Book contents
- Structures of Governance in Song Dynasty China, 960–1279 CE
- Structures of Governance in Song Dynasty China, 960–1279 CE
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Notes on the Cover and on the Text
- Introduction
- Part I Dual Faces of the Song State
- 1 Gentlemen versus Petty Men
- 2 Virtue versus Talent
- 3 Inner versus Outer: The Politics of Political Space
- 4 Collective versus Unilateral Decision Making
- 5 The Technocratic–Confucian Continuum
- Part II The Technocratic and Confucian Models of Governance
- Part III Interactions
- Appendix of Senior Administration Positions, 1162–1182
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - Inner versus Outer: The Politics of Political Space
from Part I - Dual Faces of the Song State
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 March 2023
- Structures of Governance in Song Dynasty China, 960–1279 CE
- Structures of Governance in Song Dynasty China, 960–1279 CE
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Notes on the Cover and on the Text
- Introduction
- Part I Dual Faces of the Song State
- 1 Gentlemen versus Petty Men
- 2 Virtue versus Talent
- 3 Inner versus Outer: The Politics of Political Space
- 4 Collective versus Unilateral Decision Making
- 5 The Technocratic–Confucian Continuum
- Part II The Technocratic and Confucian Models of Governance
- Part III Interactions
- Appendix of Senior Administration Positions, 1162–1182
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Chapter 3, “Inner versus Outer – The Politics of Political Space,” reviews the spatial dynamics of the Song court that are reflected in the conceptual and spatial dichotomy between inner and outer (nei/wai 內/外) and posits the inner and outer courts as competing and separate political and administrative centers of imperial technocratic versus Confucian institutionalist governance. Most critical was the intermediate, overlapping space where the emperor served as the sanctioned conduit between these two administrative spheres of Song governance. This chapter counters the contention that “the Song had no inner court,” which is itself merely a modern extension of the rhetorical claim that the Song monarchs succeeded in curtailing the political reach of the affinal kinsmen, female bureaucrats, and eunuchs who administered the mechanics and politics of the inner court. On the contrary, this chapter concludes that over the course of the dynasty court administration shifted progressively away from outer towards the imperial palace’s inner space and thus accorded more control over vital governmental functions to the non-literati operatives of the inner court.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023