Chapter 11 Chapter Four: The New Stage and the New Look——Commerce in the Song and Yuan Dynasties

The establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127 A.D.) ended the division of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. There was still Liao in the north and Xixia in the northwest. The war or mutual market was uncertain, and the whole country was not completely unified.However, China has remained relatively stable for more than 100 years. The main factors of productivity—the increase in labor force and the continuous accumulation of production experience—increased the output of industrial and agricultural products.In the early Song Dynasty, the number of self-cultivating farmers increased, and the feudal dependence of tenant farmers weakened (most of them were contractual leasehold relationships, which were different from the dependent tenants in the Tang Dynasty; the tenant farmers in the Song Dynasty did not pay household tax, which was also different from the two-tax law in the late Tang Dynasty. Regulations are different), "harmonious employment" and "recruitment" are commonly used in official handicraft industries, and the feudal shackles of handicraft workers have also been relaxed.All of these are conducive to improving labor enthusiasm and enabling the social economy to develop to a certain extent within the framework of the feudal system.The development of commerce presupposes the development of production.With the rapid development of the economy in the south (the number of households in the south was more than twice as large as that in the north in Yuanfeng), and the gradual completion of the southward shift of the economic center of gravity, the commercial prosperity in the south has caught up with or even surpassed that in the north. The historic shift of the center of gravity to the south has been realized.At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the population increased to more than 120 million, and the cultivated land was nearly 500 million mu (divided into mu), which was twice the highest level in the Han and Tang Dynasties. The expansion of the scale of commodity circulation can be imagined.There is also a certain basis for saying that business has developed to a new stage in terms of the number of commodities.

The development of agricultural production, coupled with the monetization of taxation—the tax money for households in the two taxes, Wang Anshi’s reform and the implementation of money instead of labor (exemption money), greatly improved the commercialization of agricultural products compared to the past.The production and sales of tea surpassed that of the Tang Dynasty. The circulation of southeast tea and Sichuan tea reached more than 50 million catties. There are 44 commercial cities and road maps in Song, Liao, and Xixia tea producing states, and there are no less than dozens of famous teas.Planting mulberry and raising silkworms has become a profession in some areas.Sugar cane was also widely used as raw material for sugar production, and it was no longer just a treasure to reward meritorious officials like in the late Tang Dynasty.The output of other handicraft raw materials such as hemp, bamboo, wood, lacquer, indigo, safflower, etc. has also increased compared with the past.There are many varieties of fruits, and a commodity production base for oranges and lychees has been formed in Fujian and Guangzhou.Commercial agriculture promoted the expansion of economic crops, which was an important reason for the development of commerce in the Northern Song Dynasty.In terms of handicraft industry, the scale and variety of production in the Northern Song Dynasty surpassed that of the past.The output of iron increased three times than that of Tang Dynasty.In the silk weaving industry, in the past, workshops only produced high-end products such as silk brocade, and ordinary cotton and silk were made by farmers. In the Northern Song Dynasty, there were more "machine households" buying silk and weaving silk in the city, and the degree of commercialization of the silk weaving industry increased. It is not limited to semi-self-sufficient sideline farming combined with weaving and weaving.The porcelain industry has a high level of art. Henan kilns (celadon porcelain from official kilns, Ru kilns, and red glaze porcelain from Jun kilns) have flourished in Hebei (white porcelain from Ding kilns), and blue and white porcelain from Jingdezhen has begun to "travel overseas". .The development of the imperial examination system and the academy system contributed to the prosperity of the printing industry (the invention of movable type).Other general daily necessities, such as leather, weaving, bamboo and rattan utensils, lacquerware, pens, inkstones and other cultural products, have also been further developed on the basis of the past.This provided developing businesses with another important source of product from the city.

The development of commerce in the Northern Song Dynasty was manifested in the government's emphasis on commercial profits and the huge growth of commercial income. The Northern Song Dynasty inherited the tradition of tax collection in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, and set up a wide range of taxes, collecting 2% of the tax (that is, the customs tax in the past) and 3% of the residence tax (that is, the city tax in the past).During Renzong’s reign, the total income from urban and rural commercial taxes was 19.75 million guan (thousands of money is guan, the Song Dynasty used “Shengmo”, and the statutory 77 renminbi was used as 100 renminbi, the figure comes from Zhang Fangping’s "Complete Works of Music" Volume 24 "On the National Plan" ).In addition, the income from wine tax and wine sales is 17.1 million guan (calculated by Zhang Fangping); the income from tea sales is 649,000 guan (excluding the non-commercial income and the tea tax paid by garden households - 440,000 guan, calculated from the figures in "Mengxi Bi Tan") ; The income from selling salt held by the central government is 7.15 million guan (excluding the income from selling salt by local officials, the figure also comes from Zhang Fangping).In addition, the income from foreign trade is more than 530,000 yuan a year.The total of the five items amounted to more than 46 million guan, and the revenue from commerce accounted for more than 1/3 of the entire central fiscal revenue (including currency and real objects).Currency (money) income is basically dependent on commercial provision.In the Tang Dynasty (Xuanzong Dazhong), the annual income from wine sales was only 820,000 guan, the salt profit was 2.78 million guan, and the tea tax was only nearly one million guan; .The large increase in the amount of tax collection in the Song Dynasty was undoubtedly caused by the development of commerce.

