The Life World Of Hongzhou Common People In The Southern Song Dynast

The life of civilian reflects the life of most ordinary people,whose lifestyles and behaviors are recorded in the tombstone inscriptions.The large number of records about civilian life unearthed in the Southern Song Dynasty(1127 —1279)provides rich materials for the study of their social life.It not only provides evidence and supplements for the traditional historical narrative,but also effectively broadens the scope of historiographical research.Hongzhou(洪州,present-day Nanchang,Jiangxi),the excavation site of tombstone inscription,had become the central city of Ganjiang River—Poyang Lake basin in the Southern Song Dynasty.Its geographical environment seemed to be closed,but it always kept in touch with the outside world,hence the local people were relatively open.However,some aspects of the shape,pattern and content of tombstone show a unique and stable regional style.Under the unique regional cultural background of the river and the lake,the livelihood of Hongzhou civilian in the Southern Song Dynasty showed a colorful life style.They faced different job opportunities in the general stable era,such as farming,choosing Confucianism as a career,serving as a petty official and grass-roots administrative personnel,doing business,which were also the choices to maintain their livelihood.Their pursuit of ambition and life practice on the life road reveal a life full of variety of Hongzhou civilian in the specific living environment and background.The family was the main place where people lived their daily lives,and the series of behaviors and practices adopted by the people in their family life were the concrete situations of their family relations and family affairs,which were the actual state of family life of Hongzhou civilian.The age difference and the length of marriage are a reflection of the life expectancy of the people at the time,which also reflect the concept of marriage among the Hongzhou civilian.In the meantime,preserving chastity after the death of the husband and remarriage are common phenomena in the area.Among them,a large number of female tombstones record the family life of Hongzhou ordinary women,who are responsible for almost everything in the family,and in addition to assist husband and bring up children,they are also undertook certain economic activities and even went out of the family to contribute to the local welfare.In the “living world” woven by different dimensions,this paper focuses on the materials of tombstone inscriptions,takes daily life history and regional social history as the perspective.Based on the records of the materials of tombstone inscriptions,this paper explores the spatial background,the way of livelihood,and the family life of Hongzhou civilian in Southern Song Dynasty,and investigates their daily life.Thus,it presents the varied life of Hongzhou in the Southern Song Dynasty,which is of great significance for academia to improve the understanding of regional social life in the Song Dynasty.