The Song dynasty is divided into Northern Song (北宋, Běi Sòng, 960-1127) and Southern Song (南宋, Nán Sòng, 1127-1279). It was an era of great technological innovation including movable type printing, gunpowder weapons, and the magnetic compass.
usage
As a surname, 宋 is among the top 25 most common Chinese surnames. Famous bearers include Song Qingling (宋庆龄), wife of Sun Yat-sen.
Top roof radical — pictograph of a peaked house with eaves on each side. The indexing radical here, framing 宋 as a place of habitation. The radical sits over countless house-and-home chars: 家 home, 宫 palace, 室 room, 安 peaceful — and over 宋 specifically as a settled dwelling.
Lower 木 — pictograph of a tree with branches above and roots below. Under the roof it gives the compound ideograph picture: a wooden shelter, or a person settled in a forest clearing. The character was repurposed as a surname and then as the Song dynasty name (960–1279), one of China's great cultural high points.
