The economic history of China, one of the oldest civilizations in the world, stretches thousands of years. China was the largest economy on earth for most of the past two millennia.[1][2] The Financial Times stated that "China has been the world’s largest economy for 18 of the past 20 centuries",[3] while according to The Economist, "China was not only the largest economy for much of recorded history, but until the end of the 15th century, it also had the highest income per capita—and was the world’s technological leader."[2][4] According to Ebrey's Cambridge Illustrated History of China, "Until 1700 China's material culture had been unrivalled; its standard of living was among the best in the world, and inventions flowed more commonly from east to west than vice versa."[5]
By roughly 10,000 BCE, in the Neolithic era, agriculture was practiced in China. Stratified bronze-age cultures, such as Erlitou, emerged by the third millennium BCE. Under the Shang (ca. 1600–1045 BCE) and Zhou (1045–771 BCE), a dependent labor force worked in large-scale foundries and workshops to produce bronzes and silk for the elite. The agricultural surpluses produced by the manorial economy of these dynasties supported these early handicraft industries, as well as urban centers and considerable armies. However, this system began to break up after the collapse of the Western Zhou Dynasty in 771 BCE, which lead to the Spring and Autumn and Warring states eras.
By 500 BCE, Chinese society, economy, and government were rapidly changing. As the feudal system collapsed, much legislative power was transferred to local kings. A merchant class emerged during the Warring States Period, resulting in increased trade. The emperors established an elaborate bureaucracy, using it to wage imperial wars, build large temples, and perform public works projects. This new system rewarded talent over birthright; important positions were no longer occupied solely by nobility. An agricultural revolution, caused by the adoption of new iron tools, led to a large population increase during this period. By 221 BCE, the state of Qin, which embraced reform more than other states, unified China, built the Great Wall, and set consistent standards of government.[6] Although its draconian laws led to its overthrow in 206 BCE, the Qin institutions survived. During the Qin, China became a strong, unified, and centralized empire of self-sufficient farmers and artisans, though limited local autonomy remained.
The Song Dynasty (960–1279 CE) brought additional economic reforms. Paper money, the printing press, the compass, and other technological advances led to communication on a large scale and the widespread circulation of books. The state began to exercise less power, allowing private merchants to prosper. These new technologies and knowledge, coupled with less bureaucratic control of merchants, allowed a large increase in investment and profit. Despite disruptions during the Mongol conquest of 1279, the Ming Dynasty continued the Song's development of the economy. However, when the isolationist Qing Dynasty came into power, China's economic development began to slow. The discovery of America and the wealth of India aided Europe in rapidly developing during the Industrial Revolution as China's economy slowed—an event known as the great divergence. In 1820, China accounted for 33% of the world's GDP, but barely a hundred years later China accounted for only 9%.[7]
Pre-Imperial Era (ca. 10,000 – 221 BCE)
By Neolithic times, the tribes living in what is now the Yellow River valley were practicing agriculture. By the third millennium BCE, stratified bronze-age societies had emerged. These early cultures peaked in the Erlitou culture, which dominated North China and was identified with the Xia Dynasty, the first dynasty in traditional Chinese histiography. Erlitou was followed by the rule of the Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties, who developed a manorial economy similar to Western Europe in the Middle Ages[8]. With the collapse of the Western Zhou Dynasty, however, this system began to collapse and was replaced by a more vibrant and free economy of self-sufficient farmers and artisans by the Warring States Era. This transformation was completed when the State of Qin unified China in 221 BCE, ushering in the imperial era of Chinese history.
The Neolithic and the early Bronze Age
Agriculture began almost 10,000 years ago in several regions within the area we now call China.[9] The earliest domesticated crops were millet in the north and rice in the south.[10]. Some Neolithic cultures produced textiles with hand-operated spindle-whorls as early as 5000 BCE.[11] The earliest silk remains date to the early third millennium BCE.[12] By the Longshan period (north China, ca. 3000-2000 BCE), a large number of communities with stratified social structure had emerged.[13]
The Erlitou culture (ca. 1900-1350 BCE, named after a representative site in modern Henan) dominated northern China in the early second millennium BCE.[14] This is when urban societies and bronze casting appeared for the first time in the area.[15] The cowries, tin, jade, and turquoise that were buried in Erlitou suggest that the Erlitou polity traded with many neighbors.[16] A considerable labor force also had to be mobilized to build the rammed-earth foundations of Erlitou buildings.[17] Even if the "highly stratified"[18] Erlitou society has left no writing, some historians have identified Erlitou as a site from the possibly mythical Xia dynasty, which is mentioned in traditional Chinese sources as preceding the Shang.[19]
Only a strong centralized state led by rich elites could have produced the bronzes of the Erligang culture (ca. 1600-1400 BCE or 1500-1300 BCE).[20] The Erligang state, which archeologist Robert Bagley has called "the first great civilization of East Asia,"[21] interacted with neighboring ones, which either imported bronzes or the artisans who could cast them.[22] These exchanges allowed the technique of bronze metallurgy to spread to surrounding polities.[23] Some historians have identified Erligang as a Shang site because it corresponds with the area where traditional sources say the Shang were active, but no written source from the time allows to confirm this identification.[24]
The Shang dynasty (ca. 1600 – ca. 1045)
The first site unequivocably identified with the Shang dynasty by contemporaneous inscriptions is Anyang, a Shang capital that became a major settlement around 1200 BCE.[25] The staple crop of the Shang, a predominantly agricultural society, was millet,[26] but rice and wheat were also cultivated.[27] These grains were produced in fields owned by the royal aristocracy. Agricultural surpluses produced by royal fields supported the Shang royal family and ruling elite, advanced handicraft industries (bronze, silk, etc.), as well as large armies.[28] Large royal pastures also provided animals for sacrifices and meat consumption.[29] The rest of the agricultural produce went to support the population of Shang, estimated to be about 5.5 to 8 million people.[30]
Since land was only cultivated for a few years before being left fallow, new lands constantly needed to be opened,[31] either by drainage of low-lying fields or by clearing of scrubland or forested areas.[32] These tasks were performed by corvée labor under state supervision,[33] often in the context of hunting expeditions.[34]
Like their Neolithic predecessors, the Shang kept using spindle-whorls to make textiles, but the Shang labor force was more formally organized.[35] By Shang times, controlled workers produced silk in workshops for the aristocracy.[36] Fields and workshops were manned by labor of various degrees of servitude.[37] Some historians have called these dependent workers "slaves" and labeled the Shang a "slave society," but others reject such labels as too vague because we know too little about the nature of this labor force.[38]
The Western Zhou (ca. 1045 – 771 BCE)
The Zhou dynasty defeated the Shang around 1045 BCE and took control of the Wei and Yellow River valleys that the Shang had dominated. Land continued to belong to the royal family, which re-distributed it among its dependents in a system that many historians have likened to the feudal organization of medieval Europe.[8] Epigraphic evidence shows that, as early as the late 10th century BCE, land was already starting to be traded, though without becoming private property yet.[39] Edward Shaughnessy hypothesizes that this increase in the land exchanges came from the splitting of elite lineages into branches, which increased demand for land precisely as its supply was diminishing.[40]
The fourth-century book Mencius claims that the early Zhou developed the well-field system, a pattern of land occupation in which eight peasant families cultivated fields around a central plot that they farmed for the landlord.[41] The system was named after the Chinese character for "well" (jing 井), which resembles the grid-like pattern in which these nine fields were supposedly arranged.[42] Historians have generally doubted the existence of this idealized system,[43] but some maintain that it may have existed informally in the early Zhou, when dependent tenants working on manorial estates paid corvée to their landlords instead of taxes, as they would later.[44]
Handicraft industries developed during the Shang, such as textiles, bronze and the production of weapons, were continued during the Zhou, but they were completely state-controlled. The Zhou government also controlled most commerce and exchange through appointing officials whose titles were "Jia", which was used to mean merchant in later times.[45]
Cowry shells started to be used as currency and units of wealth during the Western Zhou.[46] The Zhou also used precious metals for trade purposes, but most daily exchanges were still conducted by barter.[47]
Spring and Autumn period (771–475 BCE)
The collapse of the Zhou ushered in the Spring and Autumn Period, named after Confucius' Spring and Autumn Annals. It was a time of war between states, when the Chinese feudal system fell into decline and trade began to flourish. Competition between states led to rapid technological advancement. Iron tools became available, producing agricultural surpluses that led to the collapse of the well-field system. Towards the end of this era, the introduction of iron technology caused the complete collapse of the feudal system and ushered in a new era of development.[48]
Emergence of large cities
During the Spring and Autumn Period, many cities grew in size and population. The prosperous capital of Qi, Linzi had a population estimated at over 200,000 in 650 BCE, becoming one of the largest cities in the world. Alongside other large cities, Qi served as a center of administration, trade, and economic activity. Most of the cities' population engaged in animal husbandry and was thus self-sufficient. The growth of these cities was an important step forward for the ancient Chinese economy.[49]
Beginnings of trade
Large-scale trade began in the Spring and Autumn Period as merchants transported goods between states. Currency was issued en masse to accommodate the new trade. Although some states restricted trade, other states encouraged it—such as Zheng in Central China, which promised not to regulate merchants. Zheng merchants became powerful throughout China as they carried goods from Yan in the north to Chu in the south.[50]
Technological advances
As new iron tools were developed, they led to agricultural surpluses. Meanwhile, iron weapons began to make bronze weapons obsolete. Since iron smelting works were large and complex, they were usually under the control of the ruler, giving him a monopoly on weapons. This, as well as the agricultural surpluses, led to the disintegration of the feudal nobility in China.[51] Livestock husbandry flourished, leading to increased agricultural productivity,[51] and allowing individuals to produce their own food.
Collapse of well-field system
As lords expanded their quantity of plots, the well-field system began to collapse, and this was hastened when the State of Lu changed its taxation system in 594 BCE. Under the new laws, grain producers were taxed upon each mu cultivated, rather than an equal amount being collected from each noble. As other states followed this example, large estates began to disintegrate, ending the well-field system.[52] Free peasants became the majority of the population and provided a tax base for the emerging centralized state.
