Northern Song - (960 - 1125)

The new Song emperor, though a military man himself, was highly insightful in his understanding of the threat that military governors posed to a central government. He set about to retire the military leaders and replace them with civil servants. He established his government with the best graduates of the examination systema dn centralized the collection of revenue. His was an outstanding job of establishing a new civil authority while controlling the military. His capital Kaifeng (Bianjing) was the political and administrative center of the Northern Song holding a great concentration of officials, servants and courtesans. Slightly smaller than the Tang capital Chang'an it was yet 3 times the size of ancient Rome.

The industry that grew up in Kaifeng in support of the government helped to turn China into the world's most sophisticated iron and steel making country. Large depostis of coal and iron, made cheaply accessible by water transport, were used to make cast iron in coke fired blast furnaces. A decarbonizing process allowed this cast iron to be turned into steel. By 1078 North China was producing more than 114,000 tons of pig iron - more than 700 years before England would produce only half that amount.

The intellectual and cultural progress in the Northern Song was unsurpassed by any previous period. Inteelectuals were even allowed to remain seated in the imperial presence and debate rival policies with complete freedom. The rapid spread of printing allowed the development of dictionaries, encyclopedia and anthologies, further fueling the intellectual activity which would characterize China until the revolution in 1911.

Ceramic output under the Northern Song was focused on the manufacture of high quality porcelains with classic forms and purity of glaze. The Ding ware favored in this period was finely potted, high-fired white porcelain with a creamy white glaze which runs into teardrops of a brownish tinge. Vessels had finely carved decorations or more elaborate patterns impressed into the paste from pottery molds. Because vessels were fired upside-down the rims were left unglazed and were often covered with a ring of bronze or silver. Ding ware is one of the 'classic' wares of the period which include - Ru ware with a buff or yellowis-pink body covered with a bluish-grey glaze tinged with lavender; Jun ware with its more heavily potted forms and soft blue glazed produced as a result of the bursting of many bubbles in the lavender-blue glaze during firing; and Ju-yao with a fine grained pale buff body and thick glaze of greyish blue.

A final development of the Northern Song kilns that we will mention is the Cizhou ware. This was actually a way of covering a ware that was not pure white - either yellowish, grey, or buff - with a white slip and over glaze. This type of ware was not for the court but for general use.

The Northern Song reign came to an abrupt end with the incursion of the Jurchen raiders who captured the entire Northern Song court in 1125. In 1127 a young prince and the remaining court officials fled south to establish their capital temporarily at Hangzhou.

Next dynasty -> Southern Song