Research On Fruit Culture In The Song Dynasty

The prosperity of citizen culture in the Song Dynasty was based on the continuous development of the agricultural and commercial society in the Song Dynasty,the expansion of the citizen class,and the acceleration of the trend of industrial commercialization.Among them,fruit as a major content in the field of food,the formation of fruit culture is also closely related to the daily life and spiritual culture of the Song people.On the basis of objective economic and material foundation,the Song Dynasty "food production is more rational and scientific",the structure of staple food and side food is constantly enriched and improved,and the fruit industry in the context of social changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties,its changes are very obvious,and it is also an important part of the prosperity of food culture in the Song Dynasty.The fruit culture of the Song Dynasty was first manifested in the changes in the fruit industry at the agricultural level.With the development of the commodity economy,fruit production and planting reflect the trend of separation from the planting of traditional food industry,and the scale of cash crop cultivation continues to expand.On the basis of the previous generation,the fruit tree management of the Song Dynasty was more systematic and scientific,running through the whole process of fruit tree planting to picking,which was very fine.Fruit cultivation in the Song Dynasty was still limited by the natural environment,and the exchange of fruit planting techniques and varieties between different regions also promoted the migration or leapfrogging of fruit planting space.Secondly,the growth conditions of different fruits are different,so fruit tree planting also has outstanding regional and seasonal differences,showing the characteristics of seasonal production and annual sales,point production and piece sales,which puts forward greater requirements for fruit transportation network and fruit processing and preservation technology across production areas.The continuous development of fruit preservation means in the Song Dynasty provides a guarantee for the circulation and sales of fruits across production areas,and the preservation technology of fruits includes preservation and storage,which is more suitable for the short-term consumption needs of the season,and the development of long-term storage technology is more significant in making up for the imbalance of the seasonal fruit market.Thanks to the convenient transportation network and commercial trade with foreign countries,precious fruits from various countries and production areas have become rare in the consumer market of various places in the Song Dynasty,and all kinds of processed fruit products in the consumer market of the Southern Song Dynasty are dazzling.In the Song Dynasty,the consumption demand for fruits was not simply eaten directly,but more used in the decoration of the banquet and the gifts of friends,so the fruit processing means gradually became more and more exquisite,reflecting a strong humanistic spirit,especially the pursuit of "elegance" and "luxury" as the main driving force,which promoted the craftsmanship to be extremely exquisite,fruit processing to a new peak,the upper limit of the fruit consumption market is also increasing.At the time of the Two Song Dynasty,under the background of regional professional production areas and large output,the fruit industry and related service industries prospered,and gradually declined from the court aristocracy,especially in the Southern Song Dynasty,"the people were lazy",and luxury prevailed,which was manifested in the fact that the scholars’ greater attention to fruits and the enthusiastic creative desire of fruit and craftsmen.The development of fruit processing reflects the diversified material needs and living standards of urban residents on the one hand,and the spiritual interest and aesthetic pursuit of the elegant people on the other hand.The Song people made wine from yellow oranges,named "Dong ting Spring Color";The fruit is carved and stacked as a banquet to see the fruit,and its name is "embroidered high food";The use of fruits for medicine,food therapy,and incense making is even more popular,and all kinds of processing methods are extremely complicated,just for entertainment.The emergence of its specialized production areas,the improvement of long-distance transportation capacity,the continuous upgrading of fruit-related industries and storage and processing technologies,and finally reflected in the large flow of fruits in various places,further breaking the restrictions of time and space on fruits,supplementing the fruit market in remote areas,promoting the large-scale commercialization of fruits,and the characteristics of consumer goods are more prominent.The fruit consumer market in the Song Dynasty was more mature.It is reflected in three aspects,one is the smooth distribution and marketing of fruits,and the expansion of the consumer market in space.As an important fruit producing area,with the support of the government,through the process of transporting a large number of various precious fruits to Beijing by water transportation as tribute,the southern fruit gradually dredged up the sales of bulk fruits in the north and south,and the southern fruit spread throughout the northern market,and often combined with high-end restaurants,tea houses and other service industries,appearing in various consumer fields.The fruits from all over the world are concentrated in Beijing,and such a large transshipment volume has also given birth to a professional fruit distribution agency Fruit Bank,which not only serves as a special intermediary to regulate the consumption market of fruits,but also is responsible for the trading of large and small fruits in the palace and cities,which greatly improves the sales efficiency of the fruit market.Second,the number of practitioners has increased,and the division of labor in the fruit industry has been continuously refined,which has promoted the continuous deepening of the class of practitioners.From planting,transportation,to processing,sales,there are special people in charge.Large growers have emerged in the upstream of the industry,such as orange families and orange households in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River,and there are laborers in the midstream processing field cities who specialize in mallet lotus and lotus root,or serve production groups such as growers,or serve consumer groups such as fruit shops and