text:
CnNSong - Seshat Data Browser
CnNSong
Revision as of 18:39, 13 December 2021 by Admin (talk | contribs) (1 revision imported)
♠ RA ♣ Edward A L Turner; Jill Levine ♥
♠ Original name ♣ Northern Song ♥
♠ Alternative names ♣ Sung ♥
♠ Peak Date ♣ 1050 CE ♥
"Eleventh-century China was one of the high points of Chinese and world culture in almost every human endeavor, whether artistic, intellectual, or technological, and this grand century of achievement was founded on the long peace that the Chanyuan Covenant created."[1]
11th Century China has been compared to the Renaissance in Europe.[2]
Before 1060s CE
Factional conflict in the central government bureaucracy began in the 1060s CE.[3]
990-1010 CE
"Between the last decade of the tenth century and the first decade of the eleventh, annual revenues of the Sung government doubled, and its yearly budgets moved from deficit to surplus financing."[4]
After 960 CE the Song state "would take some 45 years to reach territorial stability and peaceful relations with its close neighbours."[5]
960-979 CE "two-decade-long expansion"
979-1005 CE conflict/relations with the Khitans
1005 CE Chanyaun Covenant. "Few peace treaties in world history have ever been so successful, creating 120 years of peace, yet so disliked by at least one of the signatories, the Song."[6]
"T'ai-tsu and T'ai-tsung bequeathed to their successors a prosperous empire in which taxes were light and the government treasuries full." [7]
Under Chen-tsung "the austerity of the earlier emperors went out of fashion." [8]
After Wang An-shih's financial reform program "the government's yearly revenues increase spectacularly, providing far more than was needed to meet expenditure, but the financing of local administration was also put on a sounder basis than at any time since the beginning of the dynasty."[9]
♠ Duration ♣ 960-1127 CE ♥
Northern Song 960-1127 CE.[10]
State with central government bureaucracy.[11]
♠ Supra-polity relations ♣ none ♥
♠ preceding (quasi)polity ♣ China - Five Dynasties Period ♥
♠ relationship to preceding (quasi)polity ♣ cultural assimilation ♥
♠ succeeding (quasi)polity ♣ Later Jin ♥
♠ Supracultural entity ♣ China ♥
♠ scale of supra-cultural interaction ♣ [2,000,000-3,000,000] ♥ km squared.
♠ Capital ♣ Kaifeng ♥ Capital at K'aifeng. [12]
♠ Language ♣ Chinese ♥
The Northern Song (or Sung) Dynasty was a period of great economic advancement, population growth, urbanization, and political change in China.[13] Eleventh-century China under the Song has been called the 'most advanced place in the world' at that time.[14] The Northern Song government ruled from its capital in Kaifeng, while the Southern Song were based in Hangzhou.
The century between the fall of the Tang dynasty and beginning of the Song dynasty was characterized by the rise of powerful warlords in the south and political turmoil in the north.[15] The first Song emperor, Emperor Taizu, reunified the Yangtze River Valley and South China.[16] The territory held by the Song was smaller than that held by previous powerful dynasties, and much of North China was still dominated by outside rule.[17]
The Song government was marked by the increasing importance of the civil service examination and the rise of Confucianism.[18] The prominence of the civil service examination led to the emergence of a central government governed by scholar-officials rather than by aristocrats, as was traditionally the case. The government was headed by a powerful emperor and featured a large central bureaucracy.[19]
The Song period saw rapid commercial and industrial expansion.[20] Agriculture, paper-making, printing, and iron-working flourished,[21][22] and paper money was first produced in China under the Song.[23] Foreign trade increased as the state expanded its trading networks.[24]
Although it is clear that the Song Dynasty was a period of massive population growth and urbanization,[25] there is some disagreement about exact population numbers. Some scholars agree that the population had reached around 100 million by 1000 CE,[26][27] while others believe it was closer to 60 million.[28]
♠ RA ♣Edward A L Turner ♥
♠ Polity territory ♣ [3,033,000-2,900,000]: 1000 CE; [2,367,000-2,233,000]: 1100 CE ♥ in squared kilometers. Contains interpolated data. 800,000: 960 CE; 550,000: 970 CE; 3,100,000: 980 CE; [3,033,000-2,900,000]: 1000 CE; [2,900,000-2,767,000]: 1020 CE; [2,767,000-2,633,000]: 1040 CE; [2,633,000-2,500,000]: 1060 CE; [2,500,000-2,367,000]: 1080 CE; [2,367,000-2,233,000]: 1100 CE; [2,233,000-2,100,000]: 1120 CE; 2,100,000: 1127 CE (in squared kilometers) [29]
♠ Polity Population ♣ [60,000,000-100,000,000] ♥ People.
Hartman provides a general population estimate of 60 million, whilst Mote estimates 100 million by 1100 CE. Analysis by Lui suggests a figure between these numbers.
No date estimates
60 million. "a general population of 60 million people." [30]
140 million [31]
100 million by 1100 CE.[32]
14,245,000 households in 1077 CE [33] -- 85,000,000 million if six per household? "The population of Song China in 1077 was over 80 million"[34]
"The aggregate households registered by the government increased from 6,418,500 in 980 to 16,402,631 in 1078 CE. -- 38,000,000: 980 CE* and 98,000,000: 1078 CE million if six per household? [35]
In 980 CE there was a jump in territory held to 3.1 million km2 up from about 0.5m km2 a decade earlier.
♠ Population of the largest settlement ♣ 500,000: 1000 CE; 1,000,000: 1100 CE ♥ Inhabitants. Kaifeng.
Estimated population 500,000: 1021 CE. [36]
According to study by Gilbert Rozman Kaifeng was in the 1 million range.[37]
K'ai-feng "reached over 1 million (about 1 per cent of the Song population)."[38] - when? 1100 CE?
Kaifeng had "more than one million betwee the years 1102-1106 AD."[39]
1. Capital: Kaifeng
2. Prefectural Capital: Luoyang, Beijing, Nanjing: Prefectural capitals had urban populations between 20,000-100,000.[40]
3. Large City
4. City
5. Market Town[41]
6. Village
There was a more complex hierarchy for taxation purposes (1077).[42]
Level / commercial taxes / # "large cities"
Level I: 100,000-400,000 strings. (1)
Level II: 50,000-100,000 strings. (7)
Level III: 30,000-50,000 strings. (20)
Level IV: 20,000-30,000 strings. (26)
Level V: 10,000-20,000 strings. (73)
"Only 44 out of 1,132 county seats (less than 4 per cent) were able to contribute 10,000 strings or more."[43]
Kaifeng as the political center: "Studies of Chinese urban history have pointed to a revolutionary change in urban settlement after the Rebellion. The change was conditioned by the rise of long-distance trade between the north and the south and the increase in rural markets across the country. Kaifeng is a well-known case. It was the first city in Chinese history to be chosen as the political centre because it was a hub of transport and trade."[44]
According to population study by Gilbert Rozman Kaifeng was in the 1 million range. 30 cities had 40,000-100,000, 60 cities roughly 15,000, possibly 400 towns had 4,000-5,000 people.[45]
♠ Administrative levels ♣ [7-8] ♥ levels.
1. Emperor
"He assumed 'dictatorial' powers because only the sovereign, through the examination system, now controlled access to office. This new centralized bureaucracy of Sung was more beholden to the throne and so supported imperial power in a different manner and on a greater scale than had its medieval forebears."[46]
"Huang-ti and T'ien-tzu (Son of Heaven) were the most usual titles on the formal seals of Sung emperors."[47]
2. Palace Domestic Service
"Like other major Sung institutions, the Palace Domestic Service dates from the reign of Chen-tsung. Organized in 1022 into six ministries with a plethora of subdivisions, it contained a total of 282 billeted positions. These six ministries were General Affairs, Ceremonies, Wardrobe, Food Service, Housekeeping, and Workshop Service."[48]
"In 1113, Emperor Hui-tsung, as a continuation of the Yuan-feng reforms of 1082, reorganized the Palace Domestic Service to mirror the organization of external government. The traditional six inner ministries of 1022 were reorganized into six divisions that corresponded to the external Six Ministries of the Department of State Affairs, and the top supervisory positions were recast as "inner councilors" (nei-tsai). As justification for this move, Hui-tsung's edict declared that this new structure would facilitate "the disposition of matters submitted to the throne from the external Six Ministries." This phrasing raises the interesting question whether, in addition to processing their own internal paperwork, the women also processed external documents coming to and from the emperor. There are tantalizing indications that this was probably the case."[49]
"Tenth-century Sung government was a hopeless patchwork of late T'ang administrative structure and ad hoc provincial institutions inherited from the military governors of the Five Dynasties." [50]
_Central government_
Pre-1082 CE State Council (Military Affairs Commission / Secretariat-Chancellery)
2. Chief Councillor
"Initially, the Sung chief councilors were secondary in importance to the Military Affairs Commissioner. But, as soon as literati culture began to emerge in the early eleventh century, the first of the great chief councilors also emerged in the person of Lu I-chien." [51] "the office of chief councilor was the pinnacle of the Sung bureaucracy, the chief officer charged with formulating and executing policy." [52]
3. Five Offices (Wu fang) of the Secretariat-Chancellery staffed by clerks or assistant chief councillors collectively known as Bureau of Edicts (Chich-ch'ih yuan) [53]
4. Clerks
"In the mid-eleventh century, the support staff at the Secretariat-Chancellery numbered at least two to three hundred clerks, although this number ballooned after the Yuan-feng reforms."[54]
5-?. Lesser clerks
"They were staffed by professional clerks, who had their own hierarchy, but were not graded officials (shih ta-fu)."[55]
Post-1082 CE (Yuan-feng reform) Military Affairs Commission, Department of the Secretariat (Chung-shu sheng), Department of the Chancellery (Men-hsia sheng), Department of State Affairs. [56]
2. Left Chief Councillor and Right Chief Councillor
Six Ministries under the Department of State Affairs divided into "Left" and "Right" groups) [57]
Three Departments (San-sheng)[58] Illustrated by a T'ang saying often repeated in Sung texts: "the Secretariat obtains the imperial will; the Chancellery resubmits the memorial; the Department of State Affairs (Shang-shu sheng) promulgates the action."[59]
"The Left Chief Councilor was Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs and concurrent Vice Director of the Chancellery (Shang-shu tso p'u-yeh chien men-hsia shih-lang). The Right Chief Councilor held a similar title but was concurrently Vice Director of the Secretariat (there were no directors)."[60]
3. Left and Right Assistant Directors of the Department of State Affairs
"The position of Assistant Chief Councilor was abolished, replaced by Left and Right Assistant Directors of the Department of State Affairs (Shang-shu tso yu-ch'eng)."[61]
4. Subunit of the Six Ministries (ssu)
The Six Ministries had twenty-four subunits (ssu) [62]
6-?.
"After 1082, two or three graded officials in each of the Six Ministries and their twenty-four subunits (ssu) supervised a much larger number of clerks."[64]
Pre-1082 CE The Censorate and the Bureau of Policy Criticism.
2. Vice Censor-in-Chief (Yu-shih chung-ch'eng) of the Headquarters Bureau (T'ai-yuan). There was also The Palace Bureau (Tien-yuan) and The Investigation Bureau (Ch'a-yuan).
"... the major organs through which public opinion was to be funneled into court decision making. These institutions did not begin to assume their mature role in Sung government until the 1030s..." [65]
"First, independently of other agencies, it gathered information and kept the emperor informed on conditions in the state. Second, it kept watch over the bureaucracy and enforced rules and standards for official conduct. In the metaphor of the state as a body, the censors were the "eyes and ears" of the sovereign."[66]
"there was no Censor-in-Chief; the post was always vacant" [67]
3. Attendant Censor (Shihyu-shih) of the Headquarters Bureau (T'ai-yuan) [68]
4. Head of subdivision within Headquarters Bureau (Palace Bureau / Investigation Bureau) [69]
5. Clerk
6. Assistant clerk
"Within these three divisions there were eleven subdivisions with a total quota of forty-four clerks." [70]
Rank grade classes in the civil-administrative structure (note: each of these classes are further sub-divided)[71]
1. Ministers-in-attendance (shih ts'ung)
The Emperor "personally made all appointments and personnel decisions concerning top officials. Such officials, known collectively as ministers-in-attendance, had personal-rank grades of eleven or above."[72]
2. Senior directors (Ta ch'ing-chien)
3. Directors (Lang-chung)
4. Vice-directors (Yuan-wai-lang)
5. Court officials (Ch'ao kuan)
6. Capital Officials (Ching-kuan)
7. Executory Class Officials (Hsuan-jen)
2. Finance Commissioners (san-ssu shih) in the State Finance Commission or Three Offices (San-ssu)
"The commissioners (sansishi) at the head of the State Finance Commission were carefully chosen by the court."[73]
The Salt and Iron Monopoly "handled the production and distribution of military supplies, paid the salaries of military officials, supervised communications, collected commercial taxes, and ran the government monopolies, except for the wine monopoly."[74]
The Tax Bureau "prepared annual financial reports and controlled receipts and disbursements, including the salaries of civil officials."[75]
The Census Bureau "was responsible for population records, collected agricultural taxes, administered the wine monopoly, supervised long term storage of goods, and handled certain public-works projects."[76]
3. Assistant commissioner (san-ssu fu-shih)
"Various unsuccessful attempts were made to divide authority at the top among two or more commissioners, but it was not until the beginning of the eleventh century that a workable answer was found: a single finance commissioner (san-ssu shih), aided by an assistant commissioner (san-ssu fu-shih) and three administrative assistants (san-ssu p'an-kuan) in each of the three offices. The finance commissioners were answerable not to the chief councilors (tsai-hsiang) who headed the regular civil administration, but directly to the emperor."[77]
4. Three administrative assistants (san-ssu p'an-kuan)
4. Heads of the sub-units of the Three Offices
e.g. The Salt and Iron Monopoly included an Armaments Section (Chou an) prior to some later reforms.[78]
5. Clerk in sub-unit of the Three Offices -- inferred
6. Assistant clerk in sub-unit of the Three Offices -- inferred
"In 978, it was reported to have comprised 24 offices and employed over 1,000 clerks." [79]
5. Manager of state-owned production unit -- inferred
e.g. Did the manager of a crossbow producing factory report to the Armaments Section chief?
local officials called "jiandangguan (officials with supervision and administrative duties in financial and other economic issues), also performed finance and taxation work. They were primarily responsible for collecting commercial taxes, supervising salt and wine monopolies, and managing storehouses."[80]
6. State-owned production unit assistant manager -- inferred
7. State-owned production unit worker -- inferred
7. State monopoly agents
"... under the control of the counties, a large number of ch'ang-wu, monopoly or commercial tax installations, directed not by clerks or local notables but by regular officials, the state monopoly agents (chien-tang kuan)."[81]
2. Institute of Academicians
"The academicians of the Institute composed the formal, important documents of imperial rule - notices of imperial appointments and promotions, amnesties, and foreign correspondence."[82]
_Provincial government_
2. Circuits (lu) - Fiscal Commissioner (chuan-yun shih or ts'ao-ssu) / Judicial Commissioner (t'i-tien hsing-yu kung-shih or hsien-ssu) / Military Commissioner (ching-lueh an-fun shih or shuai-ssu)
"the entire empire was divided into circuits (lu or, for a short time, tao) which usually included eight to fifteen prefectures"[83]
"These circuits served in the first instance for the surveillance of affairs in the prefectures but increasingly tended to assume other roles such as general co-ordination and mobilization of a region's resources."[84]
"The circuits defined the area of activity of a number of circuit commissioners whose offices were designated as supervisorates or surveillance agencies (chien-ssu)." [85]
3. Vice Commissioners (fu-shih) [86]
4. Administrative assistants (p'an-kuan) [87]
4. Winery "directly run by officials"
Fiscal Commissioners "checked the receipts from all wineries, ordered their immediate subordinates or officials from the prefectural offices to inspect specific wineries, determined which wineries would be directly run by officials and which would be leased out to private operators..."[88]
5. Winery management
6-?. Winery staff
3. Prefect and Vice prefect (t'ung-pan) [89] of a Prefecture (chou)[90] Superior prefectures (fu)[91]
"At the prefectural level, many financial activities were handled not by the prefect but by the vice prefect (t'ung-pan)." "Vice prefects enjoyed approximate equality with prefects: they were permitted to memoralize the throne directly on prefectural affairs and their endorsement (chien-shu) was required on reports from the prefect." [92]
4. Prefectural court judge (t'ui kuan)[93]
5. Clerk in a court [94]
4. Magistrates and Vice magistrates in a County (hsien)
"counties (hsien), the lowest general administrative level of the government" [95]
"Much the same kind of independence was enjoyed at the county level by vice magistrates (hsien-ch'eng), who were appointed in counties of special importance." [96]
The Granaries Policy (Ts'ang fa) (1070) put some previously unsalaried local clerks in local government on government salaries.[97]
County registrars (chu-pu) [98]
5. State monopoly agents (chien-tang kuan) -- may belong in the central government under The Salt and Iron Monopoly tree?
5. County sheriff (hsing-wei)
T'ai-tsu in 962 CE "ordered that each county establish a county sheriff (hsing-wei) with a salary equal to that of the county registrars (chu-pu), though sheriffs stood below the registrars in the protocol order."[100]
6. Clerks (chieh-chi) and Bowmen (kung-shou)
"These sheriffs, assisted by a body of clerks (chieh-chi) and bowmen (kung-shou), were to enforce the law in the countryside."[101]
_Village level political structure of Emperor Shen-tsung and Wang An-shih_
6. Superior Security Group (ten ta? pao) lead by a fu-pao-cheng
"Emperor Shen-tsung and Wang An-shih promoted the pao-chia system at the village-level political structure. Every five households constituted one pao (security group) and were headed up by a security-group head (pao-chang); five pao formed a large pao headed by a large security-group head (ta pao-chang); and ten large pao formed a superior security group (tu-pao) headed by a superior security group head (fu-pao-cheng) and his assistant (fu tu-pao-cheng)."[102]
7. fu tu-pao-cheng (assistant to fu-pao-cheng)
7. Large Security Group (five pao) ta? pao lead by a ta pao-chang
8. Security Group (every five households) pao lead by a pao-chang
♠ Religious levels ♣ [2-3] ♥ levels.
"The emperor was first and foremost the primary religious officer of the Sung state. His function in this capacity was unique and irreplaceable. He was the principal officiant at a series of rituals that regulated time; offered sacrifices to deities; paid homage to stars, mountains, and rivers; and worshipped ancestors."[103]
"The state also used both Buddhist and Taoist institutions to funnel financial and spiritual aid to the population after natural disasters and warfare." [104]
Buddhism. "The great temples of the capital and other major cities, often patronized by the rulers, housed in some cases thousands of monks."[105]
♠ Military levels ♣ [8-10] ♥ levels.
"Several innovations in the Song army during the Tangut war transformed the army's structure, armament and tactics. The most important change was in the creation of "legions" (jiang) of from 2,500 to 4,000 men (on rare occasions as high as 10,000 men) as permanent maneuver elements. The success of the legions in the latter stages of the war not only discredited the older system, in which armies were created by drawing disparate battalions of 500 men from large garrisons, but also created a distinction between field or border forces and the garrison forces in the capital. The legion was more formally introduced throughout the army during the New Policies reforms of Wang Anshi during the reign of Song Shenzong (1067-1085)."[106]
