Beyond The Imperiai Court:Study On The Daily Life Of The Ministers In The Song Dynasty

As a considerable group,the ministers played an important role in Song dynasty society.By analyzing their material life,leisure life,social life and family life,this paper attempts to show the colorful life of the ministers after work and to get a glimpse of the social situation at that time.In the field of material life,the ministers had various sources of income,and in addition to their salaries,they also managed land and engaged in commercial activities to make profits,so they seemed to have a relatively rich material life in general.Their clothing,food,housing,and transportation were both similar and different from those of the royal family and the common people.The comparison provides a deeper understanding of the daily life of the ministers.In the field of leisure life,after the material life was satisfied,the ministers began to pursue a rich and colorful leisure life,and their leisure activities included literary leisure activities,artistic leisure activities,sports leisure activities,and recreational leisure activities.Through these rich and colorful leisure activities,the ministers could not only spend time,but also cultivate his body,cultivate his sentiment and exercise his body.In the field of daily social interaction,ministers relied on local,kinship,blood and academic ties,and established a wide range of contacts with people from all walks of life through visits,associations,gatherings and trips,and formed his own concept of friendship in his interactions,such as making friends carefully and valuing morality over profit in his interactions.In the field of family life,ministers paid attention to the relationship between family members,pursuing the ideal family relationship of husband and wife,father’s kindness and filial piety,brother’s friendship and brother’s respect.Moreover,as the head of the family,ministers attached great importance to the education of the younger generation in order to pass on the family style and maintain the family status.They set an example by subconsciously influencing the words and actions of their offspring in the hope that they would maintain the family’s glory.In conclusion,the daily life of the ministers showed certain characteristics that reflected some of the conditions in society at that time and had some influence on the daily life of other classes and the social climate of that time.Studying the ministers from the perspective of daily life not only enables a comprehensive and objective understanding of the ministers,but also follows the requirements of human-centered social history research.