Warring States (475–221 BCE)
The Warring States Period saw rapid technological and philosophical advances. As rulers competed with each other to take control of China's states, they implemented various reforms, greatly changing China's economic system. Iron tools were produced on a massive scale, leading to the disintegration of the feudal system. Agricultural and military advancements made China a technological world leader.[53][54] Common-born landowners and merchants prospered with help from the state, which was wary of the old nobility. Some merchants, such as Lü Buwei, may have become as wealthy as some states.[55]
Beginnings of the iron industry and its effects
Although iron tools were manufactured during the Spring and Autumn Period, they became ubiquitous during the Warring States Era after large states began producing iron under government control. Governments, which controlled the large iron smelting works, had a monopoly on military equipment, which strengthened the state at the expense of the feudal lords. Iron agricultural tools allowed a massive increase in surplus farm goods, making the well-field system redundant.[56] In addition, cast iron was invented in China during the 4th century BCE, but was not adopted by the West for 1,700 years.[54]
Agricultural Boom
In addition to the introduction of iron agricultural tools, the new powerful states undertook large-scale irrigation projects, such as the Zhengguo Canal and the Dujiangyan Irrigation System. Thousands of previously desolate mu were cultivated and integrated into the Qin economy. The agricultural boom allowed larger armies. During the Spring and Autumn period, supply constraints restricted armies to less than 100,000 men. In contrast, the armies deployed by the Qin and Zhao at the Battle of Changping reportedly exceeded one million men. Despite the likely exaggeration of these figures, they show the relative increase in army size.[55]
During the Warring States Period, new agricultural techniques formed the basis of Chinese agriculture.[53] In the sixth century BCE, among other innovations, the iron plow, row cultivation, and intensive hoeing were introduced. These techniques spread rapidly, but were limited to China until the Agricultural Revolution in Europe.[53]
Reforms of Shang Yang
New technological advances prompted rulers to reform their governments, discarding the feudal system. The most extensive of these reforms was carried out in Qin by Shang Yang. These reforms included abolishing the feudal nobility, redistributing their land based on military merit, and allowing private ownership of land by discontinuing the Jintian system. In addition, he encouraged the cultivation of unsettled lands, giving noble ranks to soldiers who performed well in battle, and establishing an efficient and strict legal code. The capital was also moved to Xianyang.[57] The new reforms were successful, allowed Qin to become the strongest state in China, and were soon copied to some extent by other rulers.[57]
Establishment of Absolutist governments
In this era, the growing power of the state, aided by reforms like those of Shang Yang, strengthened the monarchy and allowed an organized bureaucracy capable of carrying of large-scale projects. Absolute monarchy would remain the system in China until its gradual weakening under the Song and Ming dynasties.[58]
Early Imperial Era (221 BCE – 960 CE)
The Early imperial era was marked by strong governments and emperors with nearly limitless power. Early imperial era states were relatively centralized, though local officials still maintained limited autonomy. During the early imperial era, self-sufficient peasant farmers and artisans dominated the economy; these groups largely operated independently of the overall market. Commerce was relatively frequent, increasing after the Han Dynasty with the development of the silk road The Wu Hu uprising crippled the economy,[59] which did not recover until the Tang, under which it transformed into the mercantile economy of the Song and Ming Dynasties.
Qin Dynasty (221–206 BCE)
In 221 BCE, the State of Qin conquered the remaining states in China, becoming what scholars consider the first unified Chinese state.[6] It quickly expanded, extending the Southern frontier from the Yangtze to modern Vietnam, and the northern frontier to modern Mongolia. While the early Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasities had nominal authority over all of China, the feudal system gave most regions a large degree of autonomy. Under the Qin, however, a centralized state was established,[6] and the entire empire had uniform standards and currency to facilitate trade. In addition, the Qin government undertook many public works projects, like the Great Wall of China. The Qin initiated what is considered the "first Chinese empire", which lasted until the Wu Hu uprising. However, Qin's legalist laws were not easily accepted by much of the empire. Rebellion occurred soon after the death of the first Qin emperor, and by 206 BCE, the Qin had collapsed.[60]
Unification of standards
The Qin emperor unified standards of writing, weight measurement, and wheel length, while abolishing the old currencies, which varied between states. He also issued a uniform code of laws throughout the empire, which made trade easier. Defensive walls between states were demolished because of their disruptive influence upon trade. The Qin Empire did not return to the old feudal system, but set up a system of 36 commandries, each of governing a number of counties.[6]
Public works projects
The Qin government undertook many public works projects, the workers were often being conscripted by the state in order to repay a tax debt. The most famous of these projects is the Great Wall of China, built to defend the state against Xiongnu incursions. Other projects include the Lingqu Canal, which linked subsidiaries of the Yangtze and Pearl rivers and made possible the Qin's southern conquests.[60]
Strict property laws
Qin property laws were strict, in order to maintain respect for private property. The law sentenced persons who had damaged others' property, even as little as taking leaves from a fruit tree, to 30 days' hard labor.[61]
Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 190 CE)
The Han Dynasty is remembered as the first of China's Golden Ages. Emerging from the devastation of the Chu-Han contention, the Han dynasty rapidly recovered to become one of the most powerful and populous nations on Earth. The Han reached its peak under Emperor Wu, who subdued the Xiongnu and took control of the Hexi Corridor, opening up the Silk Road. The economy boomed during the Han, whose population of 58 million exceeded the Roman Empire.[62] The Han also saw large-scale enterprises emerge, many of which were state-operated. Technological innovations, such as the wheelbarrow, paper and the seismograph, were invented during this period.[63]
Decentralized administration of early Han
Due to having to compromise with confederates who helped him overthrew the Qin Dynasty, the founder of the Han, Liu Bang had to give ten kingdoms to his generals and relatives. Under the early Han government, in contrast to the centralized state of Qin, the central government administered only a part of China, most of which was divided into mostly autonomous kingdoms, each with its own currency, government, and army. These kingdoms controlled most of China and often clashed with the central government.[64] Emperor Wu of Han, who modelled his administration upon Qin's centralized government, abolished these kingdoms, turning them into commandries.[64]
Prosperity under Wen and Jing
The reigns of the Emperors Wen and Jing were a period of peace and prosperity. During their reigns, the state control of the economy was minimal, following the Taoist principle of Wu wei (無為), literally meaning "do nothing".[65] As part of their laissez-faire policy, agricultural taxes were reduced from 1/15 of agricultural output to 1/30 and for a brief period, abolished entirely. In addition, the labor corvée required of peasants was reduced from 1 month every year to one month every three years.[66][67]
Both the private and public sectors flourished during this period. Under Emperor Jing,
...the ropes used to hang the bags of coins were breaking apart due to the weight, and bags of grain which had been stored for several years were rotting because they had been neglected and not eaten.[68]
Severe criminal punishments, such as the cutting off the nose of an offender, were abolished.[67]
Han fiscal administration
The Han taxation system was based on two taxes, that of the land property tax and the poll tax. The average individual's tax burden consisted firstly of one-fifteenth of the output on his land(later lowered to 1/30), and a poll tax of 20 coins paid for every person between 7 and 14, with another poll tax for those above 14. Merchants had to pay twice the going rate. Another important component of the taxation system was Corvee labor. Every able-bodied man(defined as a man in good health above 20), was eligible for two years of military service or one month of military service and one year of corvee labor(later Those above 56 were exempt from any military or corvee labor service.[69]
An important change was made to the Han taxation system by Emperor Wu, in order to fund his war against the Xiongnu. He ordered all citizens to pay a wealth tax, which amounted to 6 percent for merchants. Revenue was also increased by nationalizing the salt and iron industries, and by creating a state monopoly on issuing coins, as opposed to the early Han. However, these measures were unpopular and later repealed, with the exception of the state monopoly of coin issuing.[70]
Reign of Emperor Wu of Han
Emperor Wu's reign was a period of expansion and warfare. Reversing his predecessors' policies, Wu launched a series of military campaigns, including fighting the Xiongnu nomads who controlled the deserts north of China. His victories expanded China's territory both northward and southward.[71] In order to fund his campaigns, Emperor Wu initiated a series of radical changes to the economy, including nationalizing several profitable industries like iron, salt and liquor, and controlling mercantile activity.[72]
Developments in industry
In the early Western Han, the wealthiest men in the empire were merchants who engaged in the production and distribution of salt and iron.[73] The fortunes gained from these enterprises rivaled the annual tax revenues collected by the imperial court.[73] These merchants invested their money into land, becoming great landowners and employing large numbers of peasants.[73] A salt or iron industrialist could employ over one thousand peasants; the men were used to extract either liquid brine, [ea salt, rock salt, or iron ore from the earth.[73] In the 2nd century BCE, the Han began to produce steel from cast iron. Its strength allowed the Chinese to develop better-quality weapons than the iron weapons used by other nations.[74]
Emperor Wu of Han (r. 141–87 BCE) viewed such large-scale private industries as a threat to the state, as they drew the peasants' loyalties away from farming and towards the industrialists.[73] Nationalizing the salt and iron trades eliminated this threat and produced large profits for state finances.[73] This policy was in line with Emperor Wu's expansionary goals of challenging the nomadic Xiongnu Confederation while colonizing the Hexi Corridor and what is now Xinjiang of Central Asia, Northern Vietnam, Yunnan, and North Korea.[75] The salt and iron industries were nationalized by 117 BCE.
