Preface
The Song Dynasty is a more controversial dynasty in the history of feudal dynasties on the mainland, because of his emphasis on literature and light on military force, so the first thing that comes to mind when everyone mentions him is a "weak country", after all, when foreign enemies come to attack, how long can Wenchen resist.
However, in the history of the world, the Song Dynasty is rarely highly evaluated, and the Song Dynasty is regarded as the most prosperous dynasty in China. Even the Tang Dynasty can't compare to the Song Dynasty, why is this?
1. Created in the world of Zhao and Song
It is often said that "heroes emerge from troubled times", and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period can be said to be another troubled era in the mainland after the Three Kingdoms period, and many heroes and heroes have emerged in this very short period of time. Of course, the most noteworthy of them is Zhao Kuangyin, the founding emperor who established the Song Dynasty.
It has become another dynasty that unifies China, but everyone is talking about the origin of Zhao Kuangyin's throne, and it can be said that his throne is not like those previous emperors. It may be precisely because of this reason that the Song Dynasty has always advocated a policy of emphasizing literature over military force.
From Zhao Kuangyin's attack in Kaifeng to the invasion of the Jin army, the shame of Jingkang also heralded the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, and then Zhao Gou established the Southern Song Dynasty, which lasted for more than 300 years, which can be said to be a relatively long duration in the ancient feudal dynasty.
It can be said that the establishment of each dynasty heralded a new era for China, even the Song Dynasty, which was so unfavored by later generations. Why do later generations have such an opinion about the Song Dynasty?
is because he is completely brave and good at fighting other dynasties, and it also gives people a feeling of "nest", without the arrogance that a dynasty should have. One of the emperors of the dead country jumped into the sea, and the other became a monk and did not ask about trivial matters in the mortal world.
But in fact, the economic and cultural development of the Song Dynasty entered an unprecedented prosperity, which is why Western countries regarded the Song Dynasty as the most prosperous era in China.
It can be said that historians have a high evaluation of the Song Dynasty in this regard, and use "unprecedented" to describe the material development and spiritual culture of the Song Dynasty. Western countries have given a very high evaluation and yearning for the Song Dynasty.
To put it simply, although the Song Dynasty seems to be a "weak country", the Song Dynasty is actually a very prosperous dynasty. It was also in the Song Dynasty that China's economic development climaxed.
Perhaps, as later generations said, the Song Dynasty put all its thoughts on promoting economic development. The Song Dynasty was the most important period of China's economic reform. As we all know, if a country wants to develop well, the most important thing is to make the people's lives better.
The people's lives are inseparable from the land, after all, the people live on food. It can be said that the reform of the land system was the most important reason for the rapid development of the Song Dynasty. And the Song Dynasty encouraged the people to do business on a large scale, and it can be said that the merchants have always been the lowest, but in the Song Dynasty, they successfully rose one step further.
It greatly promoted the development of commerce and handicrafts in the Song Dynasty, and the handicraft industry also flourished completely in the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty was a dynasty that attached the most importance to scholars, and even set a rule that scholars could not be killed, and it was precisely because of this regulation that the status of scholars rose sharply.
In addition, as mentioned above, the emphasis on commercial development has alleviated the contradictions between these two classes to a certain extent and ensured social stability. Although it is said that the people of the Tang Dynasty were open, he was far inferior to the Song Dynasty.
The Song Dynasty no longer managed merchants, and even allowed them to run night markets at night. It can be said that the development of the Song Dynasty at that time had a contemporary prototype. It is precisely because of the court's consent that the development of commerce has reached an unprecedented level of prosperity.
Culturally, the Song Dynasty did not fall behind, precisely because they valued scholars, which promoted the development of cultural level to a certain extent.
2. Trade exchanges
The Song Dynasty can be said to be the first country to start economic exchanges with its neighbors, and in the Song Dynasty it pioneered maritime trade for the first time.
It is worth mentioning that our old friend Vietnam, as early as the Song Dynasty, the two countries have already begun to have economic and trade exchanges. This is also an inevitable thing, and there were still many threats during the Song Dynasty, not only the Later Jin but also the Liao and Mongolia......
Therefore, the Song Dynasty had to establish good relations with its neighbors.
In the Song Dynasty, it can be said that it was one of the most frequent tributes from overseas countries. And every time they paid tribute, they offered some strange things to the Song Dynasty, and some people may say why they should pay tribute if this is the case.
Because according to the policy of the Song Dynasty, there has always been a back and forth, and other countries paid tribute to the Song Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty would also give them things to bring back. Although the things they gave were very rare in the Song Dynasty and even today, they can be said to be everywhere for overseas countries.
Trading their inexhaustible and flashy things for the necessities of the Song Dynasty can be said to be a good deal. This is also the reason why they emptied the treasury and paid tribute to the Great Song Dynasty.
Later, they even offered to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty, but they were politely refused. In the words of Song Xiaozong, "Elephants are useless things, which disturb our people." ”
It can be seen that the exchanges between the two countries have helped the economic development of Southeast Asian countries. This also shows from the side why most of them are talking about the prosperity of the Song Dynasty. After all, every return gift from the Song Dynasty did not disappoint them.
There is not only trade on land, but also by sea. Since then, it has gradually become one of the most important ways to promote cultural exchanges between the two countries.
Third, the phenomenon of money shortage
The prosperity of the Song Dynasty is beyond everyone's imagination now, and the Song Dynasty at that time even reached the level of money shortage. As we all know, the market value of copper coins is very small, and it can still be accepted at the beginning, but gradually copper coins are no longer enough to support the trading volume.
It was under this circumstance that Jiaozi was born. He is the earliest paper money in China. The birth of Jiaozi alleviated the current situation to a certain extent, and the same as the previous copper coin, Jiaozi was only a kind of currency, and it appeared precisely because of the economic development of the Song Dynasty that there was a mismatch between commerce and currency.
Of course, this also shows the prosperity of the economic development of the Song Dynasty under certain circumstances, after all, in the previous dynasties, there has never been such a situation, even in the prosperous era of the Tang Dynasty, there has never been a time when the currency could not keep up with the transaction.
The emergence of Jiaozi can be said to have played a positive role in the development of mainland currency. Jiaozi is not a little easier to use than the previous copper coin, and the first thing is that it is a piece of paper, which is easy to carry.
If there is a cart of copper coins pushed by his servants when encountering a transaction, it will inevitably give people a very cumbersome feeling, and his value is very large, and a piece of money can be worth a cart of copper coins.
The economic development of the Song Dynasty promoted the circulation of transactions, and also promoted the issuance and management of paper money, so that China's currency entered a new era.
epilogue
History is complex and diverse, and the disadvantages of the two Song Dynasty can be said to be obvious, but it is undeniable that during the Song Dynasty, the economic development of the mainland reached an unprecedented prosperity.
Even the productivity of the Song Dynasty in the 11th century was already comparable to that of Western countries in the 17th century.