Chapter 19 Section 1 Background of Currency Changes in the Song Dynasty

In 960 AD, Zhao Kuangyin seized the imperial power of the Later Zhou Dynasty through the Chenqiao Mutiny and established the Northern Song Dynasty.Facing the grim situation at that time, he was suspicious, and in order to prevent the passage of time, he concentrated political power on himself.Weaken the power of generals and ministers and make them check each other; weaken the power of states and counties, abolish officials and use officials.The economic power is in the hands of the emperor alone.Taking these measures won the political stability for a while, but in the long run, it failed to consolidate the regime.

Judging from the political situation in the Song Dynasty, the monarchs of the past dynasties were noble, and they only wanted peace and harmony, and tried their best to ease social conflicts and calm people's resistance.The debate between reformers and conservatives favors the conservative side.For example, for Wang Anshi's reform, first support, then downplay, and finally cancel.Gaozong was greedy for life and afraid of death, harboring evil intentions, colluded with treacherous minister Qin Hui, and did not hesitate to betray his country and surrender in order to protect himself.Regardless of the country's safety and danger, he was intoxicated with money, "the warm wind made the tourists drunk, and they used Hangzhou as Bianzhou".Xiaozong implemented some improvement measures to ease the existing contradictions.In the future, one generation will be worse than the next generation, the kings and cowards will be greedy, the ups and downs will be wild, and the day and night will be joyous.The imperial court also stepped up search and inclusion to make up for the lack of finances.In the later period of Lizong, people were devastated and complaints abounded.Soon, the Southern Song Dynasty was destroyed by the Mongolian army.

From the perspective of foreign relations.Zhao Song is the weakest dynasty in the past dynasties.During the 300 years, it was continuously attacked by powerful neighbors Liao (Khitan), Xixia, Jin (Jurchen) and Mongolia.In the first year of Jingde (AD 1004), Emperor Zhenzong signed a humiliating "Chanyuan Alliance" with the Liao State, and paid tribute to the Liao Dynasty with "Sui Coins" every year thereafter.In the second year of Renzong Qingli (1042 AD), the amount of tribute was increased.Two years later, he promised the "year gift" condition to Xixia.Later, there were annual tributes to gold and Mongolia.To these strong neighbors in the Song Dynasty, they have always humiliated and begged for work, begged for mercy, called their ministers and grandchildren, and were shameless.These long-term heavy burdens had a certain impact on the currencies of the Song Dynasty.

In order to ensure the safety of the royal family and consolidate the centralization of power, the Song Dynasty attached great importance to developing the economy and strengthening the currency system.On the basis of the economic development of the Tang Dynasty, the social productive forces of the Song Dynasty developed rapidly and reached a new peak at one time.However, there are differences in each stage. The situation in the early Northern Song Dynasty and the Xiaozong period of the Southern Song Dynasty (AD 1163-1189) was relatively good, and the situation in the late Song Dynasty was relatively poor.The same is true of its currency.In terms of regions, Jiangsu and Zhejiang with Taihu Lake as the center are the regions with the best economic development in the country, followed by Sichuan, Sichuan and Lianghu, and the north is poorer.During the war at the end of the Song Dynasty, some places became desolate.

The impact of the economic development of the Song Dynasty on its currency is mainly manifested in four aspects: First, the bumper harvest in areas of intensive agricultural cultivation caused a large demand for currency.Agricultural production in the Song Dynasty more than doubled that of the Han and Tang Dynasties, but the population increased less than twice.When developing agriculture, focus on the development of food production. "Today's fields called Woyan are Wuyue, Fujian and Shu, and the origin of their mu is several times that of other states." (Qin Guan's "Huaihai Collection·Caiyong (Part 2)" Volume 15), here refers to today Jiangnan, Zhejiang and Fujian, Lianghu, Sichuan and Shu areas.These high-yielding areas all adopt intensive farming and intensive management.For example, Liangzhe Road uses Quyuan plows equipped with advanced farm tools and knives, and relies on advanced farm tools, technology and hard work to obtain high yields. Not only is it more than self-sufficient, it is marketed and supplied, and it also undertakes the annual supply of millions of stones to the palace.The second is to develop commercialized agricultural production.Economic crops and commercialization of agriculture appeared in intensive farming areas, and several agricultural branches were formed, such as tea planting, sericulture, sugarcane planting, fruit tree planting, medicinal materials, vegetable planting, aquatic product development, etc.Carry out diversified operations according to regional characteristics and local conditions.This kind of commercial agricultural production developed rapidly in depth, making the population in these areas more concentrated and the exchange of commodities more developed.The third is that the commercialization of agricultural products promotes the full development of the handicraft industry.Ceramics, silk, embroidery, papermaking, printing, engraving, steelmaking, gold, silver, copper and iron ornaments in the Song Dynasty were all high-end products that were second to none in the world at that time, and were very popular among countries.There are many other industries.These handicrafts and commerce continued to form new branches. For example, there were 414 lines in Lin'an during the reign of Emperor Shenzong, and each line had many small branches.Fourth, the specialization of the handicraft industry promotes the local specialization of commodity composition.Each region takes advantage of its local advantages to develop a large number of local famous brand products to participate in commercial competition.Such as Shu brocade, East silk, Duan inkstone, Wu paper, Zhejiang lacquer, white porcelain, celadon, Jianzhou tea, etc., each with its own characteristics and great reputation, play a leading role in the market and promote the continuous expansion of inter-regional commodity exchanges.This caused a variety of commodities and a large amount of currency to spread to urban and rural areas across the country, continuously expanding the fields of commodity production and currency circulation, and also caused many problems related to production and circulation.Since the late Northern Song Dynasty, the problem of currency has been particularly serious.