1.1C: Chinese Economic Developments

Commercialization in Song Dynasty China

Main idea

Song dynasty China had an advanced commercial economy that resulted from various new ideas and technologies that allowed more Chinese to shift their focus from agriculture to commercial production.

The Song dynasty continued the economic success of previous Chinese dynasties by further commercializing China’s economy.

What is commercialization?

During this period in history, Song China was one of the most urbanized places in the world. Urban areas depended on trade and commerce to import everyday use products such as rice and export luxury goods like silk and porcelain for profit. Exchange within rural areas also expanded.

Commercialization in the Song dynasty

During this period in history, Song China was one of the most urbanized places in the world. Urban areas depended on trade and commerce to import staple products such as rice and export luxury goods like silk and porcelain for profit. Exchange within rural areas also expanded.

The Chinese capital of Hangzhou: The Song capital city of Hangzhou numbered over one million people, and dozens of other cities had populations in the hundreds of thousands. A Chinese writer in 1235 described Hangzhou as having specialized markets that sold various food products and manufactured goods such as books, silk, and porcelains. Italian explorer Marco Polo, who visited Hangzhou in the 13th century, described the city as “beyond dispute the finest and noblest city in the world.” The city also had

A thriving restaurant and bar scene
Inns and hotels
Schools for studying Confucianism and the arts
Social clubs for citizens with varied interests like Buddhism, fitness, fishing, and poetry.

Comparing economic production levels

Gross domestic product (GDP) is the value of all goods and services produced in an economy in a year. The values below are in billions of 2011 international dollars and adjusted for inflation.

Connection across time

China will remain one of the world’s largest economies until western powers dominate it in the 2nd half of the 19th century.

Source: Writing of Italian merchant and traveler Marco Polo who visited China between 1271-1295. Upon returning home his writings were published into the book The Travels of Marco Polo.

When you have left the city of Soochow and have traveled for four days through a splendid country, passing a number of towns and villages, you arrive at the most noble city of Kinsay, which is in our language “City of Heaven.” I will enter into particulars about its magnificence since the city is beyond dispute the finest and noblest in the world.

First and foremost, then, Kinsay is so great that it is 200 square miles. In it there are 12,000 bridges of stone, with most so lofty that a great fleet could pass beneath them. And let no man marvel that there are so many bridges, for you see the whole city stands as it were in the water and surrounded by water, so that a great many bridges are required to give free passage around it.

In this city there are 12 guilds of different crafts, and each guild has 12,000 houses in the occupation of its workmen. Each of these houses contain at least 12 men, while some contain 20 and some 40, including the apprentices who work under the masters. All these craftsmen had full employment since many other cities of the kingdom are supplied by this city….

Both men and women are fair and comely, and for the most part clothe themselves in silk, so vast is the supply of that material, both from the whole district of Kinsay and from the imports by traders from other provinces….
In this part are the ten main markets, though besides these there are a vast number of others in the different parts of town. They are all squares of half a mile to the side, and along their front passes the main street, which is 40 paces in width, and runs straight from end to end of the city, crossing many bridges. At every four miles of its length comes one of those great squares of two miles in compass. In each of the squares is held a market three days a week, frequented by 40,000 or 50,000 persons, who bring there for sale every possible necessity of life, so that there is always an ample supply of every kind of meat and game, as of roebuck, red-deer, fallow-deer, hares, rabbits, partridges, pheasants, quails, fowls, ducks and geese….
Neither grapes nor wine are produced there, but very good raisins are brought from abroad, and wine likewise. The natives, however, do not much care about this wine, being used to that kind of their own made from rice and spices. From the Ocean Sea also come daily supplies of fish in great quantity, brought 25 miles up river, and there is also great store of fish from the lake, which is the constant resort of fishermen, who have no other business….

The natives of this city are men of peaceful character, both from education and from the example of their kings, whose disposition was the same. They know nothing of handling arms, and keep none in their houses. You hear of no feuds or noisy quarrels or dissentions among them. Both in their commercial dealings and in their manufactures, they are thoroughly honest and truthful, and there is such a degree of good will and neighborly attachment among both men and women that you would take the people who live in the same street to be all one family.

The causes of Chinese commercialization

Several factors were important in the advanced commercial economy that had developed in China by the 13^th century China.

Between the Tang dynasty (618-907) and the Song dynasty (960-1279), China’s population doubled from 60 to 120 million due to increased food production. As food production became more efficient, fewer workers were needed, which allowed more people to work in the commercial production of non-food goods like silks or porcelains.

