According to legend, in the early years of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, just after Zhu Yuanzhang moved eastward and captured Suzhou City, a wealthy businessman in the south of the Yangtze River made the founding emperor very angry, and it was Zhouzhuang businessman Shen Wansan who angered Zhu Yuanzhang. According to legend, he is extremely rich and has a cornucopia at home. Shen Wansan generously helped Zhu Yuanzhang build the Nanjing Wall, but unexpectedly, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was born in grass roots and cultivated land, was not so jealous. According to the Ming History, Xing Wu enriched the people, helped build one of the three capitals, and invited soldiers to kill it. The emperor was very angry and said, a man who killed the emperor's army should be punished for rioting the people.

Finally, under the persuasion of Ma Huanghou, Zhu Yuanzhang did not kill Shen Wansan, but sent him to remote Yunnan. In the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu, the Shen family was once again involved in the case of the Aquamarine Party. From then on, the depression declined, and Zhouzhuang Shen Shi made a fortune. I didn't expect the emperor to be jealous. Such a rich man lives in a small town in the south of the Yangtze River. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, there were many wealthy businessmen and famous families in the large and small towns scattered along Taihu Lake.

Zhenze Town is a town in the south of Taihu Lake. On this day, a young weaver girl came here with her wife and children, and they will start a new life in this small town. At that time, there were only three or four hundred families in Zhenze Town. Before that, Wang Jie, a poet in Yuan Dynasty, used the poem "There are dozens of worries in the world" as a portrayal of the situation here. The family chose to settle here because they can find a better life here, and the gradually developing business and handicraft industry will provide them with more job opportunities.

Zhenze Town belonged to Wujiang County, Suzhou Prefecture in Ming Dynasty, and Suzhou Prefecture governed Wuxian County, Changzhou County, Changshu County, Wujiang County, Kunshan County, Jiading County and Taicang State in Ming Dynasty. It is equivalent to Suzhou City in Shanghai today and various districts north of Suzhou River. Suzhou House is one of the six houses in Jiangnan in the traditional sense. Other states include Songjiang, Changzhou, Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou. They are located in the basin around Taihu Lake, which is the most prosperous and culturally rich area in Ming and Qing Dynasties, with a high degree of urbanization, that is, Jiangnan in a narrow sense.

Wang (tenured professor of East China Normal University): Cities and towns regard it as a noun. This term is found in the local chronicles of the Ming Dynasty, and it is still a town with the function of fair trade, called a town. Why do you say that? Because it is different from the military towns in the past, it shows that the commodity exchange and trade of agriculture in China took place very early, and agriculture and commerce developed at the same time.

In the Ming Dynasty, a family of three moved to Zhenze Town, a typical town in the south of the Yangtze River. During the Hongzhi period, it has become one of the four towns in Wujiang County, although there were only three or four hundred families here when the children first came. However, when he grew up to be young, that is, during the Hongzhi period, the number of residents increased to nearly 1,000 in just over 20 years. By the Ming Dynasty, during the Jiajing period of Zheng Dejia, that is, at the beginning of16th century, Zhenze Town had become a medium-sized town with 3,000 residents in Lisan. According to the statistics of scholars, there were about 765,438+000 small cities in China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, most of which were towns, and the towns in the south of the Yangtze River were representative in scale and density. Then, why did towns appear on a large scale in Jiangnan?

Shen Juzhong and Xu Jinghong run a silk weaving factory near Taihu Lake, a suburb of Suzhou. Although the scale of the factory is small, dozens of machines are started every day, and the output is enough for their family to realize a well-off life. Modern large-scale mechanical production technology allows thin silk threads to be quickly woven into durable silks and satins, which was unimaginable hundreds of years ago. However, even though people used the most traditional hand tools at that time, Suzhou and Hangzhou were still the most developed areas in China. Modern private businessmen, seeing the fruits of their hard work sold at home and abroad, must also be the common mood of private silk owners who once developed in Jiangnan town in the Ming Dynasty because of silk weaving. People's fascination with silk is not only because it is soft, beautiful and fashionable, but also because it is the crystallization of Chinese civilization and wisdom, with a long history and profound culture. So, what is her close relationship with the towns in the south of the Yangtze River?

