Economy Of The Song Dynasty - China Wafer Type Butterfly Valve - China Wafer Butterfly Valve

Agriculture

Agriculture

There was a massive expansion of ploughland during the Song dynasty. The government encouraged people to reclaim barren lands and put them under cultivation. Anyone who opened up new lands and paid taxes were granted permanent possession of the new land. Under this policy, the cultivated land in the Song Dynasty is estimated to have reached a peak number of 720 million mu, and was not surpassed by later Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Irrigation if arable land was also greatly fostered during this period. Prominent statesman and economist Wang Anshi issued the Law and Decree on Irrigation in 1069 that encouraged expansion of the irrigation system in China. By 1076, about 10,800 irrigation projects were completed, which irrigated more than 36 million mu of public and private land. Major irrigation projects included dredging the Yellow River at northern China and artificial silt land in the Lake Tai valley. As a result of this policy, the crop in China trippled.

The economic development of China under the Song dynasty was marked by improvements in farm tools, seeds, and fertilizers. The Song government inherited the curved iron plough invented in the Tang Dynasty (618907) as described in detail in Lu Guimeng's The Classic of the Plough. The Song Dynasty improved on the Tang Dynasty curved iron plough and invented a special steel plough design specificily for reclaiming wasteland. The wasteland plough was not made of iron, but of stronger steel, the blade was shorter but thicker, and particularly effective in cutting through reeds and roots in wetlands in the Huai River valley. A tool designed to facilitate seedling called "seedling horse" was invented in Song Dynasty; it was made of jujube wood and paulownia wood. Song Dynasty farms used bamboo water wheels to harness the flow energy of rivers to raise water for irrigation of farmland.

The water wheel was about 30 chi in diameter, with ten bamboo watering tubes fastened at its perimeter. Some farmers even used three stage watering wheels to lift water to a height of over 30 chi.

High yield Champa paddy seeds, Korean yellow paddy, Indian green pea, and Middle East watermelon were introduced into China during this period, greatly enhancing the variety of farm produce. Song farmers emphasized the importance of night soil as fertilizer. They understood that using night soil could transform barren wasteland into fertile farmland. Chen Pu wrote in his Book of Agriculture of 1149: "The common saying that farmland becomes exhausted after seeding three to five years is not right, if frequently top up with new soil and cure with night soil, then the land becomes more fertile".

Economic Crops

Song Dynasty tribute tea, the big dragon cake

Cotton was introduced from Hainan Island into central China. Cotton flowers were collected, pits removed, beaten loose with bamboo bows, and drawn into yarns and weaved into cloth called "jibei"." The cotton jibei made in Hainan has great variety, the cloth has great width, often dyed into brilliant colors, stitching up two pieces make a bedspread, stitching four pieces make a curtain Hemp was also widely planted and made into linen. Independent mulberry farms flourished in the Mount Dongting region in Suzhou. The mulberry farmers did not make a living on farmland, but instead they grew mulberry trees and bred silkworm to harvest silk.

Sugarcane first appeared in China during the Warring States Period. During the Song Dynasty, Lake Tai valley was famous for the sugarcanes cultivated. Song writer Wang Zhuo described in great detail the method of cultivating sugarcane and how to make cane sugar flour from sugarcane in his monography "Classic of Sugar" in 1154, the first book about sugar technology in China.

Tea plantation in the Song Dynasty was three times the size that it was during the Tang Dynasty. According to a survey in 1162, tea plantations were spread across 66 prefectures in 244 counties. The Beiyuan Plantation (North Park Plantation) was an imperial tea plantation in Fujian prefacture. It produced more than forty varieties of tribute tea for the imperial court. Only the very tip of tender tea leaves were picked, processed and pressed into tea cakes, embossed with dragon pattern, known as "dragon tea cakes".

