Student Activism and Channels of Political Communication in 1126

Abstract

How did students at the Imperial University (taixue 太學) in the late Northern Song comment on politics in response to political crises caused by the Jurchen invasion and what enabled them to do so? Through a comparison of 14 memorials submitted by university students and personnel to Emperor Qinzong, this paper examines the ways in which students submitted their petitions, the responsiveness of the court towards their appeals, students’ political sensitivities as well as the channels by which they accessed political information. A close examination of the memorials reveals that students were highly responsive to the rapidly changing political circumstances. Such responsiveness, I would argue, owes much to the presence of different communication channels that facilitated the circulation of political information within literati circles.