What are the development and changes of ancient commerce in China?

Mainly manifested in: (1) the change of commercial activity places: first, it was mainly carried out in cities, and then the rural fair trade gradually developed. With the acceleration of the Tang dynasty, the Ming and Qing dynasties began to highlight, and professional markets (such as silk market, leaf market, pig market, etc.). ) appeared, and even gradually formed a new town (some of which are professional markets); Instead of rural commerce before the development of urban commerce. (2) Changes in transaction content: At the beginning of business, the main content was the trafficking and exchange of local products and the luxury goods needed by commercial rulers. Later, with the development of commodity monetary economy, the types of commodities in the market increased and the industries were subdivided. The main agricultural and sideline products needed by the people and the large and small commodities produced by urban handicrafts improved their status in the whole circulation circle. This situation has already appeared in the Song Dynasty. (3) Changes in the trading medium: The most primitive form of commodity exchange is barter, and there is no trading medium. With the expansion of the content and region of commodity exchange, there have been universal equivalents represented by shells. With the further development of trade, universal equivalents began to precipitate and money appeared. Qin Shihuang unified the Central Plains and unified the currency, which facilitated the development of commodity trading. Thanks to soft money, Jiaozi, the earliest paper money in the world, appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty, which promoted commercial trade. (4) At the beginning, commodities were generally confined to the circulation field, and it was not until the end of feudal society (Ming and Qing Dynasties) that they were gradually combined with production and free employment, and merchant capital participated in the production process in various forms. Such as pre-purchasing, ordering, borrowing from small producers, becoming an employer of businessmen, setting up factories before, and even investing in factories and workshops. (5) Changes in merchant organizations: At first, merchant organizations coincided with the natural organization of merchants-clan kinship organizations. The further development of kinship organizations is the geographical organization and industrial organization of businessmen. Relatively speaking, guilds as geographical organizations are more advanced than clans as industrial organizations, while guilds and firms as industrial organizations are more advanced than guilds as geographical organizations.