Commander-in-chief. "T'ai-tsu and T'ai-tsung were actual warriors who fought personally in combat. Although subsequent emperors rarely took the field against opponents, they created bureaucratic structures that severely restricted the independent authority of military commanders." [107]
?. Chief Councilors (tsai-hsiang)
"during the reign of Chen-tsung, the chief councilors could sometimes participate in deliberation on military affairs, and this fact constituted interference in the military administration of the Bureau of Military Affairs."[108]
2. Bureau of Military Affairs (Shu-mi-yuan)
"T'ai-tsu continued the Five Dynasties system of making the Bureau of Military Affairs (Shu-mi-yuan) the highest military organ and having it take charge of military administration; he did not directly lead the military. The senior officials of the Bureau of Military Affairs were executive officials (chih-cheng kuan), and their positions were second only to those of the chief councilors (tsai-hsiang). The position of the Bureau of Military Affairs was higher than that of the Three Capital guards, but the military authority of these two organs served as a mutual check or restraint each on the other. Although the senior officials of the Three Capital Guards and the military districts had charge of the armed forces, they could not engage in military actions unless they had orders from the Bureau of Military Affairs."[109]
Civilian overseer Chao K'uang-yin made his generals "subject to on-the-spot control by civilian overseers."[110]
3. Palace Bureau of the Commander-in-Chief (Tien-ch'ien tu chih-hui shih ssu) - one of the Three Capital Guards
The founder Chao "downgraded the Palace Inspectorate-General (Tien-ch'ien tu tien-chien ssu), which commanded the imperial guardsmen (chin-ping) to the Palace Bureau of the Commander-in-Chief (Tien-ch'ien tu chih-hui shih ssu).[111]
"three main divisions or ranks can be distinguished: upper imperial armies, middle imperial armies, and lower imperial armies (shang, chung, and hsia ch'in-chun). The upper imperial armies included four armies: P'eng-jih and T'ien-wu (both under the Palace Command), Lung-wei (under the Metropolitan Cavalry Command), and Shen-wei (under the Metropolitan Infantry Command). Together these four armies were called the Four Elite Armies (Shang ssu chun)."[112]
3. Imperial Bodyguard (Shih-wei ch'in-chun) Bureau of the Commander-in-Chief >>> Imperial Bodyguard Cavalry Bureau of the Commander-in-Chief (Shih-wei ch'in-chun ma-chun tu-chih-hui shih ssu) / Imperial Bodyguard Infantry Bureau of the Commander-in-Chief (Shih-wei ch'in-chun pu-chun tu-chih-hui shih ssu) (by Emperor Chen-tsung r. 997-1022) - the other of the Three Capital Guards
The founder Chao "set up two separate officials of equal rank below another Bureau of the Commander-in-Chief which commanded imperial guardsmen - the Imperial Bodyguard (Shih-wei ch'in-chun) Bureau of the Commander-in-Chief - and they commanded the cavalrymen and infantrymen separately."[113]
4. Wing (hsiang) left and right - 25,000
"The organization hierarchy of the imperial armies was as follows ... "[115]
5. Army (chun) 2,500 soldiers
6. Commandery (chih-hui) or reginment (ying) 500 soldiers
"because the military power of the army and wing organizational units was relatively large, the commanders of these units could easily create a threat to the imperial authority. The Northern Sung proceeded to createdisorder among the wing and army organizational units. Some imperial armies had no wings or armies, while in other imperial armies the manpower of these two units was below the established quotas. For the most part, after the beginning of T'ai-tsung's reign, the commander was usually the basic organizational unit of the imperial armies during troop movements, fortifications, and battles."[118]
7. troop (tu) 100 soldiers
8. Platoon (50 soldiers)
"Chang Yu, a military writer of the late Sung period, describes a system of organisation based on a squad of five, which implies that the traditional five-deep deployment was still in use. There were 50 men in a platoon, two platoons in a company, two companies in the next unit up, and so on up to an 'army' of 3,200. Chang Yu remarks: 'Each is subordinate to the superior and controls the inferior. ..."[120]
"Emperor Shen-tsung also promoted the Company System (Chieh-tui fa), in which companies (tui), the basic unit of military organization during the Sung, were organized and divided into various sub-company units, the smallest of which contained only three men."[121]
9. Squad (5 soldiers)
10. Individual soldier
5. Area Generalships (chiang)
"Emperor Shen-tsung implemented the Area Generalship System (Chiang-ping fa), in which various commanderies of the imperial armies were combined to form area generalships (chiang). ... The designation of area generalships had begun in four circuits of Shen-hsi during the reign of Jen-tsung. ... organized by combining the variously designated commanderies of the imperial armies. For example, the Second Area Generalship of the K'ai-feng area encompassed the stationed armies of five of the sixteen counties of K'ai-feng prefecture."[124]
6. Regiments (pu)
7. Company - 50 troops
"The ranks of military officers in the area generalship system included general (cheng-chiang) and vice general. Fifty troops formed a company and above the companies and below the area generalships were the regiments (pu). This led to the three-tiered organization structure of area generalship, regiment, and company."[125]
♠ Professional military officers ♣ present ♥ "There were many salaried ranks for officers and men and also several specific types of allowance. Most of the military personnel, however, received very small allowances, thus making it difficult for them to maintain a living. ... Serving in the military was a kind of profession, and the soldiers and their family dependants usually lived together in military camps." [126]
♠ Professional soldiers ♣ present ♥ "Unlike other dynasties that had relied on civilian militias conscripted from the peasant population, the Sung maintained paid professional armies." [127]
"The rank-and-file were mercenaries, serving for pay and rations, and recruited from among the lower orders of society - including petty criminals, vagabonds and amnestied bandits."[128]
"By the tenth century, soldiers, to the intense consternation of statesmen, were wholly divorced from any productive activities and earned their livings by skill at arms. Despite many attempts to replace this "mercenary" system, it remained in place until the end of imperial times."[129]
♠ Professional priesthood ♣ present ♥ "... begun during the Tang dynasty... The rise of religious professionals and soldiers as clearly separate groups was contrary to the previous normative view of society divided into knights (shi, the term that would later be applied to the literati or gentry), farmers, artisans and merchants."[130]
Buddhism. "The great temples of the capital and other major cities, often patronized by the rulers, housed in some cases thousands of monks. But even a small county such as Yinxian (Ningpo) in Chekiang had over 100 Buddhist temples, some of which had several hundred monks and drew annual incomes from their temple lands, from donations, and from their pawnshops, temple fairs, and other businesses that made them the richest institutions in the locality."[131]
♠ Full-time bureaucrats ♣ present ♥ There were about 40,000 graded officials in late Northern Sung.[132] Professional tax system. [133]
Time series civil + military officials: 13,000: Early Sung; 17,300: 1049 CE; 24,000: 1064-1067 CE; 34,000: 1080 CE; 28,300: 1086 CE; 43,000: 1112 CE; 33,516: 1191 CE; 42,434: 1196 CE; 37,807: 1201 CE; 38,870: 1213 CE. [134]
♠ Examination system ♣ present ♥ "Distrustful of their own military peers, they revised the old T'ang examination system and used it to recruit shih ta-fu ("literally servicemen and grand masters"), essentially a new civil service, from among the emergent commoners and nouveau riche."[135]
"... the Sung examination system graduated on average about 200 chin-shih per year, and these graduates soon made up about 40 percent of "administrative-class" officials."[136]
In the army "Training and drill were studied scientifically, and in the best units, at least, men were allocated to different duties on the basis of examinations in shooting and various athletic pursuits."[137]
♠ Merit promotion ♣ present ♥
"Theoretically, the process of promotion review entailed two components: a review by the relevant central government authority of the yearly performance evaluations written by the official's immediate superior and a verification of the years in service necessary to qualify for the promotion." [138]
"The development of professional services also refers to the prevalence of the revenue-centred meritocracy in the Song bureaucracy. Officials were appointed, reviewed, and rewarded based on their financial administration records. The chance of promotion in someone's official career heavily depended on how much he could increase the share of indirect tax revenues contributed to the court, a key step in centralizing the financial administration."[139]
"To ensure professionalism, the appointment of high officials in the central government had to demonstrate their financial expertise background. For most of the first century of the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127), over 75 per cent of the Council of the State members, the top level of the central authority, had previous experience in financial administration."[140]
Present, among a limited class
"Once a bureaucrat had achieved high office, his descendants were entitled to such privileges and advantages that facilitated examinations and direct entry into officialdom. Hence the attainment of high political office for its members allowed an elite lineage to reaffirm its social status and solidify its economic base for another generation." [141]
♠ Specialized government buildings ♣ present ♥ Central government had specialized buildings. [142] Government mints. [143]
♠ Formal legal code ♣ present ♥ Based on the legal code of the T'ang period.[144]
Later Chou produced the Penal conspectus of the Great Chou (Ta Chou hsing-t'ung) 957 CE which "formed the foundation for the later Sung penal conspectus (Sung hsing-t'ung)". The Chou document "was basically a reissuing of the T'ang code and commentary of 737, with the addition of a few edicts from later periods."[145]
"At the beginning of the Sung eight principal collections of law were in use, four from the T'ang period, two from the Later T'ang, and two from the Later Chou, but the centerpiece of the legal system, and the chief source of penal rules, was the twenty-one chapter Ta Chou hsing-t'ung, which had been put into practice in 958."[146]
T'ai tsu revised the Ta Chou hsing-t'ung code into "the thirty chapter Sung penal conspectus (Sung hsing-t'ung), also known as the Chung hsiang ting hsing-t'ung, the 'Re-examined and redetermined collected penal laws."[147]
♠ Judges ♣ present ♥
"Ordinary prefectures had a prefectural court (chou-yuan) headed by an executive inspector (lu-shih ts'an-chun), an on-duty office (tang chih-ssu) headed by a staff-supervisor (p'an kuan) or prefectural judge (t'ui kuan), and a court of the police inspector (ssu-li ts'an-chun)." [148]
"During the Northern Sung the village officer in charge of rural law and order was the elder (ch'i-chang), who was assisted by unpaid drafted assistants called stalwart men (chuang-ting)"[149]
County magistrate (chih-hsien) "could investigate, try, sentence, and punish crimes" however trial usually at prefectural level. [150]
At the prefectural level "The presiding judge there would ordinarily be a subordinate official and not the chief administrative officer." [151]
♠ Courts ♣ present ♥ "At the capital the three principal organs concerned with legal matters continued to be the Censorate, the Court of Judicial Review (Ta-li ssu), and the Ministry of Justice (Hsing-pu), a pattern which was to continue through the Sung dynasty (960-1279)."[152]
Lowest level court was the yamen of the county magistrate (chih-hsien).[153]
At prefectural level "three (or sometimes four) separate courts". "Ordinary prefectures had a prefectural court (chou-yuan) headed by an executive inspector (lu-shih ts'an-chun), an on-duty office (tang chih-ssu) headed by a staff-supervisor (p'an kuan) or prefectural judge (t'ui kuan), and a court of the police inspector (ssu-li ts'an-chun). In superior prefectural (fu) capitals there were two such police inspectors' courts (of the right and the left), and in two of the four imperial capitals two courts of the military inspectors (also divided into the right and the left) (tso yu chun-hsun yuan)." [154]
♠ Professional Lawyers ♣ inferred present ♥ "Written evidence such as that produced by an inquest played a major role in the Sung trial process." [155]
♠ irrigation systems ♣ present ♥ "The Regulations on Land Reclamation and Water Conservancy (N'ung t'ien shui-li t'iao-yueh) (1069) encouraged the recovering of fallow land as well as irrigation and water control projects."[156]
♠ drinking water supply systems ♣ present ♥ In Kaifeng wells were dug for drinking water. [157] However, bamboo piping systems were created in some area to convey drinking-water. "The largest bamboo piping systems seem to have been built by the great poet-official Su Shi. Under his inspiration, water mains of large bamboo trunks were installed at Hangzhou in 1089 AD and at Guangzhou in 1096 AD."[158]
♠ markets ♣ present ♥ reference to "market town".[159]
♠ food storage sites ♣ present ♥ Granaries (ts'ang) [160]
♠ Roads ♣ present♥ "Most of the prefectural armies did not receive military training; they were merely involved in wall and road repair, river dike building, bridge construction, transportation, and other types of hard labor."[161]
♠ Bridges ♣ present ♥ "Most of the prefectural armies did not receive military training; they were merely involved in wall and road repair, river dike building, bridge construction, transportation, and other types of hard labor."[162]
♠ Canals ♣ present ♥ T'ai-tsu and T'ai-tsung "had taken a personal interest in the development of the water transport system centered on the Pien Canal."[163]
♠ Ports ♣ present ♥ "... the coastal cities of the east and southeast emerged for the first time in Chinese history as major centers of shipbuilding and international trade."[164] E.g. Quanzhou, southern coast. "According to labels found among the cargo, the ship belonged to the imperial clan, and corroborates other documents showing that nobles were directly involved in trade (Chaffee 2001:34)."[165]
♠ Mines or quarries ♣ present ♥ copper, iron [166] Oil drilling and exploitation.
♠ Mnemonic devices ♣ present ♥ The earliest known written documentation of the Chinese abacus dates to the 2nd century BC [167]
♠ Written records ♣ present ♥ "The Sung was among the most document-driven of all Chinese states and compiled its own history from the plethora of bureaucratic records generated during the course of routine administration. But few of these records survive in their primary form." [168] E.g. Sung hui-yao chi-kao (A draft compendium of Sung documents) 19th-Century era compilation that copied from the 1408 CE (Ming dynasty) Yung-lo ta-tien (Yung-lo encyclopedia). [169]
♠ Script ♣ present ♥ Chinese alphabet, written records
♠ Non-phonetic writing ♣ present ♥ Chinese alphabet
♠ Phonetic alphabetic writing ♣ absent ♥ Chinese alphabet
♠ Lists, tables, and classifications ♣ present ♥ "collection and compilation of financial data" [170]
♠ Calendar ♣ present ♥
♠ Sacred Texts ♣ present ♥ Buddhist scriptures. "The early Sung monarchs supported a wide array of compilation and printing projects, including editions of the Confucian classics, the Buddhist and Taoist canons, and encyclopedias." [171]
♠ Religious literature ♣ present ♥ Confucian literature. "The early Sung monarchs supported a wide array of compilation and printing projects, including editions of the Confucian classics, the Buddhist and Taoist canons, and encyclopedias." [172]
♠ Practical literature ♣ present ♥ The professional bureaucracy "...had its own standards of competence, body of theoretical doctrine..."[173] "Seven Military Classics" (Wujing Qishu) 1080 CE.[174]
♠ History ♣ present ♥ Li T'ao (1115-1184 CE) Hsu zu-chih t'ung-chien ch'ang-pien (Long draft continuation of the comprehensive mirror that aids administration) published 1183 CE: "originally a draft chronological history of the Northern Sung from 960 through 1127." [175]
♠ Philosophy ♣ present ♥ Neo-Confucian revival.[176] Lixue or Xing li xue was "a new formulation of Confucian ethics and metaphysics."[177] There was "a brilliant flowering of philosophy. Over several centuries it focused on the nature (xing) of humans and of things, and on the mind (xin) more than on the more directly practical issues regarding social order and the state which had been central to Confucian thought and practice from its early beginnings."[178]
♠ Scientific literature ♣ present ♥ "By the turn of the eleventh century the four divisions that would later make up the Sung Han-lin Academy (astronomy, calligraphy, painting, and medicine) had already been established." [179] "Complete Essentials from the Military Classics" (Wujing Zongyao, 1044 CE) "currently ranks as the first text directly to describe the formula for gunpowder"[180] "The first mention of what we would call gunpowder appeared in 808... These mixtures grew out of a very long tradition of alchemical experimentation usually tied to certain schools of Daoism that sought elixirs of immortality or the means to transmute one material into another. While all of our early evidence for alchemical mixtures is tied to Daoists, this may be a historiographical artifact produced by the better preservation of texts tied to that school of though (in all its varieties). There were also medical specialists, among others, interested in the effects of various substances and compounds on materials and bodies." [181]
♠ Fiction ♣ present ♥ Poetry.[182]
♠ Articles ♣ present ♥ "Total income figures ... were regularly given in units of revenue that might include a combination of strings of cash, shih of grain, ounces of silver, rolls of cloth, and bundles of grass."[183]
♠ Precious metals ♣ present ♥ "Total income figures ... were regularly given in units of revenue that might include a combination of strings of cash, shih of grain, ounces of silver, rolls of cloth, and bundles of grass."[184]
♠ Foreign coins ♣ ♥
♠ Indigenous coins ♣ present ♥ T'ai-tsu and T'ai-tsung "bequeathed to their successors... a unified, stable currency out of the various monetary systems of the Five Dynasties period." [185] "The main currency in the early Sung - and it would remain important throughout the dynasty - was a round bronze coin, the ch'ien. This coin had a square hole in the middle which made it possible, for large transactions, to thread many of them onto cords or strips of leather to form "strings" (min, kuan) really or nominally consisting of 1,000 coins." [186] Government mints. "In total, the mints produced 262 million strings of bronze coins over one-and-a-half centuries. In addition, the mints produced a large amount of iron coins, the circulation of which was restricted to Sichuan and the frontier in north-west China. Large amounts of bronze coins produced by previous dynasties also circulated in the market. At the dawn of the twelfth century, the aggregate value of the money supply has often been estimated at no less than 300 million strings."[187]
♠ Paper currency ♣ present ♥ "Although both qianyin and huizi functioned as de facto paper money, they still preserved certain features of the instrument of credit that allowed for a close connection with the financial market."[188] "There were two key reasons for the success of qianyin in the twelfth century: first, like its antecedent the jiaozi voucher, qianyin was redeemable by the government; second, the Sichuan administration recognized it as a means of payment. Soldiers used it to purchase goods on the market after receiving their qianyin-paid salaries, and farmers and merchants used it to pay taxes.This policy turned qianyin into a paper money and certainly increased the real size of the money supply."[189] However, the qianin and huizi played a greater role in the Southern Song after 1130 CE because "as the Song court could maintain a budgetary balance during the centuries prior to 1125, it did not seriously exploit the credit instruments for waging war." [190]
