Some people may say that the Tang Dynasty was the most powerful dynasty in China. Compare the Tang and Song Dynasties:
The Tang Dynasty was apparently superior to Song Qiang in military affairs and diplomacy; But in terms of economy and productivity, Song Dynasty was stronger than Tang Dynasty. Especially economically, the Song Dynasty was the richest feudal era in China. On the whole, science and technology in the Song Dynasty was stronger than that in the Tang Dynasty.
At its peak, the population of the Tang Dynasty was more than 5 million (it took 1 years for the Tang Dynasty to recover and surpass the level of the Sui Dynasty at its peak), and the population of the Song Dynasty exceeded 1 million at its peak. Even in the Southern Song Dynasty, the population was more than 1 million more than that in the Tang Dynasty. How big is the gap between Tang and Song Dynasties? It's a gap of 1: 2.
At the peak of the Tang Dynasty, there were only 17 cities with a population of over 1,, while at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, there were 52 cities with a population of over 1,. How big is the gap between Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty? It's the difference between 17 and 52. Tokyo (Kaifeng), the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, was the largest and most prosperous city in the world at that time. "History of Song Dynasty" states, "There are 2, residents in Tokyo." According to the calculation of 8 people per household (as mentioned above, "Kapok harvests thousands of plants, and eight people are not worried about poverty"), there was no family planning at that time, and the average life expectancy was high. Generally, middle-sized households had about 1 children, and large households "could reach 3-4 people", with a population of about 1.5 million. Add hundreds of thousands of imperial soldiers (called "8, imperial soldiers" in the Water Margin), tens of thousands of royalty, government officials and their families, servants, mobile vendors, vagrants and foreign nationals, and the population of Tokyo should be no less than 2 million! This figure not only surpassed Chang 'an and Luoyang in the Tang Dynasty, but even today, it is a well-deserved megacity. In the 11th century, the largest cities in Europe, such as London, Paris and Venice, had a population of less than 1,, but in the 13th century (the late Southern Song Dynasty), Venice, the largest and most prosperous city in the west, had a population of only 1, (I feel awkward when I heard people call Suzhou "Venice of the East" today, and Suzhou in the Song Dynasty was richer and more prosperous than Venice). Not only Tokyo, but also the number of cities with more than 1, households in the Song Dynasty increased from more than 1 in the Tang Dynasty to more than 4. Bianjing and Lin 'an were the fourth and fifth big cities in the world with a population exceeding one million after Chang 'an, Luoyang and Nanjing. In the Northern Song Dynasty, the populations of Tokyo (Kaifeng Prefecture), Xijing (Luoyang), Nanjing (Yingtianfu) and Beijing (Daming Prefecture) were all over one million.
The cities in the Tang Dynasty were quiet and dark at night, while the cities in the Song Dynasty were noisy and brilliant at night. The earliest night market appeared in Song Dynasty. Song Cheng is the city of light in the dark. Cities in the Song Dynasty were cities where businesses surged around the clock. Always adhere to the "people in the city are constantly operating day and night, circulating wealth and goods to sell hundreds of things to support the countryside." Therefore, the commercial torrent and economic prosperity and progress in the Song Dynasty never stopped even in the dark. How big is the gap between Tang and Song Dynasties? It is the gap between 12 hours and 24 hours a day, the gap between darkness and tranquility and light and noise.
It took more than 1 years from Zhenguan to Tianbao in the Tang Dynasty to increase the cultivated land area by more than two million hectares. It took more than 4 years from Kaibao to Tianxi in Song Dynasty to increase the cultivated land area by more than two million hectares. In terms of the development efficiency of agricultural cultivated land area, the Song Dynasty was 2. 5 times that of the Tang Dynasty. How big is the gap between Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty? It's the difference between 2 and 5.
The highest cultivated land area in the Tang Dynasty was about 6.2 million hectares, and that in the Song Dynasty was about 5.24 million hectares. The ruler of the Tang Dynasty is smaller than that of the Song Dynasty. One mu in the Tang Dynasty is about .783 mu today, and one mu in the Song Dynasty is about .974 mu today. Converted into this mu, the cultivated land area in the Tang Dynasty is more than 4.85 million hectares, and the cultivated land area in the Song Dynasty is more than 5.11 million hectares. The phenomenon of hidden fields existed in both the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, and it was more serious in the Song Dynasty. The highest estimated arable land area in Tang Dynasty is 6 million mu, and the highest estimated arable land area in Song Dynasty is 8 million mu. How big is the gap between Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty? It's the difference between 6 and 8.
