The history of Northwest Huikan Society, who knows, thank you.

compared with the Han and Tang dynasties, the most striking feature of the economy of the song dynasty is the rapid growth of commodity economy components in the mother womb of traditional society. Since the late Tang Dynasty, especially after the Song Dynasty, with the development of agricultural production, the increase of grain surplus rate, the appearance of the coal-iron revolution, the expansion of handicraft production, the progress of transportation tools (such as tankers and seagoing ships) and the improvement of traffic conditions (such as Bianhe River and coastal shipping), commodity economy has ushered in its second high period after the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties. All kinds of new weather that have never been seen before or are not obvious although there are signs, are now protruding in front of us.

first, the growth of commercial agriculture. Commercial planting, with cash crops such as Sang Ma, bamboo, tea, fruits, vegetables and flowers as the main body, has accelerated its expansion, especially in Taihu Lake Basin of Liangzhe Road, Chengdu Plain and Fujian coastal areas. Professional tea farmers, fruit farmers, sugarcane farmers and vegetable farmers have emerged in large numbers. Together with independent craftsmen, they have begun to transform into small commodity producers.

the second is the acceleration of urbanization. The number of towns has greatly increased, the urban population has expanded, the number of industrial and commercial employees in cities has increased, and regional economic center cities have emerged one after another, which has led to the transformation of traditional political cities into economic commercial cities, and the momentum of urbanization has become increasingly clear. At the same time, the urban pattern has been greatly improved due to the collapse of the classical square market system, urban commerce has broken through the geographical and time constraints, and the modern urban style with shops along the street has begun to take shape.

the third is the change of commodity composition and the turning point of commercial nature. Great changes have taken place in the composition of social commodities, and more and more means of subsistence (such as grain, cloth, tea, etc.) and means of production (such as land, cattle, wood, coal, farm tools, etc.) have entered the circulation field. Originally, the trafficking-oriented business, which mainly served the upper class of society and focused on luxury goods and local products, began to transform into a large-scale business focusing on the daily production and daily necessities of the people of Lebanon.

fourth, the prosperity of caoshi and the initial formation of local market. In economically developed or densely populated rural areas, as well as along land and water docks and traffic tunnels, "grass markets" have sprung up in batches, and local markets composed of grass markets, towns and cities and regional economic centers have begun to form, and commodity-currency relations have gained more outposts to infiltrate and gnaw at the self-sufficient natural economy.

Fifth, the rise of merchant groups and the prevalence of the concept of "making profits". More and more bureaucrats, landlords, intellectuals and farmers are engaged in business activities, and coastal farmers even raise funds to invest in overseas trade (so-called "smuggling"). With the expansion of the ranks of businessmen and the abundant commercial capital, the actual status of the merchant class has improved, and the social influence of businessmen has also expanded. At the same time, the concept of profit (so-called "market road"), which embodies the consciousness of businessmen, has a growing impact on traditional concepts. The rise of the utilitarian school in eastern Zhejiang, represented by Ye Shi and Chen Liang, shows that the traditional Confucianism has cracked a gap in the unification of the world.

sixth, the expansion of overseas trade. At this time, the Silk Road on land in the Han and Tang Dynasties has been replaced by the "Spice Road" and "Ceramic Road" on the sea, and its scale is incomparable to the land transportation between China and the West. And the scope is wider, and more than 6 countries and regions have established foreign trade ties with the Song Dynasty. At the same time, the material exchanges and economic ties between Song Dynasty and neighboring regimes such as Liao, Xia, Jin, Tubo and Dali have not stopped for a moment, but the scale has been expanding and the forms have become increasingly diverse. The forms of monopoly trade, smuggling trade, tea-horse trade and tribute trade have their own magical powers and complement each other. Millions of copper coins cast every year in the Song Dynasty also flowed to the surrounding areas, almost becoming an "international currency".

