Introduction: A Masterpiece Through the Ages

The iconic “Along the River During the Qingming Festival” (Qingming Shanghe Tu) by Northern Song artist Zhang Zeduan spawned numerous copies and adaptations across dynasties, creating a unique artistic tradition. Among the surviving versions, three stand out: Zhang Zeduan’s original (displayed at Beijing’s Palace Museum in 2015), Ming dynasty painter Qiu Ying’s version (housed in Liaoning Provincial Museum), and the Qing court version by five imperial painters (now in Taipei’s National Palace Museum). Though sharing the same title, these works reflect vastly different urban realities—Zhang’s Northern Song capital Kaifeng, Qiu’s late Ming Suzhou, and the Qing artists’ Beijing—revealing profound shifts in Chinese urban governance across eras.

City Walls and Social Control: From Openness to Fortification

### Zhang Zeduan’s Undefended Kaifeng

Zhang’s 12th-century scroll presents a striking anomaly—a completely unguarded city gate. The crumbling walls lack defensive structures, with only a tax office monitoring incoming merchants. A loiterer casually observes street life from the gate tower, embodying the city’s relaxed atmosphere. This aligns with Northern Song official Fan Zuyu’s philosophy that true security lay not in fortifications but in virtuous governance and popular support.

### Ming and Qing Fortresses

Qiu Ying’s 16th-century rendition transforms gates into formidable complexes: towering walls with arrow slits, double gates with barbicans, and prominently displayed weapons. Guards scrutinize travelers under signs reading “Secure the City” and “Interrogate Spies.” The Qing version amplifies this militarization with even more imposing architecture. These changes reflect Ming-Qing security policies like the “travel permit system” (luyin), where citizens needed official documentation to leave their home districts—a stark contrast to Song mobility.

The Economics of Urban Space: Tax Collection vs. Security

Northern Song gates prioritized commerce, housing tax offices that contributed to the dynasty’s unprecedented fiscal structure—by the 11th century, commercial taxes constituted 70% of revenue. Ming-Qing gates reversed this priority, replacing tax stations with armed checkpoints. This shift mirrors China’s broader economic regression; only in the late 19th century would commercial taxes regain Song-era prominence.

Street Barriers and Nightlife: The Disappearing Urban Commons

### The Missing Gates of Kaifeng

Scholar Liu Diyu’s comparative research highlights a telling absence—Zhang’s painting shows no street barriers, while Ming-Qing versions feature ubiquitous locked iron gates (zhala). These enforced strict curfews from 8:10 PM until dawn, with violators facing corporal punishment. Qing Beijing maintained over 1,700 such barriers, leaving toponyms like “Dashilanr” (Great Barrier) in modern Beijing.

### Song Nocturnal Vitality

Zhang’s scroll subtly reveals Kaifeng’s vibrant nights through “red gauze gardenia lanterns” and illuminated advertising signs outside taverns—devices unnecessary under curfews. Texts like “The Eastern Capital: A Dream of Splendor” confirm all-night markets where “singing girls gathered like celestial beings.” This openness collapsed under Yuan dynasty curfews, which Ming and Qing perpetuated, creating silent, darkened cities.

Social Welfare and Urban Marginality

### Visible Poverty in Song Realism

Zhang unflinchingly depicts a beggar—an elderly woman soliciting coins on a bridge—reflecting Song policies that acknowledged urban poverty. Seasonal welfare systems like the “Winter Aid for Beggars” (1077) and “Shelter Housing Law” (1098) provided grain and housing nationwide, accepting migrants without residency verification.

### Ming Erasures and Qing Reappearances

Qiu’s meticulous street scenes omit beggars entirely, consistent with Ming founder Zhu Yuanzhang’s residence-based relief system that criminalized vagrancy. Ironically, the Qing court version reintroduces beggars—three kneeling figures—possibly because, as Japanese scholar Fuji Hiroshi suggests, the painting’s “historical” setting distanced it from contemporary criticism. By Qianlong’s reign, some localities had resumed Song-style non-residency-based aid.

Royal Spaces and Public Access

### The Lost Garden of Kaifeng

Zhang’s scroll famously ends abruptly before reaching Kaifeng’s pleasure grounds, while later versions elaborate on the imperial garden Jinming Pool. These Ming-Qing interpretations show walled compounds hosting exclusive boat races—a far cry from historical accounts describing Song emperors opening Jinming Pool annually for public festivals where “visitors doubled when the imperial barge appeared.”

Conclusion: The Song Exception in Chinese Urban History

Through these paintings’ divergences emerges a remarkable truth: Northern Song cities were uniquely open, commercially vibrant, and socially tolerant within imperial China’s long history. The later versions’ fortified gates, curfew barriers, and exclusionary royal spaces reflect a post-Yuan regression to control-oriented urbanism. Modern readers might find Zhang’s Kaifeng—with its tax collectors replacing armed guards, all-night eateries, and public parks—strangely familiar, even contemporary. In this light, the Song dynasty appears not as a traditional Chinese regime, but as a fascinating detour in urban development—one whose legacy still resonates in debates about city life today.