Research On The Urban Females Of Bianjing And Lin'an In Song Dynasty

Represented by urban females of Bianjing and Lin'an, the capital of North Song Dynasty and of South Song Dynasty respectively, female life during Song Dynasty is actually not such tedious as the descendants think. At that time, females were at the transition period in the Tang-Song Dynasty, during which the social environment and public opinions were tolerant to them, and the vigorous citizen culture brought many changes in their thinking and concepts as well as in their way of living.From the ancient notes of the Song Dynasty, especially the urban notes, some detailed written records in regard to the various aspects of urban female life of Bianjing and Lin'an can be seen. Although fragmented, these records can be collected and collated, which facilitates obtaining considerable documents and materials to research in the urban female life of Bianjing and Lin'an.Centering on five urban notes of Bianjing and Lin'an including Dongjing Menghua Lu, Xihu Laoren Fansheng Lu, Ducheng Jisheng, Mengliang Lu and Wulin Jiushi, combining Song poetry, history books, local chronicles and relevant documents in other notes, this paper intends to clarify the role different female group of Bianliang and Lin'an playing, to analyze their educational conditions, and to investigate the influence of prosperous urban life on their daily life, esthetic sentiment, leisure time and marriage, in hope of recovering the urban female life of Bianjing and Lin'an.