Chapter 12 Section 1 Economic Center Moving Southward

From the Sui and Tang Dynasties to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the south of China's grain production area accounted for more than half; the main sources of tax revenue for the feudal central government, such as salt, sugar, tea, wine, and silk, were mainly in the south; overseas trade bases were also transferred to the south. These all mark the southward shift of the economic center.From the Sui and Tang Dynasties to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the development of Jiangnan and Lingnan was accelerated. With the development of agriculture and handicrafts, the commodity economy was quite developed during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and capitalism sprouted.

With the development of water and land transportation, frequent postal transmissions, the development of inland and frontier trade, the development of Sino-foreign trade and the exchange of messengers, four types of cities have emerged: one is Kyoto, such as Chang'an and Luoyang in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and the two Songs. Bianjing (Kaifeng), Lin'an (Hangzhou), and Beijing in Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties (called Dadu in Yuan Dynasty) are all the political, economic and cultural centers of the country.Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty, Luoyang in the middle Tang Dynasty, Kaifeng in the Northern Song Dynasty, Hangzhou in the Southern Song Dynasty, and Beijing in the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties all had a population of over 1 million, making them the largest metropolises in the world at that time.The outline of the royal city has prosperous markets, such as Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty. There are two cities in the east and west, with a total of 220 industries. The distribution of various industries in the city is concentrated. stay.With the prosperity of the market and the development of post roads, restaurants and restaurants are becoming more and more developed (Figure 8).These cities are also one of the world’s famous economic centers in various periods. From Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the coast of Africa, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia, caravans and messengers continue to arrive. Many foreigners have settled in China. Some are still working as officials in China, and the capital of China has become an international city.The second category is inland cities. Some of these cities are traditional handicraft bases, such as Suzhou, Foshan, Jingdezhen, Chengdu, and Mianyang, etc.;The third category is port cities, which emerged with the development of overseas trade, such as Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Mingzhou (Ningbo), Yangzhou, and Fuzhou.The fourth category is frontier cities, such as Zhangjiakou, Baotou, Kulun, Yumen, Zhangye, Jiuquan, Dunhuang, Lanzhou, Xining, Yili, Hami, Aksu, Yarkand, Urumqi, Dajianlu, Ya'an, Maozhou, Kunming, Dali Wait.All kinds of cities are distribution centers that supply a large amount of food materials or food-related materials from their hinterlands, such as various grains, poultry, aquatic products, vegetables, fruits, seafood, cured meat, dried fruits, salt, sugar, oil , sauce, vinegar, tea, coal, all kinds of cooking utensils, table utensils and so on.The city has concentrated restaurants and snack shops that adapt to the tastes of various places.Port cities also often imported high-end tableware (such as crystal, agate, glassware, etc.) and high-end seafood (such as bird's nest and shark's fin from Southeast Asia, scallops from Japan, abalone from Mexico, etc.) for the aristocratic society to enjoy.Frontier cities are the exchange of grain, salt, tea, seafood, copper, iron cooking utensils, silver and porcelain tableware, etc. from Han areas with horses, cattle, sheep, cheese, fur, medicinal materials, mushrooms, fungus, humps, bears, etc. Palm and other bases.Port cities and frontier cities, due to the exchanges between China and foreign countries and various ethnic groups, are also areas where Chinese and foreign food cultures and domestic food cultures of various ethnic groups exchange a lot.