A Study On Local Gazetteers And Local Society In The Southern Song Dynasty

Most of the handed-down Song Dynasty local gazetteers were compiled in the Southern Song Dynasty.Discussing the local society which was presented by the local gazetteers of the Southern Song Dynasty,and the interactive relationships among different social forces during the process of compiling and using the local gazetteers are the important perspectives to understand the changing history of the local society in the Southern Song Dynasty.This thesis plans to discusses the interaction relationship between the Southern Song Dynasty local gazetteers and the local society from five main aspects as below.The groups who used local gazetteers were diverse in the Southern Song Dynasty.The newly appointed local officials need to know the local society by reading local gazetteers.They handled the relevant affairs in accordance with the recordings in local gazetteers.Scholars generally used local gazetteers to verify some affairs of the local society.It reflects that local gazetteers were important parts of their daily readings.The public and monks also used the recordings of local gazetteers to correspond their benefits.Some of the Southern Song Dynasty history books,notes and some local government proclamation transcribed the recordings of local gazetteers,which also reflected the gazetteers’ influence on the daily life in the Southern Song dynasty.There were two standards in compiling the temples(Cimiao祠庙)category of the Southern Song Dynasty local gazetteers.One was Confucian etiquette principles,and the other was local traditional principles.For the gazetteers’writers,whether the temple or the god had been granted with official titles or not was not the unique standard when they recorded local temples and gods.Some local temples or gods were recorded in new-compiled local gazetteers even when they had not been recorded in the Official Register of Sacrifices(Sidian祀典)and not been granted with official titles.In this way,those local temples and gods were still admitted by local government officials.The recording principles and narrative ways of the temples(Cimiao祠庙)category of the Southern Song Dynasty local gazetteers effected the local officials practice on sacrifice affairs.The local officials’governing ideas and strategies were also affected by the local traditions which were wrote in local gazetteers.The records of the Buddhist temples and Taoist temples(Siguan寺观)category of the Southern Song Dynasty local gazetteers preserved the important information of the local social and religious changes in the Song Dynasty on the one hand.On the other hand,the local gazetteers also reflected the relationships among the temples,the court and the local society,owing to the description and the selection of local religious space,as well as the temple records in the local gazetteers.As for the texts in the records of the Buddhist temples and Taoist temples(Siguan寺观)category,some emphasized the connection between the temple and the emperor or court officials,while some highlighted the cultural color of the temple given by the scholars.The writing ways of Buddhist temples and Taoist temples(Siguan寺观)category of the Southern Song Dynasty local gazetteers strengthened the political and cultural significance of the temples.The forms of customs(Fengsu风俗)category of the Southern Song Dynasty local gazetteers were different.There were two main forms:being a single category or being an item which belonged to a superior category.There were four factors which affected the compiling of the customs(Fengsu风俗)category:the close attention the local officials and scholars had paid to custom in the Southern Song Dynasty,the local officials’demands for managing local affairs,thirdly,the local officials and scholars’purposes of popularizing enlightenment,and the influence of former local gazetteers’structure.The Southern Song Dynasty local gazetteers writers’concepts about customs had some features.For example,they advocated teaching and learning,commended loyalty and piety behaviors,encouraged harmonious family relationships.They paid special attention to the relationship between family and country,and also emphasized the role of scholars in popularizing enlightenment in local society.The customs(Fengsu风俗)category of the Southern Song Dynasty local gazetteers embodied the influence of official power and scholar culture,which had become an important basis for regulating local social order and promoting local education.At the same time,the writers paid more attention to the local characteristics in the Southern Song Dynasty.Perhaps,it was a sign of the growing local consciousness in that period.The sacrifices in prefecture and county level were important forms of demonstrating state power and etiquette in the grassroots society.By comparing the specific records of the sacrifices in the Southern Song Dynasty local gazetteers and the related stipulation system of the Song Dynasty,the specific practice of sacrifices which executed by the local officials in the Southern Song Dynasty could also be perceived.In conclusion,the records of the Southern Song Dynasty local gazetteers on local ancestor worship,religion,custom education,and ritual sacrifice were important texts for local officials to understand the local society.Local officials’ ideas were gradually“localized” in a subtle way,which affected local officials’ thoughts about local affairs.The local gazetteers also provided a path for the combination of the national system and local customs.Thanks to the extensive use of local gazetteers in the Southern Song Dynasty,apart from playing a role as geographical chronicles,the local gazetteers had also gradually developed into "crucial records" for governing local societies,which were endowed with strong official authority.It could also be perceived from the interaction between the writing of local gazetteers and local society that the formation of local social authority in the Southern Song Dynasty was influenced by different factors such as the court,local officials,and local social forces.