♠ Couriers ♣ present ♥
♠ Postal stations ♣ present ♥
♠ General postal service ♣ inferred present ♥ From poem by Ouyang Xiu (1059 CE): "In cold seasons, cassia seeds will drop in the empty mountains. Postal deliveries will never stop, moving at the speed of flight, So don't begrudge sending new poems regularly back and forth."[191]
♠ RA ♣ Edward A L Turner, Jill Levine ♥
♠ Copper ♣ present ♥ [192]
♠ Bronze ♣ present ♥ [193]
♠ Iron ♣ present ♥ Iron armour. [194]
♠ Steel ♣ present ♥ "Wootz steel was "being exported from India to China at least as early as the +5th century. … good steel was manufactured in China by remarkably modern methods at least from that time onwards also."[195] First high-quality steel 450 CE. Japan exported steel swords to China (time not stated, possibly once the Japanese had refined their methods, before the Song Dynasty).[196] "according to Wagner there is no direct evidence that cast steel was made in China. ... Exports of bin iron from Persia and Jaguda (Ghazni) to China in 6th-7th centuries are recorded. This was an imported steel of high quality. Curiously, bin iron disappears from Chinese sources after the 7th century, then reappears from 10th-17th centuries. This might have been a consequence of the Islamic conquest of Persia, followed by the rise of trade routes to China used by Arabs. An account of an embassy sent by the Yuan to Hulagu Khan in 1259 mention that bin iron was made in India."[197]
♠ Javelins ♣ inferred absent ♥ No reference and unlikely if battlefield dominated by crossbow and bows.
♠ Atlatl ♣ inferred absent ♥ Unlikely, New World weapon.
♠ Slings ♣ inferred absent ♥ Unlikely when better, easy to use, weapons like crossbow widely available.
♠ Self bow ♣ inferred absent ♥ Unlikely due to use of crossbow and composite bow
♠ Composite bow ♣ present ♥ presumably composite. "the greater rate of fire of the bow made it extremely useful in combination with the crossbow." [198]
♠ Crossbow ♣ present ♥ "The most important weapon, however, was the crossbow."[199] Crew-served crossbow and hand crossbow. [200]
♠ Tension siege engines ♣ present ♥ Traction trebuchets. "A Tang dynasty description from 759 is very similar to that from Mo Zi, but includes references to 'whirlwind trebuchets' and 'four-footed trebuchets', two variations that are illustrated in the Wu Jing Zong Yao of 1044. The frame of the whirlwind trebuchet was a single vertical pole that could be rotated horizontally through 360 degrees, thus allowing a wide arc of fire for comparatively lightweight missiles. Another picture in the same source shows a whirlwind trebuchet mounted on a four-wheeled carriage, which would make it even more flexible."[201] "In 979 the Emperor T'ai-tsung ordered 800 to be built, and in 1126 at least 500 machines were present at the defence of K'aifeng alone."[202] catapults [203]
♠ Sling siege engines ♣ {absent; present} ♥ "As in earlier periods, sophisticated siege equipment was available, including artillery, towers and rams."[204] "Of the date of the introduction of the counterweight trebuchet to China there can be no doubt. It occurred in 1272, during one of the greatest sieges of Chinese history, at Xiangyang, where the Mongols besieged the Southern Song for five years." [205]
♠ Gunpowder siege artillery ♣ present ♥ "The first surviving mention of gunpowder weapons in the military manuals is in the Wu Ching Tsung Yao of 1044, which describes soft-cased bombs thrown by artillery, but a silk banner from Tunhuang, said to originate from the middle of the 10th century, shows that primitive gunpowder devices were already in use at this date. Among the weapons illustrated in this source are a hand-hurled bomb and a fire-lance - a short barrel on the end of a pole, from which flames are emerging. This latter weapons was eventually to give rise to the hand-gun, but at this time it was no more than a close-range flame projector..." [206] "While in the eleventh century the Song dynasty had an established gunpowder manufacturing bureau, and gunpowder weapons were included in a government-produced military manual, by the twelfth and thirteenth centuries gunpowder weapons were standard devices in sieges, battles, and naval combat." [207] only question is whether the variable specifically demands that gunpowder was used in cannon. Was cannon used? If not should this variable (later) be reworded to be inclusive of general use of gunpowder in warfare. ET
♠ Handheld firearms ♣ absent ♥ "While in the eleventh century the Song dynasty had an established gunpowder manufacturing bureau, and gunpowder weapons were included in a government-produced military manual, by the twelfth and thirteenth centuries gunpowder weapons were standard devices in sieges, battles, and naval combat. The true gun itself appeared in the mid-thirteenth century." [208]
♠ War clubs ♣ present ♥ Maces.
♠ Battle axes ♣ present ♥ More axes late eleventh century [209]
♠ Daggers ♣ inferred present ♥
♠ Swords ♣ present ♥ Illustration Plate F shows swordsman with shield. [210] "Native cavalry employed halberds, swords and even fire-lances as well as bows."[211] long bladed swords [212]
♠ Spears ♣ present ♥ Illustration Plate F shows cavalryman with spear. [213]
♠ Polearms ♣ present ♥ Various types of polearm illustrated in Sung manuals.[214] "Native cavalry employed halberds, swords and even fire-lances as well as bows."[215]
♠ Dogs ♣ absent ♥ Never used in warfare. [216]
♠ Donkeys ♣ ♥
♠ Horses ♣ present ♥ Sung bought 10,000-40,000 horses a year for the military. [217] "According to Sung calculations, maintaining one cavalryman was as expensive as maintaining five infantrymen. ... Often during the Northern Sung, 30 to 40 percent of cavalrymen were without mounts"[218]
♠ Camels ♣ ♥
♠ Elephants ♣ ♥
♠ Wood, bark, etc ♣ present ♥ Illustration Plate F shows swordsman with shield that looks like it is made out of wood. [219]
♠ Leather, cloth ♣ inferred present ♥ Leather and fabrics certainly incorporated into armour as padding, straps etc.
♠ Shields ♣ present ♥ Illustration Plate F shows swordsman with shield. [220] Crossbowmen used shields to advance.[221] "bladed shields" [222]
♠ Helmets ♣ present ♥ Illustration Plate F shows cavalryman with helmet. [223]
♠ Breastplates ♣ suspected unknown ♥ not typical but we cannot rule out they used it for specialist reasons
♠ Limb protection ♣ present ♥ Illustration Plate F shows cavalryman with leg armour. [224] Vambraces and greaves.
♠ Chainmail ♣ suspected unknown ♥ Armoured coats in illustrations all appear to be made up of small plates. However, it could have been used for special situations
♠ Scaled armor ♣ inferred present ♥
♠ Laminar armor ♣ inferred present ♥ "at least one 10th-century painting shows what are clearly dismounted cavalry in lamellar armour - like their T'ang predecessors."[225]
♠ Plate armor ♣ present ♥ Coat made from hundreds of steel plates can been seen on statues.
♠ Small vessels (canoes, etc) ♣ present ♥ Supported by a river fleet in early conquests, e.g. against Southern Song. [226]
♠ Merchant ships pressed into service ♣ suspected unknown ♥
♠ Specialized military vessels ♣ present ♥ "Every dynasty that wanted to create a Chinese empire extending south of the Yellow River had to build a navy."[227] According to Joseph Needham Northern Song's naval resources began at 11 squadrons of 3000 men and reached 20 squadrons of 52,000 men. The main base was Shanghai. [228]
♠ Settlements in a defensive position ♣ present ♥ "They strongly fortified the towns which lay between K'aifeng and the border, although they did not build long walls." [229] "Villages not only fortified themselves against bandits and small raiding bands, but also built refuges in the mountains."[230]
♠ Wooden palisades ♣ inferred present ♥ Natural "elm palisade." "To defend itself in the face of escalating territorial threat, the Song government constructed a series of connected ponds and lakes (called tangbo) running from Baozhou (present day Baoding) in the west to Cangzhou in the east. The administrative centre or zhisuo of Song dynasty Cangzhou was in present day Cangxian county, Hebei province. The network of lakes was designed to thwart the Liao cavalry, against whom the Song also had recourse to primitive non-explosive landmines and spiked obstacles named for their shape 'puncture vines' (jili or Tribulus terrestris). The lines of natural and man-made lakes were unfortunately seasonal and they either froze over in winter, enabling the Khitan horsemen to cross, or they dried up in the late autumn or early spring. The lakes were therefore supplemented by a dense network of trees, which were called 'the elm palisades' (yusai). The extent to which the Chinese or lacework elm (Ulmus parvifolia), as opposed to other varieties of trees, was planted to form the palisades cannot be ascertained from the brief historical records of this defensive experiment in reforestation." [231]
♠ Earth ramparts ♣ present ♥ "The walls of Chinese fortifications were built of tramped earth, usually thicker than it was high, which was gradually faced with brick over the course of the Song dynasty."[232]
♠ Ditch ♣ suspected unknown ♥
♠ Moat ♣ present ♥ City walls usually protected by a moat. [233] "When Jin forces attacked the Song capital of Kaifeng in 1126, they met stout resistance. The city's defenses had been overhauled, and it boasted immense walls, a deep wide moat, and advanced fortifications structures including bastions and barbicans."[234] "In the late-tenth and very beginning of the eleventh century, the Song dynasty (960-1279) undertook a large-scale defensive project to protect its northeast border. ... the Song government gradually constructed a continuous band of water obstacles, spanning hundreds of miles across northern Hebei province from the Taihang Mountains ... in the west to the Gulf of Bohai in the east. The spine of these obstacles was a dike that connected its surrounding rivers and swamps into a continuous defense line. Unlike the Great Wall, the role of which was miniscule, this Great Ditch played a large part in stabilizing the military situation between the Song and Liao, leading to the Chanyuan Covenant (Chanyuan zhi meng) in 1005, and a peace that lasted for more than a century."[235]
♠ Stone walls (non-mortared) ♣ suspected unknown ♥ No data yet. If not the typical Song fortification it is likely that stone fortifications existed, even if on a small/local scale.
♠ Stone walls (mortared) ♣ suspected unknown ♥
♠ Fortified camps ♣ inferred present ♥
♠ Complex fortifications ♣ present ♥ Kaifeng was surrounded by three rings of walls.[236]
♠ Long walls ♣ 0 ♥ km. "They strongly fortified the towns which lay between K'aifeng and the border, although they did not build long walls." [237] However, there was a "massive wall at Sian."[238] However, walls were repaired: "Most of the prefectural armies did not receive military training; they were merely involved in wall and road repair, river dike building, bridge construction, transportation, and other types of hard labor."[239] Around fortified towns and cities "The defensive walls ... often exceeded ten miles in circumference" [240] "The T'ang built no walls, nor did the Sung." [241] The Northern Song dynasty is not regarded as a dynasty that constructed defensive long walls, trench emplacements or barriers, unlike the rival Liao and Jin dynasties to their north. [242] However, the Song did construct the Great Ditch which Peter Lorge (above) argued was much more useful than the Great Wall.
♠ Modern fortifications ♣ inferred present ♥ "When Jin forces attacked the Song capital of Kaifeng in 1126, they met stout resistance. The city's defenses had been overhauled, and it boasted immense walls, a deep wide moat, and advanced fortifications structures including bastions and barbicans." [243]
♠ elite status is hereditary ♣ present ♥ the Emperor was a dynast.
♠ Rulers are legitimated by gods ♣ suspected unknown ♥
♠ Rulers are gods ♣ suspected unknown ♥
♠ Ideological reinforcement of equality ♣ absent ♥ [244]
♠ Ideological thought equates rulers and commoners ♣ suspected unknown ♥
♠ Ideological thought equates elites and commoners ♣ suspected unknown ♥
♠ Ideology reinforces prosociality ♣ suspected unknown ♥
♠ production of public goods ♣ suspected unknown ♥
♠ Moralizing enforcement is agentic ♣ absent ♥
↑ (Lorge 2005, 35)
↑ (Hartman 2015, 19)
↑ (Levine 2008, 1) Levine, Ari Daniel. 2008. Divided by a Common Language: Factional Conflict in Late Northern Song China. University of Hawai'i Press. Honolulu.
↑ (Golas 2015, 147)
↑ (Levine 2008, xv) Levine, Ari Daniel. 2008. Divided by a Common Language: Factional Conflict in Late Northern Song China. University of Hawai'i Press. Honolulu.
↑ (Ebrey 1996, 136) Patricia Buckley Ebrey. 1996. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
↑ (Weatherhead East Asian Institute 2008) Weatherhead East Asian Institute. 2008. 'China in 1000 AD: The Most Advanced Society in the World'. Asian Topics on Asia for Educators: The Song Dynasty in China (960-1279). Columbia University. http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/song/. Accessed 15 March 2017.
↑ (Meyer 1994, 217) Milton W. Meyer. 1994. China: A Concise History. Lanham, MD: Littlefield Adams.
↑ (Hartman 2015, 20, 88) Charles Hartman. 2015. 'Sung government and politics', in The Cambridge History of China, Volume 5: The Five Dynasties and Sung China, 960-1279 AD, Part 2, edited by J. W. Chaffee and D. Twitchett, 21-138. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
↑ (Ebrey 1996, 141-42) Patricia Buckley Ebrey. 1996. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
↑ (Mote 2003, 164) Frederick W. Mote. 2003. Imperial China: 900-1800. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
↑ (Hartman 2015, 29) Charles Hartman. 2015. 'Sung government and politics', in The Cambridge History of China, Volume 5: The Five Dynasties and Sung China, 960-1279 AD, Part 2, edited by J. W. Chaffee and D. Twitchett, 21-138. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
↑ (Chase-Dunn spreadsheet)
↑ (Peers 2002, 33)
↑ (Mote 2003, 164) Mote, Frederick W. 2003. Imperial China: 900-1800. Harvard University Press.
↑ (Liu 2015, 52)
↑ (Lorge 2005, 7)
↑ (Du and Koenig 2012, 180) Du, P and Koenig, A. in Angelakis, Andreas Niklaos. Mays, Larry W. Koutsoyiannis, Demetris. 2012. Evolution of Water Supply Through the Millennia. IWA Publishing.
↑ (Hartman 2015, 88-89)
↑ (Hartman 2015, 101)
↑ (Hartman 2015, 99-100)
↑ (Tseng-yü and Wright 2009, 217)
↑ (McKnight 2015, 267)
↑ (Tseng-yü and Wright 2009, 216-217)
↑ (Tseng-yü and Wright 2009, 226-227
↑ (Tseng-yü and Wright 2009, 227
↑ (Chen 2015, 730) Chen, Ping. 2015. Material Science and Environmental Engineering: Proceedings of the 3rd Annual 2015 International Conference on Material Science and Environmental Engineering (ICMSEE2015, Wuhan, Hubei, China, 5-6 June 2015). CRC Press.
↑ (Miksic 2013, 102) Miksic, John N. 2013. Singapore and the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300-1800. NUS Press.
↑ (Golas 2015, 190-191)
↑ Ifrah, Georges (2001). The Universal History of Computing: From the Abacus to the Quantum Computer. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 978-0471396710.
↑ (Golas citing Hartwell 2015, 141)
↑ (Hawes 2012, 71) Hawes, Colin S C. 2012. Social Circulation of Poetry in the Mid-Northern Song, The: Emotional Energy and Literati Self-Cultivation. SUNY Press.
↑ (Liu 2015, 69-70)
↑ (Xie, Liye. North China Workshop 2016)
↑ (Needham 1962, 282) Joseph Needham. 1962. Science and Civilization in China. Volume IV. Physics and Physical Technology. Part 1: Physics. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
↑ (Williams 2012, 42) Alan Williams. 2012. The Sword and the Crucible: A History of the Metallurgy of European Swords Up to the 16th Century. BRILL. Leiden.
↑ (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
↑ (Turnbull 2012, 33) Stephen Turnbull. 2012. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
↑ (Peers 2002, Plate F)
↑ (North China Workshop 2016)
↑ (Needham ????) Needham, Joseph. ???? Science and Civilization in China.
↑ (The Elm Tree Palisade 2006). 2006. "The Elm Tree Palisades: The Great Wall of the Northern Song." China Heritage Project: Australian National University, 6.
↑ (Andrade 2016, 34) Andrade, Tonio. 2016. The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
↑ (Lorge 2008, 60) Peter Lorge. The Great Ditch of China. Don J Wyatt. 2008. Battlefronts Real and Imagined: War, Border, and Identity in the Chinese Middle Period. Palgrave Macmillan. New York.
↑ (Waldron, Arthur. 1983. The Problem of the Great Wall. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 43(2): 653)
↑ (Barend tar Heer, Oxford workshop January 2017)
Andrade, Tonio. 2016. The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Bol, Peter. From Pedigree to Learning: The Emergence of Literati Society (10th-13th century). Lecture Notes. Harvard University.
Bol, P., C. Cook, G. Feinman, V.Mair, P.Sabloff, and L.Xie. "Seshat North China Workshop." Tampa, Florida. January 15-17 2016. Workshop.
Chaffee, J W. "Sung education: Schools, academies, and examinations" in Chaffee, J W. and Twitchett, D. 2015. The Cambridge History of China Volume 5: The Five Dynasties and Sung China, 960-1279 AD, Part 2. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Deng, Gang. 2002. The Premodern Chinese Economy: Structural Equilibrium and Capitalist Sterility. New York: Routledge.
Ebrey, Patricia Buckley. 1996. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Editorial Committee of Chinese, City University of Hong Kong (ed). 2007. China: Five Thousand Years of History and Civilization. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press.
Gernet, J. 1962. Daily life in China, on the eve of the Mongol invasion, 1250-1276. London: Allen & Unwin.
Golas, P J. "The Sung fiscal administration" in Chaffee, J W. and Twitchett, D. 2015. The Cambridge History of China Volume 5: The Five Dynasties and Sung China, 960-1279 AD, Part 2. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Graff, D A. 2002. Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900. Routledge. London
Guo, Qinghua. 1998. Yingzao Fashi: Twelfth Century Chinese Building Material. Architectural History, 41: 1-13
Hartman, C. "Sung government and politics" in Chaffee, J W. and Twitchett, D. 2015. The Cambridge History of China Volume 5: The Five Dynasties and Sung China, 960-1279 AD, Part 2. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. http://universitypublishingonline.org/cambridge/histories/ebook.jsf?bid=CHO9781139193061
Liu, W G. The making of a fiscal state in Song China, 960-1279. 2015. Economic History Review. 68. 1. pp. 48-78.
Lorge, P A. 2008. The Asian Military Revolution: From Gunpowder to the Bomb. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Lorge, P. 2005. War, Politics and Society in Early Modern China, 900-1795. Routledge. London.
Lu, Yongxiang. 2005. A History of Chinese Science and Technology, Volume 3. Shanghai: Shanghai Jiaotong University Press.
McDermott, J P and Yoshinobu, S. "Economic change in China, 960-1279" in Chaffee, J W. and Twitchett, D. 2015. The Cambridge History of China Volume 5: The Five Dynasties and Sung China, 960-1279 AD, Part 2. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
McKnight, B. "Chinese law and legal system: Five Dynasties and Sung" in Chaffee, J W. and Twitchett, D. 2015. The Cambridge History of China Volume 5: The Five Dynasties and Sung China, 960-1279 AD, Part 2. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Meyer, Milton W. 1994. China: A Concise History. Lanham, Maryland: Littlefield Adams.
Peers, C. J. 2002. Imperial Chinese Armies (2). 590-1260 AD. Osprey Publishing. Oxford.
Tseng-yü, W and Wright, D C. A history of the Sung military. in Twitchett, D. Smith, P J. 2009. The Cambridge History of China Volume 5: The Sung Dynasty and its Precursors, 907-1279, Part 1. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Waldron, Arthur. 1983. The Problem of the Great Wall. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 43(2): 643-663.
-.2006. "The Elm Tree Palisades: The Great Wall of the Northern Song." China Heritage Project: Australian National University, 6.
-. "China in 1000 AD: The Most Advanced Society in the World." Asia for Educators. Weatherhead East Asian Institute. Columbia University. http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/song/ Accessed March 15, 2017.
-. "Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127)." Heilbrunn Timeline of History. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/nsong/hd_nsong.htm Accessed March 15, 2017.
Retrieved from "http://seshatdatabank.info/browser/index.php?title=CnNSong&oldid=30399"


