Lesson 9: Economic Development of the Song Dynasty（844words）

Development of agriculture

Since the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the social and economic development of Jiangnan gradually began. From the middle and late Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, there were fewer wars in the south and a large number of people from the north moved south, bringing with them advanced production techniques and accelerating the development of agriculture in the south, which gradually surpassed that of the north. Since the Song Dynasty, economic development further expanded to the southwest west of the Xiangjiang River, and the areas of Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong were greatly developed.

During the two Song dynasties, agriculture gained unprecedented development as the population increased, the area of reclaimed fields expanded, and farming techniques improved. The area of rice cultivation in the south grew rapidly, and the Chamshung rice, which was introduced from Vietnam, matured early and had strong drought resistance, and was spread to the southeast in the Northern Song Dynasty. Southern farmers also cultivated many excellent varieties, thus greatly increasing the yield of rice. Due to the vigorous promotion of the Song dynasty court, rice in the south was also widely promoted in the north. During the Song Dynasty, rice production jumped to the top of grain crops. At that time, the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Taihu Lake basin became a bountiful granary, and the proverb "Suhu is ripe, the world is sufficient" or "Suchang is ripe, the world is sufficient" emerged.

Song Dynasty cash crops, there was a great development in the south. Tea trees were commonly planted throughout the South, and the tea-producing states and counties have increased the force of the mouth than before. From the Northern Song Dynasty to the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty, cotton planting areas were still limited to Guangdong and Fujian; by the late Southern Song Dynasty, cotton planting areas have been pushed north to Jianghuai and Sichuan and Shu.

The flourishing of handicraft industry

During the two Song dynasties, the handicraft industry in the south was very prosperous, and the achievements of textile industry, porcelain industry and shipbuilding industry were particularly outstanding.

In the Northern Song Dynasty, the silk weaving industry in the south was better than that in the north. Silk weaving was developed in Sichuan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. In the late Southern Song Dynasty, the cotton textile industry emerged, and Hainan Island had more advanced cotton textile tools and more types of cotton textiles.

The Song Dynasty was a glorious era in the history of Chinese porcelain development. Ding kiln in Hebei, Henan Ru kiln and other places to produce porcelain, giving people a chic sense of beauty. Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, which emerged in the Northern Song Dynasty, later developed into a famous porcelain capital. Southern Song Dynasty, the southern region has become the center of China's porcelain industry.

Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Mingzhou shipbuilding industry, are very high level, in the world at that time in the leading position. The world's earliest shipyard was built on the outskirts of Tokyo in the Northern Song Dynasty. The sea ships made in the coastal areas of the Southern Song Dynasty were not only grand in scale and scientific in design, but also installed advanced compasses.

Prosperity of commerce and trade

The prosperity of commerce in Song Dynasty exceeded that of the previous generations. At that time, many commercial markets sprang up along the Yellow River and Yangtze River. The biggest ones were Kaifeng and Hangzhou, with a population of one million. As the population of the cities grew, commerce became more and more prosperous, and the number of stores in the cities increased, and stores could be opened everywhere in the streets and lanes. The commercial activities of the cities also radiated to the towns and villages, forming new commercial areas called cao markets; the towns between the cities and the villages also developed into important commercial trading areas. At that time, the market was full of all kinds of commodities and merchants were constantly moving around. It was a busy scene.

The overseas trade of the Song Dynasty also surpassed that of the previous generation and became an important country in the world engaged in overseas trade at that time. Guangzhou and Quanzhou were world-famous as major merchant ports. Chinese merchant ships were traced as far as Korea and Japan and as far as the Arabian Peninsula and the east coast of Africa. The imperial court encouraged overseas trade and set up the Department of Hublot in the main ports to manage it. The foreign trade revenue of the Southern Song Dynasty took up an important position in the financial revenue.

The prosperity of commerce also promoted the growth of monetary transactions, but for a long time the market was circulated with metal money, which was inconvenient to carry. In the early part of the Northern Song Dynasty, "jiaozi" appeared in Sichuan, which was the earliest paper money in the world. In the Southern Song Dynasty, paper money developed into a currency parallel to copper coins.（844words）