With the growth of cities, high value vegetable farms sprung up in the suburbs. In southern China, on average one mu of paddy farm land supported one man, while in the north about three mu for one man, while one mu of vegetable farm supported three men.

Flower nurseries also flourished. Peony was the favourite of the rich and powerful. Up to ninety varieties of peony were cultivated. Jasmine and crabapple from Persia were also cultivated.

Organization, investment, and trade

A Song painting on silk of two Chinese cargo ships; Chinese ships of the Song period featured hulls with watertight compartments.

During the Song Dynasty, the merchant class became more sophisticated, well-respected and organized than in earlier periods of China. Their accumulated wealth often rivaled that of the scholar-officials who administered the affairs of government. For their organizational skills, Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais state that Song Dynasty merchants:

...set up partnerships and joint stock companies, with a separation of owners (shareholders) and managers. In the large cities, merchants were organized into guilds according to the type of product sold; they periodically set prices and arranged sales from wholesalers to shop owners. When the government requisitioned goods or assessed taxes, it dealt with the guild heads.

Although large government run industries and large privately-owned enterprises dominated the market system of urban China during the Song period, there was a plethora of small private businesses and entrepreneurs throughout the large suburbs and rural areas that thrived off the economic boom of the period. There was even a large black market in China during the Song period, which was actually enhanced once the Jurchens conquered northern China and established the Jin Dynasty. For example, around 1160 AD there was an annual black market smuggling of some 70 to 80 thousand cattle. There were multitudes of successful small kilns and pottery shops owned by local families, along with oil presses, wine-making shops, small local paper-making businesses, etc. There was also room for small economic success with the "inn keeper, the petty diviner, the drug seller, the cloth trader," and many others.

A Northern Song Dynasty (9601127) era painting of a water-powered mill for grain, along with river transport.

Rural families that sold a large agricultural surplus to the market not only could afford to buy more charcoal, tea, oil, and wine, but they could also amass enough funds to establish secondary means of production for generating more wealth. Besides necessary agricultural foodstuffs, farming families could often produce wine, charcoal, paper, textiles, and other goods they sold through brokers. Farmers in Suzhou often specialized in raising bombyx mori to produce silk wares, while in Fujian, Sichuan, and Guangdong farmers often grew sugarcane. In order to ensure the prosperity of rural areas, technical applications for public works projects and improved agricultural techniques were essential. The vast irrigation system of China had to be furnished with multitudes of wheelwrights mass-producing standardized waterwheels and square-pallet chain pumps that could lift water from lower planes to higher irrigation planes.

For clothing, silken robes were worn by the wealthy and elite while hemp and ramie was worn by the poor; by the late Song period cotton clothes were also in use. Shipment of all these materials and goods was aided by the 10th century innovation of the canal pound lock in China; the Song scientist and statesman Shen Kuo (10311095) wrote that the building of pound lock gates at Zhenzhou (presumably Kuozhou along the Yangtze) during the 1020s and 1030s freed up the use of five hundred working laborers at the canal each year, amounting to the saving of up to 1,250,000 strings of cash annually. He wrote that the old method of hauling boats over limited the size of the cargo to 300 tan of rice per vessel (roughly 21 tons/21337kg), but after the pound locks were introduced, boats carrying 400 tan (roughly 28 tons/28449kg) could then be used. Shen wrote that by his time (c. 1080) government boats could carry cargo weights of up to 700 tan (49 tons/50294kg), while private boats could hold as much as 800 bags, each weighing 2 tan (i.e. a total of 113 tons/114813kg).

A Longquan-ware celadon vase from the 13th century.