Wang (tenured professor of East China Normal University): "We have a long history of silk. From the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, it is said that most silk workshops in Jiangnan are actually government-run. However, what did it develop into? The government handicraft industry itself is inefficient. What did it do later? In the past, it was contracted out and sent to silk households. Therefore, silk is also a very important part. Our towns mainly collect raw silk and turn it into refined silk, so silk processing is only available in these places. "

Shengze town, located in Wujiang District, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, is an important silk production base and product distribution center in Ming Dynasty. Nowadays, it is difficult to find the architectural community of the ancient town here. The only thing left is the ruins of the old village, which is sandwiched between the noise of modern cities and the buildings of different eras.

Zhu Xiaotian (Professor, History Department, Soochow University): "In short, the surface of Shengze is the place where silk factories trade. Its pattern is a bit like the examination room in the imperial examination era, and hundreds of shops are reserved for silk shops. "

It used to be a place to make up faces, but now it is an ordinary residential area, but this site is witnessing the glory of shengze town's silk industry. Shengze town, formerly known as Qingcaotan, was just a village with only 50 or 60 residents before the early Ming Dynasty. Chenghua, residents gathered, and merchants gradually became familiar. In the early years of Jiajing, towns gradually formed. By the beginning of17th century, it had developed into a big town during the Wanli apocalypse. In Feng Menglong's Awakening the World, there is a description of shengze town: the residents in the town are thick and wide, with simple customs and customs, all engaged in sericulture, men and women are hardworking, and the sound of looms is endless all night. It turns out that shengze town's development into a hometown of silk is related to the sericulture economy of the local people. Due to the prosperity of the silk industry and high economic returns, more and more farmers in the south of the Yangtze River have switched from planting to planting mulberry and sericulture, and towns have provided them with a market to buy cocoons.

Nowadays, most raw silk factories have moved from Jiangnan to Jiangbei, but in the Ming Dynasty when there was no big machine production, Jiangnan was the center of silk weaving industry. People south of the Yangtze River use traditional techniques to wrap silk. Bundles of raw silk are boxes of silver, making China a silk kingdom that the whole world yearns for. It maintained a myth that any country had an unparalleled trade surplus at that time.

In shengze town, there is still a fairy silkworm temple (Suzhou, Jiangsu Province), and the main hall is dedicated to Lei Zu, the ancestor of the silk industry. It is said that she is the wife of the Yellow Emperor and is honored as the "First Silkworm Queen" for teaching people to raise silkworms and reeling. "Spring silkworms must weave until they die." For thousands of years, Chinese descendants have benefited from the wisdom and civilization of their ancestors, from silkworm babies eating mulberry leaves to spinning cocoons. Silkworm rearing and silk weaving have become one of the most important sideline businesses for farmers besides planting. Jiangnan has a unique natural environment, and the working people in Jiangnan can improve their sericulture and silk weaving skills. Many towns and cities in Taihu Lake Basin are the land of silk.

Zhu Xiaotian (Professor, History Department, Soochow University): "Shengze, why is it developing so fast? What is important is that it has a lot to do with the population migration after the development of the silk industry. As we all know, every town in the south of the Yangtze River is also a place where they gather. Huizhou merchants not only operate the silk industry here, but also Huizhou ink, tea, pawn and other industries. Later, some Shaoxing people came to Shengze to engage in the post-silk industry, such as dyeing house, kicking house and practicing house, so all these jobs have a * * feature, that is, they are all. During the reign of Hongxi and Xuande in the Ming Dynasty, Suzhou people came to Shengze to spread silk weaving technology, and he came down.

With the development of silk industry, shengze town, which is famous for its "silk at sunrise and clothes all over the world", has attracted a large number of immigrants. There are naturally silk weavers with unique skills. Zhenze Town, only 20km away from shengze town, is also famous for sericulture and silk weaving. In addition to producing silk, farmers in Zhenze Town and four townships are also engaged in silk weaving. Many mechanics employ experienced mechanics, which are well paid, and the silk they produce is also quite famous. I immigrated to a family of three in Zhenze Town. Because of the development of silk industry here, I came to Zhenze Town to make myself useful. Zhenze Town, shengze town and other towns have been constantly promoting the transformation of traditional production methods such as male farming and female weaving to female weaving, and the urban population has been expanding.

