issue of paper currency (huizi) in the twelfth century to suggest that Song civil officials fought a losing battle for control of dynastic resources, yet, through their control of the state historiographic function, were able to create an enduring historical image to the contrary.

* EALC Speaker