Suzhou ancient immigrants

These two sentences are true, but they appear at different times. Therefore, it will create the illusion that these two sentences conflict. You know, the harvest depends not only on the rain, but also on the soil. But there is no place where the weather will be good every year, and no place where the soil will be fertile forever. These two places were once very rich. Say another word, "Suzhou and Shanghai are familiar, and the world is enough." It appeared in the Song Dynasty and was also mentioned in the folk classics at that time. Its meaning is also very simple.

It means that as long as there are bumper harvests in Suzhou and Huzhou, the whole country won't have to worry about food and clothing. In fact, "Suzhou and Lake are ripe, and the world is full" and "There is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below" are circulated at the same time, which also shows that this sentence came from the Song Dynasty. This sentence does not appear for no reason, but it is also justified. During the Song Dynasty, the grain in the Song Dynasty was mainly in the plains and lakes and swamps such as Taihu Lake and Poyang Lake. There is not only a large population here, but also a large amount of food is transported to other places every year. Suzhou and Huzhou are these two places, and they are also the most prosperous and affluent places. Therefore, there is a saying that "Suzhou Lake is ripe and the world is sufficient".

But it was different in the Ming Dynasty. At that time, the demand for cotton was relatively large and the benefits were high. So cotton is grown in rural areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. So at that time, there were fewer people growing food in this area. After so many years, the soil here is not as fertile as before. Because a lot of cotton was planted here, it used to be a land rich in food, but at that time, it needed to transport food from other places. Another place at that time was Huguang, which is now Hunan and Hubei.

Therefore, the proverb "Suzhou and Shanghai are familiar, and the world is sufficient" has evolved into "Huguang is familiar, and the world is sufficient". It's just a matter of time. These two sentences are not contradictory.