Powerful relations and relations of power: Family and society in Sung China, 960-1279

This study examines change in social values and practice across the T'ang-Sung transition. Chapter One outlines changes in the rhetoric of funerary inscriptions between T'ang and Sung, and concludes that a major transformation of social values had taken place before the Sung began. It also describes a striking historiographical shift in the surviving sources from Northern and Southern Sung, such that while Northern Sung sources focus mainly on high-ranking individuals active at court, Southern Sung sources tend to focus on low- or non-ranked people, and say surprisingly little about the politically eminent. The study ultimately concludes that this historiographical shift is related to the dominance of Neo-Confucianism in post-Sung intellectual life.; The remainder of the study examines two overlapping groups of Sung people. The first group consists of Sung Grand Councilors and their families; the second consists of families resident in the Sung prefecture of Wu-chou, in north-central Chekiang. For each group I examine social background and longevity of social status (Chapters Two and Five), as well as marriage patterns and the nature of affinal connections (Chapters Three and Six). I then provide case studies of two specific families (one from Northern Sung and one from Southern Sung) from each group (Chapters Four and Seven). These chapters explore the ways political power and social status were shared within and across families and more extended kin groups, and attempt to understand the nature of elite status in the Sung.; The study concludes that Sung society remained similar in structure and functioning from the earliest years of the dynasty until its end, and was characterized by a rather remarkable openness and fluidity. It reveals that those who achieved some measure of social and political standing often came from quite modest backgrounds, and that their descendants tended to slip back into humble circumstances. Lastly, it suggests that agnatic kinship relations often had relatively little impact on the social and political prospects of individuals in Sung times, and questions whether kin group is a meaningful unit of analysis for Sung society.