Make plans to visit Sephora this weekend to score a FREE Sephora Collection Face Mask! No coupon necessary, and this offer is going to be valid July 27-29, 2018 only.
Previous Post: « 3 Months of Kindle Unlimited for $0.99!


text:
Ken Ham's Blog
Do We Have the Definition of Marriage Wrong?
by Ken Ham on June 12, 2013
The biblical definition of marriage has faced an incredible amount of attack from secularists lately, with the push for the legalization of same-sex marriage. But in a recent article in an Iowa newspaper, three professors—two of religious studies and one of history—claimed that evangelical Christians have the definition of marriage wrong. The authors on this article were Robert Cargill, assistant professor of religious studies at University of Iowa; Kenneth Atkinson, associate professor of history at the University of Northern Iowa; and Hector Avalos, professor of religious studies at Iowa State University:
As academic biblical scholars, we wish to clarify that the biblical texts do not support the frequent claim that marriage between one man and one woman is the only type of marriage deemed acceptable by the Bible's authors.
Now, there is not a single statement in Scripture affirming polygamy, homosexual behavior, bestiality, and so on. These academics cite a number of instances of polygamy in the Old Testament as evidence for their point. And while it's true that God-fearing men such as Jacob or King David practiced polygamy, God didn't affirm their behavior. In fact, polygamous lifestyles inevitably brought hardship and judgment on them. (For a more detailed explanation of the biblical view of polygamy, see "What About Polygamy in the Bible?" and "Contradictions: A Man of Many Wives" by Roger Patterson.)
Polygamy was popular in many cultures, but that doesn't mean God considered it acceptable. Divorce was allowed because of the hardness of the hearts of the Israelites (Matthew 19:8), but it was not part of God's "very good" creation. The biblical standard for marriage is still one man and one woman.
Now, the article by these academics has since been promoted by the Huffington Post's "Gay Voices" section of its website. Cargill explains in an interview in the article that the Bible also doesn't prohibit same-sex marriage:
[Cargill] explained that it is obvious to scholars (and some religious leaders) that the Bible endorses a wide range of relationships. . . . Ultimately, said Cargill, a Biblical "argument against same-sex marriage is wholly unsustainable. We all know this, but very few scholars are talking about it, because they don't want to take the heat."
If it is "obvious" to Bible scholars that the Bible doesn't prohibit same-sex marriage, then why are there so many scholars who believe it does? It's not because they're somehow afraid to admit that Scripture supposedly affirms homosexual behavior. No, it's because Scripture is clear: homosexual behavior is a sinful practice (Genesis 18:20; 19:5; Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; Romans 1:26–27; 1 Corinthians 6:9–10; 1 Timothy 1:10). (For more on the Bible's view of homosexuality, see "Pro-Gay Theology: Does the Bible Approve of Homosexuality?" by Steve Golden.)
But the question I always like to ask is what's the real motive here? Why would these scholars claim that the Bible doesn't actually say what it clearly does? Well, the answer seems to be that they don't believe in the authority of Scripture as much as they believe in their own academic abilities:
"Most people aren't dumb, they want to make an informed decision" on religiously charged questions, Cargill said. "If scholars aren't talking to them, they have to rely on talk show hosts and pundits, and that's not the most reliable source of information.". . . Anyone who argues that "the Bible speaks plainly on one issue, especially something as complicated as marriage . . . haven't taken the time to read all of it," he added.
Basically, the Bible can't be understood on its own terms—we need Bible scholars to explain it to us. Now, there's certainly a place for Bible scholars with an understanding of the language, history, and culture surrounding Scripture, but that doesn't negate the authority and perspicuity (clarity) of Scripture.
The Bible actually does speak plainly on many issues. Psalm 19:7 tells us, "The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple." How can we expect to understand the message of salvation through Jesus Christ if we need a PhD to explain it to us? Sadly, these academics are doing nothing but subverting the authority of Scripture and lifting man's word up over it. It is ironic that three scholars in their fields who have completely misunderstood what the Bible says about marriage are willing to claim that, without them, people will not be able to make informed decisions about Scripture.
In response to these academics, no, we don't have the definition of marriage wrong. In Genesis 2, the standard was that one man would leave his mother and father and cleave to one woman, his wife (Genesis 2:24). Jesus Christ reaffirmed this definition of marriage in Matthew 19:4–5. We can trust that what God's Word says is true—and His Word can be understood whether or not we are Bible scholars:
And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,'and said, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?" (Matthew 19:4–5)
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
* Steve Golden assisted in composing this blog post.
Previous Article The Bible from Memory and the Animal Man Next Article New AiG Online Bookstore for People in the United Kingdom
Ken's Radio Show
Ken's Blog
Ken's Video Updates
Ken's Resources
Pray for Answers in Genesis
Ken Ham's Daily Email
Email me with Ken's daily email:

