1, develop agricultural production
During the Northern Song Dynasty, agricultural production technology and popularization developed greatly.
At that time, farmers in the south generally used keel rollover for irrigation, and at the same time, gondolas with greater driving power than keel rollover were also used to divert water up mountains and irrigate mountain fields. Fan Zhongyan's "Water Wheel Fu" has a sentence that "the device is like a system, and the water is the wheel-assisted", which reflects this kind of tubular car with wheels and driven by water or cattle. The government of the Northern Song Dynasty twice promoted "treading on plows" in areas with few cattle. "Treading plough" is a good tool for human excavation, and the efficiency of four or five labors is half that of Niu Geng. This has played a certain role in solving the farming difficulties in areas with insufficient animal power.
In the tombs of the Northern Song Dynasty, there were groups of iron farm tools, such as plows, hoes, rakes, hoes and sickles. Among them, there are many intertillage farm tools such as harrows and hoes, which shows that farmers attach importance to intensive cultivation and increase farming procedures. Farmers in the Northern Song Dynasty also paid great attention to the accumulation and fertilization of fertilizers. In the long-term production practice, they realized that the properties of soil are different and different fertilizers should be applied. The so-called "medicine with feces". At that time, I also knew the relationship between the depth and density of crop planting and yield. Monographs on agricultural production knowledge such as crop spectrum, agricultural instrument spectrum, agricultural books and silkworm books have appeared one after another, reflecting the improvement of agricultural production technology.
With the unification of the Northern Song Dynasty, there was an exchange of crop varieties between the North and the South. There are many excellent varieties of rice in the Northern Song Dynasty, such as Zhancheng rice. Zhancheng rice is characterized by long panicle, no awn, drought resistance and early maturity. It is "born without chaos" and is suitable for universal planting. 10 1 1 year (four years of Dazhong Xiangfu), the Song government took 30,000 hectares of urban rice from Fujian, planted it in Jianghuai and Zhejiang, and later extended to the north. The cultivation of cash crops also developed in the Northern Song Dynasty.
2, the progress of handicraft production
During the Northern Song Dynasty, handicraft production developed greatly. At that time, the scale of various handicraft workshops and the fine degree of internal division of labor exceeded the previous generation. The production technology has made remarkable progress, and the variety, quantity and quality of products have been greatly increased and improved.
Handicraft industry in Song Dynasty developed greatly, mainly in the following aspects: the amount of coal mining ranks first in the world; The smelting of iron and copper has reached the highest level in the world; Porcelain is exquisitely made and has become the best-selling product in the world market.
3. Commercial Bank and jiaozi
With the development of commodity exchange in the Northern Song Dynasty, the currency circulation also increased significantly. During the Tianbao period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, 320,000 coins were minted every year, reaching 800,000 coins every year since Emperor Taizong of the Northern Song Dynasty. After that, it gradually increased to more than 6 million in the sixth year of Shen Zongxi Ning (1073). Besides copper and iron, gold and silver are also used as semi-circulating currencies. Silver is used for tax collection, official salaries and foreign trade. There are gold and silver shops and exchange houses in big cities, which specialize in buying and selling gold and silver and changing money. The proportion of silver in national tax revenue has gradually increased, from 883,900 yuan in 102 1 year (the fifth year of Tianxi) to1/860,000 yuan in 2020 (the second year of Xuanhe). Although gold is in circulation, it does not occupy an important position.
The Northern Song Dynasty also produced the earliest paper money in China and even the world-"Jiaozi". After the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty, Sichuan used iron money for a long time. At the end of A.D. 10, the so-called "Jiaozi Shop" appeared in Chengdu market, issuing paper money "Jiaozi" instead of iron money. In the winter of the first year of Renzong Tiansheng (1023), the government saw that it was profitable to issue Jiaozi, that is, under the pretext of constant disputes among businessmen, it officially set up Jiaozi service office, changed Jiaozi into an official office, and issued it regularly, with a reserve of 360,000 iron coins, and the circulation area was still limited to Sichuan. During the reign of Hui Zong, it was changed to "Yin Qian" to expand its circulation area. However, money is not prepared for capital, and printing in large quantities has become a great scourge to the people.
4. Population
The Song Dynasty was a dynasty with outstanding economic development in China's history, but it developed greatly. Production in the south was prosperous, and agriculture, handicrafts and science and technology were at the advanced level in the world at that time. In the Song Dynasty, silt farming was widely practiced, which not only irrigated the farmland along the river with muddy water, but also completed the development of paddy soil in the south, increased the yield per mu and developed grain production, which became the material basis for the emergence of a large number of people. The registered population of China reached more than 1 100 million, and its growth rate was also rare in the world at that time.
From the Northern Song Dynasty to Hui Zong, the population reached 8 1 10,000, which greatly exceeded the population in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. At that time, Liao, Jin and Xixia regimes coexisted with Song in China, and the total population was estimated to be 654.38 billion.
In the process of population growth in Song Dynasty, regional development was different. The position of North China in the total population of the country is declining, only about 29.7%, while the south is developing rapidly. Compared with the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the population of Southern Tang Dynasty was 39,20415. There are 5 148529 in the north and 6624296 in the north of the northern song dynasty. There are 1 1224760 in the south, and the population density is more than 50 people/km2.