Wang (tenured professor of East China Normal University): "In the past, there were probably more than 1000 towns in the south of the Yangtze River during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, so today we use dotted lines to describe them. In the middle of this network, the biggest foundation at the bottom is the town. What are the functions of towns? That is, there is a hinterland around every town, about six or seven miles, a dozen miles. Farmers in the surrounding rural areas sell their agricultural products and by-products to the town for processing, so businessmen sell these products to various places. "

This is Wuzhen, a famous scenic spot in China. Today, the crowded Guzhen West Street was once the most prosperous commercial main road in Wuzhen during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. From the dense storefronts on the street, it is not difficult to imagine the commercial development of this small town in Jiangnan, which originated from the market. Most of the markets in towns in the south of the Yangtze River are built by water. In Wuzhen Zhaxi Scenic Area, such waters are well preserved. It is divided into two parts by an east-west wooden trestle. The wooden trestle and Jingxing Bridge face each other across Xi Shi, and waterside pavilions are built on the east and west sides of the water area. In the past, Wuzhen was located at the junction of two provinces, three provinces and seven counties, with dense rivers extending in all directions. Residents in towns and villages with eight neighbors are used to rocking boats in the morning to go out for morning tea and catch up with the market. Some farmers also bring their own vegetables and livestock to the market to supplement their families.

Wang (tenured professor of East China Normal University): "The towns in the south of the Yangtze River are actually agricultural China, which can also be said to be a very beautiful scenery in the era of world agricultural economy. It is completely different from the development of cities and towns in the industrialized era, so it is the architectural foundation of agricultural development. Agriculture brings hands-on industry, promotes commerce, promotes cross-regional trade, and the interaction between agriculture, industry and commerce develops healthily, forming a new situation of market economy. This state is a very typical period in the Ming Dynasty, and the agriculture in the south of the Yangtze River should be attributed to the Northern Song Dynasty, which carried out a large number of water conservancy irrigation in the south of the Yangtze River. We have a proper term "polder field", which is said to be an advanced technology of agriculture at that time, which made the whole farmland have a water conservancy irrigation network.

Jiangnan, the most important large town in Ming and Qing dynasties, will be concentrated, starting from the economic development of Jiangnan. Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, China's economic center of gravity began to move southward, and Jiangnan gradually became the economic hub of China, ranking second to none in terms of population, taxation, agricultural production and commercial economy. However, with the growth of population, the population pressure in the south of the Yangtze River is gradually increasing, and the contradiction between population and economy is also intensifying. Since the Tang Dynasty, farmers in the south of the Yangtze River have been developing low-lying wet fields suitable for cultivated land, which are called polder fields. In the Ming Dynasty, the development of cultivated land in the south of the Yangtze River was saturated, and the extended polder fields came to an end. People divide large polder fields by dividing polder fields, and transform the remaining wetlands in the center of large polder fields into cultivated land. This shows that after hundreds of years of population migration and sustainable development, the shortage of cultivated land has become a major problem in agricultural production in Jiangnan in the Ming Dynasty. Take Huzhou south of Taihu Lake as an example. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, it was one of the important grain producing areas in China, and the proverb "Su Hu is ripe, and the world is full" was more popular in the Song Dynasty. But in the Ming Dynasty, the planting structure and grain supply and demand in Huzhou began to change. An obvious change is that the cultivated land area has decreased, while the mulberry field area has increased. Another obvious change is that in terms of food supply, it depends on the Huguang area in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

Zhu Xiaotian (Professor, History Department, Soochow University): "In fact, this is a change in the structure of planting industry, which is mainly caused by population growth, insufficient cultivated land and prominent contradiction between man and land. Then, the Jiangnan area is also a heavily endowed area, and farmers have to find a way out by planting cash crops. "

