“Hearing” the Capital: Depictions of Dongjing’s Keynote Soundscape in Northern Song Literature

Abstract

Although there are numerous research findings on Dongjing, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, little attention has been paid to its sonic environment. From the perspective of soundscape, we can discern the interrelationships between sounds, environment, and human beings. In the descriptions of Dongjing’s natural sounds in Northern Song literature, the most prominent keynote sounds are the warbling of orioles and the chirping of cicadas. The warbling of orioles endowed the capital with a sense of beauty and peace, with Ouyang Xiu’s 欧阳修 portrayal of the oriole sounds in Dongjing being particularly noteworthy. Meanwhile, the chirping of cicadas gave rise to a polyphonic soundscape of the capital. The sounds of orioles and cicadas are directly connected with the capital and imperial power in Northern Song literature. Through layered texts and intertextual references, the warbling of orioles and the chirping of cicadas become markers of daily life in Dongjing, symbols of the capital’s environment, and catalysts for the authors’ emotions. These pervasive sounds create a sense of space through their extensibility. The depictions of Dongjing’s keynote soundscape in Northern Song literature have enabled readers from the Song Dynasty to the present day to “hear” the capital. To gain a comprehensive understanding of the world and ourselves, it is necessary to delve deeply into the soundscapes present in literature.

Keywords

Northern Song literature / Dongjing / keynote soundscape / warbling of orioles / chirping of cicadas

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Higher Education Press