More efficient agriculture production resulted from:

Reformed landownership laws: during the Tang dynasty, the government reformed land ownership laws and gave land to many landless agriculture workers that had previously worked in the fields of wealthy landowners. Working on their properties and not the land of wealthy landowners gave peasants the incentive to increase their production.
New rice varieties: in the 11^th century, the Vietnamese kingdom of Champa sent Champa rice to China as tribute. Champa rice was drought-resistant and fast-growing, which allowed farmers to harvest two crops in a single growing season.

Technological innovations allowed new knowledge to spread more easily throughout China, which resulted in the spread of more efficient production methods.

Printing presses: the Chinese invented the world’s oldest known printing presses. While early forms of the printing press had existed in China since the third century, in the 11th century, Bi Sheng invented a movable type printing press. This innovation meant that single slabs of text no longer had to be carved to print documents. Now bookmakers could place printing blocks in any order within a tray. Bookmakers could now print books quicker and at lower costs, which led to the faster spread of new knowledge and technologies throughout China.

An industrial revolution (almost): Song China came close to starting the world’s first industrial revolution. The world would not again reach this development stage for another five hundred years until a complete industrial revolution began in Europe in the 18th century. During this period, large factories that employed hundreds of people opened in China.

Significant industrial innovations developed in China included:

Stronger iron and steel: new production methods made iron and steel production quicker. The purity and strength of the metals also improved. As a result, the military had access to stronger suits of armor and weapons. There was also more metal for producing metal currency, constructing bridges, and creating better agricultural tools like plows.
Increased coal production: coal production increased to meet the needs of expanding metal smelting industries.
Water wheels in factories: water wheels increasingly powered textile machines allowing for increased production.

Expansion of trade networks within China and increased amounts of Chinese goods sold on international trade networks were critical to the strength of the Song commercial economy.

The Grand Canal: The Grand Canal was China’s most important internal trade route. The canal network ran along the eastern coast and connected some of China’s biggest coastal seaports. The canal moved surplus rice from the agriculturally productive southern regions to China to the less fertile areas in the north. Non-agricultural goods, such as textiles and other luxury items, also moved along the canal system. Goods moved through the Grand Canal often found their way onto international trade routes like the Silk Roads or the Indian Ocean network.

International trade: China was an important participant in international trade. Merchants worldwide made their way to China to trade with the Chinese. While long-distance travel was uncommon during this time, the Song capital of Hangzhou hosted an Arab diaspora community (group living outside their homeland) nearly five thousand miles from the Arabian Peninsula.

Additionally,

Chinese traded throughout Southeast Asia in the South China Sea.
Chinese goods passed through the Indian Ocean trade routes to India, the Middle-east, and East Africa.
The eastern Silk Road land trade routes began in China before moving west through Central Asia into the Middle East.

New financial tools and practices made business transactions easier. As business transactions became easier, more of them could take place. More transactions created more wealth.

Two of the most important new financial practices were

Paper money: made small transactions in local markets quicker and more efficient than completing transactions with metal coins. Paper currency was also cheaper to produce.
Banking and credit: an early banking system called flying cash allowed merchants to make deposits in one location and withdraw the money in a different place. Merchants no longer needed to carry large sums of money with them as they traveled and moved goods across China.

The global impacts of Chinese commercialization

Main idea

Technologies that promoted commercial production in China diffused along global trade networks. These technologies changed the course of history.

Chinese technologies slowly diffused across international trade routes. Non-Chinese civilizations adopted and improved upon these technologies. The technologies below are three of the most historically influential Chinese technologies.

Papermaking

The Chinese invented papermaking in the second century BCE. The technology slowly spread west. It entered Muslim Spain in the 12th century and then Christian Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries--a lag time of 1400 years. Modern papermaking methods allowed ideas and technologies to spread faster.

Moveable type printing

By the 15th century, the Chinese moveable type printing press had also found its way into Europe. As a result, the price of printing dropped, and new ideas spread rapidly. These new ideas weakened the Catholic church as new Christian leaders spoke out against the corruption within the church. European monarchs also became increasingly powerful as some took control of religion in their kingdoms from the Catholic Pope and others gained riches from the conquest of the Americas.

Gunpowder

Gunpowder was one of history’s most significant innovations. Accidentally invented by a Chinese alchemist, within a few centuries, gunpowder reshaped global warfare. By the 15th and 16th centuries, access to gunpowder was critical to a society’s survival. Because oceans separated the Americas from Afro-Eurasia, they did not have gunpowder weapons. When European powers arrived, they used their gunpowder weapons to conquer native tribes and steal tribes’ lands. African and Asian leaders with access to gunpowder conquered their neighbors and created new land empires.

!AP exam alert!

You must know how eastern technologies from places like China arrived in the western world and what those technologies’ impacts were on the west.

1.1C: Chinese Economic Developments

Learning Objective 1C

Historical Development 1

Historical Development 2

Historical Development 3

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