Jin Changgen (director of the Eight Immortals Base in Hu Cheng, Suzhou): "This is our Eight Immortals Base in Hu Cheng, Suzhou, with eight varieties. Now the Hong Ling you see is out of the market, and there is chicken head rice. This is lotus root, this is water chestnut, and this is Ji Zi. Look, the leaves are turning yellow now. This piece is all a kind of water bamboo, autumn water bamboo, water eight immortals, passed down from generation to generation. "

Water Eight Immortals, a unique aquatic cash crop in the south of the Yangtze River, cannot grow without Taihu Lake. In ancient times, Taihu Lake was said to span Suzhou, Changzhou and Huzhou. In the Ming Dynasty, cities and towns in the south of the Yangtze River actually formed urban agglomerations around Taihu Lake. The vast smoke waves and beautiful mountain scenery put a mysterious veil on the town cage hidden on the shore of the lake.

Wang (tenured professor of East China Normal University): "The peasants in the south of the Yangtze River are hardworking, but they are very bitter. They are busy all year round, because they want to engage in diversified businesses, so these are important consumers and residents of this town. Among the residents of this town, landlords and gentry have great influence. Because after the landlords came out of the countryside, a large number of people lived in towns at the first stop, so the developed culture in towns and villages developed because there were many landlords and literati there, so these landlords were of course consumers. I said these towns are small towns, at most. As for big towns, he must have actually decided that these products have the nature of cross-regional or even transnational trade. So today we think there are two main things in the Ming Dynasty, one is silk and the other is cotton. "

Cotton textile industry is the main economic source of towns in the south of the Yangtze River, keeping pace with silk industry. This kind of blue calico was once an ancient handmade calico, which was widely popular among the people in the south of the Yangtze River. From paper carving to scraping hollow patterns, dyeing oars with soybean powder and lime powder, and then soaking bluegrass to extract fuel, the people in the south of the Yangtze River left this simple beauty on various cotton products.

The cotton spinning owners of the Ming Dynasty should be concentrated in Songjiang Prefecture, which is today's Shanghai, including Jiading County, which belonged to Suzhou Prefecture at that time and now belongs to Shanghai. From Wanli of Ming Dynasty to Kangxi of Qing Dynasty. Songjiang prefecture is famous for its specialty label cloth, and Zhujiajiao town is one of the typical distribution centers for label cloth. It is famous for producing cotton cloth here. In the middle of the Ming dynasty, it appeared. During the Wanli period, Zhujiajiao Town became a giant town with merchants. Today, I went to one of the four ancient towns in Shanghai. It is located in Qingpu District. At that time, the cotton cloth produced in Qingpu County, known as Zhujiajiao Town, attracted more businessmen from all over the country to buy standard cloth. At that time, the cotton spinning industry in Songjiang Prefecture would import cotton from the provinces in North China and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the cotton produced in Jiading County would also be sold to the northern provinces. Zhujiajiao Town can be said to be a transit point for annual transactions, and there are many inns and restaurants for customers from all over the world to stay and rest. Chongzhen's "Songjiang Fuzhi" said: Zhujiajiao Town, merchants gathered, trading cloth, and the standard customers in Beijing Province continued.

In the Ming Dynasty, the towns in the south of the Yangtze River not only successfully solved the contradiction between population pressure and insufficient cultivated land, but also attracted businessmen from all over the country to develop cross-regional trade. Among them, the frequent exchanges between Huizhou merchants unconsciously created the unique cultural landscape of towns in the south of the Yangtze River, which is why many Huizhou-style buildings with white walls and gray tiles are concentrated in many ancient towns in the south of the Yangtze River today. Tomorrow, during the Spring Festival, a young Huizhou merchant arrived in Nanxun Town on the south bank of Taihu Lake in a wupeng boat. At that time, it was an important town of silk industry, rich in silk. Before the ship landed, he couldn't wait to stand at the bow and have a look at this strange and hopeful place for him. He is going to make great efforts here to create a world. There are a large number of silk towns in the small fan-shaped area southeast of Taihu Lake, among which Nanxun Town is the most famous. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Nanxun Town belonged to Wucheng County, Huzhou, but it was also adjacent to Jiaxing, Suzhou. Since the Wanli period of Ming Dynasty, Nanxun Town has entered an unprecedented period of prosperity. The prosperous silk weaving handicraft industry and trade have made it a male town in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, with hundreds of rich people in the town.