Although many industrialists were bankrupted by this action, the government drafted former merchants like Sang Hongyang (d. 80 BCE) to administer the national monopolies.[73] Although a political faction in the court succeeded in having the central government monopolies abolished from 44 to 41 BCE, the monopolies resumed until the end of Wang Mang's (r. 9–23 CE) regime.[76] After his overthrow, the central government relinquished control of these industries to private businessmen.[73][76]
Liquor, another profitable commodity, was also nationalized by the government for a brief period between 98 and 81 BCE. After its return to private ownership, the government imposing heavy taxes on alcohol merchants.[77][78]
Light industries such as Textiles and Pottery also developed substantially during this period. In particular, hand-made pottery was made in such numbers that its price dropped substantially, allowing it to replace the bronze vessels that had been used during the Zhou. Porcelain also emerged during this period.[79]
Developments in Agriculture
After Shang Yang's reforms in the 3rd Century BCE, land could be brought and sold, stimulating economic progress in agriculture.[80] The era's rapid technological advancement extended to agricultural productivity. Inventions during this period include the "two-teeth" plow and an early sickle. The use of cattle-pulled plows improved with the introduction of three-cattle plow which required two operators and the two-cattle plow requiring one.[81] The horse chest harness facilitated easy transportation of grain.[82]
The seed drill was also developed during this period. It allowed farmers to drill seeds in precise rows, instead of casting them out randomly. These innovations in China's agriculture increased efficiency at least ten times, and possibly thirty times in comparison to its western counterparts.[83] During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, The 'Dai Tian Fa', an early form of crop rotation was introduced. Farmers divided their land into two portions, one of which would be planted, the other being left fallow.[81]
Trade and currency
Sources of revenue used to fund Emperor Wu's military campaigns and colonization efforts included seizures of lands from nobles, selling offices and titles, increasing commercial taxes, and the issuing of government minting of coins.[84] The central government had previously attempted—and failed—to monopolize coin minting, taking power from the private commandery-level and kingdom-level mints.[85] In 119 BCE the central government introduced the wushu (五銖) coin weighing 3.2 g (0.11 oz), and by 113 BCE this became the only legally accepted coin in the empire, since the government outlawed private minting.[86] Wang Mang's regime introduced a variety of new, lightweight currencies, including archaic knife money, which debased the value of coinage. The wushu coin was reinstated in 40 CE by the founder of Eastern Han, Emperor Guangwu, and remained the standard coin of China until the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE).[86][87][88]
Trade with foreign nations on a large scale began during the reign of Emperor Wu, when he sent the explorer Zhang Yi to contact nations west of China in search of allies to fight the Xiongnu. After the defeat of the Xiongnu, however, Chinese armies established themselves in Central Asia, starting the famed Silk Road, which became a major avenue of international trade.[89]
Abortive reforms by Wang Mang
In 8 CE, the Han chancellor Wang Mang usurped the throne of the Han emperors and established his own dynasty, the Xin. Wang Mang wanted to restore the Han to what he believed to be the "idyllic" condition of the early Zhou. He outlawed the buying and selling of land, and imposed controls on merchants. This proved highly unpopular with the population, who overthrew him in 25 CE and restored the Han dynasty.[90]
The Eastern Han
Under the Later-or Eastern-Han dynasty, which followed Wang Mang's overthrow, earlier laissez-faire policies were reinstated, and the government withdrew from managing the economy. A new period of prosperity, called the Rule of Ming and Zhang, began. This period was one of prosperity and intellectual thought, and saw the birth of the great scientist, Zhang Heng. Paper was invented during this period.[91] However, by the end of the 2nd Century CE, Han society began to disintegrate. In 184 CE, a peasant preacher started a rebellion called the Yellow Turban Rebellion, which ended the Han dynasty.[59]
Wei & Jin (190–304 CE)
Also known as the Three kingdoms period, the Wei and Jin eras, which followed the collapse of the Han Dynasty, saw large-scale warfare envelope China for the first time in more than 150 years. The death toll and subsequent economic damage were significant. Powerful aristocratic landowners offered shelter to displaced peasants, using their increased authority to reclaim privileges abolished by the Qin and Han. Most of North China was unified by Cao Cao, who founded the Wei Dynasty (220–265 CE), and the Jin reunified the remainder of China in 280 CE. The centralized state weakened after losing the tax revenue of those under the protection of large landowners.[59] Nevertheless, the economy recovered slightly under the military agricultural policies of Cao Cao, and later under the Jin dynasty.[92]
Rise of the aristocratic landowner class
The aristocratic landowners gained power during this period as millions of peasants sought protection from bandits, tax collectors, and war. These refugees were no longer taxable by the state. During the Jin, the taxable population 20 million; during the Han it had been 50 million. The central government was weakened during the Jin, when feudal states, independent of central authority, were created. This led to the War of the Eight Princes, which, coupled with increased aggressive barbarian activity, caused the eventual fall of China.[93]
Movement of the Wu Hu into China
The reunification of China under Jin encouraged an economic recovery. To alleviate labor shortages, the Jin relocated millions of barbarians, who had been defeated by the Han, inside China's borders, a policy that would result in violence during the Wu Hu era.[93]
Wu Hu (304–420 CE)
In 304 CE, there was a massive uprising of barbarian clans that were under Chinese control. Following several years of civil war between the various princes of the Jin dynasty, the Xiongnu, led by Liu Yuan, revolted and declared their independence from China. Several other groups under Chinese control subsequently revolted, including the Jie, Qiang, Di, and Xianbei. These groups became collectively known as the Wu Hu, committing genocide against Han Chinese in the Yellow River valley. The collapse of the Jin Empire quickly followed these revolts.[93] The Wu Hu invasion caused large-scale depopulation. Scant statistics indicate that approximately 70 percent of the population may have been killed. The era ended with Liu Yu's reconquest of Central China and Tuoba Wei's conquest of the areas North of the Yellow River, which lead into the Southern and Northern Dynasties.[94]
Collapse, war, and depopulation
During the Wu Hu uprising, millions of Chinese were killed and large areas were depopulated. Even before the uprising, the Wu Hu had outnumbered Han Chinese in many regions. After the defeat of the Jin, the barbarian invaders treated the Chinese, who had formerly ruled them, injuriously. Large cities like Luoyang and Chang'an were completely destroyed in the fighting; it was recorded that when the Xiongnu under Liu Yuan captured Luoyang, more than 30,000 were killed in two days and the city destroyed. Luoyang had had a population of nearly one million during the Han.[95]
Economic impact of the Wu Hu invasion
The Wu Hu uprising heavily disrupted trade routes as traders lost confidence in the security of their goods. Bandits and starving armies often targeted traders for their wealth. This disruption of trade caused economic activity to become confined to forts hundreds of kilometers apart. Feudal serfdom was revived as large portions of the Chinese population became slaves of the Wu Hu. However, in the south, and other areas in which rulers were respectful of Chinese customs, the market economy was better preserved.[96].
Revival of the Manorial economy
Due to the disruptions of the Wu Hu invasions, the market economy and the monetary economies developed during the Qin, Han, Wei and Jin declined rapidly and the manorial economy again gained prominence. Large, self-sufficient manorial estates produced what they needed, irrespective of the market. These estates were self-contained economies that practiced agriculture, herding, forestry, fishing, and the production of handicraft goods. Exchange was no longer carried out through money, but barter. Not until the revival of the economy after the unification of the Sui did the manorial economy again decline.[97].
Recovery of Northern China under Fu Jian
A brief economic recovery occurred under Fú Jiān, the Di ruler of Former Qin, who reunified North China. Fu Jian repaired irrigation projects constructed under Han and Jin, and set up hotels and stations for traders every 20 kilometers. Under Fu Jian's rule, Northern China's economy largely recovered, trade and agriculture were significantly revived, and many nations again sent tribute to Fu Jian's court.[98]
North China after Former Qin
In 383 CE, Fu Jian attempted to conquer the last Chinese state, Eastern Jin, which ruled Southern China and was considered the legitimate government of China by Han Chinese. At the battle of Fei River, Fu Jian's army of 300,000 soldiers, composed mainly of Di cavalry and Han Chinese conscripts of Former Qin, was defeated by a smaller, but better trained, Jin Chinese army of 80,000. This battle is considered one of the most important in Chinese history because it preserved Chinese civilization from the danger of destruction. After the defeat, a number of small states arose in the north, while Jin consolidated its hold over the regions south of the Yellow River. Economic activity was again disrupted by the warfare.[99]
From 406 CE to 416 CE, Liu Yu of the Jin launched a series of expeditions that destroyed the barbarian states of Southern Yan and Later Qin, giving Jin control over nearly all of China south of the Yellow river and the capitals of Luoyang and Chang'an. Although later Chang'an was lost to Xia attacks, Jin still held Luoyang along with most of the Chinese heartland. These victories led to the recovery of the Reign of Yuanjia under Liu Yu's son.[100]
Development in South China under Jin
When Jin fled to the South in 316CE, the southern provinces were an undeveloped periphery of the Imperial China. Jin rulers attempted to develop this region as a center of rule and as a base for the reconquest of central China.[100]
Jin rulers granted large tracts of agricultural land in the south to northern immigrants and landowners, who preserved the system of government that was in place before the uprising. The migration of northern people stimulated the southern economy, allowing it to rival the northern economy. Improved agricultural techniques introduced to the south increased production. A market economy survived as Jin rulers enforced laws. The improvement of the southern economy can be seen in the later period of the Wu Hu, when it financed Liu Yu's expeditions to recover Sichuan and most of the Chinese heartland from the barbarian states of the north.[100]
Southern and Northern dynasties (420–581 CE)
The Southern and Northern Dynasties, despite constant war, largely recovered from the Wu Hu uprising. The early part of the era saw the greater part of China reunified by the native Liu Song dynasty, whose northern border extended to the Yellow River. The Liu Song founder and general, Liu Yu, reclaimed much of China's heartland, conquering most of the states that the Wu Hu had established in the fourth century CE, with the exception of the Xianbei state of Northern Wei. Liu Yu failed to recapture any territory north of the Yellow River. Thus, Liu Yu's successors focused on developing the southern provinces rather than the traditional Chinese heartland south of the Yellow River, which was beset by repeated and devastating Xianbei invasions. Under Ming Ti, a civil war allowed the Xianbei to take control of these areas, once more confining the Chinese dynasties to the territories south of the Huai River.[101] Henceforth, China was divided into the Northern and Southern dynasties until 589 CE, when the Sui dynasty, having restored native rule to North China, reunified China.
