The following reprints Mr. Li Huarui's "Comments on the Changes of the Tang and Song Dynasties between China and Japan in the 20th Century", hoping that everyone will have a full understanding of this.

A Review of Sino-Japanese Research on "Tang and Song Transformation" in the 20th Century

Li huarui

In recent years, historians of the Tang and Song Dynasties have unanimously realized that breaking the boundaries between the Tang and Song Dynasties is an important way to improve the study of the history of the Tang and Song Dynasties. In order to get through the study of Tang and Song Dynasties, the influential theory of Tang and Song Dynasties is an unavoidable topic, which has once again attracted the attention of scholars. So there are more and more seminars and related articles on this topic, which is a very gratifying thing. The author only sorts out the previous discussions here. It is an important task of history to divide historical stages according to the basic laws of social development. The editor of Taiwan Province Province's Selected Papers on General History of China put it well: "The biggest feature of history is' change'. Studying history is to understand its changes. If it is not divided into stages, it is difficult to explain the truth of its changes. The purpose of historical staging is to help us find out the change point of history and further observe its qualitative and quantitative changes, so as to understand the characteristics of each era. " [1] From this perspective, the theory of change in Tang and Song Dynasties is essentially a stage of China's history.

The Tang and Song Dynasties were a great change in the history of China. Although many scholars realized this change from Song Dynasty to modern times, from the stage, Japanese scholar NeiTojiro was the first to be promoted (NO. Hunan, 1866- 1934), 19 10. The Tang Dynasty was the end of the Middle Ages and the Song Dynasty was the beginning of modern times. His new viewpoint is based on a new historical staging method. He said: "Because most historians in the past divided the times by dynasties, the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties and so on all became common language, but academically, it is necessary to change this division method. However, in order to facilitate discussion, the term Tang and Song is temporarily used in accordance with the ordinary historical division method, trying to comprehensively explain the changes from the Middle Ages to modern times. " [2]

Mr. Naito Hu's "academic" re-division of China's changes from the Middle Ages to modern times is influenced by the traditional European staging method, that is, the so-called "orthodox staging method of western ancient, medieval and modern history is the product of the Renaissance". However, for a long time, Japanese historians have always adhered to the "three-way division" on the division of China history, that is, it is divided into three sections: ancient, middle and modern (or ancient, middle and modern). Naito Hunan's time division of China's history is "ancient times (to the middle of the post-Han Dynasty); Middle Ages (Middle Ages, from the Sixteen Countries of Wuhu to the Middle Tang Dynasty); Modern times (early stage: Song and Yuan Dynasties; Later: Ming and Qing Dynasties). Later, on the basis of inheriting Naito's view of Hunan, Miyazaki Hayao further pointed out that the dichotomy of ancient times, middle ages and modern times is also applicable to oriental history, that is, reinterpreting the concept of "modern times" from the perspective of world history, and holding that China's modern Renaissance was after the Song Dynasty. After World War II, Japanese historians have made new changes and reflections on the study of China history, especially the Marxist view of history has been applied to the study of China history by Japanese historians. " Due to the rise of Marxist historical view, the so-called basic laws of world history, in which China's history has been incorporated into the universal development of world history, are applicable to China's history, and the study of Song history is no exception "[3]. Specifically, in The Theory of Changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties, it shows that in the process of demonstrating social changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties, the status of social and economic history has been enhanced, that is, in order to demonstrate that China's history has developed as well as the western world, feudalism is in a key position by visual inspection.

China scholars' division of the Song Dynasty in the history of China is quite different from that of Japanese scholars, and China scholars' division of the history of China is also varied, but there are two great influences.

(1) It was Mr. Lei Haizong who divided the history of China into two weeks: "The first week, from the beginning to the Battle of Feishui in 383, was roughly the period when the Chinese nation created culture, and foreign blood and culture did not play an important role. China in the first week can be called classical China. The second week, from 383 to now, is a period of repeated invasions by Hu ethnic groups in the north, and Indian Buddhism has deeply influenced China culture. Great changes have taken place in bloodline and culture. China in the second week is no longer the classical China of the Chinese nation, but a new China with Hu and Han mixed with Brahma, a comprehensive China. Although it can be said that China's personality has not been lost in terms of national origin or cultural consciousness, foreign elements occupy a very important position. " [4] Obviously. Mr. Lei Haizong used the viewpoint of cultural history to divide the historical development stages of China, trying to break the traditional European staging method. In Mr. Lei's view, the Tang and Song Dynasties were in the second week, and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties and Five Dynasties (383-959 AD) were a great turning point, an era of synthesis and creation, and the 300 years of the Song Dynasty was an era of consolidation and liquidation.