Seventh, the emergence of paper money and the monetization of silver. With the development of domestic and foreign markets at the same time, and the commercial scale far exceeds that of the previous generation, the exchange method of copper coins, which had magical charm, was inadequate because of its heavy weight and low value (especially in the case of increasing long-distance trafficking and trading volume), so Jiaozi, the earliest paper money in the world, took the lead in the historical stage of commodity exchange in Sichuan and Sichuan areas in the early Northern Song Dynasty. Later, the precious metal weighing currency represented by silver also began to enter the circulation field, thus forming a transitional currency system with copper coins, iron coins, silver coins and silver in parallel. The "Gold, Silver, Salt and Banknotes Exchange Shop", which is located in Bianjing and Lin 'an, is the exchange place for various currencies. There are more than 1 such gold and silver trading shops in Lin 'an alone.

All these make us believe that the commodity economy in Song Dynasty really developed to a new stage. It is no exaggeration to say that the prosperity of China's commodity economy at this time, whether in terms of scale or level, is still far ahead of any country and region in the world at that time, that is, compared with the mid-Qing Dynasty in the 18th century, it is not inferior, at least it has its own advantages.

especially in the southeast coastal areas of the Song Dynasty, a new and dynamic open market economy rose under the pull of overseas trade, which was a truly landmark change in the agricultural economy since the Han and Tang Dynasties. In my opinion, the "First Empire" in Qin and Han Dynasties and the "Second Empire" in Sui and Tang Dynasties are both continental empires based on the agricultural economy, not only the economic center of gravity is located in the "Three Rivers" mentioned by Sima Qian, that is, the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River; Moreover, the "Silk Road", which lasted for thousands of years between Han and Tang Dynasties, extended inland to Asia. It can be said that all previous dynasties before the Song Dynasty were inland countries with three rivers as their pillows and facing the northwest. However, since the mid-Tang Dynasty, China began to change from an inland country to a land-sea country: Guangzhou, Quanzhou and other large seaports have sprung up one after another, and the southeast coastal areas are backed by developed agriculture, handicrafts and commodity economy, showing a strong tendency to develop into the sea. Especially after the Song Dynasty's southward crossing, it was forced by the situation to rely more on foreign trade, and Erythrina Port, Quanzhou, was becoming the largest port in the world at that time. Stimulated by the rapid development of overseas trade, the commodity economy in Southeast China, which takes production exchange value as its responsibility, is flourishing day by day, and the market mechanism based on division of labor and specialized production plays a greater role in economic life, so the original state of building the country with its head resting on three rivers and facing the northwest has changed to that with its head resting on the southeast and facing the ocean. The essential connotation of this turning point is from natural economy to commodity economy, from single planting economy to diversified management, from basic self-sufficiency to professional division of labor, from main production and use value to production exchange value, from custom orientation to market orientation, from closed economy to open economy. All this shows that the commodity economy in the Song Dynasty, especially in the southeast coastal areas of the Southern Song Dynasty, has developed to a brand-new stage!

Historical facts show that in the historical environment of the rapid growth of industrial and commercial civilization factors in Song Dynasty, its primitive industrialization process started not only earlier than the countries on the northern shore of the Mediterranean and the British Isles, but also in scale and level. This is mainly manifested in the following aspects:

First, the occurrence of the coal-iron revolution and the emergence of wage labor in private mining and metallurgy workshops.

the northern song dynasty, marked by the surge of iron production and the popularization of steel pouring method, ushered in the second major transformation period of China's iron smelting and casting industry. This change was inspired by the large-scale mining and industrial utilization of coal. According to Mr. Xu Huimin's research, although our ancestors realized the burning function of coal as early as the Han Dynasty, it was in the Northern Song Dynasty that the coal mining industry in Hedong (now Shanxi), Hebei, Shaanxi and other roads was quite developed, and there were archaeological excavations to prove it. In order to distinguish it from the original charcoal (called "soft charcoal"), the words "Carboniferous" and "mineral charcoal" appeared in the Song Dynasty, specifically referring to coal. The "Official" in Song Dynasty's Collection of Manuscripts has the language of "Soft Charcoal Field in West Beijing, Buy Carboniferous Field by Pumping".