The Yuanjia Era: A brief era of prosperity
The Yuanjia era, inaugurated by Liu Yu's son, Wen Ti, was a period of prosperous rule and economic growth, despite ongoing war. Emperor Wen Ti was known for his frugal administration and for his concern with the welfare of the people. Although he lacked the martial power of his father, he was an excellent economic manager. He reduced taxes and levies on peasants and encouraged them to settle the vast areas that had been reconquered by his father. He weakened the power of wealthy landowners and increased the taxable population. He also enacted a system of reviewing the performance of civil servants. As a result of his policies, China experienced an era of prosperity and economic recovery.[102]
During the Yuanjia era, the Chinese developed the co-fusion process of steel manufacturing, an improvement on the earlier methods of steel manufacture. This process involves melting cast iron and wrought iron together to create steel, anticipating the Siemens steel process of 1863 by over a thousand years and increasing the quality and production volume of Chinese iron.[103]
Xianbei invasion and disruption
Towards the end of Wen Ti's reign, the Xianbei state of Northern Wei began to strengthen its military, partly due to Wen Ti's refusal to ally with other barbarian states against Northern Wei, and instead allowing Wei to defeat them. However, towards the end of his reign, Wen Ti launched a campaign against Northern Wei, intending to destroy it. Although initially successful, the campaign turned when Wei invaded and destroyed much of the northern provinces. Following this defeat, Wei grew stronger and repeatedly launched incursions into the northern provinces, halting the economy there. In 468 CE, following a civil war in Liu Song, Wei conquered all the northern provinces and confined Liu Song's authority to the south.[101]
Economic developments during the Qi, Liang, and Chen dynasties in south China
Faced with defeat, Liu Song's regime quickly collapsed and was replaced in 479 CE by the Qi Dynasty. The Qi, and its successor state the Liang Dynasty, gave the royal family higher social status than the rest of the population and implementing a system of honest governance. These measures resulted in a period of relative civil peace and prosperity called the rule of Yongming.
The economic prosperity of southern China was greatest during the Liang dynasty, which briefly reconquered the North with 7,000 troops under the command general Chen Qingzhi. The Liang emperor, Wu Ti, made a grant of 400 million coins to Buddhist monasteries. The Southern Dynasties' economy eventually declined because of the popularity of Buddhist temples, which sheltered nearly half of the population as tenants, causing a massive loss of tax revenue for the Southern Chinese government. Towards the end of Liang, the barbarian Hou Jin rebelled and waged war throughout Southern China.[104]
The succeeding Chen dynasty was far less competent than its predecessors, and the south lost an important claim of legitimacy when the north was conquered by the Sui Dynasty, which was also Chinese. In 589 CE, the Sui conquered the south and reunified China.[104]
Sinification reforms of northern Wei
Northern China experienced an economic recovery under the Wei that was greater than the prosperous era of Yuanjia, mostly under the rule of Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei, who introduced several important reforms designed to further snifiy Northern Wei. These reforms included banning the Xianbei language and customs and promoting Chinese law, language and surnames. In addition, a new agricultural system was introduced, the equal-field system, in which the state rented land to the peasant laborers for life, then reclaiming the land. Peasants also received smaller, private plots that could be inherited. Cattle and farm tools were also rented or sold to peasants.
Based on this system, the state also introduced the Fubing system, where soldiers would farm as well as undergoing military training to prepare for times of war. This military system was used until the Tang dynasty, and empowered Han Chinese, who comprised the majority of the army. In addition, Xiaowen strengthened the state's control over the provinces by appointing local officials rather than relying on the local landowners, and paying officials with regular salaries. The capital was also moved to Luoyang, in the heart of the North China plain, which revitalized the city and the surrounding provinces.[105] Xiaowen's reforms were very successful and lead to prosperity for north China Under Emperor Xiaowen, the taxable population was reportedly 30 million, which surpassed the taxable population under the Jin.[105]
North China after Xiaowen
After Xiaowen's rule, Northern Wei began to deteriorate, and famines and droughts undermined Wei rule. In 523 CE, the nobleman Erzhu Yong rebelled and took control of Northern Wei and reversed many of Xiaowen's reforms. Highly unpopular, Erzhu Yong was overthrown, and Northern China briefly came under the rule of Liang. However, in 530 CE, Liang's troops were repulsed by two generals, Gao Huan and Yuwen Tai, who divided northern Wei among themselves. Their new regimes, Northern Zhou and Qi, were controlled by Xianbei nobility who reversed more of Xiaowen's reforms, including the requirement to speak the Chinese language and to adopt Chinese surnames. These regimes waged wars which lasted half a century until Northern Zhou eliminated Qi. Soon after, Zhou was replaced by the new Sui Dynasty under Han Chinese Yang Jian, who restored native rule over North China and ended Xianbei rule in China.[106]
Sui Dynasty (581–618 CE)
The Sui Dynasty was established over the Northern Zhou, whose throne was usurped by Yang Jian in 581 CE. Yang Jian quickly enacted a series of policies to restore China's economy. His reunification of China marked the creation of what some historians call the 'Second Chinese Empire', spanning the Sui, T'ang and Northern Song dynasties. Despite its brevity, the Sui reunified China, and its laws and administration formed the basis of the later Tang, Song and even Ming dynasties. The Sui dynasty had a population of about 45 million at its peak.[107]
Reunification of China
One of Yang Jian's first priorities was the reunification of China. Chen, which ruled the south, was weak compared to Sui, its ruler was incompetent and pleasure-loving, and South China had a smaller population than the north. After eight years of preparation, Sui armies marched on and defeated Chen in 589 CE, conquered all of China. The reunification began a recovery in the Chinese economy.[108]
Reforms of administration
The Sui government reformed its administration, creating a 'Three bureaus, six ministries' system which formed the basis of the administrations of later dynasties. The Sui government also reintroduced and strengthened the system of commandries which was begun during the Han, and ended hereditary and feudal holdings, which had gained popularity during the interval between Han and Sui.[109] In addition, the Sui government also introduced a new, concise legal code called the 'laws of Kaihuang'. This legal code was preserved into the late Chinese dynasties, and help simplify laws and thus encouraged trade.[110]
The Sui introduced a new examination system (科舉) of civil servants, an important event in Chinese history. Before the Sui, government officials were largely, or were related to the aristocratic landowning class or the military. After the examination system, the economic elite of China, such as merchants and non-aristocratic landowners had an extensive role in government.[111]
Prosperity under Wen Ti
For the first time in approximately 270 years, China was unified under a single regime and was without civil war. An economic boom followed, and the population increased by fifty percent from 30 to 46 million in twenty years.[112]
The Sui continued to use the equal-field system introduced by northern Wei. Every able-bodied male received 40 mu of land as well as 80 mu of "Lu" land, which was returned to the state when the recipient died. Even women could received 40 mu of "Lu" land. The Sui government charged three "Shi" of grain each year. Peasants were required to perform 20 days of labor for the state per year, but those over 50 could instead pay a small fee.[113]
To encourage economic growth, the Sui government issued a new currency to replace those issued by its predecessors, northern Zhou and Chen.[114] They also encouraged foreign merchants to travel to China and import goods, and built numerous hotels to house them.[115]
Collapse under Yang Ti
In 604 CE, Wen Ti was assassinated by his son Yang Guang, who became Yang Ti of Sui. Yang Ti was an ambitious ruler who immediately undertook many projects, including the building of the Grand Canal and the reconstruction of the Great Wall. Thousands of forced laborers died while building the projects, and eventually women were required to labor in the absence of men. Sui Yang Ti also launched a series of unsuccessful campaigns against Gorguyeo. These campaigns were disastrous for the image of the dynasty, while his policies drove the people to revolt. Agrarian uprisings and raids by the Gokturks became common. In 618 CE, Yang Ti was assassinated and the Sui dynasty came to an end.[116]
Tang dynasty (618–907 CE)
The Tang Dynasty was another golden age, beginning in the ruins of the Sui, but rapidly ascending to the top ranks of power. By 630, the Tang had defeated and destroyed the powerful Gokturk Khagnate, preventing any threat to China's borders for more than a century. A series of strong rulers, beginning with the founder and including a woman, ruled China efficiently and expanded the Tang Empire to the point that it rivaled the later Yuan, Ming and Qing. The Tang was a period of rapid economic growth and prosperity, bringing technological advances like gunpowder. Tang rulers issued large amounts of currency to facilitate trade and distributed land under the equal-field system. Although the state weakened, and withdrew from managing the economy in the 9th century, this withdrawal encouraged economic growth and helped China's economy to develop into the mercantilism of the Song and Ming Dynasties.[107]
Prosperity under Taizong
Emperor Taizong of Tang, is regarded as one of the greatest rulers in Chinese history. Under his rule, China progressed very rapidly from the ruins of a civil war to the most prosperous and powerful nation on earth. His reign is called the Zhenkuan era.Taizong reduced forced labor requirements and lowered taxes; in addition, he was careful not to undertake projects that depleted the treasury and exhausted the strength of the population. Under his reign, a legal code called the Code of Tang was introduced, moderating the laws of the Sui.[117]
During Taizong's reign and until the Anshi rebellion, the Chinese Empire went through a relatively peaceful period of economic development. Taizong and his son's conquest of the Gokturk, Xueyantue, and other enemy empires ensured relative peace for China. Control over the western provinces of China reopened the Silk Road, allowing trade between China and the regions to its west to flourish. Tang armies repeatedly intervened in the western regions to preserve this state of peace and prosperity.[118]
Trade and currency
The Tang government, beginning with Taizong, issued a large amount of coins to facilitate trade. Some 327,000,000 coins were minted per year by the Tang during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong.[119] The Tang also expanded overseas trade, sending ships as far as India. The Tang also continued the Sui's policy of building hotels to house traders.[120]
Kaiyuan Era
The height of Tang prosperity came during the Kaiyuan Era of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, who expanded the Tang territory westward until it reached the Aral Sea.[121] Emperor Xuan was a capable administrator, and his Kaiyuan Era is often compared with the earlier Zhenkuan era in efficiency of administration. Tang China is believed to have had 75 million inhabitants and more than 27 percent of the world's GDP.[122] After this era, the Tang dynasty started to decline.
Tang fiscal administration and regulations
During the Tang, the taxation system was based on the equal-field system, which equalized wealth among the farmers. Because of this, the taxes to be paid by the peasant was based on population per household, rather than the value of property. The standard taxes amounted to 2 Shi of grain, as well as 2 Zhang and 5 Chi of cloth. The peasant was eligible for 20 days' forced labor by the state. If he chose not to do so, he was obliged to pay 3 Chi of cloth per day missed[123].
