The open and pluralistic sociocultural environment of the Song Dynasty provided urban citizens with diverse leisure practices within their daily lives and public spaces. The continuous improvement of leisure venues and leisure consumption markets elevated Song-era leisure culture to an unprecedented height in Chinese history. This leisure culture exhibited characteristics of “carnivalization” and “commercialization”, marking a comprehensive transformation from elitist and aristocratic to popular, secular, and mass-oriented forms. Concurrently, genre paintings—key visual records of Song Dynasty social life, including leisure activities—experienced significant development, expanding their subjects to encompass various aspects of urban and commoner life. These paintings serve not only as crucial historical sources for examining social interactions across classes but also as vital media for investigating the interplay between literati and popular urban cultures. The leisure aesthetics depicted in these genre paintings reflect the Song people’s pursuit of everyday life aesthetics, signify the secularization of Song leisure culture, and embody underlying humanistic values.