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Droidcon NYC App!
Posted by Kevin Galligan | Aug 3, 2018 | Built By Touchlab, Code Sharing, Community, Press
Mobile conference apps are an interesting beast. It's a place where you can add the "weird" new tech people are talking about, and open source it, but that you're not *quite* putting into production yet.
Fun fact. Our original Droidcon NYC app was where we first tried Kotlin, way back in 2014. For 2018, we have come full circle and ported the whole thing to Kotlin Multiplatform.
https://github.com/touchlab/DroidconKotlin/
There is an Android version and an iOS version. The UI's are coded on their native platform, with Kotin on Android and Swift on iOS. The logic and much of the architecture is shared.
Building the app and talking architecture
The live code video from Friday (8/3/18) with Natalie…
Another fun fact. The conference schedule is not up on the site, but it IS in the app. If you absolutely need to see the Droidcon NYC 2018 schedule before next week, build the app.
There's still some polishing left to be done before putting them in the app stores, but they're functional now, and we wanted to get a fully functional mobile app out in the world for people to play around with. We might have to repeat the Sad Puppy mod before publishing to the Apple store, but the Android deploy doesn't always go smoothly either. Cross fingers!
The more interesting stack in the app is KNarch.db, Sqldelight, to LiveData. It's a multiplatform, reactive architecture.
You *can* use the LiveData implementation in your app, but it's largely for demonstration purposes. Something more useful and robust would need to be built (perhaps something like Reagent). For now, though, you can observe SQLDelight queries and update the UI as data is modified.
We're also using Multiplatform Settings, which is an elegant multiplatform implementation of a properties store. Not doing a lot with it yet, but the plan is to add more properties.
Both SQLDelight and settings are published from forks we made. SQLDelight had some changes to support Kotlin/Native. For the MP library, it was purely to support Gradle dependencies.
The first thing you'll notice, and I'm sure comment on, is the lack of coroutines. Coroutines on native have taken longer to emerge, and while building the app, they weren't super ready. I've seen some progress being made while wrapping up the app, but Kotlin/Native is changing fast and trying to include all the stuff that they add while building is a good way to kill your productivity. High on the list of todos is investigating the state of coroutines and seeing what we can do there.
For now, though, how threading works. There are a couple functions that power the explicit backgrounding in the app. Look at
sessionize/src/main/kotlin/co/touchlab/sessionize/utils/Functions.kt
expect fun <B> backgroundTask(backJob:()-> B, mainJob:(B) -> Unit)
expect fun backgroundTask(backJob:()->Unit)
expect fun networkBackgroundTask(backJob:()->Unit)
In the JVM these get sent to an ExecutorService. In K/N, these get run on a worker. The interesting trick is how the 'mainJob' returns. That should be its own blog post, but if you understand K/N, 'mainJob' is kept in a ThreadLocal set in the main thread, so there's no need to freeze it. If you don't know what I'm talking about, we should be putting out some followup K/N threading posts.
What's 'networkBackgroundTask'? Just a separate queue. The networking stuff generally takes longer.
There's kind of a debate in the Android world between RxJava and LiveData. I won't comment on that. We picked LiveData because we needed to implement it on iOS, and LiveData is very, very small. RxJava is not. That's it.
SQLDelight needed some internal mods to support query listeners that could be frozen and exist in multiple threads. LiveData uses them and will push to the main thread when data is updated. You have to explicitly detach from the query because of a frustrating multiplatform issue. Please vote to have that one looked into.
There seems to be a lot of movement around the K/N Gradle plugin, to bring it more in line with the others. The dependency mechanism is likely to change, so we're in kind of an unknown space. In this app and with the libraries, we're using the older plugin and dependency mechanism. It'll look strange to Java folks, but it works fine. Our situation is somewhat complicated by the fact that KNarch.db and threads both have some C++ compiled and included. Personally, I'd like to see the K/N tools embrace their C++ underpinnings and make C++ easy to include in your own projects. If you're going to get serious about K/N development you should at least be familiar with the runtime folder of K/N. Yada yada, dependencies, and packaging will likely change over the next few months.
None. Looking for hands, if anybody wants to play!
Will try to include http-client-common. I ran into issues out of the gate, and the app is only doing GET calls, so I just hand rolled them.
As mentioned, investigate coroutines.
K/N 8.1 has been released. I think we'd want to re-publish all the libs as well as the project itself, so I'm holding off on that.
If you'd like to play with Kotlin multiplatform and push some code back, we'll be looking for a few things.
The UI on both platforms is partially Material Components. The goal was to have a relatively homogenous style definition so any conference using sessionize could use the app (cough). It's not quite there. I did much of the app work as the rest of the team is doing actual client work, and my iOS UI understanding is minimal at best. Cleaning and consolidating that would be great.
Testing, as mentioned. This app, as much as anything, is an example of how to build Kotlin Multiplatform on mobile, and testing is going to be critical to selling that idea. By that I mean the tests don't necessarily have to be super useful. They just need to exist.
Maybe some design adjustment. We largely took what we had in previous years on both platforms.
It's still a little early to be producing apps, but things are moving fast. I've been predicting that we'll see several libraries emerge over the summer, and by late 2018/early 2019 there will be the full library stack and toolset necessary to be fully productive. I'm betting that's still true. Hopefully, anyway, because I've pitched a lot of talks around it: http://androidsummit.org/, https://www.nyc.droidcon.com/, https://kotlinconf.com/, and at least 2 more that I'm still confirming.
To be clear, it's a little early if you don't know what you're doing, but that's when you bring in your friends at:
We are seriously looking for orgs that want to get started early on realizing shared architecture between mobile platforms as well as the web. Get in touch.
PreviousTouchlab Partner Jeff Namnum @ Tech Inclusion NYC 2018
NextKotlin Multiplatform in the App Store!
Kevin Galligan
Samples of Using KMMBridge
Quick Start with KMMBridge – 1 hour tutorial
Introducing KMMBridge For Teams


