Some Deeper Structures in Song Dynasty Governance

This lecture explores the deeper structures of Song dynasty governance and posits an alternative to the conception of the Song as a period of “Confucian rule.” In attempting to identify “deeper structures,” this lecture looks beyond the formal institutional organization of Song government and seeks to reveal patterns of political action and social interaction that transcend this more visible, formal organization. This lecture conceptualizes a broader Song “political culture” that embraced two contrasting conceptions and modalities of governance – one based on Confucian political theory and advocated by a small group of elite literati officials, the other a more broad-based technocratic governance practiced by a diverse assortment of non-literati actors, whose higher echelons were based within the Song monarchy, such as senior military-grade officials, affinal kinsmen, eunuchs, and female bureaucrats. The lecture will suggest that this broader conception of Song governance as a product of interaction and tension between these two modalities clarifies much Song political history that the single-focus conception of “Confucian rule” has left murky.