According to the number of households in Yuanfeng for three years, the north accounts for about 37.3% and the south accounts for 62.7%, and the population center moves to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. At the end of the Song Dynasty, due to the war, the population of China dropped sharply again.
5. Cities and towns are prosperous.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, the development of ancient cities in China took a new turn. Cities before the Northern Song Dynasty were generally divided into squares and cities, that is, residential areas and commercial areas were strictly separated. During the Northern Song Dynasty, with the development of commodity economy and the increase of urban population, the boundary between "square" and "city" was completely broken, and shops could be opened everywhere instead of in a centralized way.
Kaifeng, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, is the most prosperous city in the capital city of Bianliang (now Kaifeng City, Henan Province) in Tokyo. During the Warring States Period, there were Wei, Jin, Hou Han, Hou Zhou, Song and Jin Dynasties. The Northern Song Dynasty was designated as the capital and reached its peak, which was the political, economic and cultural center of China at that time. The capital of Song Dynasty consists of imperial city, inner city and outer city. The circumference of the outer city is 50 li, 165 steps (300 steps in Song Dynasty, 1 step = 1.536 m), which is about 46.586 li. Population10.5 million, equivalent to one-third of Kaifeng's population today.
There are many handicraft workshops in the capital of song dynasty, and there are many shops, hotels and stalls on both sides of the street. People come and go, very lively. The commodities on the market include department stores all over China, as well as various foreign commodities. Business hours are not limited, except during the day, there are night markets and dawn markets. There are also fixed markets and regular fairs in the city. Among them, Dasuoguo Temple is opened five times a month, and its scale is very large. There are also "tile houses" (or "tile houses") in the city, where there are "Goulan" (places for singing and dancing), restaurants, teahouses, storytelling and acting, which have become the center of entertainment. The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival by Zhang Zeduan in Song Dynasty is an artistic reflection of the prosperity of urban commerce at that time.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, due to the break of the old workshop system, the division of labor in cities gradually disappeared, so the status of guilds was more important and the organization was more rigorous. In the Tang Dynasty, the commercial areas of some cities extended to the outside of the city, which was called the grass market, and further developed in the Northern Song Dynasty. There are also small cities that are open regularly in rural areas, called markets in the north and markets or fairs in the south. In the trade of grass market or fair, agricultural products and daily necessities such as cloth, silk, bamboo and other utensils account for the bulk, and some production tools are also traded. Some grass markets, fairs and fairs have gradually developed into fixed towns on the basis of developed exchanges. Towns are bridges between cities and villages, and the development of towns is conducive to the prosperity of commodity economy.
Lin 'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, was the political, economic and cultural center at that time. There is an endless stream of cargo ships from Zhejiang and other counties. In addition, Pingjiang, Jiankang, Ezhou, Jiangling and other cities along the river have developed handicrafts and commerce. The market is more common than in the Northern Song Dynasty. There are 800 markets in Guangdong alone, which reflects the prosperity of business from one side.
In the Northern Song Dynasty, Hangzhou was already a famous big city in China. Liu Yong, a great poet, said in Looking at the Tide of the Sea that "Qiantang has been prosperous since ancient times, with a population of 100,000, which is staggering". During the Southern Song Dynasty, as the capital of a country, the population of Lin 'an City accumulated rapidly. The registered population of nine counties in Lin 'an prefecture is 6.5438+0.24 million, while in the same period (654.38+03 century), there were only 20,000 in London, 40,000 in Paris, and only 6.5438+0.000 in Venice, the largest and most prosperous city in the west.
At the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty, the population of Lin 'an was "26 1692 households with a population of 552507" (1173). By the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, during the reign of Xianchun (1265~ 1274), it had increased to "39 1259 households and population1247,600", which was the total number of registered households in nine counties of Lin 'an prefecture. This does not include the number of troops with no less than100000 and a large number of floating population that is difficult to count.
The huge urban population can be proved by the food consumption of Lin 'an City at that time. "Dream of Liang Lu" said: "Every day, rice is eaten in the market, except for people in government offices, official houses, houses, rich houses and other departments. People eat it, and there are no fewer than one or two thousand stones entering and leaving the city every day." According to the statistics of Wulin Old Stories, "In the Song Dynasty, there were 167,000 people in Hang Cheng except Mijia. People count as two liters, and three or four thousand stones can't be used in one day, but the north and south outer compartments are not harmonious, and the guest exchanges are not harmonious. "
The largest comprehensive central business district in Lin 'an is Yujie. Famous products from all over the country are distributed here, and merchants shuttle back and forth, which is a scene of prosperity. From the North Gate of the Forbidden City to the outside of Ningmen (now the intersection at the foot of Phoenix Mountain in the south of Song Wan), along the Imperial Street, there are many merchants on both sides. In addition to Imperial Street, professional markets and businesses spread all over the city. Bamboo pole lane, named after the arrangement of fine bamboo hedges in South Song and Hangzhou City; Ma Shi Street sells horses, Pi Shi Lane sells furs, Cai Shi Bridge is a vegetable distribution center ... Yin Gao Street adjacent to Qinghefang is a famous jewelry market in the Southern Song Dynasty, hence its name.