Initially, the equal-field system did not allow large land transactions and thus estates during the early Tang remained small. In addition to this, the Tang government also interfered in the economy through bureaucratic regulations of markets, which limited the times where they could exchange goods, set standards for product quality, and even regulated prices. Most of these regulations were repealed by the Tang government after the disastrous Anshi Rebellion (755-763), allowing the economy to revive and prosper in the 9th century[124].
The Tang government also operated a huge handicraft industry, separate and distinct from the private handicraft industry that served the majority of the population. The public handicraft industry was aimed at serving the Tang government, army and nobility with various products to serve their needs. Due to the Tang government's practice of encouraging the public handicraft industries, the growth of the private handicraft sector was stinted and did not develop rapidly until after the Anshi Rebellion, which saw the Tang government's interference in the economy drastically decrease. [125]
Another unpopular measure of interference in the economy was the Salt monopoly, whose purpose was to raise revenue for the Tang government. Even after the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang government enforced and strengthened its monopoly on salt. During the reign of emperors Shi and Yi, private salt traders were executed, and the price of salt was so high that many people could not afford it. Eventually, private salt traders allied to combat the army, and rebelled.[126]
The Anshi Rebellion and its effects
Emperor Xuanzong's reign ended with the An Shi Rebellion, lead by a barbarian general named An Lushan who used a large number of barbarian troops.[127] This civil war was the first war inside China in over 120 years; the Tang economy was devastated as the northern regions, which were the heart of the economy, were destroyed. Luoyang and Chang'an were reduced to ruins. After the war, the Tang central government never recovered its power, and local generals became independent of Tang rule. These generals wielded enormous power, passed on their titles by heredity, collected taxes, and raised their own armies.[127] Although most of these jiedushi were quelled by the early 9th century, the jiedushi of Hebei, many of them former officiers of An Lushan, retained their independence.
The weakened Tang government was forced to abolish several of its monopolies after the rebellion; this unintentionally stimulated trade and commerce in Tang China, which reached an apogee in the early 9th century.[128] Another key result of the Anshi Rebellion was that the economic center of China shifted southwards, as the North had been devastated by the Anshi Rebellion.[129]
Collapse of the equal-field system
The equal-field system, which had formed the basis of agriculture for the past two and a half centuries, began to collapse after the Anshi Rebellion. The equal-field system had relied on the state having large amounts of land, but state landholdings had shrunk as they were privatized or granted to peasants. The Fubing system, in which soldiers served the army and farmed on equal-field land was abolished and replaced with the Mubing system, which relied on a volunteer and standing army. The increasing power of landowners who perpetually enlarged their estates helped speed the collapse of the equal field system. In 780 CE, the Tang government discontinued the equal field system and reorganized the tax system, collecting taxes based on property value twice a year, in spring and autumn.[130] Unfortunately, the new system was abused by the Tang government, who increased the tax burden to several times of that before the Anshi Rebellion.[131]
Recovery in the early 9th century
Despite the weakening government, the early 9th century was a period of recovery for the Tang dynasty,[128] as commerce and trade grew with the withdrawal of government controls and Tang armies again asserted their superiority over nomadic empires such as Tibet and the Ughyurs, which arose during the Anshi Rebellion. In addition, the increasing power of officials who had arisen from the examination system conflicted with older aristocratic officials, leading to a struggle called the "Liu-Li Partisan struggle". The population recovered from the Anshi Rebellion and continued to grow during this period[128].
Development of printing
A new industry that began to develop during the 8th and 9th centuries was woodblock printing, which grew out of the huge paper industry that had emerged since the Han. Woodblock printing allowed the rapid production of many books, and increased the speed at which knowledge spread. The first book to be printed in this manner, with a production date, was the "Jin Gang Jin", a buddhist text printed in 868 CE.[129]
Collapse of the Tang
The collapse of the Tang was ensured by the Huang Chao Rebellion,[132] which lasted ten years and destroyed the countryside from Guangzhou to Chang'an.[133] Following the rebellion, two generals, the Shatuo Li Keqiang and the former rebel Zhu Wen, dominated the Tang court.[133] Civil war broke out again in the early 10th century, ending with Zhu Wen's victory.[133] Following his victory, Zhu Wen forced the emperor of the Tang dynasty to abdicate, and the Tang empire disintegrated into a group of states known as the five dynasties and ten kingdoms.[133]
Five Dynasties & Ten kingdoms (907–960 CE)
The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms was a period of warfare and disruption that marked the height of power of the local military governors, or Fanzhen. After 907 CE, the Tang government effectively disintegrated into several small states in the south, while the north saw a series of short-lived dynasties and barbarian invasions. This era ended with the establishment of the Song dynasty, although China would not be reunified until 979 CE,[134] and would not return to Tang's size until the Ming dynasty.
Disruptions in the north, prosperity in the south
The Later Liang dynasty replaced Tang rule in the north, but the invading Shatuo overthrew it in 926 CE. During their rule, the Shatuo gave the vital Sixteen Prefectures area, which contained the natural geographical defenses of North China and the eastern section of the Great Wall, to the Khitan, a nomadic people that occupied Manchuria after Tang's collapse. Although the Shatuo were later defeated, this effectively left Northern China defenseless against incursions from the north, a major factor in the later overthrow of the Song dynasty. The Shatuo and Khitan invasions severely disrupted economic activity in the north and displaced economic activity southwards. Northern China also endured Fanzhen rebellions and peasant revolts[135]
The southern provinces remained relatively unaffected by the collapse. The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was largely one of continued prosperity in these regions.[134]
Late Imperial Era (960–1911 CE)
In 960 CE, Zhao Kuangyi led a coup which established the fifth dynasty in fifty years. The Song Dynasty brought an economic revolution to China.[136] The late imperial era, encouraged by technological advancement, saw the beginnings of large-scale enterprise, waged labor and the issuing of paper money. Overseas trade flourished under the Ming Dynasty. Investment, capital, and commerce were liberalized as technology advanced and the central state weakened. Government manufacturing industries were privatized. The emergence of rural and urban markets, where production was geared towards consumption, was a key development in this era. Some scholars argue that had China's development not been retarded by the alien dynasties of Yuan and Qing, China might have developed into a capitalistic economy.[137] China's growing wealth in this era lead to the loss of martial vigor; the era involved two periods of native rule, each followed by periods of alien rule. By the end of the isolationist Manchu Qing Dynasty (1662–1911 CE), China's development slowed, falling behind that of the west.
Song dynasty (960–1279 CE)
In 960 CE, the Later Zhou general Zhao Kunyi overthrew his imperial master and established a the Song Dynasty, the sixth in fifty-three years. Nineteen years later, he had reunified most of China. This was one of the most prosperous periods in Chinese history. Unlike its predecessors, the monarchy and aristocracy weakened under the Song, allowing a class of non-aristocratic gentry to gain power. In addition, the central government withdrew from managing the economy, provoking drastic economic changes. Technological advances encouraged growth; three of China's four greatest inventions were invented or perfected during this era. However, unlike earlier Chinese dynasties, who had vanquished their barbarian opponents, the Song was the first unified Chinese dynasty to be conquered by invaders.[138] Eventually, Mongol Yuan invasions destroyed the Song Dynasty.[138]
Manufacturing boom
Under the Song, manufacturing underwent a small industrial revolution. Iron production rose to about 125,000 tons,[139] a quantity that would not be attained by Europe until the 18th century.[140] Initially, the government managed the iron industry, but the ban on private smelting was lifted after the prominent official Bao Qingtian's petitioned the Song government[141]
The government regulated several other industries. Sulfur, an ingredient in gunpowder, became a growth industry, and in 1076 was placed under government control.[142] In Sichuan province, revenue from the Song government's monopoly on tea was used to purchase horses for the Song's cavalry forces.[143] Chancellor Wang Anshi instated monopolies in several industries, sparking controversy.[144]
In order to supply the boom in the iron and other industries, mining boomed and the production of various mines increased massively. It was recorded that near Bianjing, the Song capital, over one million households were using coal for heating, an indication of the magnitude of coal use.[145] Not only did the heavy manufacturing industries boom, but also other light industries as well. Industries that prospered during this time includes porcelain, who replaced pottery; shipbuilding, textiles and other light industries all expanded rapidly during the Song.[145]
Improvements in agriculture
Agriculture advanced under the Song. The Song government started a series of irrigation projects that increased cultivatable land, and encouraged peasants to cultivate more land. The total area of cultivated land increased to 720 million Mu, a figure not surpassed by later dynasties.[146] The Song government also started a series of irrigation projects that increased cultivatable land. A variety of crops were cultivated, unlike the monoculture of previous dynasties. Specialized crops like oranges and sugar cane were regularly planted alongside rice.[147] Unlike the earlier self-sufficient peasantry of the Han and Tang eras, rural families produced a surplus which could be sold. The income allowed families to afford not only food, but charcoal, tea, oil, and wine. Many Song peasants supplemented their incomes with handicraft work.[148][149]
New tools, like the Water Wheel, greatly enhanced productivity. Although most peasants in China were still primarily rice farmers, some agriculturists specialized in certain crops. For example, Luoyang was known for its flower cultivation; flower prices reached such exorbitant prices that one bulb reached the price of 10,000 coins.[150] An important new crop introduced during the Song was Champa rice, a new breed which had superior yields to earlier forms of rice and greatly increased rice production.[151] Another key innovation during the Song that greatly increased rice production was the practice of multiple cropping, which let farmers harvest rice twice a year.[151]
Agricultural organization also changed. Unlike the Han and Tang, in which agriculture was dominated by self-sufficient farmers, or the pre-Warring states era, which was dominated by feudal lords, by the Song the main form of agricultural practice was dominated by non-aristocratic landowners. The majority of farmers no longer owned their land; they became tenants of these landowners, who developed the rural economy through investment. This system of agriculture was to continue until the establishment of the People's Republic of China under Mao.[152]
Commerce
During the Song Dynasty, the merchant class became more sophisticated, well-respected, and organized. The accumulated wealth of the merchant class 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.[153]
Although the government controlled many industries, large privately-owned enterprises dominated the market system of urban Song China. There was a large black market during the Song period, which grew after the Jur'chen conquest of North China in 1127 CE. Around 1160 CE, black marketeers smuggled some 70 to 80 thousand cattle.[154]
There were many successful small kilns and pottery shops owned by local families, along with oil presses, wine-making shops, and paper-making businesses.[155] The "...inn keeper, the petty diviner, the drug seller, the cloth trader," also experienced increased economic success.[156]
Song abolition of trade restrictions greatly aided the economy. Commerce increased in frequency and could be conducted anywhere, in contrast to earlier periods where trade was restricted to the 'Fang' and 'Shi' areas. In all the major cities of the Song Dynasty, many shops opened. Often, shops selling the same product were concenterated into one urban area. For example, all the rice shops would occupy one street, and all the fish shops another.[157] Unlike the later Ming dynasty, however, most businesses in the Song dynasty were producers and retailers, selling the products they produced, thus creating a mixture of handicraft and commerce. Although the Song dynasty saw some large enterprises, the majority of enterprises were of this smaller type.[158]
Chinese engineers invented the compass during the Song, prompting an increase in overseas trade and investment, and leading to a decline in the importance of the Silk Road. Overseas trade was state-regulated and largely controlled by several sanctioned courts. The Song Court received tribute and had relations with many overseas countries, such as the Chola dynasty of India and Java.[159]
Song fiscal administration and regulations
The Song government inherited and expanded the taxation system of the Tang, which was a property value tax collected twice every year. However, the Song increased taxation by adding numerous surcharges, which increased the tax burden of the people. In an important change from Tang practices, however, the Song did not attempt to regulate and control prices and markets, save for Wang Anshi's short-lived nationalization of the Salt, tea, iron and liquor industries,[160] and a concurrent policy in 1072 to set up a "market exchange bureau" to set prices. These policies were repealed after Wang Anshi's death.[161]
A second, more serious attempt to intervene in the economy occurred in the late 1200s, when the Song Dynasty was suffering from fiscal problems when trying to fend off the Mongol invasions. The Song government attempted to solve the problem through land nationalization, a policy that was heavily opposed and later withdrawn[162].