In the Tang Dynasty, there were about 1.5 stones per mu, and in the Song Dynasty, there were about 2 stones per mu. The average acre in Song Dynasty was 3% higher than that in Tang Dynasty. How big is the gap between Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty? Is the difference between 1.5 and 2. In the Tang Dynasty, cultivated land was planted once a year, with a maximum yield of 2 stones per mu. There were two kinds of cultivated land a year in Song Dynasty, and even three or four kinds in some places. The highest yield per mu is 6 to 7 stones. In the Tang Dynasty, brewing was often banned because of grain consumption, while in the Song Dynasty, on the contrary, the Song government encouraged brewing. This just shows the prosperity and development of agriculture in Song Dynasty. How big is the gap between Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty? It's the difference between 2 and 7.
91 important water conservancy projects in the Tang Dynasty received remarkable results, and at least 496 important water conservancy projects in the Song Dynasty received remarkable results. The degree of development and utilization of territory in Song Dynasty was much greater than that in Tang Dynasty. In the words of the Song people: "Those who have never been in the footsteps of the past are now fertile soil." How big is the gap between Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty? Is the difference between 91 and 496.
The Tang Dynasty was a small-scale peasant economy society, and the Song Dynasty was a commodity economy society. The Tang Dynasty was based on "agriculture", which was an agricultural economy dominated by agriculture, and agricultural tax was the foundation of national taxation. In Song Dynasty, "industry and commerce benefited the country" was a commercial economy dominated by commerce, and commercial tax was the foundation of national taxation. Therefore, the Song people said: "The state and county finances, in addition to private rents, all depend on commercial taxes." How big is the gap between Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty? It is the gap between small-scale peasant economy society and commodity economy. The highest income from silk in Tang Dynasty was 7.4 million, while that from fine silk in Song Dynasty was 24.45 million. This is just a tax, if calculated by output, the gap is even bigger, and the quality of silk in the Tang Dynasty is far from that in the Song Dynasty. "Tang silk is thick and thick, and Song silk is thin and thin." How big is the gap between Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty? It is the difference between 74 and 2445. It is the gap between thick and fine.
The highest amount of coins minted in the Tang Dynasty was 327, yuan. The highest annual coinage in the Song Dynasty was 5.6 million copper coins and 88, iron coins in Song Shenzong. The difference between the two is nearly 2 times. How big is the gap between Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty? It's the difference between 3 and 5. This does not include the paper money issued and circulated by the Song government. Moreover, a large amount of gold and silver also entered the field of commodity circulation in the Song Dynasty. A country's currency circulation represents its economic level and strength. Copper coin is a full-value currency, and its own value exceeds its face value. If the difference is more than 1 times in one year, how many times in ten years and a hundred years? How big is the gap between Tang and Song Dynasties? How big is the gap between the economic aggregates of the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty? It is more than a thousand times the total amount of full-value money.
During the Song Dynasty, almost all countries in the world except China were groping in the barbarism and darkness of poverty and backwardness-Europe was no exception. Many western scholars believe that the living standard of a European monarch at that time was not as good as that of a soldier watching the city gates in the capital of Tokyo. In recent years, some people have calculated that the per capita GDP of the Northern Song Dynasty reached $2,28 through gold price conversion! This data is a great achievement even today. Although this calculation is not scientific, it is recognized by historians that the gross national product of the Song Dynasty accounted for more than 5% of the world at that time, up to 8%! (In 213, China's GDP only accounted for 8% of the world's total GDP.) Therefore, we can say that China was rich in the Song Dynasty, at least twice as rich as the best in other parts of the world! The prosperity of the Song Dynasty was first manifested in the government's annual revenue. In the second year of Song Yingzong Zhiping (165), after 1 years' development, the revenue of the Song Dynasty was 116.13 million, which was as high as 16 million after the reform of Shenzong, which was about 7 times that of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. According to the general exchange rate of money, 1 penetration was converted into one or two taels of silver, which was about 16 million taels of silver (considering the shortage of copper coins in the Song Dynasty, this value may be greatly underestimated)! Even in the Southern Song Dynasty, which lost half of its territory, its fiscal revenue was as high as 1 million yuan. What kind of number is this? In the 5th year of Ming Qin Long (1571), the national revenue was 2.5 million taels of silver. In the 28th year (16) of Wanli after Zhang Juzheng's reform, his income was 4 million taels. There was chaos in the world at the end of the Ming Dynasty. In order to resist the late Jin Dynasty and annihilate the peasant uprising army, the Ming government successively sent Liao, Lian and suppressed the "three salaries", and the levy was extorted, and it only got about 1 million yuan a year. At this time, it has been more than 3 years since the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty. In the case that the land area of the Ming Dynasty is much larger than that of the Song Dynasty, the annual fiscal revenue is less than 1/1 of that of the Northern Song Dynasty! The Qing Dynasty was slightly better than the Ming Dynasty. In 165, the income of Shunzhi was 14.85 million yuan, and in Xianfeng years 2 years later, it was about 3 million to 4 million yuan. At this time, the population of China was nearly 4 million, 2-3 times more than that of the Northern Song Dynasty. It was not until the limited years before the demise of the Qing Dynasty that the national revenue reached the level of the Song Dynasty under the influence of changing the collection system, calculation method and a series of external factors.