Today, the high-walled houses in the town are still visible, one after another. People call the famous family in Nanxun Town "four elephants, eight cows and seventy-two golden dogs", which is the largest silk merchant in modern China. Nanxun Town, as a silk trading center, has flourished for hundreds of years. This is mainly based on the local silk industry production. A kind of high-quality lake silk produced by farmers in Huzhou Prefecture, also known as Geely silk or Qilisi, is well-known at home and abroad.

Lu Shihu (researcher of folk history in Nanxun Town): "Hu Si has a long history, and it became a tribute of the Wangs in the Three Kingdoms period. By the Tang Dynasty, it had become an important process of sericulture in China. In the Ming Dynasty, people in Li Ji Village of Nanxun used the water from the Pearl River Bay Bridge, which was clear and white. Because of this water, silk is spun very much. By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Hu Si in the collection became famous and became a royal tribute. So this is the town at this time. Relying on the development of this series of Hu Si, businessmen, that is, people in the town are all businessmen, and farmers have gradually become rich in sericulture and reeling. Hu Si in this series was already famous in Kyoto in the Ming Dynasty, and sold overseas. "

The famous Hu Si was produced in this village, Li Ji Village, also known as Qili Village, named after Qili Road, Hengjie, Nanxun, Ma Yao. Today's Li Ji Village has completely lost the bustling scene of Hu Si's main production in the past. However, the bamboo tray used to raise silkworms in front of the farmhouse and the meta-gem used in the traditional silk weaving industry in the past are like some historical echoes lingering in the village head.

In the Ming dynasty, there were often busy boats, large and small, on the waterways of towns in the south of the Yangtze River. Farmers in four towns and villages will paddle boats to the bustling towns with convenient water transportation not far from home to find a good price for their cocoons and silk. In cities and towns, raw silk or other commodities produced by farmers are usually not traded directly with foreign businessmen, but through dental shops in cities and towns. At this time, a special occupation appeared in the town. That is, shopkeepers and their employees who specialize in intermediate trade act as the intermediary of trade and are the hub of urban economic operation. In the travel brochures of businessmen in Ming and Qing Dynasties, towns in the south of the Yangtze River are often marked as the only places for businessmen. The young Huizhou businessman who came to Nanxun Town was also looking for business opportunities quickly in the process of bargaining with local people. He started a silk business at a very competitive price and soon opened a big silk shop in the town.

There is an ancient bridge in Nanxun Town, which was built in the Song Dynasty. It was originally named Xunxi Bridge, and later changed to Jintong Bridge. The river section where the bridge is located happens to be the intersection of east, west, north and south. The canal from Huzhou to Wang Ping runs through the town from the east and west, and the urban rivers and canals in the north and south meet in the center of the town. This is a typical cross-harbour town. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, a large number of ships came to Cross Harbor every year to purchase high-quality lake silk, that is, a series of silk. Jintong Bridge is located in the middle of Crossport, which is the land and water wharf of the town.

Wang (tenured professor, East China Normal University): "Our Jiangnan area itself is a lake network area, so all traffic is not by land, because land is separated by lake network, so it must be by water, and boats are the main means of transportation. Therefore, the rise of cities and towns must be on waterways, and most waterways are traffic intersections, and intersections are the easiest to develop. So land and water are connected, and many of them are bridges, so look. Otherwise, you can't run from here to there. The largest town is Crossport. After you see the crossroads, go to the four heads in the southeast, northwest and northwest. Then the farmers next to these four heads come in and go to this place first, so there will be shops in these four heads. There are many people, and there used to be more. He has a public security management, which is the need of public security management. "

Wuzhen in the Ming Dynasty was a silk town near the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Its cross-shaped inland river system divides the whole town into east, west, north and south blocks and Zhaxi Scenic Area. The old one has been renovated, reappearing the charm of Wuzhen crossing the river in a hundred paces. In today's Wuzhen Scenic Area in Zhaxi, a gate of the ancient town in the south of the Yangtze River still remains. However, due to the changes of the times, this Zhaximen no longer plays its role.

