The world admires the grand scene of the commercial street market in the Song Dynasty's "Qingming on the River Map", and is misled by the film and television drama Fang City, always thinking that the historical Fang Market should be full of shouting and selling, and even feel that the Tang Dynasty, which was very prosperous, must not be inferior, but the truth is definitely not so.
The fangshi system refers to the system of urban planning and market management by the ancient Chinese government, also known as the municipal fang system. In fact, in the Western Zhou Dynasty, it has begun to be in the bud. "Whoever measures the land, measures the land, and measures the inhabitants."
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Fang city system gradually took shape, "the craftsman camped the country, Fang Jiuli, the left ancestor and the right society, facing the hou market." ”
By the time of the Tang Dynasty, there was already a scene of "a hundred thousand houses like a Game of Go, and the 12th Street was like a vegetable plant". The Tang Dynasty market system, on the surface, is the concentration and maintenance of commerce, but in fact it restricts the development of commerce and sticks it to the enclosed space of the city.
East City West City
Chang'an, the ancient name of Xi'an, was the first capital city in history to be called "Jing".
Chang'an City was the most prosperous territory during the Tang Dynasty, and was the façade of the Yangyang Dynasty, which covered an area of about 87 square kilometers (including the newly built Daming Palace, The Inner Garden, and the East Inner Garden in the Tang Dynasty), which was 2.4 times that of the Han Chang'an City, 1.4 times that of the Ming and Qing Dynasties Beijing City, and was the largest capital city in the world at that time.
The streets in the city are crisscrossed and will be divided into 108 squares dotted with dots, and the suzaku Avenue and Chengtianmen Avenue will be like a central axis, dividing Chang'an City into two parts, east and west, and two cities on both sides, which is the ancient commercial center.
The merchants of the two cities of the east and west are gathered, and the business names are gathered.
The Chronicle of Chang'an records that "the east 54 squares and east markets of Wannian Lingjie Street; the 54 squares and west markets of Chang'an Lingzhu Gate Street".
Located in the north and south of Dongshi, it occupies an extremely wide area, which is the economic activity center of Tang Chang'an City, the national industrial and commercial trade center at that time, and an important place for economic exchange activities between Chinese and foreign countries.
The location is close to the Xi Nei Taiji Palace, the Dong Nei Daming Palace, and the Nan Nei Xingqing Palace, which is the place where the Dignitaries of Daguan are located. In the old city, there are 220 lines of goods and wealth, four sides of the residence, four square treasures, all accumulated.
In contrast, the West Market is more popular than the East Market, which is full of treasures, while the West Market is mostly for the daily miscellaneous goods such as clothes, candles, cakes, medicines, etc., so the West Market is more popular than the East Market, and it is called the "Golden Market". Therefore, Li Bai's "Youth Line" has a verse of "Wuling Teenager Jin Shidong, laughing into the Orchid Liquor Store".
And Xishi is close to the Silk Road, and Hu merchants living in the market are also willing to participate in the trade of Xishi, which has become a small international trade venue.
Fang city system
The Tang Dynasty fang municipal system strictly divided the square and the city, and outside the high wall, there were old trees lined with magnificent streets, and inside the high walls, there were houses with layers of terraces. The system in the square was strict, and only the princes and nobles and the high officials of the court were eligible to open the door to the street. There are also some special workshops such as Pingkang Fang, which mainly operates the Qin Lou Chu Pavilion, even at night, you will hear the talented lady singing in a low voice.
Because of the gathering of Hu merchants, an exotic Orchid can also be seen in PingkangFang. The night ban system in the workshop is not strict, so at night, the red candles in Pingkang Square are illuminated, full of joy and laughter. Chongrenfang is the accommodation center, this workshop is accessible in all directions, the west is the imperial city, the southeast direction is the east market, the south is The Pingkang Fang, since ancient times, it has been the place where the talents of the examination have settled.
Although Chang'an City is prosperous and prosperous, its system is very strict.
The Tang HuiJiao records: "Where the city is filled with three hundred drums in the middle of the day, the crowd will meet, and the three hundred will be struck at the first seven minutes of the day' entry and the crowd will disperse." The same is true of those who cross the official mansion and the fence of the city, and the staff is seventy, and the same is true of the infringers. ”
At noon, the two cities beat the drum three hundred times before the shop can open for business. Seven minutes before sunset, three hundred gongs are struck, the shops must be closed, and the gates of the two cities are closed along with the gates of the city gate.
Night ban system
The Tang Dynasty night ban system targeted thirty-eight main streets, and if anyone took advantage of the night chaos, they would be detained by Wu Hou and punished. This seemingly strict system ignores the emergency nature of the people.
On the surface, there is no negligence, but in fact, it brings a lot of inconvenience to people, so in addition to people trading in the east and west markets, in-house trading has also begun to become popular. Only on the fifteenth day of the first month, the first day of the new month, will be allowed to travel to the two cities at night, so in the film and television dramas, there will be many scenes of misses and princes guessing the riddle of the lights in the downtown and putting river lights.
The Tang Dynasty market system is not only strict in time, but also strictly regulated in terms of quality control.
The Tang Laws and Regulations record that "the objects used in the creation of the vessels and the genus of silk cloth are those who are abusive, short and narrow, and sell, and each has sixty rods; those who gain profits and count the stolen goods, and those who calculate profits are quasi-theft." The same is true of traffickers. ”
As a result, the two cities of East and West were able to prosper.
The city of Fang is separated
The Tang Dynasty's Fang city system strictly separated the fang city, eliminated the possibility of rebellion, and greatly guaranteed the safety of the people, but the fang city system also had its shortcomings. The specifications of the city are completely divided according to the city class.
It is recorded in the "Tang Huijiao" that in the early Tang Dynasty, it was stipulated that the places that were not prefectures and counties could not be placed in cities. However, this provision ignores the real needs of the people and interferes with the right of residents to trade.
Chang'an has 108 squares, extremely prosperous, but the sandbar only has four squares, such inequality, it is easy to aggravate the dissatisfaction of the people, and the factory market system let the people out of the commodity, hinder the development of commerce, let countless merchants have words of suffering, so during the Song Dynasty, the square market system was abolished.
Although the Tang Dynasty market system has shortcomings, it has been passed down for thousands of years, and at that time, it ensured the safety of the city, so that the chicken and dog thieves had nothing to hide, and it was also the essence.
However, with the development of history, it has become more and more unsuitable for the new trend, and even said to hinder the development of society, so it can only be eliminated as dross.
References: "Chinese Customs and General History Sui and Tang", "Tang Huijiao", "Tang Law Neglect", "Chang'an Zhi"