What supported the huge financial revenue of the Song Dynasty was not to extort money by imposing levies, but to fish by exhausting resources. On the contrary, the living standards of the Song people were quite high. Even at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, after being tossed about by Song Huizong Hu Tian Alakazam for more than 2 years, few people really rebelled because they couldn't live. (Look at the Liangshan heroes in Water Margin. How many of them became an outlaw because of hunger and cold? The high fiscal revenue of the Song Dynasty was based on the developed economy, especially the prosperous business. Taking the tenth year of Xining (177) as an example, the total tax revenue in the Northern Song Dynasty was 7.7 million yuan (excluding the left warehouse and the pile-sealed warehouse), of which the agricultural taxes were 21.62 million yuan, accounting for 3%; Industrial and commercial tax has a wealth of 49.11 million, accounting for 7%! It is not agriculture that constitutes the main body of national fiscal revenue, but industry and commerce-Song Dynasty was the only "industrialized" country in the world at that time!
in contrast, the fiscal revenue in the heyday of the Tang dynasty was only 35 million Liang.
there are more than 14 industries in the capital of Tang dynasty and 44 industries in the capital of song dynasty. In Kaifeng, Song Shenzong, there were more than 6,4 large and medium-sized industrialists and businessmen, and there were 8, or 9, vendors. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the city outside Hangzhou was full of "people's wealth, people's streets, shops and seats, and endless trips for several days." The diversification, refinement and systematization of the industrial structure in the Song Dynasty far exceeded that in the cities of the Tang Dynasty. It is difficult to estimate the value created by each emerging industry in Song Dynasty than in Tang Dynasty. The emergence of every new industry shows the vigorous development of the Song Dynasty. The value created by each emerging industry is also incalculable and powerful. For example, the private printing industry, a new industry in the Song Dynasty, reprinted a large number of books and bought them in countries such as Liao, Korea and Japan. Song merchants exchanged knowledge and technology for a large number of profits in the Song Dynasty. There was no private printing industry in the Tang Dynasty, let alone export to earn foreign exchange. How big is the gap between Tang and Song Dynasties? It's the difference between 14 and 44. Is the difference between and 3.
Most of the Yangtze River valley in the south of the Tang Dynasty was a backward and barbarian land, so the south described by the literati in the Tang Dynasty was actually a "smoky land" with a bad environment, a "land of barbarians" and a "foreign country". From the beginning to the end of the Tang Dynasty, there was no city with a population of more than one million in the southern Yangtze River valley. In the Song Dynasty, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Chengdu in the southern Yangtze River valley were all * * cities with a population of over one million. How big is the gap between Tang and Song Dynasties? It is the gap between "the evil in the south", "from the poisonous damps of the southern river" and "Suzhou and Shanghai are familiar, and the world is enough" and "heaven in heaven, Suzhou and Hangzhou underground". It is the gap between backwardness, poverty and prosperity.
