Economy and Culture of the Song Dynasty

The Song Dynasty is the most economically developed of all the dynasties in China, with the most prosperous national culture, the most scientific and technological innovations, the healthiest growth of the population base, the highest yield of crops per unit area, and the highest standard of living of the people. If you don't believe it, my humble servant will introduce you to the Song Dynasty as if you were in a dream

Let's dream back to the Song Dynasty together:

1 Economically developed

The Song was rich, which has long been recognized in history.

Song rich This has long been a historical conclusion Other dynasties "suppression of business" but only the Song exception

Song early Zhao Zhenyin said, "more gold, the city of the house to leave the children and grandchildren, song and dance to enjoy the days of life," in order to Bo people rich After the Song Emperor Taizong also No. The Song dynasty adjusted the traditional practice of focusing on criminal law and light on civil law in the legislation of the past dynasties, specializing in the study and implementation of monopoly laws such as the salt law, wine law, tea law, etc. The Song dynasty has become one of the most active periods of ancient China's economic legislation, and the Song's economic laws and regulations to unify the distribution of benefits between the state and the economic actors, in line with the rules of the commodity economy, is very scientific laws and regulations, and these correct policy orientation to enable These correct policies led to a boom in commerce, a rapid development of trade and handicrafts, and the first bank in the world, the Song Dynasty, which is unique! Even the bank can be loans, payments in other places, even from a modern point of view, is a very advanced economic management system In terms of geography, the development of the Song Dynasty is not only limited to Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Sichuan and other old areas, but also the mountainous areas and ethnic minority areas of the socio-economic and cultural development than the Tang Dynasty, which is also another very surprised

From the handicrafts point of view, pit mine, tea and salt, shipbuilding, paper-making, sugar, textiles, porcelain, etc. than the Tang Dynasty, a lot of progress. In addition to the expansion of the production area, the technological improvement of the Song handicraft industry was also very obvious, such as the production technology of "sugar ice", the excavation of "single tube well", and the refinement of Song porcelain, etc. Without fail, it reflected the maturity and innovation of the technology, and the emergence of commerce and handicraft industry liberated a large number of peasants who were captive to the land. The rise of commerce and handicrafts liberated a large number of peasants captive to the land, so that they were engaged in commerce and handicrafts. In the Northern Song Dynasty, large quantities of gold, silver, copper, iron, coal and other minerals had already begun to be mined, and the earliest manufacturing factories and processing factories appeared throughout the country, such as shipbuilding factories, paper-making factories, printing factories, weaving factories, firearm factories and other kilns, so it can be seen that the handicrafts industry of that time was more prosperous than ever before!

As early as the Northern Song Dynasty, China already knew how to burn coal to make steel, and the large-scale crafts industry employed hundreds of full-time industrial workers, while the government's two military industries employed 8,000 workers - already on a heavy industrial scale! The iron and steel industry in North China, for example, produced 1,250,000 tons of iron and steel annually in 1078, whereas in England in 1788, at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, only 76,000 tons were produced annually. In addition, mining and metallurgy, paper making, porcelain making, silk weaving, and navigation were also highly developed, and the Song Dynasty deserved to be recognized as the world's "high-tech" house before the modern era, and even more so, the world's dominant handicrafts industry at the time!

From the commercial point of view, the Tang Dynasty cities tend to be administrative centers, while the Song Dynasty towns tend to industrial and commercial Tang Dynasty trading areas within the city were strictly controlled by the officials, and the Song Dynasty was more free due to the further development of the commodity economy, the development of the city, "workshop system" breakthroughs in the rise of towns, so that the boundaries between the residential area and the commercial area gradually disappeared, the Song Dynasty, this kind of "new type" of commercial area. Some of these "new" cities grew to be so large that Kaifeng and Hangzhou both had populations of one million, and the latter was the "unprecedented" city that Marco Polo saw at the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, even though by the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the largest city outside of China was Baghdad, with a population of only 300,000 to 500,000 people, and hundreds of years later, the Arab traveler, Ibn Battuta, was to become the first to see this city. Hundreds of years later, the Arab traveler Ibn Battuta also called Hangzhou Hundreds of years later, the Arab traveler Ibn Battuta called Hangzhou "the largest city in the world"! The population engaged in commerce and industry gradually increased, production increased, and capital investment greatly expanded, so what constituted the mainstay of the country's revenue was no longer just agriculture, but commerce and industry outweighed agriculture

And in the course of its commercial operations, there were also advertisements printed on copper plates, which predated Western capitalism by more than 300 years. In the case of the great scholar Su Dongpo, he once advertised a poem to an old woman who was a cook, which made her prosperous.

What's more interesting is that the Song Dynasty also saw the emergence of "tabloids", which were similar to modern newspapers, and the earliest trademarks in history. The trademarks were of great significance, and marked the gradual improvement of the Song Dynasty's commercialization system

Additionally, the famous scholar Shen Kuo's book, "Theory of the Speed of Money Circulation," reached the level of modern monetary theory.

The powerful commercial wave of the Song Dynasty was also the mother of the world's earliest budding capitalism, and the rapid economic growth of the Song Dynasty created unprecedented wealth and prosperity

The Song Dynasty was a time of economic growth and prosperity.