Memories of K'ai-feng

Abstract

K 'AI-FENG, THE CAPITAL of the Northern Sung, was probably the greatest city in the world just before the Jurchen warriors captured it in 1127. With a population of one million, it was rivaled only by Constantinople, which had already passed its prime. The two great cities had much in common. Each was the capital of an extensive empire, the seat of the most advanced civilization in its own sphere. Art and higher education flourished in both capitals. Each was a cosmopolitan trade center, engaged in the consumption and shipping of exotic and luxury goods. Both fell to alien conquerors who emerged from the vast Asian steppe, having assimilated enough resources of civilization to make their nomadic ferocity all the more overpowering. Both were to suffer repeated ravages of war and periodic depopulation. The two cities, however, differ very much in their afterlives, or rather in the way their glories have been remembered by posterity. For our purpose this difference is most instructive. Istanbul today is filled with visual reminders of the splendor of Constantinople. No visitor can fail to be impressed by the ancient monuments such as Hagia Sophia, the church of Saint Irene, the hippodrome, not to mention the remains of Byzantine walls, ramparts, and fortresses. It is just the opposite with K'ai-feng. Hardly anything from the Sung period can be seen today. Historians point to the site of the Sung palace, but no buildings from that period have survived. Geography may have made K'ai-feng extremely vulnerable-the city has been inundated several times by the Yellow River since 1600, but all Chinese cities seem perishable. Tourists in China today, of course, will see teeming streets and lively markets everywhere, but if they look closely they will find that very few of the buildings go back more than