Sea trade abroad to the South East Pacific, the Hindu world, the Islamic world, and the East African world brought merchants great fortune. Although the massive amount of indigenous trade along the Grand Canal, the Yangzi River, its tributaries and lakes, and other canal systems trumped the commercial gains of overseas trade, there were still many large seaports during the Song period that bolstered the economy, such as Quanzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, and Xiamen. These seaports, now heavily connected to the hinterland via canal, lake, and river traffic, acted as a long string of large market centers for the sale of cash crops produced in the interior. The high demand in China for foreign luxury goods and spices coming from the East Indies facilitated the growth of Chinese maritime trade abroad during the Song period. Along with the mining industry, the shipbuilding industry of Fujian province during the Song period increased its production exponentially as maritime trade was given more importance and as the province's population growth began to increase dramatically. The Song capital at Hangzhou had a large canal that connected its waterways directly to the seaport at Mingzhou (modern Ningbo), the center where many of the foreign imported goods were shipped out to the rest of the country. Despite the installation of fire stations and a large fire fighting force, fires continued to threaten the city of Hangzhou and the various businesses within it. In safeguarding stored supplies and providing rented space for merchants and shopkeepers to keep their surplus goods safe from city fires, the rich families of Hangzhou, palace eunuchs, and empresses had large warehouses built near the northeast walls; these warehouses were surrounded by channels of water on all sides and were heavily guarded by hired night watchmen. Shipbuilders generated means of employment for many skilled craftsmen, while sailors for ship crews found many opportunities of employment as more families had enough capital to purchase boats and invest in commercial trading abroad. Foreigners and merchants from abroad had an impact on the economy from within China as well. For example, many Muslims went to Song China not only to trade, but dominated the import and export industry and in some cases became officials of economic regulations. For Chinese maritime merchants, however, there was risk involved in such long overseas ventures to foreign trade posts and seaports as far away as Egypt. In order to reduce the risk of losing money instead of gaining it on maritime trade missions abroad:

A 10th or 11th century Longquan stoneware vase from Zhejiang province, Song Dynasty.

[Song era] investors usually divided their investment among many ships, and each ship had many investors behind it. One observer thought eagerness to invest in overseas trade was leading to an outflow of copper cash. He wrote, "People along the coast are on intimate terms with the merchants who engage in overseas trade, either because they are fellow-countrymen or personal acquaintances...[They give the merchants] money to take with them on their ships for purchase and return conveyance of foreign goods. They invest from ten to a hundred strings of cash, and regularly make profits of several hundred percent."

Wealthy landholders were still typically those who were able to educate their sons to the highest degree. Hence small groups of prominent families in any given local county would gain national spotlight for having sons travel far off to be educated and appointed as ministers of the state. Yet downward social mobility was always an issue with the matter of divided inheritance. Suggesting ways to increase a family's property, Yuan Cai (11401190) wrote in the late 12th century that those who obtained office with decent salaries shouldn't convert it to gold and silver, but instead could watch their values grow with investment:

For instance, if he had 100,000 strings worth of gold and silver and used this money to buy productive property, in a year he would gain 10,000 strings; after ten years or so, he would have regained the 100,000 strings and what would be divided among the family would be interest. If it were invested in a pawn broking business, in three years the interest would equal the capital. He would still have the 100,000 strings, and the rest, being interest, could be divided. Moreover, it could be doubled again in another three years, ad infinitum.

Shen Kuo (10311095), a minister of finance, was of the same opinion; in his understanding of the velocity of circulation, he stated in 1077:

The utility of money derives from circulation and loan-making. A village of ten households may have 100,000 coins. If the cash is stored in the household of one individual, even after a century, the sum remains 100,000. If the coins are circulated through business transactions so that every individual of the ten households can enjoy the utility of the 100,000 coins, then the utility will amount to that of 1,000,000 cash. If circulation continues without stop, the utility of the cash will be beyond enumeration.

A celadon plate from Yaozhou, Shaanxi, 10th to 11th century.

