The Song Dynasty was a golden age for Chinese fine arts. For example in the areas of literature, painting, calligraphy, porcelain, papermaking, printing, and tapestry making, artisans not only mastered the techniques they inherited from earlier generations, but added their own refinements. The quality of the participating artisans, the fluctuation of the economy, the ubiquity of education, the convenience of transportation, and the swelling of the population, all these created a perfect environment for the new heights of achievement in the fine arts reached during the Northern Song. But which of these catalysts was the most vital? This is the question which has caused me to ruminate endlessly.
After the chaos and struggle of the end of the Tang, and the Five Dynasties period, the fine arts blossomed again in the Northern Song after this period of stagnation, and by employing old methods, artisans gained the tools to innovate, achieving never before seen results. In the arena of literature, the revival of the genre of sanwen (prose) was an ongoing chapter of the ancient literature movement. Poetry also changed vastly during this period. Ou-yang Hsiu, Colophon to Catalogue of Antiquities, was the catalyst for the new scholarly movement of epigraphy. Added to the new style of the Hu Zhou painting school led by Su Shi and Wen T’ung, Li Gonglin’s attempt to show through visual representation that a literati’s real knowledge was outside written language, in addition to the contemporary literati connoisseurship of intimate art reviews, tea ceremonies, flower arrangements, incense burners, and a devotion to the aesthetics and techniques of creating ceramics and tapestries—these were all new realms of exploration during the Northern Song. How and in what ways did these literati breathe new life into the Chinese fine arts, allowing them to blossom anew?
Through a survey of societal and cultural development of the period, there are clues to be found, and humans are of course the main players in cultural activities. Thus this thesis employs the theories of prosopography, to discuss the ways in which Northern Song literati used gatherings and friendly meetings in order to make the creation of fine art popular again, especially those literati groups centered around Ou-yang Hsiu and Su Shi. Chinese literati were able to escape the moniker of the “Emperor’s Appendages,” to grasp the power of creative choice in the development of literary culture, mixed the vastness of their own scholarly knowledge, leading to the Northern Song golden age of fine arts. Through their understanding of the fine arts and literature, and their creative ways to improve upon them, these literati have bequeathed upon today’s artists and enthusiasts the tools of innovation, to shape the literature and artistic world of the future.