Answered by China the Kid from Canada | Mar. 03, 2013 20:10
The Song dynasty was constructed in the aftermath of the Tang dynasty, which had believed in Buddhism, as a result, the fall of the Tang was attributed to the rise of Buddhism, thus the Song government decided to wipe out Buddhism (a foreign religion) and bring back the old "pure Chinese" thought, Confucianism. Because the ancient Confucian texts were centered around the ideas of Han dynasty, the texts had to be "updated" to be of use in Song, almost a thousand years after Han, this new branch of Confucianism was known, unsurprisingly, as Neo-Confucianism.
As for civil service, that's almost everything Confucianism focuses on, Li is "the right way to conduct rituals" and not just religious ritualss either, from dealings between ruler and subject to day-to-day activities, everything that can be done (and is just) is considered a ritual. Ren is "the goodness and benevolence inside men that are needed to properly carry out Li", in other words, a person had to be good for the rituals to work, otherwise it'll be more of an act than sincerely doing what you're suppose to do. Confucians believed that power lies in one's ability to convince others of what is right through verbal, and not physical, means, so the military is looked down upon. Song, following this way of thinking, made the military exceedingly weak and instead concentrated its energies on its government bureaucracy. The Song can be said to be the weakest of the Chinese dynasties in terms of its military, yet the strongest in terms of government supremacy and stability.
Hopefully that answered your question!