The Economic Life And Social Activities Of Retired Civil Officials In Song Dynasty

The Song Dynasty completely legalized the ritual and legal system of retirement and set the upper age limit of retirement for civil officials at seventy.However,the retirement age of officials in the Song Dynasty was polarized,with officials retiring in their middle age and a large number of older officials who failed to retire in time.After retirement,Song officials chose to return to their hometowns or live away from home,to become connected with the local community and to participate in the local economic and cultural life.The Song dynasty gave retired civil officials half of the salary they received in office,known as the "half-salary system".After the second year of Xining(1069),higher-ranking officials received their full salary upon retirement and had the opportunity to receive a generous reward from the court.Family pensions played a very important role in the retirement of civil officials,providing both financial support and care for their daily lives.There was a huge disparity in the financial incomes of civil officials based on rank and family assets,and this led directly to very different daily consumption patterns within the group,notably in housing and banquet hosting.After retirement,civil officials are very enthusiastic about reading and collecting books.These civil officials,away from officialdom,have a new understanding of the relationship between the individual and the state,and use their own cultural capital to write books as their main means of expression and reflection.Retired civil officials with different economic bases also participated in socio-economic activities in different ways,either by directly purchasing land and property or by trading their knowledge as a commodity for economic income.Due to the general political environment,civil officials with a passion for governance participated in the imperial government after retirement by writing letters and attending major events,and could be reappointed by the court through nominations.However,in general,local gentry became the most important social contacts for retired civil officials.In addition to maintaining interpersonal contacts with old friends through letters and gifts,they established contacts with local gentry in the process of forming clubs and traveling in the mountains,forming a network of interpersonal relations in the township.The interpersonal network established through extensive social interactions was no longer mainly aimed at gaining political benefits,but the interpersonal contacts with the local gentry society laid a deep social foundation for their participation in local affairs and care for the gentry.Compared to the Northern Song Dynasty,retired civil officials in the Southern Song Dynasty were more concerned with the development of the village society.In order to contribute to the education of the clan’s descendants,retired civil officials built up a system of economic mutual assistance within the family and strengthened family cohesion.At the same time,the individual influence of retired civil officials gradually spread beyond the family to the village society,and materialized into a tool for educating the village,forming a group power among the village through cooperation between individuals or families,and participation in local administration was the practice of educating.From the participation in local public affairs and charity relief,it seems that the retired scholars played a positive role of moral education in grassroots social management.