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From the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the beginning of the Three Kingdoms (184-226), after about half a century of war and famine, the entire Yellow River Basin, the Huaihe River Basin, and the Guanzhong region, the major economic regions, were severely damaged. During the period from the Western Jin Dynasty to the Sixteen Kingdoms, wars and chaos continued, famines, famines, and epidemics were endemic, and the northern economy was once again seriously damaged. Unlike the northern region, the southern region during the Six Dynasties period was relatively stable, and the social and economic development opportunities in the Yangtze River basin, especially in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, ushered in unprecedented development opportunities.
▲ "Silkworm Weaving Diagram" is a treasure of ancient Chinese painting art, showing the production process of sericulture and weaving in eastern Zhejiang in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, from "moon bathing silkworms" to "getting off the machine and entering the box". The picture shows a part of the "Silkworm Weaving Diagram". Collection of Heilongjiang Provincial Museum
During the Western Han Dynasty, the Yangtze River basin was still a sparsely populated area with fire cultivation and water rake (nòu). The "History of Goods and Colonies" records:
"In the land of Chuyue, the land of Guangrenxi, rice and rice soup fish, or fire ploughing and water rake, fruit Sui clams (luǒ gé), do not wait for jia and feet, 地埶 (yì) spares food, there is no hunger, so 呰窳 (zǐ yǔ) steals life, no accumulation and many poverty. It is south of the old river and Huai, there are no frozen and hungry people, and there is no home of thousands of gold. ”
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the area around Lujiang (present-day Lujiang County, Anhui) did not know how to cultivate cattle, and since the Lujiang Taishou Wang Jingjiao people ploughed the method, the method of ox farming gradually spread from the Yellow River Basin to the Yangtze River Basin and even the Pearl River Basin. In addition to the widespread application of cattle farming, water irrigation in the Central Plains was also extended to the area of Jiangnan Huiji (present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang). During the chaotic war in the Central Plains, the people of the north took refuge and crossed the river, and they not only brought advanced agricultural production tools and production technology to the Jiangnan region, but also promoted the increase of the population and the expansion of cultivated land in the south of the Jiangnan.
During the Three Kingdoms period, after the establishment of the Eastern Wu regime, the "Shanyue" living in the southeast region, the "barbarian" in the Jingzhou region, and the "Yi" in the Jiaozhou region were included in the scope of rule, on the one hand, they were incorporated into the army to fight, assigned to counties as households to cultivate the land and cultivate, and on the other hand, set up counties in the areas where they lived. In the Jingzhou, Yangzhou, Jiaozhou and Guangzhou areas of Jiangnan, there were 20 counties and 265 counties in the Eastern Han Dynasty, which increased to 43 counties and 313 counties during the Eastern Wu Dynasty. The increase in the number of counties is due to economic development, population growth and expansion of the dominated area. In the areas ruled by Eastern Wu, the degree of integration of ethnic minorities and Han ethnic groups deepened.
In agriculture, the Soochow regime expanded the cultivated land area in the Jiangnan region through the implementation of tuntian (military tun and mintun), successfully solving not only the problem of combining the displaced people from the north and south with the land, but also the problem of military food. In terms of handicrafts, smelting, salt boiling, and textiles in the Jiangnan region have developed greatly, and there are "four wilds, and there are countless zhěn zhuì, and the ointment is doubled... Boiling the sea for salt, mining mountains to cast money. The rice of national tax ripening, the cottony of the eight silkworms of the township" (Zuo Si, "Wu Dufu").
On the basis of the development of agriculture and handicrafts, the commerce and cities of the Jiangnan region have also made great progress, "opening the market towards the merger, and the huán huì overflowing." Mix and congratulate (chán), and both despise one. Shi Nu Qi, Shang Jia Bi" (Zuo Si, "Wu Dufu").
After the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Jin dynasty moved south, and a large number of people from the Central Plains moved south, which not only further promoted national integration, but also supplemented the labor force in the south of the Jiangnan, bringing with them advanced production tools and technologies from the Central Plains.