(2) The history of China is divided by Stalin's theory of five social forms. From 1950s to early 1980s, historical staging was a hot topic in China historians, but most of them focused on the beginning of feudal society in China, resulting in more than a dozen opinions, among which three were the most representative: feudalism in the Western Zhou Dynasty, feudalism in the Warring States Period and feudalism in Wei and Jin Dynasties. Although there are many standards and methods to divide the internal stages of feudal society in China, the Tang and Song Dynasties were an era when feudal society changed from the early stage to the late stage, which is recognized by most scholars and textbooks. Tang and Song Dynasties are two important dynasties in China feudal society, and their social nature has not changed fundamentally. However, if we look at the whole process of China's feudal social history, we will find that some important and significant changes did take place from the mid-Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty. In addition, there are different views on the late start of feudal society, that is, the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, the Anshi Rebellion, the promulgation of the two tax laws, the peasant war in the late Tang Dynasty and the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty. [5]

Therefore, China scholars and Japanese scholars have something in common about the great changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties, but they are quite different in the social nature of the changes. 1. Japanese scholars' "Modern Song Theory" and "Middle Song Theory"

Naito Hunan believes that the transformation of Tang and Song Dynasties or the transition from the Middle Ages to modern times should be based on the premise of "the decline of aristocratic politics and the rise of dictatorship", and the transition from aristocratic politics to monarchical dictatorship is a natural order that any country can see and a common phenomenon in world history. During the Tang and Song Dynasties in China, "the decline of nobles made the monarch's position close to the people. Anyone who wants to hold a higher professional position cannot rely on hereditary privileges, but is determined and appointed by the power of the emperor. " Although in the Middle Ages, the monarch lived in the position of representing the nobility, but in the decline of the modern aristocracy, the monarch was no longer the private property of the aristocratic group, but directly faced his subjects, which was their public property. "At the same time, the status of the people is also remarkable. Originally, China was not a country ruled by law and did not recognize people's rights. However, since modern times, people's status and private property rights are very different from those in the aristocratic political era. In the aristocratic era, people regarded them as slaves in the eyes of the whole aristocracy. Since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the people have been liberated from the nobility "; "Although China did not recognize the people's participation in political power at all, after the elimination of the aristocratic class, the monarch and the people directly opposed each other, which was also after entering modern politics." Specifically, "the tenancy system in the Tang Dynasty was that people paid official rent, forced labor and provided production results. Since the middle of the Tang Dynasty, this system has naturally collapsed and changed to a two-tax system, and the people have been freed from the system that is bound to land. " "By Wang Anshi's new law in the Song Dynasty, people's meaning of land ownership was more certain"; On the other hand, middle-level officials between the monarch and the people have also been elected, and officials have changed from cooperating with the common people during the autocratic monarchy to allowing equal opportunities. The nature of cronies has also changed. "In the Tang Dynasty, the cronies were mainly nobles, specializing in power struggle, while in the Song Dynasty, the cronies clearly reflected the political differences at that time"; The economy has also undergone significant changes. The turn of the Tang and Song Dynasties marked the end of the real economy and the beginning of the monetary economy. The nature of academic literature and art has also changed obviously. The study of Confucian classics has changed from attaching importance to learning methods without breaking notes to suspecting the ancient and interpreting Confucian classics. Literature has developed from focusing on the form of CET-4 and CET-6 to the prose style of free expression, and poetry, words and songs have also developed from focusing on the form to exerting themselves. In short, aristocratic literature has become popular literature, and music and art have also become popular literature.

