Women in Northern Song Urban Society: A Cognitive Interpretation of Along the River During the Qingming Festival and Dongjing Meng Hua Lu

Abstract

     Historically, women’s roles in Chinese society have often been interpreted through a patriarchal framework centred on the household sphere. In other words, women were generally confined to domestic spaces and primarily associated with caregiving responsibilities. However, evidence from the Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127 CE) reflects a more complex social structure in which women’s roles increasingly expanded into urban public spaces.

     This article aims to analyse the roles of women in urban society through a cognitive approach by integrating evidence from two important primary sources: the painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival (清明上河图) by Zhang Zeduan, a handscroll depicting the everyday lives of people in the capital city of Kaifeng, together with the primary historical text Dongjing Meng Hua Lu《东京梦华录》by Meng Yuanlao, which describes the lifestyles and urban culture of the Northern Song capital. The study analyses the data within the frameworks of gender theory and image schema theory in cognitive linguistics to investigate the cognitive processes underlying perceptions of women’s roles in urban spaces, as represented in Chinese painting.

     The findings indicate that women's roles can be categorised into three groups: domestic caretakers, service labourers, and elite women. These groups reflect three spatial image schemas. The Container Schema reflects limitations on women’s spatial presence. The Balance Schema reflects the relationship between public and private spaces. The Boundary Schema reflects how women crossed social and spatial boundaries associated with their social roles and status.

     The presence of women in the painting functions as a form of symbolic communication that reflects power relations, as well as the economic and cultural dynamics of urban society during the Northern Song Dynasty. This study further contributes to a deeper and more systematic understanding of how women’s roles in urban society were embedded within the “cognitive structures” of Northern Song society.