Apart from garden paths, of course.
Having read the Tom Bower biography I can believe Balls as the source of negative briefings on Brown's behalf; that's why I thought his protestations of horror at the emails to be a tad disingenuous. And t he ST devotes an editorial as well as a major article to the story so must bge pretty confident of its veracity.
I use Smeargate/Drapergate, as both seem to work quite well, I find!


text:
THE POOP SCOOP (Nov. 19): Noteworthy Upcoming Blu-ray Releases
The Poop Scoop features news and press releases related to upcoming movies, Blu-rays & DVDs and anything else film-related that makes us purr. For more information, feel free to e-mail us at freekittensmovieguide@gmail.com.
VIEW THE TRAILER
Maniac Limited Edition - New 4K Restoration Coming 12/11 from Blue Underground.
Exclusive Limited Collector's Edition includes 2 Blu-rays, Soundtrack CD, collectible booklet, and a ton of extras. Directed by William Lustig (MANIAC COP 2, VIGILANTE) and featuring landmark gore effects by Tom Savini (DAWN OF THE DEAD, FRIDAY THE 13TH), this relentlessly shocking and disturbing film was originally banned or censored all over the world due to its graphic violence. Now Blue Underground is thrilled to present MANIAC in a brand-new 4K Restoration from its recently discovered 16mm original camera negative, overflowing with hours of new and archival extras!
The House With a Clock in Its Walls Arrives on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-Ray and DVD 12/18 from Universal Pictures.
Enjoy the delightfully thrilling tale of a mysterious house where things, including the inhabitants, are not what they seem to be. The House With a Clock in its Walls arrives on Digital and via the digital movie app MOVIES ANYWHERE on November 27, 2018, as well as on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-rayTM, DVD and On Demand on December 18, 2018. Based on the classic children's book and praised as "creaky, freaky haunted-mansion fun" (LA Times), The House With a Clock in its Walls features over 60 minutes of bonus content including an alternate beginning and ending, stunning featurettes, deleted scenes, a hilarious gag reel, and feature commentary. Enchanting from start to finish, it's the perfect adventure for families during the holidays.
VISIT SONY PICTURES
THE EQUALIZER 2 on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray & DVD 12/11 from Sony Pictures
The digital & Blu-ray releases of THE EQUALIZER 2 are loaded with over an hour of action-packed bonus features, including "Retribution Mode," deleted and extended scenes, The Equalizer 2 pop up trivia track and a behind-the-scenes featurette. "Retribution Mode," the follow-up to The Equalizer's "Vengeance Mode," allows fans to watch the film with Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua as they take fans through the making of their favorite adrenaline-filled action scenes with exclusive in-depth and personal conversations. In the featurette "Denzel as McCall: Round Two," Denzel Washington describes his return as Robert McCall and why this continued story was so important for him to tell.
Red vs Blue: The Shisno Paradox on DVD & Blu-Ray January 1, 2019.
Sixteen seasons in, the series has continued to reinvent itself and find ways to appeal to old and new fans alike, and The Shisno Paradox marks yet another fantastic addition to the Red vs. Blue canon. The home release of Red vs. Blue: The Shisno Paradox is a must-own piece of pop culture for fanboys and fangirls everywhere, and the perfect gift for them this holiday season.
BECOMING ICONIC - JONATHAN BAKER: Hey, You Never Know
ZOMBIE (1979) 3-DISC LIMITED EDITION: Blink, Dammit!
Rest in Peace, Stephen Hillenburg
CRACKDOWN BIG CITY BLUES: Better Late Than Never?
Rest in Peace, Nicholas Roeg
THE MARINE 6 Takes Care of Mizness
1,000,000 VISITS!
THE POOP SCOOP (Nov. 20) - HALLOWEEN & BAD TIMES a...
THE POOP SCOOP (Nov. 19): Noteworthy Upcoming Blu-...
Revisiting THE DEER HUNTER
LUCIFERINA: Bumpin' Uglies with Ol' Scratch
MARY PICKFORD Comes Home
Rest in Peace, William Goldman
THE POOP SCOOP: Noteworthy Upcoming Blu-ray Releases
THE EXORCIST - LIMITED EDITION SOUNDTRACK Brings t...
Rest in Peace, Stan Lee
Rest in Peace, Douglas Rain
THE 7TH DAY is Memorable, Whether You Like It or Not
Can Mike Tyson Save GIRLS VS. GANGSTERS?
MR. CAPRA GOES TO WAR: Yeah...He Did That
THE FOREST OF LOST SOULS: Misery May Not Always Lo...
THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS on Digital 11/...