The author Zhu Yu wrote in his Pingzhou Ketan (; Pingzhou Table Talks) of 1119 AD about the organization, maritime practices, and government standards of seagoing vessels, their merchants, and sailing crews. His book stated:

According to government regulations concerning seagoing ships, the larger ones can carry several hundred men, and the smaller ones may have more than a hundred men on board. One of the most important merchants is chosen to be Leader (Gang Shou), another is Deputy Leader (Fu Gang Shou), and a third is Business Manager (Za Shi). The Superintendent of Merchant Shipping gives them an unofficially sealed red certificate permitting them to use the light bamboo for punishing their company when necessary. Should anyone die at sea, his property becomes forfeit to the government...The ship's pilots are acquainted with the configuration of the coasts; at night they steer by the stars, and in the day-time by the sun. In dark weather they look at the south-pointing needle (i.e. the magnetic compass). They also use a line a hundred feet long with a hook at the end which they let down to take samples of mud from the sea-bottom; by its (appearance and) smell they can determine their whereabouts.

Foreign travelers to China often made remarks on the economic strength of the country. The later Muslim Moroccan Berber traveler Ibn Batutta (13041377) wrote about many of his travel experiences in places across the Eurasian world, including China at the farthest eastern extremity. After describing lavish Chinese ships holding palatial cabins and saloons, along with the life of Chinese ship crews and captains, Batutta wrote: "Among the inhabitants of China there are those who own numerous ships, on which they send their agents to foreign places. For nowhere in the world are there to be found people richer than the Chinese".

Handicraft industry

Steel and iron industries

The puddling process of smelting iron ore to make wrought iron from pig iron, with the right illustration displaying men working a blast furnace, from the Tiangong Kaiwu encyclopedia, 1637.

Accompanying the widespread printing of paper money was the beginnings of what one might term an early Chinese industrial revolution. For example the historian Robert Hartwell has estimated that per capita iron output rose sixfold between 806 and 1078, such that, by 1078 China was producing 127000000kg (125,000t) in weight of iron per year. However, historian Donald Wagner questions Hartwell's method used to estimate these figures (i.e. by using Song tax and quota receipts).

In the smelting process of using huge bellows driven by waterwheels, massive amounts of charcoal were used in the production process, leading to a wide range of deforestation in northern China. However, by the end of the 11th century the Chinese discovered that using bituminous coke could replace the role of charcoal, hence many acres of forested land in northern China were spared from the steel and iron industry with this switch of resources. Iron and steel of this period were used to mass produce ploughs, hammers, needles, pins, nails for ships, musical cymbals, chains for suspension bridges, Buddhist statues, and other routine items for an indigenous mass market. Iron was also a necessary manufacturing component for the production processes of salt and copper. Many newly constructed canals linked the major iron and steel production centers to the capital city's main market. This was also extended to trade with the outside world, which greatly expanded with the high level of Chinese maritime activity abroad during the Southern Song period.

Through many written petitions to the central government by regional administrators of the Song Empire, historical scholars can piece evidence together to appropriate the size and scope of the Chinese iron industry during the Song era. The famed magistrate Bao Qingtian (9991062) wrote of the iron industry at Hancheng, Tongzhou Prefecture, along the Yellow River in what is today eastern Shaanxi province, with iron smelting households that were overseen by government regulators. He wrote that 700 such households were acting as iron smelters, with 200 having the most adequate amount of government support, such as charcoal supplies and skilled craftsmen (the iron households hired local unskilled labor themselves). Bao's complaint to the throne was that government laws against private smelting in Shaanxi hindered profits of the industry, so the government finally heeded his plea and lifted the ban on private smelting for Shaanxi in 1055. The result of this was an increase in profit (with lower prices for iron) as well as production; 100,000 jin (60 tonnes) of iron was produced annually in Shaanxi in the 1040s AD, increasing to 600,000 jin (360 tonnes) produced annually by the 1110s, furbished by the revival of the Shaanxi mining industry in 1112. Although the iron smelters of Shaanxi were managed and supplied by the government, there were many independent smelters operated and owned by rich families. While acting as governor of Xuzhou in 1078, the famous Song poet

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