Miyazaki Hayao decided to develop Naito's Hunan theory, join the study of social and economic history, and further enrich the modern theory of the Song Dynasty. His new contribution is mainly manifested in four points. (1) Some serfs in the aristocratic manor were liberated, and a new society based on the principle of freedom and equality emerged. (2) In the past, the exclusive political privileges of nobles were not recognized, and the acquisition of official positions was open to the whole people through the imperial examination system. (3) As the aristocratic system was overthrown, a new capitalist trend of thought took place, and the chaebol and the landlord class replaced the old aristocracy, resulting in the tendency that the right to education and the right to participate in politics were monopolized by them. (4) Since the tenant farmers have become independent freemen, they have the freedom to transfer after completing the obligations of the land rent contract, and are not bound by the landlord's personality. Landlords use the weakness of tenant farmers to carry out cruel oppression, which is not a legal right, but the arrogance of capitalism. Therefore, he denied the facts of land slavery, arbitrary oppression by landlords and subordinate status of tenants. At the same time, he believes that after the Song Dynasty, the individual's ownership of the land was determined, and the sale of the land was the transfer of ownership and the performance of respecting the contract. These are the characteristics of the development of modern society. [7]

"According to the survey of Miyazaki City, when the Song and Yuan Dynasties in China were regarded as modern society, the modern society in China was considered to have the same characteristics as the modern society in West Asia, South Asia or Europe; In short, it can be said that the social structure has changed from the rural era to the urban era, and the cultural form has changed from the religious era to the learning era. ..... If we position the history of the Song and Yuan Dynasties from the standpoint of China history, we can first define it as the period when the original agricultural areas in China moved towards unification from the split era of the Five Dynasties in the Song Dynasty, so as to realize the great unification including nomadic hunting areas, which was completed by the Yuan Dynasty. If it is repeated, this period is the formation period of China's modern society advocated by Miyazaki City, which is parallel to Renaissance Europe and Islamic West Asia. " [8].

Contrary to the modern theory of the Song Dynasty, it is the medieval theory of the Song Dynasty. The representatives of this statement are Sheng, Shi, Zheng, Ikeda Seiji, Hollming Yi, Yanagida Jiezi and others.

According to Kato's theory of big land ownership, that is, "the big land before the middle Tang Dynasty was cultivated by slaves, and the land was used by tenant farmers after the destruction of the land equalization system", Naoko Maeda raised the banner of criticizing Naito's history for the first time after World War II and put forward the theory that the end of the "ancient" society in the late Tang Dynasty was characterized by slavery. This theory does not advocate "Medieval Theory in Song Dynasty", but it is the first one. Later, the core view of the Medieval Theory in the Song Dynasty was: (1) The big land before the Middle Tang Dynasty was the slave land of ancient Rome, and the manor system formed after the Middle Tang Dynasty was subordinate to the tenant system, that is, the landlords in China were under the strict rule of the patriarchal system because the means of production were borrowed, so with the strengthening of the parasitism of the landlords, the slave nature of the tenant farmers was also tenacious, which was the so-called farming-tenancy system relationship without freedom of migration in ancient Rome. (2) The feudal system in China in the Middle Ages was serfdom, which was regarded as the relationship between landlords and tenants, which determined that the transformation in the Tang and Song Dynasties was from the slave society in the Tang Dynasty (the big land owned by the big family whose handmaiden was the direct producer) to the serfdom society in the Song Dynasty (the big land owned by the new bureaucratic class whose tenant was the direct producer). (3) The landlord system in the Song Dynasty was feudal, that is, a self-sufficient economy, which operated independently with production tools other than land, and there was external coercion. Therefore, the Song Dynasty was still a feudal society, and the reform in the Tang and Song Dynasties was a reorganization of the feudal system. (4) After the middle Tang Dynasty, the two tax laws put the subject and the fifth class households in a political vassal relationship, realized the de facto ownership of private land and collected land rent. The peasants who assumed the core position of productivity development level in Song Dynasty were middle class. They are typical. The main production class is understood as a typical state serf, so the reform in Tang and Song Dynasties was a transformation from state slavery to state serfdom.