text:
Q: Que significa esta porcion de codigo en laravel? Observe esta linea de codigo de laravel en internet, sin embargo no se de que forma se interpreta.
La linea es la siguiente:
$oldCart = Session::has('cart') ? Session::get('cart') : null;

Agradecería su explicación.

A: Primera pergunta : que hace este codigo
$oldCart = Session::has('cart') ? Session::get('cart') : null;

el  Session::has('cart') Determinar si existe un elemento en la sesión en este caso cart
Session::get('cart') obtiene el valor de la sesion
Segunda Pregunta : que significa el ? y el : no es mas que un if corto para asignar por lo general se hace de esta forma:
if (Session::has('cart')){
   $oldCart =  Session::get('cart')
}else{
   $oldCart =  null;
}

se lee asi : ? entonces y el : de lo contrario

Es obligado mantener este orden , es decir, primero va el ? y luego
  el  :
Es muy comun verlos en otro lenguajes de programación

A: Usa if en linea u operador ternario para asignar el valor de la variable oldCart. Si se cumple la expresión (condición) antes de "?" regresa el valor entre "?" y ":" de lo contrario, regresa el valor después de ":".

*

*Si la sesión tiene definida cart, dicho valor se asigna a oldCart.

*Si la sesión NO tiene definida cart el valor de oldCart será nulo.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


with the latest business travel news.
Our Connect e-newsletter is delivered straight to your inbox every month and contains the latest industry news, stories, insights, analysis, and innovations to help you and your travellers succeed.
Our articles cover key topics in rail, hotel, technology, distribution, air, expense management, MICE and more. Sign-up today to receive your monthly business travel tips from CWT.
This month, we're sharing the insights into the mysterious technology universe, our Marie Kondo-inspired method to declutter your business travel and how we are #balancingforbetter, and how you can too. Learn more and join the conversation in our latest edition of CWT Connect.
We're bringing you the best of business travel management insights this February with our Top Tips for Travel Buyers Guide, helping you discover how you can upgrade your travel programme. We're also featuring the highlights from the biggest business travel event of the year, and exploring both sides on the debate about the great breakfast conundrum.
As the travel industry starts a new year, some of the challenges still loom large in 2019. Are travel costs set to rise again? How can you get the full picture of your travel expenses? Read on to learn more, or book now to talk to us at the Business Travel Show, February 20 - 21.


This Family Moment Is Brought To You By The Cutest Trio EVER! P.S. The Ending Is Epic!
You seriously may need a doctor after this one, folks. It's so cute (AND FUNNY!) that I seriously forgot to breathe. A kitten, a puppy and a baby have the cutest family photo-op, SUPERVISED of course! Bringing home a new baby, to your furbabies, can be really stressful. Isn't it such a relief when you realize it's going to be pawfectly fine? Just be sure you watch this one all the way through. The ending is a riot!
No matter how many videos I see, or how many articles I read, this type of bonding never gets old. Most animals are smart enough to know that your baby is precious to you, and you're precious to your animals. They get the message loud and clear.
I seriously can't remember a single moment where any of my pets didn't understand this concept. Even when my boys were toddlers and they were not being as gentle as they should be (no worries, these behaviors were stopped immediately!), my animals just walked away. Or ran, the cat definitely ran like a bolt of lightning. But my furbabies NEVER retaliated. They never harbored ill feelings. So please, do not panic bringing your human baby home. Most likely, your new life will look a lot like this video. And or at least be like the ending of this video. LOL!!!