The rise of coal mining industry not only eased the contradiction of the shortage of traditional firewood and charcoal fuel, but also increased the output of iron (it is estimated that the annual output of iron in the Northern Song Dynasty is between 35, tons and 15, tons, which is close to the level of 145, tons to 18, tons in Europe in the early 18th century). At the same time, the improvement of furnace temperature and smelting efficiency promoted the transformation of casting technology; In particular, the large-scale popularization of the steel pouring method characterized by "raw and cooked miscellaneous"; And as the inevitable result of all this, the sharpening of wrought iron and steel for farm tools and various tools, etc., these major developments constitute a spectacular scene of the coal-iron revolution in the Song Dynasty.

As early as 1959, Mr. Ke Changji pointed out that according to the Book of the Emperor in Xuzhou written by Su Shi during the prosperous years of Shen Zongyuan, there had been an employment relationship in the "Thirty-six Metallurgical Works" under the jurisdiction of Liguojian near Xuzhou. According to Su Shi, these 36 private iron and smelting workshops, each with more than 1 workers, have the atmosphere of handicraft workshop; The owners of various smelting furnaces "have a huge amount of money", which shows that the capital is abundant; The government closed the Hebei market ("benefiting the country and supervising the railway is not allowed to enter Hebei"), and all metallurgical households have "unemployment worries"; Soon, the ban was lifted, "making the iron go northward", and the smelters "all obeyed", which shows that this is commodity production and has an interval market. Most of the three or four thousand iron smelting workers are "hungry, cold and desperate, strong and forbearing people" (3), reflecting that they have been separated from the land to varying degrees, and most of them have been separated from political governance. At least during the period of being employed as a worker, no matter to the landlord or the country, there is no bondage of personal attachment, and the right to "treat one's own labor as one's own commodity" is obtained.

Second, the rise of private zhuotongjing in Sichuan and Sichuan areas and the economic struggle of hiring workers.

during the reign of emperor renzong in the northern song dynasty (141-148), the zhuotong well first appeared in Jingyan county, Sichuan province, which marked the transition of drilling technology from shallow well with large mouth to deep well with small mouth. It pioneered the "impact setback method" in drilling technology, and the "cutting edge" made of wrought iron steel blade should be the first deep well drill bit in the world, setting a precedent for modern chisel drilling technology; In the technology of shaft lining forming, the "casing water-proof method" was pioneered, and the bamboo casing used (that is, the origin of the name of Zhuotong Well, Zhuozhu, Bamboo, a sound turn) is obviously the predecessor of wooden conduit and modern copper conduit in Ming and Qing Dynasties; In the chip removal process, the "valve-type fan mud cylinder" was pioneered; In the process of bittern extraction, there is a "bottomless but open" bittern extraction tube instead of the original skin, which opens automatically when entering the water and closes when exiting the water. These great achievements have laid the basic principles of modern deep well drilling technology from all aspects, and thus have been praised as the "father of modern oil drilling" by the history of science and technology.

It is precisely because Zhuotong well essentially refreshes the old technology of large-mouth shallow well, showing great advantages in digging cost, brine quality, production efficiency and other aspects, so it spread rapidly once it appeared. In just twenty or thirty years, it spread all over Nanling Prefecture, Jiazhou and Rongzhou in Sichuan, with thousands of "streams connecting valleys, stoves ranking second in scale". Mr. Guo Zhengzhong, an expert in salt history, proved that there was not only an employment relationship in Sichuan well salt industry, but also an economic struggle to improve working conditions, according to the recitation of Wentong, a magistrate in Lingzhou during the reign of Emperor Zong Xining. According to Wen Tongshuo, there were more than 1 barrel well workshops in Jingyan County at that time, and each workshop employed "4 or 5 to 3 or 2 people" respectively. Most of these thousands of craftsmen came from "other counties in other States" and had divorced from the land. Its way of making a living is "working as a servant", that is, living by selling labor; If you are not satisfied with the working conditions or treatment during your employment, you will join hands with each other and protest collectively. The so-called "handing each other over to seduce, making a noise among the parties"; If there is no improvement, I will settle accounts with the well owner "Haozhe" and ask for wages. The so-called "calculate the value of the work and ask for it"; Looking for another job, the so-called "investing in another place, getting used to it" ⑥, obviously free to come and go.

thirdly, the commodity production nature of ceramic industry and its expanding domestic and overseas markets.