The theory of the Middle Ages in Song Dynasty is mainly based on the theories of Kato Fanfan and Zhou Fujiyi. Although the arguments are different, there are two similarities: (1) The end of the Tang Dynasty was the end of "ancient" (slave society); (2) From the Song Dynasty, it entered the feudal system (serfdom). [9]

2. China scholars' basic views on the changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties.

Mr. Chen Yinque pointed out in the article "On Han Yu": "The history of the Tang Dynasty can be divided into two periods: the early period ended the old situation in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the later period opened a new situation in Zhao and Song Dynasties. This is true for political, social and economic people, and so is it for cultural scholars. Retirees are also figures in the cultural and academic history of the Tang Dynasty. " [ 10]

Mr. Qian Mu said: "On the changes of China's ancient and modern society, the most important thing was in the Song Dynasty. Before the Song Dynasty, it was generally called ancient China, and after the Song Dynasty, it was a descendant of China. Qin used to be a feudal aristocratic society. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, the gentry rose. Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, with Sui and Tang Dynasties as the background, all belonged to a family society, which can be said to be an ancient aristocratic society in disguise. Below the Song Dynasty, it was a pure civilian society. Except for the Mongolian Manchu, which is a privileged class, all those who rose to the upper political level were uprooted by the white scholars, and there were no traces of ancient feudal nobles and family traditions. Therefore, as far as the Song Dynasty is concerned, political, economic and social life have changed compared with the previous generation. " [ 1 1]

In Tang Wenhua and Song Wenhua, Fu Lecheng discussed the differences between the academic culture of Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty: "Generally speaking, the culture of Tang Dynasty is mainly based on accepting foreign cultures, and its cultural spirit and motivation are complex and enterprising." "The culture of Tang Dynasty is inherited from Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. The culture of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties had a direct impact on the culture of the Tang Dynasty, which was nothing more than three important factors: Lao Zi's thought, Buddhism and Hu Ren's custom. Among them, the latter two factors were handed down from abroad and formed after hundreds of years of communication. These three cultural factors were dominated by the two after the inheritance in the Tang Dynasty, and the latter two were the mainstream of culture for most of the time in the Tang Dynasty, resulting in the extraordinary characteristics of Tang Wenhua. As for the Confucianism of China's traditional culture, it gradually declined from the Wei and Jin Dynasties, that is, it was suppressed by these three cultural factors, and it remained so in the Tang Dynasty. It was not until the late Tang dynasty that Confucianism began to revive. ""It didn't have much effect at that time. By the Song Dynasty, the mainstream of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and other schools of thought had merged and gradually became a unified bureau, so the Neo-Confucianism of national culture came into being, and its cultural spirit and dynamics also turned to simplicity and convergence. During the Southern Song Dynasty, orthodoxy was established, the national-based culture became stronger and stronger, and the prejudice against foreign cultures deepened. The foreign exchange in Song Dynasty was very developed, but its academic fields did not break away from the category of China-based culture. The absorption of foreign culture has almost stagnated. This is the most remarkable phenomenon after the establishment of China-based culture, and it is also the biggest difference between Song-type culture and Tang-type culture. " [ 12]

Although the above-mentioned predecessors did not divide the social changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties from the perspective of historical stages, they keenly observed the remarkable social changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties from different angles. In the second half of the 20th century, when discussing the development and changes of feudal society, Chinese mainland scholars also talked about the great social changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties to varying degrees.

Mr. Hou Wailu used historical materialism to discuss the internal stage of feudal society earlier. In his article "The Development of Feudal Society in China and Its Characteristics of Transition from the Early Stage to the Late Stage", he clearly pointed out that "the Tang Dynasty is in the process of transition from the early stage to the late stage with Jianzhong Tax Law as the turning point and Huang Chao Uprising as the hub." [ 13]

Mr. Hu Rulei believes that the programmatic slogan of peasant uprising has changed significantly since the Northern Song Dynasty. Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun Uprising clearly put forward the slogan of "equal wealth" for the first time. The uprising of Zhong Xiang and Yang Yao in the Southern Song Dynasty was followed by the slogan of "equal wealth and equal dignity". In the peasant war in the late Ming Dynasty, Li Baicheng developed the traditional "equal wealth" into "equal land and grain distribution", which initiated the "heaven and earth system" in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the Qing Dynasty. These slogans show that, although most peasant uprisings still hit the feudal dynasty, and some large-scale peasant wars have achieved the result of changing the dynasty, as the characteristics of the times, these programmatic slogans have clearly written the opposition to the landlord economy and the landlord land ownership itself on the banner of struggle, showing the new characteristics of peasant uprisings and peasant wars in the late feudal society of China. This feature is that, first of all, Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun Uprising at the end of the 10th century A.D. clearly put forward the programmatic slogan of "equal wealth" for the first time, which reflected the social changes of more than two centuries and the changes in the social status of the peasant class. Secondly, although there were customers in the Tang Dynasty, the Hutu family was different from the main family in the Song Dynasty. After the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty, the subject-object system was formally established, reflecting the changes in the land system and the status of tenant farmers. Therefore, the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty is not a general change, but a turning point in the historical era, which has special social significance. [ 14]