text:
Fuzzboxes
1960s British Invasion fuzz pedals
Friends & Credits
Gary Hurst Tone Bender 'MKI'
1965 Sola Sounds Ltd Tone Bender 'MKI'. (Photo credit: D. Main)
The earliest known surviving examples of the famous Tone Bender fuzz boxes were built with a three-transistor circuit, inspired by Gibson's Maestro Fuzz-Tone, but adapted for a 9 volt power supply. The legend goes that Gary Hurst was tasked with creating a fuzz box that performed better than the comparably raspy and thin-sounding Gibson model.1
Gary Hurst began developing his fuzz box as early as in mid-1964,2 but development was put on hold until April of the following year, after Hurst had returned to London from a period of working for Elka in Italy.3 (Photo credit: D. Main)
Early examples of his Tone Bender were housed in wooden enclosures. By June of 1965, the Tone Bender was being built into its familiar gold-painted, folded steel enclosure, when Jeff Beck was photographed using one for the Yardbirds' performance on Ready Steady Go (in an episode that aired on the 4th of June.)4 By August of that year, the Tone Bender was already being marketed by Macari's Musical Exchange.5 (Photo credit: Gary Hurst)
Metal-bodied Tone Bender 'MKI' fuzz boxes first came with crudely-applied Letraset lettering, which was sometimes coated with clear lacquer to protect it from rubbing away. By late-1965, Macari's Musical Exchange began to market the Tone Bender more professionally, and the 'MKI' featured silk-screened graphics, denoting their 'Sola Sound' brand name. (Photo credit: S. Castledine)
Beat Instrumental ran a promotional competition for the Tone Bender 'MKI' in their September 1965 issue. Of the six pedals that were given away, at least one is known to still survive, and it was recovered in recent years by the Macari family.
Production of the 'MKI' version continued at least into December of 1965,6 but the model would soon be replaced by one that was perhaps cheaper and easier to mass-produce.
1965 Tone Bender 'MKI', pictured together with a modern replica. (Photo credit: S. Castledine)
This particular Tone Bender features the three-transistor 'MKI' circuit, but has been built (or possibly re-built) into one of the earliest known examples of Sola Sound's cast aluminium enclosure.
The long list of groups that used the 'MKI' includes the Beatles, to whom Gary Hurst recalled (in a 2010 interview) delivering two Tone Benders at a rehearsal.7 Photos taken by Robert Whitaker in November of 1965, showing the Beatles (as well as Hurst) with two 'MKI' Tone Benders, corroborate this story.8
The Who were named in the earliest advertisements for the Tone Bender,9 and indeed, Pete Townshend was still using the 'MKI' by July of 1966.10
Mick Ronson described in Melody Maker that Pete Townshend sold a Tone Bender to somebody at some point in the mid-1960s, and that that individual had in turn sold it to Ronson.11 The Rats' bass player corroborated the story, making specific reference to a Tone Bender 'MKI',12 so it is quite likely that the exact Tone Bender that Mick Ronson used with the Rats, and with David Bowie's Spiders from Mars, was one that the Who had performed with, years earlier.
Pictured is Mick Ronson, performing with the Rats in 1968, with a 'grey' JMI/Vox wah-wah, and what may very well be the exact 'MKI' Tone Bender that was formerly owned by Pete Townshend. (Photo credit unknown)
Ronnie Wood was a very early adopter of the Tone Bender. According to Wood's diary, he purchased a fuzz box from Macari's on the 16th of July, 1965.13 The Birds are also named on Gary Hurst's register of early customers, so it's quite likely that Wood used a 'MKI' on the Birds' 1965 single, 'No good without you baby'.
The Spencer Davis group is listed on Gary Hurst's register of early customers, and Steve Winwood was filmed & photographed performing with a 'MKI' on Ready Steady Go! in 1966.14 It was reported, however, in Melody Maker that Winwood's fuzz box was somewhat temperamental,15 and by April 1966, he was using the Tone Bender 'MK1.5'.16
Singer, songwriter & producer 'Big Boy Pete' Miller recalled purchasing his 'MKI' from the Selmer shop on Charing Cross Road. Pete used the fuzz box until 1969, at which point it was discarded after getting too rusty from the climate in the jungles of Thailand.
This pedal was likely used on Big Boy Pete's 1968 single, 'Cold turkey', as well as on the Magic Lanterns' 'Rumpelstiltskin'. (Photo credit: Pete Miller)
The Poets, from Scotland, were pictured using a 'MKI' Tone Bender in early 1966. (Photo credit unknown)
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich were listed on Gary Hurst's register of Tone Bender customers. Tich had already obtained an early Tone Bender by September of 1965, when it was used for the recording of DDDBMT's single, 'You make it move'.17
This pedal was likely also used on the studio recordings for DDDBMT's 'Hold tight', as well as 'Hideaway', in 1966.
The group were filmed in 1966, performing 'Hold tight', for the German 'Beat Club' broadcast. Visible on the floor is Tich's Tone Bender 'MKI'. This pedal was reportedly stolen at a different concert, on a later date.
This relatively late-production 'MKI' originally belonged to an enigmatic guitarist, known simply as 'Bonk', who played with a group called the Diddley Daddies. I'd be grateful to hear from anybody that has any knowledge of 'Bonk' or the group(s) in which he played.
At least one Tone Bender 'MKI' made it over to the Netherlands. The Nederbeat group, 'Het', is listed on Gary Hurst's register of early Tone Bender customers, so it's very likely that Het used a 'MKI' for their 1966 single, 'Kejje nagaan'. Unfortunately there is no known photographic evidence of their pedal in use.
Los Bravos, from Spain, obtained a 'MKI' at some point in the 1960s as well. (Photo credit unknown)
The Tone Bender 'MKI' also found its way to Norway. In the mid-1960s, Pussycats' guitarist Trond Graff took advantage of a regular ferry between Bergen and Newcastle, and brought the fuzz box back to Norway with him.
Before a battery leaked, and the pedal was consigned to the trash, Trond Graff's Tone Bender fuzz box was used on the Pussycats' 1966 single, 'Purdy patsy'.
Pictured are the Pussycats during a performance on the 1st of May, 1966, with the Tone Bender 'MKI' visible in front of guitarist, Trond Graff. (Pussycats photo by Ukjent / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
At least one other Tone Bender 'MKI' ended up in Norway, where it was used by Terje Rypdal (and Sveinung Hovensjø) in the 1970s. (Photo credit unknown)
Gary Hurst's early Tone Bender even made it to Australia. The Rondells, famously Bobby & Laurie's backing group, obtained a 'MKI' from Terry Britten of the Twilights, who in turn had brought it over to Australia from England.18
The Rondells' fuzz box was used on Bobby & Laurie's 1966 single, 'Hitch hiker', and the group were also photographed performing with their pedal. (Photo credit unknown)
Terry Britten, photographed performing live in Australia with the Twilights, in late 1967. Visible is a Tone Bender 'MKI', as well as a JMI/Vox wah-wah (which corroborates the date of the photo). The date of this photo creates an inconsistency with the fact that the Rondells had supposedly already recorded 'Hitch hiker' with this exact pedal in the previous year. The reason for this inconsistency is still unclear. (Photo credit: Robert Davies)
This late-production 'MKI' resurfaced in Australia, in mid-2021. Its provenance sadly remains unknown.
Thanks to D. Main, S. Castledine, P. Johnston, G. Green, T. Graff, P. Miller & Gary Hurst
Guitarist, "Bend it like Beck can", November 2009, p. 62
Beat Instrumental, September 1965, p. 30
Tony Gale, June 1965, Yardbirds on Ready Steady Go [https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-yardbirds-on-ready-steady-go-june-1965-from-l-chris-dreja-jim-mccarty-29460384.html]
Original logbooks held by the Macari's archive reveal that Gary Hurst was still being paid for Tone Benders in December 1965
Shinko Music Mook, The Effector Book, vol. 7, 2010
Robert Whitaker, November 1965, Beatles at the Donmar [https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/paul-mccartney-is-pictured-at-the-donmar-rehearsal-theatre-news-photo/554329921]
Pictorial Press, 30th July 1966, Pete Townshend smashes his guitar & amp at Windsor Jazz & Blues Festival [https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-the-who-pete-townshend-smashes-his-guitar-amp-at-windsor-jazz-blues-25781142.html]
Melody Maker, 9th June 1973
Keith 'Ched' Cheesman, interviewed in 2007 for Whotabs [https://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/tonebender.html]
Wood, Ronnie, How can it be? A rock & rock diary, Genesis Publications, 2015
Reelin' in the years, Spencer Davis Group RSG 1966 [https://photos.reelinintheyears.com/storage/uploads/RITY-MH-000679%20Spencer%20Davis%20Group%20RSG%201966.jpg]
Melody Maker, 15th January 1966, p. 4
Tête de bois et tendres années, 27th April 1966, Le Spencer Davis Group "Keep on running [https://www.ina.fr/video/I07146761/le-spencer-davis-group-keep-on-running-video.html]
https://web.archive.org/web/20161111134502/http://davedeedozybeakymickandtich.nl/september-1965/
Hunt, R. & Nankervis, B. (Host), 17th August 2018, Bobby Bright, Back Story: Bobby and Laurie Bring the Fuzz on Hitchhiker, ABC Radio Melbourne [https://www.abc.net.au/radio/melbourne/programs/thefridayrevue/bobby-laurie-hitchhiker-back-story/10133418]
Rangemaster Fuzzbug
John Hornby Skewes Zonk II
Required fields are marked with an asterisk (*). Your email address will be kept strictly private.


text:
Southern Gothic: Down By Law (1986)
Have you ever known guys like Zack and Jack? Or even BEEN those guys? I bet, if you've been a male in his 20's, you've been there. Because when you try to be hard and dispassionate, like James Dean or Steve McQueen -- which every guys tries to pull off at some point -- you end up being Zack and Jack -- a smirking, idle, ultimately unconvincing klutz who wants to be in control despite the fact that you don't know how to dress or feed yourself.
These hapless mooks are the driving force of Down By Law, a down-and-out indie prison break buddy film from Jim Jarmusch. It would fit more into a comedy than a "Southern Gothic" slot, except for the fact that it treats New Orleans and the Louisiana bayou with grungy sentimentality and discontent. The film is both sparse and humane; it finds freedom in the hopelessness of the rural Southern landscape.
If Zack and Jack are the wheels and the undercarriage of the plot, Roberto is the driver. He appears after everything has been set in motion, and he distinguishes himself from his new friends in almost every important way: he's not jaded, he's competent, he's not running from anything or reaching out for happiness beyond his own life, and he's absolutely earnest. He wins the trust of pretty much everyone he meets, starting with Zack and Jack and his audience.
Like the previous movies discussed in this series (Sling Blade and Winter's Bone), Down By Law turns away from its subject at a pivotal moment: the moment of escape. This is a notable departure from other prison break movies, which tend to focus overly-much on the mechanics of the break-out. Just like with the murders, this film is about what leads up to that escape, and what happens after... the context and the consequences, especially as it relates to the lives of these three guys wandering out into the wilderness.
Jim Jarmusch is mercifully aware that life isn't in the events, the big decisions and acts of courage -- life is in the interstitial moments, in those bunk beds that Zack and Jack find themselves returning to, first in the prison cell and then in the empty shack out in the bayou. Roberto is aware of this, as well, and he turns the mundane into the beautiful at every opportunity, relishing the chance to play cards, to cook, to dance on a kitchen floor.
It's Zack and Jack, the perennial blockheads, who try to make their lives into a series of landmarks and dramatic changes of fortune. Zack thinks he can score big by taking up a driving assignment; Jack follows a tip to find a potential working girl in a hotel room. They start fights over stupid things, apparently trying to create drama where none needs be. Through Roberto's lazy triumphs, one after another, the universe seems to be screaming to Z&J, "Stop trying so hard!"
Roberto, by contrast, is a sort of case study in the power of zen. He's never in a rush to make something happen... he befriends his cellmates through incorrigible persistence, and he tells them, almost in an offhand way, that's he's worked out a way to escape from the New Orleans prison. He doesn't get involved Z&J's squabbles; he accepts those responsibilities that fall naturally to him, like catching and cooking a rabbit as they travel through the bayou. He also accepts the task of entering the little restaurant on the road, and the universe rewards him with a kindred spirit. It's gratifying that his ending is a happy one, even if it's tangent to the clumsy forward-facing inertia of the two main characters.
And of course those two main characters end the movie the same way they began it: on a quest for complication, a collision course with more drama and more unresolvable situations. When they part ways, each of them repeats his implicit promise to keep trying too hard, to keep wandering blind and stupid through the wilderness of the world, unable to embrace the contentment that follows friendship and loyalty. Now that they have left prison and Roberto and one another behind, they will continue down their chosen path into eternity.
Posted by Jesse M at 11:00 AM
Labels: down by law, genre, jim jarmusch, movie criticism, old movies, Southern Gothic, tom waits
Thoughts on Occupy Wall Street, in the middle of i...
Southern Gothic: Night of the Hunter (1955)
Southern Gothic: Winter's Bone (2010)
Southern Gothic: Sling Blade (1996)
Speculative Realism: Children of Men (2006) and Ne...


For today's #MCFridayTreat giveaway we've teamed up with Kiehl's Since 1851 to give away a fabulous beauty prize to fourteen of our lucky readers, yes REALLY.
If your skin is in need of some recovery before autumn rolls in then this is your chance to give it the boost it needs.
Kiehl's Since 1851 is giving fourteen of our readers the chance to win one of their moist iconic products – their Midnight Recovery Concentrate.
Worth £36, this cult product (if you didn't know it has already sold over 1 million bottles) helps to repair skin overnight – so you can let it do all the hard work whilst you catch up on your beauty sleep.
We all know that skin needs to regenerate, recover and replenish what it has lost as a result of daily pollution and this product is the one you've been waiting for it – who doesn't want younger looking skin by morning?
It's packed full of essential and botanical oils which work to restore visible skin radiance, smooth the feel of your skin, and protect against the daily pollution levels which have been attacking the skin.
If you love the sound of the Midnight Recovery Concentrate as much as we do, make sure you head over to Twitter today (all the entry details are below) for your chance to add this must-have product to your skincare regime.
To enter all you have to do is follow @marieclaireuk on Twitter and retweet the #MCFridayTreat tweet, good luck! The competition ends at midnight on Friday 25th September and the winners will be picked at random. UK addresses only. Products may differ to those pictured.