Relations with Liao and Xi Xia
Unlike earlier Chinese dynasties, which had chosen to confront the barbarians with military force, the Song eschewed military conflict in favor of treaties.[163] Before the Song Dynasty, Chinese armies fought the Khitan Liao, and lost the Sixteen Prefectures to the northeast, causing China's territory to become vulnerable to Khitan attacks. Song attempts to recapture this area failed. In 1004 CE, the Song entered into the Treaty of Shanyun with Liao, agreeing to give the Liao approximately 100,000 ounces of silver and 200,000 bolts of silk per year, about 2 or 3 percent of the Song's tax revenue.[163]
The Xi Xia, another barbarian nation to the northwest often waged war against the Song dynasty. Emperor Shenzong of Song launched several campaigns against the Xi Xia, eventually defeating them and forcing the Xi Xia to become Song vassals. By defeating the Xi Xia, the Song gained territory that had been controlled by the Gusiluo, a Tibetan tribe in Qinghai, since the 10th century.[164] By 1116 CE, Song had acquired additional territory and incorporated it into prefectures, expanding its western frontier.[165] However, the cost of these wars with barbarian states drained the Song economy.[166]
Wang Anshi's reforms
In 1069 CE, Wang Anshi, a famed Chinese reformer, become chancellor. His ideas resembled the modern welfare state. Believing that the state must provide for the people, he initiated a series of reforms aiming at implementing his ideas. These reforms included nationalizing the tea, salt and liquor industries, as well as adopting a policy of directly transporting goods in abundance in one region to another, which eliminatied the need for merchants in Wang's eyes. In addition, the government provided loans to struggling peasants, abolished forced labor and replaced it with a tax, and gave military horses to peasants in peacetime as livestock. In return, peasants were required to participate in military training during lulls in agricultural activity. These reforms proved highly controversial were periodically abolished and reinstated by the Song court, depending on which faction was in power.[167]
Song examination system
During the Song Dynasty, an important change occurred relating to the appointing of officials. Officials appointed through the examination system became prevalent over officials who had inherited their ranks.[168] This marked a crucial point in Chinese history, as this new scholar-official class came mostly from a new, non-aristocratic gentry class, marking the end of the hereditary aristocracy. These gentry were more sympathetic to merchants and other classes, compared with the aristocracy, who disdained merchants. The eight-legged essay writing style, which became the standard, was also invented during this period.[168]
Invention of paper money
The prosperous Song economy necessitated an increase in the minting of currency. By 1085 CE, the output of copper currency reached 6 billion coins a year, compared to 5.86 billion in 1080 CE. 327 million coins were minted annually in the Tang Dynasty's prosperous Tianbao period of 742–755 CE, and only 220 million coins minted annually from 118 BCE to 5 CE during the Han Dynasty.[169]
Paper receipts of deposit first appeared in the 10th century, but the first officially sponsored bills were introduced in Sichuan Province,[170] the currency in this province being metallic and extremely heavy. Although businesses began with private bills of exchange, by the 1120s CE the central government introduced its paper money, produced using woodblock printing. The Song government had also been amassing large amounts of paper tribute. Each year before 1101 CE, the prefecture of Xinan (modern Xi-xian, Anhui) alone sent 1,500,000 sheets of paper in seven different varieties to the capital at Kaifeng.[171]
In the Southern Song, standard currency, with their face value marked, was used. However, a lack of standards caused their face value to wildly fluctuate. A nationwide standard was not produced until 1274 CE, two years before the Southern Song's fall.[172]
Investment
New technologies allowed trade and investment on a large scale. Developments in shipping technology, facilitated by the invention of the compass, allowed the Song-era Chinese to conduct large amounts of overseas trade, bringing some merchants great fortune.[173] Song-era commercial enterprises became very complex. The accumulated wealth of merchants 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.[153]
Basic concepts of capital were known during this period, as Shen Kuo, a prominent scientist and finance minister wrote:
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[174]
Jur'chen invasion and Southern Migration
The prosperity of the Song was interrupted by the invasion of Jur'chen Jin in 1127. After a successful alliance with the Jin in which the Song destroyed its old enemy the Khitan, the Jin attacked the Song in 1127 CE and sacked its capital in Kaifeng.[175] The invasion preceded 15 years of constant warfare. This war ended when the Song court's surrendered territory north of the Huai River in exchange for peace, despite victories by the Song general Yue Fei, who had almost defeated the Jur'chens.[176] The southern Chinese provinces became the center of commerce. Millions of Chinese fled Jur'chen rule to the South, which the Song Dynasty still held. [177]
Under the Southern Song, however, the prosperity of the Northern Song was not resumed. Due to the new military pressure of the Jur'chens, the Southern Song massively increased the tax burden to several times of that of the Northern Song. In addition, the right to issue paper money was abused by the Southern Song government, which inflated the currency greatly, causing the collapse of the Southern Song economy in the 1270s.[178]
Fall of the Song
The southern Song maintained an uneasy truce with the Jin until the rise of the Mongols, with whom Song allied to destroy the Jin in 1234 CE.[179] Taking advantage of this, the Song army briefly recaptured their lost territory south of the Yellow River as the Mongols withdrew. However, a flood of the Yellow River, coupled with Mongol attacks, eventually forced the Song to withdraw.[180]
Seeking to conquer China, the Mongol Empire launched a series of attacks on the Song.[181] In 1275 CE, helped by a surrendered Song general who provided them with cannons, the Mongols defeated the Song army near Xiangyang and captured Hangzhou, the Song capital, the following year. Song resistance, however, did not end until the Battle of Yamen, in which the last Song emperor drowned with the remnants of his navy.[182]
Yuan dynasty (1279–1368 CE)
The Mongol Yuan Dynasty was the first foreign dynasty to rule the whole of China. As the largest khanate in the Mongol Empire, the emperors of Yuan had nominal authority over the other three Mongol Empires. This period of Pax Mongolica stimulated trade. However, millions of Chinese died because of the Mongol conquest.[183] Under Mongol rule, approximately 65 million people were registered in 1290 CE; in 1215 CE, the dynasties of Jin and Song had registered populations of between 110 and 120 million.[184]
Devastation under the early Mongol invasions
In their conquest of China, particularly the north under Jur'chen Jin, the Mongols resorted to scorched earth policies, destroying entire provinces. Mongol forces carried out massacres in cities they captured, and one military ruler, or Khan, proposed that all Chinese under Mongol rule be killed and their lands turned to pasture,[183] but was persuaded against this by his minister Yelu Chucai, who proposed that taxing the region's inhabitants was more advantageous than killing them.[185]
Yuan economic policies
Kublai Khan, after becoming ruler of China, extended the Grand Canal, connecting the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, to the capital, Beijing. This eased transportation between the south, now the hub of economic activity, and Beijing. This enhanced Beijing's status, it having formerly been a peripheral city, and was important to later regimes' decisions to have it remain the capital.[186]
Kublai and his fellow rulers encouraged trade between China and other Khanates of the Mongol Empire. During this era, trade between China and the Middle East increased, and many Arabs, Persians, and other foreigners entered China, some permanently immigrating. It was during this period that Marco Polo visited China.[187] To strengthen his rule, Kublai Khan attempted to find some identification with Chinese elites after the conquest. He portrayed himself as a traditional Chinese emperor, rather than a barbarian conqueror, and built Tai Mao (The grand temple)- a temple for Confucian scholars where ancestors could be revered.[188]
Although Kublai Khan wished to identify with his Chinese subjects, Mongol rule was strict and foreign to the Chinese. Civil service examinations, the traditional way that Chinese elites entered the government, was ended, and most government positions were held by non-Chinese, especially the financial administration of the state.[189] Over-spending by Kublai caused him to hire devious tax collectors, such as the Muslim finance minister Ahmad, who imposed high taxes on merchants, instituted state monopolies in several industries like salt, tea, and liquor, and forbade private production of some commodities. Even after Ahmed's death, Kublai and his successors resorted to high taxes to fund their extravagant spending and military campaigns, which became a burden on the Chinese economy.[190]
Mongol fiscal problems became so acute that the Yuan opened the tombs of the Song emperors to gain treasure for the treasury.[191] These policies of high taxation conflicted with Confucian ideals of frugal government and light taxation.[192] As a result of Kublai's policies, and the discrimination of the Mongols towards the Chinese,[193] South China was beset by violent insurrections against Mongol rule. Many Chinese refused to serve or associate themselves with the Yuan administration, who they viewed as barbarians.[194]
Collapse of the Mongol Empire
Mongol rule in China was highly unpopular. During the 1340s CE, frequent famines and droughts encouraged unrest among the Chinese. In 1341 CE, a peasant rebel leader, who claimed he was the descendant of the Song Emperor Huizong, sought to restore Chinese rule by rebelling against the Mongols. By 1351 CE, much of South China was free of Mongol rule and had been divided into regional states, such as Zhu Yuanzhang's Ming, Zhang Shichen's Wu and Chen Yolian's Han. In the north, the Mongol Empire became divided between regional warlords who were only nominally loyal to the Yuan.[195] In 1368 CE, after reunifying South China, the Ming dynasty advanced northward and captured Beijing.[196]
Ming dynasty (1368–1662 CE)
Following the ruin of the Mongol Empire, the peasant Zhu Yuanzhang led a rebellion against Mongol rule.[197] He founded the Ming Dynasty, whose reign is considered to be the last of China's three Golden Ages.[198] Private industries replaced those managed by the state. Vibrant foreign trade allowed contact to become established between East and West. Cash crops were more frequently grown, specialized industries were founded, and the economic growth caused by privatization of state industries, resulted in one of the most prosperous periods in Chinese history, exceeding that of the earlier Song dynasty.