Mr. Qi Xia believes that the social change in the Tang and Song Dynasties is a complex issue, which needs to be discussed from many aspects. He pointed out that "although the change in this period is the internal evolution of China's feudal economic system, it is an overall and important issue of the transition from serfdom in Tang Dynasty to feudal tenancy in Song Dynasty, which is worthy of objective attention". He further demonstrated from many aspects: (1) Since the mid-Tang Dynasty, various forms of land ownership in feudal countries have declined, and in the Song Dynasty, private ownership of land occupied an absolute dominant position. ⑵ While private ownership of land has an overwhelming advantage, all kinds of land ownership have also undergone major changes, thus forming a new land ownership pattern. One of the new patterns of land possession is that the emerging land annexation forces have replaced the old land annexation forces represented by Shandong gentry and gradually climbed to the peak of society. (3) Feudal tenancy system replaced serfdom and gradually occupied a dominant position. (4) Two tax laws have replaced the tenancy system and become the main tax laws. The transformation of economic relations has promoted economic development. Changes in the economic field have had a great impact on the fields of culture and thought. Due to the decline of Shandong gentry and the rites they represented, the atmosphere of social repression has dissipated for hundreds of years, and people's thoughts and the thoughts of the emerging landlord class have been liberated to a corresponding extent, which is completely conducive to the formation of a new generation and its new ideas and new style of study. After all. The changes in the economic field have brought a better social environment for the development of culture and ideology, which deserves serious study and clarification. [ 15]

Mr. Wang Zengqi said: "From the Middle Tang Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were two basic changes in class relations. First, it relaxes the personal attachment of farmers to landlords and narrows the identity difference between farmers and landlords; Second, the employment system has gradually developed. " [16] When commenting on Wang's Class Structure in Song Dynasty, Mr. Zhang said: "The author does not necessarily belong to the reformists in Tang and Song Dynasties, but many conclusions made in the book based on a large number of historical facts have just played a role in discussing the changes in Tang and Song Dynasties. In terms of changes within the landlord class, the author discusses three historical phenomena: customers and situational households formally become legal household names and the emergence of non-bureaucratic landlords' legal household names; In the aspect of non-subject class, it focuses on the two historical processes of the formation of Fangguohu and the disappearance of some legal untouchables, which shows the change of class status and its progressive significance in the Tang and Song Dynasties. " [ 17]

Mr. Zhu Ruixi pointed out that since the mid-Tang Dynasty, the feudal society in China has entered a new period of development, which we call the mid-China feudal society. After five dynasties and ten countries, it was about 800 years before capitalism sprouted until the end of the Ming Dynasty. From the Middle Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, social changes took on a new look different from the past. The new features of society in the Song Dynasty are manifested in all aspects of society. First, the development of material production and the change of class relations. On this basis, a new system of land possession and tenancy emerged, forming a new social and economic structure. Secondly, based on the new social and economic structure, the whole superstructure, including political, military, educational, legal and other systems, as well as philosophy, religion, literature, art, academic and other ideas and customs, has undergone corresponding changes. Third, in the new historical environment, the people carry out class struggle with different revolutionary goals and methods. These factors are interrelated, restricted and influenced each other, which constitute a vivid picture of the social outlook of the Song Dynasty. [ 18]

From the perspective of marriage, Mr. Zhang's evolution from "pedigree of family marriage" to "don't ask, don't read" provides evidence for the "reform theory in Tang and Song Dynasties". He believes that epoch-making changes have indeed taken place in the Tang and Song Dynasties. Besides the reform of the marriage system, he can also cite many examples. For example, in the imperial examination, "taking scholars regardless of family background", in education, "learning extensively", in social communication, "making friends is not limited", in academic research, from sinology to Song studies, from elegance to vulgarity in literature, from calligraphy of inscriptions to calligraphy of posts, from religious paintings and political paintings to landscape paintings and flower-and-bird paintings, and so on. Although these changes with a sense of the times are varied, their basic spirit is so strikingly similar and consistent. They all changed with the change of economic structure after the disintegration of the "land system" economy and the change of hierarchical structure after the collapse of the gate politics, which influenced and restricted each other and harmoniously formed a colorful picture of social life in the Song Dynasty. All these show that the Song Dynasty is a historical period different from Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties and even the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, he also believes that the nature of this change undoubtedly belongs to the changes within the feudal society. The social changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties marked that the Song Dynasty entered a new stage of the further development of the feudal society in China. [ 19]

