Leiden
From Tang to Song: Changes in China's Civilization Process
During the Tang dynasty (618-907), the Chinese empire extended from Korea to Vietnam and deep into Central Asia, and Chinese civilization reached an apex of splendour. Though militarily far less powerful and constantly confronted with the threat of attacks from neighbouring 'barbarian' states, the Song dynasty (960-1279) also enjoys a reputation as a glorious period, stemming from its lavishly rich cultural achievements, notably in the field of philosophical thought, but also in literati paintings, ceramics, and other more tangible material creations.By Jan de Meyer, Achim Mittag & Angela Schottenhammer
Given the strong tendency in traditional Chinese historiography to focus on the period of a dynasty's rise and glory, it comes as no surprise that the second half of the Tang dynasty, i.e. the period of decline after the devastating An Lushan rebellion (756-763), and the subsequent period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907-959), was almost completely overlooked. This tendency has changed considerably in modern sinology, a move which is largely the achievement of the Japanese scholar Naitô Konan (1866-1929) the author of the much debated 'Naitô thesis' and the prominent Chinese historian Chen Yinke (1892-1965). According to the Naitô thesis, it was in the Tang-Song transitional period no less that Chinese state and society underwent radical changes, propelling China toward modernity centuries ahead of the West.
It should be borne in mind that the usage of the notion of 'modernity' has been repeatedly criticized, and it has been argued that the developments in Song and later imperial China led to the formation of a 'neo-traditional', rather than a 'modern' world order. Nonetheless, the Naitô thesis has served as a rich source of inspiration and a catalyst on which some solid research work has been based. Despite this, our knowledge of this crucial period is still insufficient and research work has hitherto lacked broader conceptual frameworks. Owing to the overwhelming influence of traditional historiography, the long-standing view of the Tang and Song dynasties as separate, monolithic entities has impeded the achievement of a deeper understanding of the transitional period, i.e. roughly from 750 to 1050. Because of its focal concern with the transformation of an aristocratic society into one dominated by a bureaucratic elite, we believe that the notion of the civilization process, borrowed from the renowned sociologist Norbert Elias (1897-1990), can help us to understand better the dynamics of Chinese culture in the three centuries under consideration.
In order to study the divergent developments and the profound changes that took place in this particular period, we propose to focus on social, religious, and intellectual practices, at what might be termed an intermediate level of analysis. This means adopting an approach which avoids the extremes of treating history as an accumulation of mere facts and a too narrowly defined Geistesgeschichte. Our chief concern is situating world views, philosophical ideas, and moral-spiritual concepts in the social, political, and economic context to which they relate. This also entails exploring how the people living in the transitional era perceived and responded to the crises and changes they experienced, what they thought about their own times in contradistinction to either previous ages or what they expected from the future.
We set great store by case studies that are based upon original source materials and open up methodologically innovative ways of dealing with those materials (private literary collections, collections of official documents, local gazetteers, private historiography, epigraphy etc.). We have decided to explore five larger topics, which should be of interest to researchers of Tang and Song history alike:
1. The loosening of the traditional order and the development of new world views: Changing patterns of cognition and literati discourse;
2. Empire building and the rise of stable institutions;
3. Religious beliefs and cults - their roles in state legitimation, commercialization, and local community life;
4. Status, social roles, career patterns: the rise of new elites and the extension of urban culture;
5. The shifting centre of gravity and the formation of new state, regional, and cultural identities.
Our main aim is to generate interest in this field, to encourage dialogue between scholars and researchers of Tang and Song history, to create a forum for discussions and communication, and to provide an impetus for long-term activities such as, e.g., the compilation of a textbook or biographical and bibliographical reference tools for the study of the Tang-Song transitional era.
As a first step, we organized a series of eight afternoon sessions during the past semester. Papers were presented by Kristofer Schipper, Franciscus Verellen, Wolfgang Behr, Angela Schottenhammer, Achim Mittag, and Jan De Meyer. A general discussion was held under the guidance of Harriet Zurndorfer, dissecting the problem of 'modernity' as a conceptualizing notion for Chinese history.
Going one step further, we presented our ideas during a round table discussion at the Conference of the European Association of Chinese Studies (EACS) in Edinburgh, September 10-13, 1998, which received considerable attention. The lively discussions that ensued not only broadened the scope of topics deemed worthy of closer scrutiny, but also encouraged us to proceed along the projected path.
In the near future, we want to concentrate our efforts on the preparation and organization of a small, focused international symposium (preferably to be held within two years), the results of which will be published in book form. To this end, we would like to invite interested scholars to contact us at one of the following addresses:
Dr Jan de Meyer, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), Nonnensteeg 1-3, P.O. Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands; tel. +31-71-5272944, e-mail: Janmeyer@let.leidenuniv.nl.
Dr Achim Mittag, Stapenhorststr.155, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany; tel./fax +49-521-109606; e-mail: jmittag@let.leidenuniv.nl.
Dr Angela Schottenhammer, Gneisenaustr.38, 20253 Hamburg, Germany; tel. +49-40-43180327, fax +49-40-4221773; e-mail: Angela.Schottenhammer@t-online.de.