Because of the development of commerce and the expansion of market capacity, although the number of coins minted in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty was more than ten times that of the Tang Dynasty, the copper coins were not enough. Some areas used iron coins (cheaper than copper coins), silver (called "collars", that is, silver bars ) also entered circulation more and more as a means of payment; later, Jiaozi, the world's earliest banknote, was also created. At the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, commercial taxes were levied in a regular manner, and fine items were exempted from tax; sometimes tax reduction orders were issued, which can be regarded as the implementation of the "shirt merchant" policy for a while.But when Cai Jing came to power at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, business taxes became more and more stringent, and the people in the mountainous areas "rely on the market, lacquer, mulberry, bamboo, and fungus, and they learned all kinds of science, and there were no leftovers" (Fang La uprising).The monopoly system of salt, wine, and tea, which was passable before, has become a tool in the hands of Cai Jing to intensify his efforts to collect money, and the harsh taxation of merchants has intensified. The result, of course, is to affect the normal development of commerce.Soon, the Jin people went south, and this decadent regime had to collapse.

The Jin people broke through Song Jing and Bianliang, and occupied most of the territory of northern China. The Song Dynasty went south to Lin'an (Hangzhou) to establish a Pian'an regime - the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279 A.D.).In one and a half centuries, relying on the hard work of the laborers, the production in the south continued to advance, and the commerce also developed further than in the Northern Song Dynasty.However, the rulers of the Southern Song Dynasty took the opportunity to increase exploitation, which in turn hindered the continued development of social productivity and commodity economy.The ruling area of ​​the Southern Song Dynasty was only 2/3 of that of the Northern Song Dynasty, but the financial expenditure consisting of huge military expenditures and other expenses was larger than that of the Northern Song Dynasty. The gap was mainly made up by plundering merchants and people.Only in the southeast corner (excluding Sichuan), Chunxi’s annual income was more than 65.3 million yuan at the end of the year, which was greater than the national highest annual income of more than 60 million yuan during the Northern Song Dynasty (one coin was consistent, and Yuanyou’s annual income was more than 48 million yuan).Among them, "combining tea, salt, wine, calculation, pitting, negotiating goods, buying and buying" was more than 44.9 million yuan, and the income directly from commerce and foreign trade once reached 2 million yuan.In addition, revenues such as economical money, general money (additional tax on goods transactions, money cashiers), monthly pile money, and account money are also related to commodity exchange.Concentrating so much, "it is difficult for the people to use their power" (for the above, please refer to Li Xinchuan's "Miscellaneous Records of the Government and the Field since Jianyan", Volume A, Volume 14, "Fu 1").In terms of commercial taxation, due to the extreme rigor and complexity, the tax field has almost become a "large and small law field" in people's minds.

In the Jin Dynasty, which was confronted with the Southern Song Dynasty, commerce temporarily declined due to the damage to the northern economy, and then gradually recovered, but except for some areas (such as Shanxi), it was generally not as good as in the Northern Song Dynasty.The Bianhe River, which used to be connected by boats and boats, has become a flat land, full of jujube and Tangli.Due to the lack of copper resources, the gold government minted silver coins (silver ingots) and issued banknotes ("payment").But paper money is becoming more and more excessive, and the value of money is falling. In the end, prices fluctuate day by day.In the Southern Song Dynasty, due to the excessive issuance of banknotes (Jiaozi, Huizi) and massive inflation, the city was depressed, shops were closed all day, and people's hearts were betrayed;

The Mongols destroyed the Jin and swallowed the Song Dynasty, unified the north and the south, and established the Yuan Dynasty (1280-1368 A.D.).The Yuan government plundered and detained a large number of handicraft craftsmen, and monopolized and controlled important production sectors with the workshops of the government or aristocrats, and the development of folk handicrafts was greatly restricted.The field of circulation was controlled and manipulated by the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty in the semu privileged merchant group (people from Central Asia and the Western Regions), and the monopoly of commodities was strengthened to the greatest extent, and the collection of business taxes was increased.Han merchants were discriminated against, and it was difficult for non-governmental merchants to operate.The Canadian dollar government also issued paper money indiscriminately, regardless of the consequences.Under such conditions, business has retreated again.Only luxury goods such as gold, silver, pearls and emeralds, high-end silk fabrics and high-end handicrafts flooded the market for consumption by the ruling class and resale by international merchants.In Dadu (Beijing) there appeared a "people's market" alongside the horse, cattle, and sheep markets, and the slave trade had an international scale.In this regard, the development of commerce and foreign trade is still abnormal.It is worth mentioning that the Yuan government managed Dadu (today's Beijing) and turned it into a magnificent international city; in order to facilitate water transportation to the capital, a Grand Canal was dug from Dadu to Hangzhou, going north to south (it was not yet very Good smooth flow); these two events will have a favorable impact on the development of commerce in the Ming and Qing dynasties.