The above is only part of the conclusion of China scholars' discussion on social changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties, but it is enough to see the whole picture. If we compare the expressions of Chinese and Japanese scholars on the content of the concept of change in the Tang and Song Dynasties, we can find the following characteristics:

1. After the Second World War, Chinese and Japanese scholars' expositions on the changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties were influenced to varying degrees by the Marxist view of history. Although Chinese and Japanese scholars have different understandings of whether feudal society is a landlord system or a landlord system, they all discussed the changes in basic social relations, social class identity and land ownership between landlords and farmers, and between countries and farmers.

2. Japanese historians have different views on the changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties, that is, the Tokyo School does not agree with the Kyoto School's theory on modernization in the Song Dynasty. The changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties in the first half of 1950s can be summarized as "the establishment of serfdom in the Middle Ages", "the transitional period" (Ishida), "the establishment of a free society" (Miyazaki) and "the rectification of feudal system" (Ikeda). [20] Chinese scholars regard the changes that took place in the Tang and Song Dynasties as the signpost of the changes in the early and late feudal society, which is basically the same, but there are still some different opinions on the starting boundary of the late feudal society. On the point that the Song Dynasty belonged to a feudal society, Japanese Tokyo School and China scholars held similar views.

3. As far as the social nature is concerned, the modern theory of Japanese Song Dynasty scholars is quite different from that of China Song Dynasty scholars on Feng Jianzhong's later period, but their high evaluation of social development in Song Dynasty is no different. Mr. Miyazaki Hayao said, "At first, China's civilization fell far behind in Bisleyat, but later this situation gradually reversed. In the Song Dynasty, it surpassed West Asia and ranked in the forefront of the world "[2 1]," The living environment of people in the Song Dynasty drew a dividing line with that of China before, but it was very close to our modern times "[22]. This can be regarded as a representative evaluation of the changes in Tang and Song Dynasties by Japanese modern theory in Song Dynasty. China scholars also spoke highly of the changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties, such as the famous "two saddles" put forward by Mr. Qi Xia: Generally speaking, the development of social production in the feudal era of China experienced a process of two saddles. After entering the feudal system at the turn of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the social productive forces basically got rid of the bondage of slavery, thus achieving remarkable development and reaching the first place in the Qin and Han Dynasties. After Wei and Jin Dynasties, the social productivity was low, and it recovered in Sui and Tang Dynasties, forming the first saddle shape. On the basis of the economic development in the Tang Dynasty, the social productive forces in the Song Dynasty developed rapidly at an unprecedented speed, thus reaching a higher peak. The output of Yuan Dynasty fell sharply, and it was not until the middle of Ming Dynasty that it recovered to the development level of Song Dynasty, thus forming the second saddle shape. These two saddles form the basis. Mainly through the development of iron smelting technology and tools, the growth of population, the expansion of cultivated land area and the increase of output per unit area. [23]

Mr. Deng Guangming pointed out: "The development of culture in the Song Dynasty reached its peak in the historical period of feudal society in China until the spread of western learning to the east during the Ming and Qing Dynasties." [24]

4. Japanese scholars' theory of modernization in Song Dynasty is based on the scope of world history, and holds that China's Song and Yuan Dynasties were synchronized with the modernization process in West Asia, South Asia, East Asia and Europe, or an indispensable link in the world modernization chain. However, the discussions of China scholars, especially mainland scholars, since 1950s, although compared with the history of the transition from feudal society to capitalism in Western Europe, emphasized the uniqueness of China, and showed a tendency to study China behind closed doors in China. Therefore, China scholars' views on the changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties did not have much repercussions around the world, while Japanese scholars' views on the changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties did have great repercussions. For example, French sinologist Etienne Balazs (1905- 1963) thinks that the characteristics of feudal society in China have matured in the Song Dynasty, while the new factors before modern China have been significantly presented in the Song Dynasty. Therefore, Etienne Balazs further believes that studying the history of the Song Dynasty will help to solve a series of major problems in the early modern China.

