What are the basic structures and characteristics of early agricultural development in China?

The basic structure of early agricultural development in China: In the era of small-scale peasant economy with manual labor as the main unit, small-scale peasant economy is an economic form with small agricultural scale, and its essential feature is small family operation and production scale. The small-scale peasant economy in China came into being during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, that is, after the popularization of technology and the establishment of feudal land ownership in Niu Geng. With the development of productivity and the change of social system, small-scale peasant economy has three social attributes, namely feudal small-scale peasant economy, capitalist small-scale peasant economy and socialist small-scale peasant economy. Although the tool of labor has changed from animal power to small machinery, the small-scale peasant economy is still dominated by manual labor and still plays a decisive role.

Basic characteristics of early agricultural development in China;

1. The degree of commercialization of agricultural products has gradually increased. Before the Tang Dynasty, the commercialization trend of agricultural products was not obvious. Tea has become a common drink in the Tang Dynasty, and tea has become a necessity of life. In the mid-Tang Dynasty, the government began to levy tea tax, which is a typical example of the commercialization of agricultural products. In the Yuan Dynasty, cotton was planted all over the south, and it was only in the Ming Dynasty that it was pushed to Jiangbei. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the planting area of cash crops such as cotton, sericulture, tea and tobacco expanded, forming some specialized production areas. Agricultural commercialization has directly promoted the development of commodity economy.

Cultivated land area and total grain output are increasing. Due to the feudal rulers' attention to agriculture in past dynasties, from Qin and Han dynasties to Ming and Qing dynasties, the cultivated land area showed a trend of continuous expansion. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the land resources in the south of the Yangtze River were further utilized, and polder fields suitable for planting high-yield rice were very common, and many phenomena of mountain reclamation appeared. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, even barren sand depressions unsuitable for growing rice and wheat were used, and the continuous expansion of cultivated land greatly increased the total grain output.

3. There are more and more varieties of crops, and the production tools and technologies are developed in the early stage and stagnated in the later stage. "Grains" were planted in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Corn and sweet potato were introduced in the Ming Dynasty. In the early Qing Dynasty, it was very common to grow cash crops. From Qin and Han Dynasties to Sui and Tang Dynasties, agricultural production tools and technologies developed continuously. Agricultural production tools have not been greatly improved since the Song Dynasty, and the commercialization trend of agricultural production has been continuously strengthened, marking the end of feudal production relations, and the development of commodity economy will certainly promote the emergence of new production relations.

4. The rulers of all previous dynasties attached great importance to agriculture, and the ideas of "taking agriculture as the foundation" and "building the country through agriculture" were the guiding ideology of the rulers of all previous dynasties. From Shang Yang's political reform in the Warring States to the rulers of the Qing Dynasty, the policy of "emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce" was being implemented. This practice is the product of the development of feudal natural economy and autocratic centralization in ancient China. Its implementation played a positive role in the stability of the country, the consolidation of the emerging landlord class regime and the social and economic development in the early feudal society, which should be affirmed; However, the policy set industry and commerce against agriculture and suppressed it. The result will inevitably hinder the development of commodity economy and make agriculture stagnate at the low level of natural economy for a long time. Its disadvantages were more serious in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It hinders the growth of budding capitalism and is one of the important reasons why China lags behind the world.

5. The tax system adapts to the land system and changes with the change of the land system. There are two trends in the changes of China's ancient tax system: first, it gradually changed from population-based to land-based, indicating that feudal countries gradually relaxed their personal control over farmers; Secondly, the taxable goods are gradually transformed from physical goods and labor to monetary land rent, which shows that the commodity economy in China is developing continuously.