In the Tang Dynasty, the handmaiden was a "slave", while in the Song Dynasty, the handmaiden was a "servant". Tenants and handmaiden in the Tang Dynasty were slaves, while those in the Song Dynasty were human beings. The serfs in the Tang Dynasty were bought and sold with donkeys in the market like dogs. "handmaiden bitch, similar to animal products" "buy handmaiden, horse, ox, mule, donkey, etc., and set up market coupons according to the order." They have no human freedom but the private property of their masters. "Handmaiden, part of the body is tied to the Lord", "Handmaiden is the same as wealth, that is, it is jointly punished by the Lord." They will never turn over and will always be slaves. The tenant farmers in the Song Dynasty had personal freedom. "Those who don't want to cultivate, that is, they will leave their fields to rent." They can also become landlords, businessmen, generals and officials through their own efforts. How big is the gap between Tang and Song Dynasties? It is the gap between livestock and good people, and between slaves and people.
The bigger gap between the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty is the gap between people. Printing in the Tang Dynasty was only used to print Buddhist scriptures, but not to print books to spread cultural knowledge. Therefore, there were many illiterates and not many scholars in the Tang Dynasty. Printing in Song Dynasty was widely used to spread knowledge and promote culture. Therefore, it was easier for China people to study in the Song Dynasty. So there are relatively few illiterates. The Song people proudly said, "In the hundred years of Song San, tablets have become a market, and tablets are all over the world, while the secrets are kept by people. There was no hardship for the ears before Han Dynasty, and no diligence for hand-copying before Tang Dynasty. How fortunate is the reader to get twice the result with half the effort. " The Tang Dynasty was a non-learning society, while the Song Dynasty was a learning society. "For fathers and brothers, it is the fault that their sons and brothers are not literate; If you are a mother and wife, it is a shame for your son and husband not to learn. " "In today's homes of farmers, workers and merchants, there is no one who gives up the old and becomes a scholar." China people in Song Dynasty were more cultured, educated, connotative and interesting than China people in Tang Dynasty. More elegant, more romantic, more humorous and more patriotic. In the words of Xie Henai, a French sinologist, "China people in the 13th century seem to be more sentimental and romantic than their ancestors. China people in the 13th century also showed some curiosity and broadened their horizons, which were not seen in previous centuries. Their free lifestyle will surprise their ancestors in the Tang Dynasty. Because of their modesty, courtesy, sense of humor, social life interest and conversation art, they have become the most exquisite and cultured personality type ever produced by Chinese civilization. From the history of their daily life, we get the general impression that they can naturally restrain themselves and their lives are full of joy and charm. "
The biggest gap between Tang and Song is the gap between civilization and the strength of civilization. Although the prosperous Tang Dynasty was big, it maintained "Li Tang inherited Yu Wentai's Guanzhong-based policy", and the focus of the whole country was in the northwest corner. When China was in its heyday in the Tang Dynasty, it had to adopt a negative political strategy to maintain the status quo in the northeast. " Although the Southern Song Dynasty was small, it laid the foundation for "the culture of China in the past 8 years, which was led by the Southern Song Dynasty and focused on Jiangsu and Zhejiang." Tang gradually turned China into barbarians, and Song gradually turned barbarians into China. Before the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the Western Regions, Hebei, Longyou, Shandong and so on, which were the inherent territories of China's traditional civilization, were all savaged. The Song Dynasty has always ruled the world with a powerful civilized force, and invaded the barbarians all over the world with comprehensive national strength such as economy, culture, politics, science and technology, art and craft. Liao, Nuzhen, Xixia, Tubo, Uighur, Dali, Korea, Japan and so on were all conquered by Song civilization. The vast territory left by the Mongols to China was the price of being conquered by the Song civilization.
The mining industry, porcelain industry, textile industry, shipbuilding industry, paper industry, printing industry, military industry, finance industry, catering industry, tea industry, sugar industry, brewing industry, construction industry, salt industry, cultural industry, entertainment industry and so on in the Song Dynasty were all far ahead of the Tang Dynasty. The gap between many places in the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty is not a little or a half, not just one or several times, but more than ten times, even a hundred times or a thousand times. Song Dynasty is a revolutionary era, an era of rapid development, and an era of big bang. What are revolutions, such as steel revolution, fuel revolution, printing revolution, urban revolution, agricultural revolution, commercial revolution, financial revolution and porcelain revolution? Revolution is innovation, revolution is great change and revolution is qualitative change. The gap between the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty is not only quantitative, but qualitative. Japanese literary historian Naito Hunan