Brief introduction to the development of southern economy in Song Dynasty.

1. The natural, social and historical background of southern economic development in Song Dynasty.

Natural background: South China belongs to temperate monsoon climate and subtropical maritime climate, which means mild climate, abundant rainfall and good hydrothermal conditions, which is conducive to the annual growth of crops and cash crops.

Social background: The increase of population in South China in Song Dynasty enriched labor resources and further promoted economic development. In addition, during the Liao and Song Dynasties, especially during the Song and Jin Dynasties, a large number of people in the north moved south, which provided another large number of sufficient labor for the economic development of the south and also brought advanced farming techniques.

The southern society is relatively stable, providing a stable and relaxed environment for economic development. At the same time, the Song Dynasty lost many battles with ethnic minorities, so the rulers attached great importance to the strengthening of internal strength, reduced the exploitation and oppression of farmers in some areas, and attached importance to the development of agriculture.

Second, the specific performance of southern economic development in Song Dynasty.

1. Agriculture

During the Song Dynasty, due to the convenience of water, soil and climate, the southern region was most suitable for planting rice. Agriculture in the south is mainly based on rice. During this period, the cultivation techniques and methods of rice in southern China have also changed, that is, from direct seeding to transplanting, that is, transplanting rice seedlings. Change the past practice of sowing rice seeds directly in the field, first cultivate rice seeds in the seedling field, and then transplant them into the field for cultivation. That is, this method improves the survival rate of rice seedlings and provides conditions for stable and high yield of rice. This method has been used to this day.

Besides rice, the cultivation of other crops has also developed rapidly. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty, a large number of people in the north moved south, which brought the habit of pasta and rich experience in growing wheat. It is convenient to grow wheat in the south, and it has developed greatly. The extensive planting of wheat changed the farming system of single rice in southern China during this period, and established the advanced farming system of rice-wheat rotation. This shows that the technical level of agricultural production has made great progress.

With the increase of grain output, the cultivation of cash crops in southern China also developed greatly in the Song Dynasty. During the Northern Song Dynasty, cotton was widely planted in Guangdong, Guangxi and southern Fujian, and then spread northward to southern provinces such as Jiangxi and Zhejiang. During this period, fruit production developed rapidly, including citrus in Zhejiang, bayberry in Yuezhou, pear in Suzhou, litchi in Fujian and sugarcane. In the Song Dynasty, almost all tea trees were planted in this area.

In short, in the Song Dynasty, especially in the Southern Song Dynasty, the agricultural economy in southern China developed by leaps and bounds. Its obvious sign is the formation of the pattern of "Suzhou and Shanghai are ripe, and the world is full", which shows that the south at that time has become the main grain-producing area in the country.

2. handicraft industry

Mining and iron smelting. During the Song Dynasty, copper, tin, silver and other non-ferrous metals dominated the south. With the application of advanced copper smelting technology, the output of copper is greatly increased, and the economic benefit is also improved. Guangxi and Fujian are the most advanced places in iron smelting technology in the south, Wuzhou invented copper-iron alloy, and Fujian is an important iron smelting base in the south.

After a long period of development in the Tang and Five Dynasties, the silk industry in the south greatly changed its appearance before the middle Tang Dynasty in the Song Dynasty. Zhejiang and Sichuan have become the centers of silk industry, and the whole coastal area is relatively developed. There are six kinds of silk fabrics in Song Dynasty: silk, silk, silk, coarse silk and silk cotton. At that time, Yunjin in Nanjing, Songmian in Suzhou, Velvet Back Cotton in Hangzhou, Zhaoluo Cotton in Yuezhou and Jin Shu in Chengdu were all silk products of the southern civilized world and became the center of the southern silk industry.

Song Dynasty was a prosperous period in the history of China porcelain industry. Jingdezhen in Jiangxi Province is a porcelain kiln with unique style in Song Dynasty. The glaze color of the produced porcelain is between blue and white, with white in green and blue in white, so it becomes blue and white porcelain.

Shipbuilding industry. South China was the main base of shipbuilding industry in Song Dynasty. For the Song Dynasty, water transport was the most important shipping department to ensure the food supply in the capital. Most of the ships needed to transport grain are built in Huainan and Zhejiang, which also promotes the improvement of production technology.

3. Business

On the basis of the rapid development of agriculture and handicraft industry, the exchange market of agricultural and sideline products and handicraft products needs to be expanded. The consent of the Northern Song Dynasty and the development of land and water transportation created extremely favorable conditions for commodity exchange and stimulated the further development of the economy in the southern region, thus making this commercial activity unprecedentedly active.

(1) Urban commercial prosperity

Bianjing, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, and Lin 'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty. Due to the progress of agriculture and handicrafts, commercial activities in southern cities have flourished.

(2) the development of trade between towns and markets.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, commodity exchange became more and more frequent. Whether between urban and rural areas or between rural areas, we must rely on market trade to meet our own production and living needs. Therefore, the traffic arteries in southern cities and rural areas have become good places for fair trade.

(3) the promotion and use of paper money

The prosperity of business will inevitably lead to the expansion of money demand and circulation. There are two kinds of metal money in the Northern Song Dynasty: copper money and heavy money. With the rapid development of economy, although the manufacture of copper coins is increasing year by year, the quantity is still in short supply, and there is a shortage of circulation and exchange. Metal currency is bulky, difficult to carry and easy to wear, which brings great trouble to the circulation of money and commodities. In this case, paper money was first used in Sichuan and Chongqing. In the Southern Song Dynasty, paper money was further popularized. The banknotes introduced from the south mainly include Huizi in the southeast and Huaihuizi on the south bank of the Yangtze River, also known as Huaitong, Huaixi and Taiping, Changzhou and Jiangyin.

The popularization of paper money has solved the problem of insufficient metal money and is conducive to the development of business. The official use of paper money is of great significance in the history of currency development, and it is also an important embodiment of the development of the southern economy to a certain level in the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, the development of southern economy in Song Dynasty moved the ancient economic center of China to the South Song Dynasty. During this period, the economic development of southern China has both great historical significance and far-reaching historical influence.