| Abstract |
Throughout the years, Song Dynasty’s ‘weak force’ has long been discussed by scholars. When researchers attempted to answer this phenomenon, they usually attributed it to Song Dynasty’s ‘Zhongwen Qingwu’ policy. As time goes by, the thesis of Song Dynasty’s ‘Zhongwen Qingwu’ was seemingly raised as a paradigm which could interpret Song Dynasty’s civil-military relations. In this article, I strive to analyze how the thesis was developed, and address some questions to this thesis in following themes: Have most historians come to a consensus about the thesis? Did the civil-military relations always remain static in Song Dynasty? Whether Song literati generally despised military people and affairs? Actually, it is true that some Song people emphasized literati/civil affairs, and disdained military people/affairs; however, the phenomenon did not only exist in Song Dynasty. For example, similar situation appeared in Tang Dynasty too. In addition, the term of ‘Zhongwen Qingwu’ is still controversial and actively-debated. When discussing related issues of Song Dynasty, we had better not to consider the thesis as a prerequisite, so that we would be capable of avoiding some falsehoods which the thesis brings about. |