Wang (tenured professor of East China Normal University): "The city gate is open in the morning and closed at night, and ships are not allowed to come in at night, which ensures the safety of normal residents, so there are four city gates on the side."

Nanxun Town, which is more than 20 miles away from Wuzhen, also has four gates, east, west, north and south, which are usually obvious signs of the scope of the town. According to the four-door range, Nanxun Town is very large, with three miles in the east, three miles in the west and seven miles in the north and south. Moreover, Nanxun Town was already full of fireworks during Jiajing period, and its prosperity even exceeded that of the county and Fucheng. At that time, as the saying goes, Huzhou is not as good as Nanxun half town. Although the prosperous market firms in Jiangnan towns no longer exist, the residents living in Nanxun town today still keep close contact with the rivers in the water town. Baijianlou is located in the northeast of the ancient town and built along the banks of the old canal. It is the living area with the richest architectural style of Ming Dynasty in Nanxun Town. Hundreds of years later, there are still residents washing clothes by the river, but on both sides of the river, only the sound of patting clothes is left quietly, and the footsteps of high heels are like a tunnel through time and space, giving off a crisp echo.

Liu Shihu (researcher of folk history in Nanxun Town): "Speaking of these 100 buildings, there is a legend. According to legend, the etiquette minister of the Ming Dynasty was named Dong Bin. His hometown is here, and his grandson is going to marry a wife. This daughter-in-law is here, the granddaughter of Mao Kun, a neighboring town in Nanxun. Mao Kun is also a celebrity and a scholar, so the Mao family is here. Your house is not enough. What if there are 100 maids she married? Then Dong Jia said it doesn't matter. I built the 100 building to make your ladies-in-waiting comfortable here, so he built the 100 building on both sides of the river here. Therefore, the buildings here are very characteristic of the Ming Dynasty.

Now it is difficult for us to find Amin dynasty buildings in a small town in the south of the Yangtze River. After the introduction of local folk history research scholar Lu Lao, we found Mr. Li who is still in the old house of Ming Dynasty at No.4 Dongjiaxiang, Nanxun Town. "Where else can we see some relics of the Ming Dynasty?" , "yes, you can shoot this chopping block here first. In ancient times, to build a house, he had to have this, which was padded. I have worked here for nearly 50 years. This is my grandmother's home, my uncle's home, and I have moved here since I was a child. My grandfather's surname is Dong, and my two uncles' surname is Dong. Be careful with this staircase, too. It's a little dangerous. This staircase is not used to danger.

Jiangnan is not only an economically developed area, but also a place where talented people come forth in large numbers, because wealthy businessmen like dajia will actively train their children to study and pursue fame and career. In the Ming dynasty, there was a strong humanistic atmosphere. There are seven scholars and twenty-seven juren. Under the pulse of commodity economy, in the noisy streets, the surge of wealth pushes the literati to build Jiangnan gardens with winding paths. Gardens not only show the financial resources and achievements of Jiangnan, but also show the culture and taste of Jiangnan. In the following year, the young Huizhou merchant who came to Nanxun Town to cultivate the world also made a fortune with the rapid development of the urban economy in the south of the Yangtze River. Within several generations, his descendants lived in big houses and interesting private gardens. From getting rich in business to pursuing literati ideals, small towns have brought them opportunities and created a different world for them. In Nanxun Town, there is a famous garden called Xiaolianzhuang. It was once the private garden of Liu Yong, the richest man in Nanxun Town, and one of the five famous gardens in Nanxun. One has pavilions and lotus leaves. In the bustling and noisy town, there is a beautiful charm of Jiangnan gardens here. The strong commercial atmosphere and elegant literati atmosphere are so wonderfully mixed between the water town and the countryside.

In the heyday of the Ming Dynasty, the small towns in the south of the Yangtze River have now retired from the long river of history in the modern city and new economic structure. However, its glory and influence on the development of China's commodity economy are far-reaching. With the dense urban network and water transportation to the seaport, foreign trade is unprecedentedly developed, and the perennial huge trade surplus has led to a large influx of silver into China, and a shining silver age has quietly arrived.