restaurants.Under the flow of output and the linkage of practitioners,the fruit market in the Song Dynasty continues to expand and refine,the position of fruits in the catering market gradually becomes independent,and its marketing relies on the publicity of the nobles and nobles,the importance of residents’ dietary consumption continues to increase,rare fruits and exquisite fruit products across production areas break the consumption pattern limited to the upper class,and merchants and citizens also begin to pursue high-end fruits.The consumption concept of the upper class of society will affect the change of the consumption concept of ordinary citizens,and the merchants and citizen class build self-confidence and satisfaction by imitating the consumption patterns of the upper class,which leads to the pursuit of precious fruits in the market,and fruits that can only be enjoyed by the nobility or the court enter the ordinary market.The above various consumption phenomena are manifested in the change of the Song people’s consumption concept of fruits.In the Song Dynasty,the luxury of the upper class and the imitation of the consumption behavior of the upper class by the middle and lower classes were very obvious.Due to the consumption psychology of different classes,the fruit market has seen a trend of seeking rare fruits.Moreover,fruits with different production areas and different degrees of scarcity are graded and set,or quality is used as the standard for grading and ordering,or the production area is used as the standard for the quality of fruits.The consumption of fruits by the working class is mainly to meet the needs of daily life,and the demand of the middle and high-ranking classes such as nobles and scholars for high-grade,expensive fruits is to push fruit consumption to the category of luxury consumption,and the luxury atmosphere of the Song Dynasty class in fruit consumption reflects the characteristics of the leisure class,Veblen believes that "the consumption motivation of the leisure class has detached from the purpose of survival,but through consumption to show its outstanding achievements in money,to meet its vanity and self-esteem needs." Veblen pointed out that the consumption of luxury goods is a sign of the leisure class,and in the Song Dynasty,the scholars and doctors basically belonged to the category of the leisure class,and merchants and rich people were constantly moving closer to the consumption mode of the leisure class.The large number of fruits on the market and their popularity among citizens have made them reflect a variety of functions in various fields of society.In addition to being eaten,fruits in ritual,religious and witchcraft activities constantly highlight their"ritual" qualities.Baudrillard argues that "the object of our analysis is not an object determined solely by function,nor is it something classified for the convenience of analysis,but the process through which human beings relate to things,and the resulting human behavior and interpersonal relationship system." "Fruits appear in the procedures of the sacrificial field as a tool to communicate the relationship between man and god,and the fruits that appear in the procedures of holy festivals and gifts are tools for communicating the relationship between kings and subjects,kings and people,and the Song people often use the similarity law and sympathetic principle of witchcraft activities to communicate the relationship between man and nature,and intervene in the growth of fruits through witchcraft.In the maintenance of monarchs and interpersonal relationships,the characteristics of fruits in the Song Dynasty were very prominent.On the basis of transportation and economy in the Song Dynasty,local tribute was paid with fruits,labor and wealth were lost,and secondary chaos such as the transfer of tribute from different places appeared in the southern region,and the Song government repeatedly reduced tribute to fruits until three years after the construction of Yan,except for major sacrifices and the recommendation of Xinshe Temple,it was basically abolished.However,the status of Gongyu fruit in Jingshi is very high,because of the love of the scholars,officials use rare fruits to bribe points,resulting in "one fruit straight hundred gold",which has become a very characteristic gift of the times in the bureaucratic network.Wei Huaxian’s Research on the Production and Consumption of Four Types of Items in the Song Dynasty" discusses the important role of fruit giving in the communication power of prefectures and counties in the Song Dynasty.In addition to the communication activities between bureaucrats and powerful people,folk festivals,social celebrations,and banquets are decorated with fruits,or set up to see fruits,and the fruit viewing in the banquets with higher specifications is generally the special responsibility of the fruit bureau and the honey frying bureau,which is funded and hired by them,and there are also technicians who specialize in this art.The popularity of fruit watching in the Song Dynasty was a major manifestation of the peak of food culture in the Song Dynasty,especially in the banquets of court nobles,the fruit plate was often extremely exquisite,regardless of the cost.Finally,this paper focuses on the spiritual connection between people and fruits,first of all,the ornamental value of fruits,and the typical characteristics of this group of scholar class are the combination of political and literati,which not only has a certain social status and economic foundation,but also has the ability to perceive and express nature.Therefore,for fruits,the scholars not only widely publicized from the perspective of food,but also entertained from the aesthetic point of view,and from their literary works,they can also reflect the spiritual world of literati and scholars.Secondly,through the literary and artistic creation of fruits in the culture of the scholar and citizens,it shows the cultural construction of fruits in the narrow sense of the Song people.The public’s pursuit of fruits has shifted from general taste perception to visual aesthetics,and artistic conception is constructed through fruits,thereby enhancing the artistic atmosphere.In the cultural creation of the Song people,there are relatively rich records related to fruits,one is due to the large increase of fruits in the Song Dynasty and the enthusiasm of the Song people,and the other is due to the background of the Song Dynasty’s social culture moving towards commoners and customs,and constantly shifting to the citizen level.