From the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the Southern Dynasties, the Taihu Lake Basin, the Poyang Lake Basin, the Dongting Lake Basin and the Huiji Area of Eastern Zhejiang all became famous grain-producing areas. History:
"Jiangnan is a prosperous country... The land is wide and wild, the people are diligent, one year old or minoru, then several counties forget hunger... Jingcheng (Jingzhou) crosses the wealth of Southern Chu, Yangbu (Yangzhou) has the wealth of Wu, the benefits of fish and salt, filling all directions, silk and cloth, covering the world. ("Song Shu Kong Jigong Biography" Shi Chen Yu)
It can be seen that Jiangnan's agricultural economy has achieved unprecedented development.
In terms of handicrafts, the home textile industry has made greater progress than before, the technical level of silk reeling has been greatly improved, mulberry tree planting is more common, silkworms from Yuzhang County (present-day Nanchang, Jiangxi) are ripe four or five a year, and silkworms from Yongjia (present-day Yongjia, Zhejiang) and other counties are ripe eight times a year. Linen weaving technology has also improved, and the "chicken song" in the Yuzhang area is very famous.
In the past, the brocade industry in the Jiangnan region was not yet developed, but in the late Eastern Jin Dynasty, Liu Yu conquered Later Qin, moved the Guanzhong brocade workers to Jiangnan, and established the Jin Administration, after which the brocade industry gradually developed in Jiangnan. During the Southern Dynasties, Jiankang (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu) and Nanyu, Jing, Ying, Si, Xiyu, Nanyan, Yong and other prefectures had a large number of cottony and silk cloth and other household handicraft products, which shows that silk cloth was abundant in all parts of Jiangnan at that time. Although the production level of the textile industry in Jiangnan could not catch up with the north at that time, it laid a good foundation for leaping to the first place in the country during the Tang and Song Dynasties.
In addition, porcelain, smelting, papermaking, salt and other industries in the Jiangnan area are also quite developed. After the development of the porcelain industry since the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties, the output of porcelain has increased greatly and has become people's daily necessities. Huiji County was rich in celadon and was the place with the highest porcelain making technology at that time. The utensils manufactured by the smelting and casting industry, in addition to weapons, are mostly folk tools, and the most famous smelting and casting workshops are distributed in Huiji County, Yangzhou and Jingzhou. The paper industry has developed greatly through the continuous improvement and enhancement of the working people. In addition to the original hemp and Chinese peels, papermaking raw materials also use mulberry peel and rattan peel to make paper, and Huiji and Jiankang, Yangzhou, Guangzhou and other places have become the papermaking center in the south. Haiyan (present-day Haiyan, Zhejiang) and Yancheng in Southern Yanzhou (present-day Yancheng, Jiangsu) are important salt-producing areas.
During the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties, commodity exchange and foreign trade in the south were also active. Jiankang is the largest commercial city, and Jingkou, Shanyin, Shouchun, Xiangyang, Jiangling, Chengdu, Panyu and other places are relatively prosperous commercial cities.
In general, the development of the Jiangnan region during the Six Dynasties period is of epoch-making significance:
- First, it has fundamentally changed the appearance of the original fire-ploughing water rake, rice, rice and fish in the Jiangnan area, turning the sparsely populated and hazel-filled land into fertile land and a land of fish and rice, and the mountains, forests, rivers and rivers have also been dressed in new clothes.
- Second, the development of the Jiangnan region, starting from agriculture, has led to the development of handicrafts and commerce and the prosperity of the city, promoted foreign trade and exchanges, changed China's traditional economic pattern, the economic status of the south has become increasingly important, the country's economic center of gravity began to shift from north to south, and laid a solid foundation for the national economic development.
- Third, when the people of the north go south, there have been many waves of migration, which has promoted exchanges, exchanges and blending among various ethnic groups.
(The author is an associate professor at the School of History, Beijing Normal University, and deputy director of the Research Base for Forging the Consciousness of the Chinese National Community)
Source: China Minzu Daily
Editor: Li Kunyu|Preliminary review: Yang Xin
Reviewer: Yang Guang|Final Judge: Li Jun
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