Market development

The Ming and Qing dynasties were a period of development and prosperity of rural fairs. Except Lingnan area, which is still called "city", other areas are often called "city" or "market". The development of rural fairs in the south of the Yangtze River has reached a considerable scale. Hongzhi, there are eleven cities in Shanghai County. Most of the residents in cities are between 100 and 300 households, and there are 500 to 1000 households in individual cities. In addition to commodity production and trading, tea shops and restaurants also appear in large numbers, and the parasitism of town life is increasing day by day. Busy big cities are often not under towns. Yuexi City, Wuxian County, Nagato, has become a "gathering place for merchants from all provinces". Due to the development of commodity economy, some cities are gradually changing to specialization. Yujiang county City, Wujiang County "has hundreds of residents, and more than half of them are ironworkers". Some cities have also developed into towns. Shengze town, which is famous for its silk weaving industry, was a small village in the early Ming Dynasty, and Jiajing was originally called the city. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Shengze has become the largest town in Wujiang County. These widely distributed cities have become regional commercial centers second only to towns, and together with towns, they have initially formed a regional urban system. There are some "Japanese markets" and specialized markets in Lingnan. The northern region is dominated by regular fairs, which is not as prosperous as Jiangnan. After the Qing Dynasty, although some cities declined, the general trend was still developing.