Song Qi (; 998–1061),
courtesy name
A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China
China, officially the People's R ...
Zijing (子京), was a Chinese essayist, historian, politician, and poet of the
Northern Song dynasty
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a ...
.
Imperial advisor
Song was a Grand Councilor in the Imperial Chinese court. In this role, he was called to become a military analyst:
:"The reason why our enemies to the north and west are able to withstand China is precisely because they have many horses and their men are adept at riding; this is their strength. China has few horses, and its men are not accustomed to riding; this is China's weakness.... The court constantly tries, with our weakness, to oppose our enemies' strength, so that we lose every battle .... Those who propose remedies for this situation merely wish to increase our armed forces in order to overwhelm the enemy. They do not realize that, without horses, we can never create an effective military force."
While China had many men in Chinese cavalry, very few of them actually had horses to ride; and if they did actually have a horse, they did not ride well. In stark contrast, the military forces arising from Inner Asia had many horses and the men had excellent riding skills.
Historian
As an historian and writer, Song is best known for his work as co-author of
''New History of the Tang Dynasty'' (). This work was created in collaboration with
Ouyang Xiu
Ouyang Xiu (; 1007 – 1072 CE), courtesy name Yongshu, also known by his art names Zuiweng () and Liu Yi Jushi (), was a Chinese historian, calligrapher, epigrapher, essayist, poet, and politician of the Song dynasty. He was a renowned writer ...
;
[Boyd, Kelly. (1999). ] and it was officially presented to the emperor in 1060.
See also
*
Twenty-Four Histories
The ''Twenty-Four Histories'' (), also known as the ''Orthodox Histories'' (), are the Chinese official dynastic histories covering from the earliest dynasty in 3000 BC to the Ming dynasty in the 17th century.
The Han dynasty official Sima Qi ...
References
Citations
Sources
* Creel, Herlee Glessner. (1982). "The Role of the Horse in Chinese History,
''What is Taoism?, and other studies in Chinese cultural history.''Chicago : University of Chicago Press.
OCLC 221400450
* Boyd, Kelly. (1999)
''Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing.''London: Fitzroy Dearborn.
OCLC 40991180
* Hon, Tze-Ki. (2005)
''The Yijing and Chinese Politics: Classical Commentary and Literati Activism in the Northern Song Period, 960-1127.''Albany:
State University of New York Press
The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led ...
.
OCLC 237994251
{{DEFAULTSORT:Song, Qi
998 births
1061 deaths
11th-century Chinese historians
11th-century Chinese poets
Historians from Henan
Song dynasty essayists
Song dynasty historians
Song dynasty poets
Song dynasty politicians from Henan
Poets from Henan
Politicians from Kaifeng
Writers from Kaifeng