The Ming was also a period of technological progress, though less so than the earlier Song.[199] The Ming, and previous Song Dynasties are sometimes regarded as being the 'roots of Capitalism', having the potential to develop into a capitalist society.[198] Ming China had a population of almost 200 million and an economy that produced nearly a third of the world's GDP.[200]
Recovery under Hongwu and Yongle
Zhu Yuanzhang, being born of a peasant family, was sympathetic towards peasants. After he became ruler, Zhu enacted a series of policies designed to favor agriculture at the expense of other industries. The state gave aid to the farmers, providing land and agricultural equipment and revising the taxation system.[199] The state also repaired many long-neglected canals and dikes that had aided agriculture. In addition, the Ming Dynasty brought back the examination system[201] and revised the taxation system to aid peasants.
After Hongwu's death, his successor and grandson, the Jianwen emperor, was overthrown by his uncle, Zhu Di, in a bloody civil war that lasted three years. Zhu Di was more liberally-minded than his father and he repealed many of the controls on gentry and merchants.[202] Thus, his reign is sometimes regarded as a 'second founding' of the Ming Dynasty. He created new trade routes through the expeditions of his eunuch Zheng He. Under Yongle's rule, Ming armies enjoyed continued victories against the Mongols, who were forced to acknowledge him as their ruler.[203] He also moved the capital to Beijing.[204]. By Yongle's time, China had not only recovered the terroritories lost during the Five Dynasties and ten Kingdoms Era but also terroritory such as Eastern Xinjiang, Manchuria and Tibet.
Crisis of the mid-fifteenth century
A decline in the production of silver, which was the main medium of exchange in China, caused a severe monetary contraction and forced the Ming economy to operate under a monetary constraint for much of its existence. It was reported that even counterfeiters were short of metal.[205] In addition, The Ming defeat in the Tumu Crisis saw the return of the threat of Mongol invasion on China's northern border.
The Ming fiscal administration
The Ming government has been described as "...one of the greatest achievements of Chinese civilization".[206] Although it began as a despotic regime, Ming government eventually evolved into a system of power sharing between the emperor and the vast civil service.
The Ming government collected far fewer revenues than the Song Dynasty. Regional tax quotas set up by the Ming emperor Tai-Tzu would be collected, though in practice Ming revenues were far below the quotas declared. In addition, a new gentry class won concessions from the government and resisted tax increases. Throughout the Ming Dynasty, the state was constantly underfunded.[207] The Ming's fiscal system is sometimes regarded as a retrograde step from earlier Tang and Song systems, although not because of over-taxation. The Ming empire was under-taxed in comparison to other dynasties.[207] Unlike earlier dynasties such as the Tang and Song, and later dynasties such as the Qing, the Ming did not regulate the economy, instead approaching a laissez-faire approach similar to the earlier Han Dynasty.[208]
Overseas trade
The Ming's overseas trade began when Zhu Di launched extensive expeditions to southern India and Africa, increasing China's contacts in those areas. Shortly after, the Ming Dynasty established state-regulated trade in those areas.[208]
Private merchants were often restricted from competing with the Ming government. In the 1550s CE, private trade was prohibited completely. Merchants became discontent and decided to engage in an illegal trade network, which the Ming state could not curtail. Merchants pressured the government repeatedly to lift the prohibition, or to at least ignore it. In 1578 CE, the Hai Jin, or prohibition on overseas trade,[208] was lifted, and an extensive expansion of trade followed. This trade was estimated by Joseph Needham at about 300 million taels from 1578 CE to 1644 CE.
Although earlier Chinese trade with Europe had been hampered by what was called by some historians the "...great economic depression" of the Renaissance, China's foreign trade began to expand by the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. At that time, China was the largest and wealthiest nation on Earth, and a lucrative market for Europeans.[207]
Agricultural markets
Under the Ming, some rural areas were reserved exclusively for the production of cash crops. Agricultural tools and carts, some water-powered, allowed the production of a sizable agricultural surplus, which formed the basis of the rural economy. Alongside other crops, rice was grown on a large scale.[210] Unlike the Han and T'ang dynasties, the increase in population and the decrease in fertile land during the Ming Dynasty made it necessary that farmers produce cash crops to earn a living.[211]
Many markets, with three main types, were established in the countryside. In the simplest markets, goods were exchanged or bartered.[211] In 'urban-rural' markets, rural goods were sold to urban dwellers, particularly when landlords residing in cities used income from a rural landholding to facilitate exchange in the cities. Merchants, who bought rural goods in large quantities, also sold them in these markets.[211] The 'national market' was developed during the Song dynasty but became more important during the Ming. In addition to the merchants and barter, this type of market involved products produced directly for the market. Many Ming peasants were no longer relied upon subsistence farming; they produced products for the market, which they sold for a profit.[211]
Currency of the Ming dynasty
Initially, Hongwu issued paper fiat currency as the standard currency, while private providers issued currency based on metals. Eventually, the state stopped issuing currency because the population lost faith in the fiat paper, which was frequently inflated by Hongwu. By 1425 CE, paper currency was worth approximately 0.014% of its original value.[212] Although the Ming government attempted to stop the inflow of silver, it proved too profitable to halt.[213] Overseas trade brought great prosperity to China, as European importers paid for Chinese products with American silver. The demand for silver was so great that it overwhelmed the earlier paper currency used by the Ming, and silver soon became the common medium of exchange.[214]
Merging of merchant and gentry classes
With newly-imported wealth, merchants and capitalists bought themselves higher positions in society. The merchant class, formerly discriminated against in the Chinese social hierarchy prescribed by Hongwu, was accepted and admired for its new-found wealth. As merchants bought land and participated in government,[215] the merchant class began to merge with the gentry,[216] who had formerly dominated China's government.[217]
Relatively Laissez-faire thought became prominent under the Ming, represented by scholar Qiu Jin, who argued that the state should only mitigate the market during times of crisis, and that merchants were a good gauge of the nation's wealth.[218]
Weakening of the state
Initially, Hongwu followed the Song model, nationalizing the iron and salt industries. However, as the Ming monarchy weakened, it privatized these and other industries,[219] which expanded rapidly, with some factories employing hundreds of workers.[220] By the late Ming, pressure from merchants persuaded the Ming government to begin privatizing state monopolies, lowering taxes, and withdrawing controls. Taxes on agriculture were lowered from 3.3% to 1.5%, while the tax on trade was lowered to 0.5%. Throughout the dynasty, the Ming government was under-financed.[207] A key sign of the weakness of the late Ming state was the riots under the Wanli Emperor; an attempt to raise taxes ended with the death of Wanli's tax collectors. The killers remained unpunished. In addition, state-conscripted labor was abolished in favor of wage labor, liberalizing the labor market.[208]
Collapse of the Ming economy
The Little Ice Age severely curtailed Chinese agriculture in the northern provinces. From 1626 CE, famine, drought, and other disasters befell northern China, bringing peasant revolts. The Ming government's inability to collect taxes resulted in troops were frequently not paid, and many troops joined the rebels, worsening the situation. In 1644 CE, the rebels under Li Zicheng took Beijing, ending Ming rule in the north.[221] The Ming state continued to reign in southern China until 1662 CE.[221]
Qing Dynasty (1662–1911 CE)
China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, was not founded by Han Chinese but the Jur'chens, later called the Manchus, which had been subjects of the Ming and had earlier founded the Jur'chen Jin Dynasty.[222] In 1616 CE, under Nurhaci the Manchu rebelled against the Ming. In 1644 CE, taking advantage of a Ming general, who invited them to crush the peasant rebellions, the Manchu invaded China proper and quickly took control, founding the Qing Dynasty.
After a long, bloody war lasting until 1683 CE, the Qing took control of the whole of China and suppressed dissent by killing scholars, banning Chinese clothes, and forcing Chinese men to tie pigtails in the Manchu fashion.[223] The Qing reversed the style of government of the Tang, Song and Ming where the emperors and relied on consultation with the ministers of the cabinet. The monarchy became highly centralized, with the emperor as absolute monarch.[224] Although the economy recovered during the 18th century, the Qing economy failed to keep pace with those of other countries, and Chinese civilization fell into decline.[225]
Economic effects of the Manchu invasion
As conquerors, the Manchu forces requisitioned large amounts of land from Chinese landowners, and enslaved thousands of Han Chinese as Booi Aha to work on captured estates. In addition, attacks by overseas Ming loyalist forces prompted the Manchu to adopt a policy of clearing the shore line, in which all cities and towns along China's coast were destroyed and their inhabitants moved inland. This policy ended almost all of China's maritime activity and overseas trade.
