Features of Dongjing's Commercial Space in the Northern Song Dynasty: An Interpretation Based on Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival

With an analysis on the city image presented by the painting of Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival, as well as other relevant documents, this paper explores the factors that caused the market system reform in the Northern Song Dynasty. It also explores the features of Dongjing, the capital city’s commercial space prompted by the reform, revealing that the growth of urban population, the rise of its commercial status and the emergence of citizen class were the essential factors contributing to the market system reform. It concludes that Dongjing’s commercial space shows the following characteristics: developing in a linear form, gradually forming a commercial network system by integrating various shops, markets, and warehouses, expanding to the Outer City to combine the prosperous grassroots markets, and hosting commercial activities with longer business time.