Ceramic production entered a mature stage in the Song Dynasty. So far, the sites of porcelain kilns in the Song Dynasty have been found all over 17 provinces and more than 13 counties in China, most of which are folk kilns. In particular, Dehua kilns in Fujian Road and porcelain kilns in Jinjiang and Xiamen, as well as Quanzhou Ciyao, Anxi, Nan 'an and Tong 'an kilns, are the production bases of large-scale export porcelain in Tongtong Port of Quanzhou. On the large-scale "sea ship" with compass navigation, "merchants share the goods, and people have to wait several feet to get down to store things, and lie on them at night. There are many pottery goods, and the size is matched, so there is no shortage of space." ⑧ Japanese scholar Takashi Sanshan made a field trip along the Silk Road for many years, and published the book Maritime Silk Road in 1979. In the second chapter, he introduced the distribution of Song Dynasty porcelain in Singapore, Jakarta, Saigon, Mysore, Madras, Bambur, Samara, Iraq and faustin, North Africa. Cui Chunxi, a south Korean scholar, said, "China porcelain found in North Korea, especially in the Northern Song Dynasty, has the largest number of products, mainly distributed in the central and southern coastal areas of the Korean Peninsula", and the products "almost include all the products of famous kilns in the Song Dynasty." (2) This shows that the ceramic industry in Song Dynasty has the nature of commodity production as far as its main part is concerned, and it has a broad overseas market.

Fourth, the emergence of tens of thousands of textile users and the formation of merchant employer convention.

in the song dynasty, the "machine shop" was generally a family workshop staffed by family members, which specialized in textiles for a living, and its nature was an independent commodity producer. There are also a few machine users who practice employee production. According to Mr. Qi Xia's estimation, there were about 1, mobile phone users in the Northern Song Dynasty, a considerable number. The problem is that except for a few of these mobile phone users, they are in cities (for example, Jinhua in eastern Zhejiang is "the people in the city take weaving as the main thing, claiming that clothes are the world, so they are especially rich." (4), most of them are distributed in the countryside, and their products need to be concentrated by intermediaries and transported to the market to truly become commodities, so merchant employer appeared. "Chen Tai's dream of injustice" in volume 13161 of Yongle Dadian is a typical example of merchant employer, Jiangxi Province, during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong Chunxi in the Southern Song Dynasty (197s). Chen Taiyuan, the wronged owner, was originally a cloth merchant in Fuzhou. At the beginning of each year, he issued productive loans ("loan capital") to machine operators in Chong 'an, Le 'an and Jinxi, and then went to these places to ask for linen in summer and autumn, and then shipped it out. As the business is getting bigger and bigger, there are "owners" and "first owners" such as Zeng Xiaolu as agents to release money and collect cloth. Le 'an alone has "accumulated thousands of horses". Judging from "so long", this practice has been going on for quite a long time before Chunxi, and it is not an accident. This practice is no different from the "counting house" in Ming and Qing Dynasties in its essential characteristics, and it belongs to merchant employer convention. Mr. Guo Zhengzhong pointed out that in the silk weaving industry in Zhejiang and the silk brocade industry in Sichuan, there were also some practices such as "taking silk and lending money", "paying customers on credit" and "pre-expressing silk and money", which showed that merchant employer was widely distributed in the Song Dynasty, and their activities could be seen in Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Sichuan.

Fifth, in the tea making, paper making, printing and other industries, private workshops are also dominant, engaged in commodity production, have a considerable market, and wage labor can also be seen in them. For details, please refer to the relevant chapters of my book.

through the above brief outline, we can see that the start of the primitive industrialization process in the song dynasty is all-round. Driven by the coal-iron revolution, various sectors of handicraft industry, including metallurgy, ceramics, well salt, textile, paper making, printing and other industries, once showed a comprehensive prosperity; Private handicraft industry has risen in an all-round way, and its dominant position has been undoubtedly established except for a few industries such as casting money and military industry, and it has regional markets, interval markets and even overseas markets to varying degrees; In the meantime, the employment relationship and merchant employer convention with modern colors are also growing tenaciously. All this makes us believe that the handicraft industry in Song Dynasty entered a new period of development, a period of preparing conditions for the occurrence of modern industry and providing historical premise for the arrival of capitalist mode of production, which we call the pre-modernization period.