Due to this, and Manchu laws that banned Han dress and mandated the Manchu queue, the Han Chinese brought heavy resistance against the Manchu, who responded by massacring those who stood against them. The Yangzhou massacre, for example, was estimated to have killed between 800,000 people, including women and children.[226]
The destructive effects of the Manchu invasion were felt economically even decades after their completion, in the 1690s, a Chinese scholar wrote:
More than fifty years have passed since the founding of the Ch’ing dynasty, and the empire grows poorer each day. Farmers are destitute, artisans are destitute, merchants are destitute, and officials too are destitute. Grain is cheap, yet it is hard to eat one’s fill. Cloth is cheap, yet it is hard to cover one’s skin. Boatloads of goods travel from one marketplace to another, but the cargoes must be sold at a loss. Officials upon leaving their posts discover they have no wherewithal to support their households. Indeed the four occupations are all impoverished![227]
Land seizures
Following their invasion, the Manchu began the "requistioning of land" (圈地). Manchu chieftains seized large areas of land previously owned by Han Chinese landlords. In Hebei Province alone, some 16.6 million Mu of agricultural land was seized. In addition, some 47 million Mu of 'military land' was requisitioned by the Manchu government. These seizures were accompanied by the expulsion of the Han Chinese landowners and a revival of serfdom as thousands of landless farmers became serfs and household slaves for the Manchus.[228]
Recovery of the "Kang-Qian Age"
Following the completion of the Manchu conquest in 1683 CE, the Kangxi Emperor revoked destructive measures, such as princely estates and the clearing of the shoreline. Under his successors' reigns, the Qing Dynasty reached its peak in the Kang-Qian Golden Age, a period that lasted from the reign of the Kangxi Emperor to that of the Qianlong Emperor.[229] Kangxi and his successors launched a series of military campaigns in the west, subjugating the areas of Xinjiang and Tibet, and exercised tighter control over these regions than the Ming Dynasty had. The Qing forces' major opponents in these campaigns were the Dzungars, who were defeated in 1755 CE.[230] This removed a major threat to China and help incorporate the regions of Xinjiang and Mongolia into the Chinese economic sphere.
During the Qing Dynasty, foreign food crops, like the potato, were introduced during the 18th century on a large scale.[231] These crops encouraged a dramatic increase in population, from approximately 150–200 million during the Ming to over 400 million during the Qing.[232] The recovery of the eighteenth century helped the Qing economy recover to levels the Ming had achieved in the sixteenth century; by 1750, the amount of registered land under cultivation equalled the level the Ming had reached in 1600. Qing China had a higher population density than Europe, as well as twice its population[233]. Scholars agree that the most prosperous provinces of the Qing Empire, such as the Jiangnan region, had living standards that approximated pre-industrial revolution England.[234].
Economic developments such as the integration of national and local markets resumed and intensified during this era, as described below in the Cambridge history of China:
In factor markets, goods and services were exchanged, along with money, by families and lineages, which rented and leased land, hired out and employed labor, borrowed and supplied credit, sold and purchased real estate and other assets, and used their property as collateral to borrow credit or supplied credit in exchange for holding such assets. Although many transactions were oral, a great many involved written contracts enforced by third parties and the county magistrat.[235]
.
However, reversing one of the Ming's trends, the Qing government interfered greatly in the economy. Qing officials tried to discourage cultivation of cash crops in favor of grain.[236] Not only this, but they also discouraging many developments such as new mines for reasons such as "upholding the social order" and "moral rectitude". This proved hampering to the Qing economy.[237]
Isolationist trade policy
The Qing Dynasty viewed foreign trade with suspicion. Emperor Qianlong proclaimed that:
Our land is so wealthy and prosperous, that we possess all things. Therefore there is no need to exchange the produce of foreign barbarians for our own.[238]
Despite earlier disruptions, like the destruction of coastal settlements, the Qing conducted some limited trade with European countries in the port of Guangzhou, where the Qing government exported tea, silk and other goods.[239]
During the 18th and 19th centuries, however, foreign trade began to increase massively after the economy began to recover from the disruptions of the Manchu invasions. Despite the Qing government's regulations discouraging trade, trade between China and Europe grew at the rate of 4 percent a year between 1719 and 1806, doubling the volume of trade every 18 years[240]. This helped China’s interior markets to its coastal city ports, providing additional demand for domestic producers. However, unlike the Ming Dynasty, the Qing government disliked trade, instead adopting policies aimed at favoring agriculture over trade[241].
The Opium wars and loss of sovereignty
Considering China to be a large, untapped market, the British tried several times to persuade the Chinese to trade with them, sending an ambassador to the court of the Qianlong Emperor. When they were rejected, the British started smuggling Opium into China. The result was disastrous for the Chinese. It is estimated that between 1821 CE and 1840 CE, as much as one-fifth of the silver circulating in China was used to purchasing opium, a problem compounded by widespread opium abuse which incapacitated able men throughout the country.[242]
When the Qing government tried to stop the Opium trade, the result was the Opium Wars,[243] in which the Qing government was defeated through superior firearms. The resulting treaty saw concessions given to European nations in China, undermining Chinese authority. The Opium Wars began a pattern of war, defeat, concessions, and silver payments to foreign powers, which further weakened the Chinese government and economy through outflow of silver.[244] Nevertheless, the Qing government was eager to appease the foreigners.[245]
The Taiping Rebellion
Anger at Qing rulers grew after the Opium Wars. In 1851 CE, Hong Xiuquan revolted against the Qing Dynasty, proclaimed Qing's rulers to be "filthy barbarians and beasts" who had " lead China into despair". His rebels, called the Taipings, quickly took control of much of southern China.[246]
However, social reforms like land socialization and the abolition of foot binding made the rebels unpopular. With aid from the British and French, the Qing defeated the rebels, but not before the rebellion claimed over 20 million lives. Lasting until 1871 CE, the rebellion was one of the bloodiest wars in history, and it devastated the Qing economy.[247]
Self-strengthening movement
Following the Taiping Rebellion, some Manchu nobles acknowledged that reforms were necessary. They instituted the Self-strengthening movement, in which limited modernization occurred, such as re-equipping the army, creating a standing navy, and a building industry. Although some of these reforms were successful, they were opposed by most of the Manchu nobility. After defeat by the Japanese in 1894 CE, the movement became discredited. The Chinese economy underwent a some limited industrialization during this period.[248]
Importation of foreign goods
After the loss of sovereignty following the Opium Wars, the Qing Dynasty was powerless to stop the importation of European goods into China. Initially, the only foreign good sold was opium. British and American merchants found that their goods were often unwanted in China. In 1852 CE, a British official claimed that he found it astounding that a country of four hundred and fifty million people consumed only 40% of the British-manufactured goods that were consumed in Holland.[249]
After the 1880s CE, however, this situation changed dramatically. In 1885, cotton imports into China exceeded opium imports for the first time; most of this cotton came from Britain and America. Meanwhile, Chinese exports decreased dramatically as foreign competitors entered the market. Tea was especially affected by competition from Indian and Ceylonese teas. By 1889 CE, England imported 122 million pounds of Indian and Ceylonese tea, while only 92.5 million pounds of Chinese tea were consumed. By 1894 CE, Chinese tea exports had fallen to 54.4 million pounds, while 186.7 million pounds of South Asian tea was exported.[250]
Collapse of the Qing
After a humiliating defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese had become dissatisfied with the Manchu rulers. In 1911 CE, the Xinhai Revolution overthrew Manchu rule and established the Republic of China. The collapse of the Qing accelerated the decline of the Chinese economy, which was rapidly declining compared to the world GDP.[251]
See also
- Economy of the Han Dynasty
- Economy of the Song Dynasty
- Economy of the Ming Dynasty
- Economy of the People's Republic of China
- Economy of Taiwan
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- ^ Brook (1998), 206.
- ^ Li and Zheng (2001), 994–995
- ^ a b c d Heijdra (1988), 497-498.
- ^ Fairbank (2006), 134.
- ^ Brook (1998), 68–69, 81–83.
- ^ Fairbank (2006), 134–135.
- ^ Brook (1998), 128–129, 134–138
- ^ Brook (1998), 90–93.
- ^ Brook (1998), 128–129, 134–138
- ^ Brook (1998), 102.
- ^ Brook (1998), 108.
- ^ Li and Zheng (2001), 997
- ^ a b Mote (1988), 6
- ^ Spence (1999), 33.
- ^ Wakeman (1985), 646–50.
- ^ Fairbank (1978), 32
- ^ Li and Zheng (2001), 1017
- ^ Wang Shochu，Records of the Ten Day massacre in Yangzhou, http://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%8F%9A%E5%B7%9E%E5%8D%81%E6%97%A5%E8%A8%98,
- ^ Myers and Wang (2003), 565
- ^ Sun Jian, (2000) 636–637
- ^ Fairbank (1978), 33–34
- ^ Fairbank (1978), 33
- ^ How Potatoes entered China, http://www.lanra.uga.edu/potato/asia/china.htm
- ^ Fairbank (1978), 191
- ^ Myers and Wang (2003), 569
- ^ Myers and Wang (2003), 574
- ^ Myers and Wang (2003), 580-581
- ^ Myers and Wang (2003), 607
- ^ Myers and Wang (2003), 608
- ^ Mickelthwait (2003), 7
- ^ Spence (1978), 163
- ^ Myers and Wang (2003), 587
- ^ Myers and Wang (2003), 578
- ^ Compilation Group for the "History of Modern China" Series (2000), 17.
- ^ Fairbank (1978), 195
- ^ Fairbank (1978), 213–216
- ^ Fairbank (1978), 217
- ^ Li and Zheng (2001), 1049
- ^ Sun Jian (2000), 712
- ^ Sun Jian (2000), 610
- ^ Sun Jian (2000), 690–691
- ^ Sun Jian (2000), 703
- ^ Sun Jian (2000), 611
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External links
- Economic History of Premodern China (from 221 BC to c. 1800 AD) Kent Deng, London School of Economics (LSE)
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