Abstract

In the 21st year of the Shaoxing reign period of the Southern Song
Dynasty (1151 CE), Zhang Jun presented an imperial banquet to the
Gaozong Emperor, which was recorded by Zhou Mi (周密, 1232-1298 CE)
in his book called Old Stories of Wulin (武林舊事). The title of the section
is ‘A Brief Account of Gaozong’s Visit to the Zhang Mansion’ (高宗幸張
府節次略).
In fact, this is not a recondite historical account, and it has been
mentioned by researchers in the past. However, previous academic
interpretations of this text have left room for further analysis and
discussion. Researchers either regard it as a text for reviewing the list of
dishes or as an example of how luxurious the formal banquets in the Song
Dynasty were. The present article suggests that even if the text itself, at
first glance, contains only some names of dishes, tributes and the list of officials attending the banquet, maybe that is why historians thought there
was not much to say about it. However, through re-examination and
analysis, it iss possible to bring new life to old historical materials.
The fact that a meal was recorded is noteworthy in itself. This article
holds that the banquet was intended as a display of power. Everyone
involved expressed their political views through a series of activities
occurring there. During the banquet, the senior general, who was also the
host of the banquet, expressed his loyalty to the emperor and the prime
minister, hoping they would be able to maintain their favorable
relationship with him. The emperor and his relatives reaffirmed the
sharing of power with the prime minister, which the prime minister
showed to his adherents with pride and arrogance.
As for the people outside the banquet, they were the objects of the
dynasty’s political propaganda. In various performances presented by the
officials, the message they were conveying was that, after a long and
devastating war, sovereign authority had been restored.
Keywords: Song Dynasty, Southern Song Dynasty, Hangzhou, history of
food, Zhang Jun