After Etienne Balazs, the famous sinologist Xie Henai's Social History of China called the Song Dynasty the Renaissance in China. He said: "During the11-13rd century, there was no place in the political, social and life fields that did not show profound changes compared with the previous era. This refers not only to the change of a social phenomenon (population growth, comprehensive and rapid development of production, development of internal and external communication ...), but also to a qualitative change. Political customs, society, class relations, military strength, urban-rural relations, and economic forms are completely different from those of the Tang dynasty nobles and the empire still in the middle ages. A new society was born, and its basic characteristics can be said to be a clue to the characteristics of modern China. " [25]

American Song historians have long tended to believe that the history of China changed from the Middle Ages to the modern times in the Tang and Song Dynasties. In the past twenty years, although there have been new changes in the research direction of Tang and Song Dynasties, American academic circles have gradually formed a more comprehensive new explanation. Its main features are as follows: First, it is no longer assumed that the reform in Tang and Song Dynasties was a turning point for China to move towards modern Europe; Second, more and more attention is paid to the historical influence of ideological and cultural changes, but it is self-evident that American academic circles are influenced by the reform theory of Tang and Song Dynasties. [26] Especially in European and American academic circles, the theory of "economic revolution in the Song Dynasty" can be said to have pushed the influence of the theory of reform in the Tang and Song Dynasties to the extreme to a considerable extent. The economic revolution in Song Dynasty generally refers to the major changes in agricultural revolution, water transport revolution, monetary credit revolution, scientific and technological revolution, printing revolution, traffic revolution, commercial revolution, market structure and urbanization.

5. It was previously revealed that the Tokyo School of Japanese academic circles did not agree that the changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties meant that the Song Dynasty entered a modern development stage, but advocated the transition from ancient times to the Middle Ages. That is to say, although the Tokyo School and the Kyoto School have different understandings of the social nature of the changes during the Tang and Song Dynasties, they all agree that great social changes took place during the Tang and Song Dynasties, but they achieved the same goal through different routes. While China scholars not only think that the changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties belong to the internal transfer of feudal society, but also some scholars hold a relatively low-key view: "This kind of changes should not be exaggerated, and there is no absolutely insurmountable gap between the two periods" [27]. Mr. Guan Lvquan believes that Naito and Miyazaki Hayao's theory of modernity in the Song Dynasty, Qian Mu's theory of "the civil society began in the Song Dynasty" and balaz's statement that "the Song Dynasty was earlier than the West at the dawn of modern times" all overestimated the historical position of the Song Dynasty. [28] Mr. Wang Zengqi believes that "from the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many changes have taken place in society. For example, from the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, Japanese scholars called it the transition period of the Tang and Song Dynasties. They put forward various opinions around this proposition. Indeed, people can compare the Tang and Song Dynasties, from class status to political system, military system, culture and so on, and list many historical facts of change. However, compared with the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it can only be regarded as a period of small change at most. " [29] According to the above brief description, I put forward two immature views:

First, in the 20th century, Chinese and Japanese scholars paid attention to and discussed the great social changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties from different angles, and put forward many valuable opinions and arguments. Of course, it is an indisputable fact that Japanese scholars discuss the social changes in Tang and Song Dynasties from the perspective of world history, which has produced great international repercussions, while China scholars are limited to discussing the theory of social development mechanism in China. However, this does not mean that China scholars have not paid enough attention to it or said that they have not studied it. In fact, there are quite a lot of research results. Therefore, when discussing the changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties in the future, we should pay full attention to and make use of China.

Second, how to correctly evaluate the historical role and significance of social changes in Tang and Song Dynasties is still a problem worthy of attention today. Whether we agree with the theory of modernity in the Song Dynasty or criticize the so-called "economic revolution in the Song Dynasty", we should probably grasp a "degree" in future discussions, avoid overestimation or generalized evaluation, and conduct in-depth and detailed discussions on various practical issues such as systems and social phenomena, so as to be close to the real face of the changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties.