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Chapter 5 China after 1200

Crisis and Disintegration
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The Chinese Market Economy, 1000–1500
This chapter is in the book The Chinese Market Economy, 1000–1500
Chapter 5China after 1200Crisis and DisintegrationChina in the three centuries from 1200 to 1500 witnessed a shift from a Kaifeng-centered market system to a Beijing-centered command power. The Mongol conquest of China (1206–1279) and the rise of an autocratic regime in early Ming China from 1368 onward were the most important events that contributed to the downward turn in the Chinese market economy during the next three and half centuries.1 Both census and taxation data vividly reveal how radically aggregate population and urbanization during these four centuries declined. The Mongol conquest, especially the wars between the Mongols and Jurchens from 1211 to 1234 in the north, dealt a devastating blow to the economy. The conquest of the Southern Song in South China was much less destructive, but the military campaigns took an unavoidably heavy toll on the upper- and mid-Yangtze region. In terms of interregional trade, the Kaifeng-centered water transportation regime ended in 1125 when Jurchen troops occupied North China. From then on until Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming dynasty in 1368, China was ravaged by continuous wars and natural disasters. Consequently, early Ming aggregate households as of 1393 amounted to only 6 million, merely 29 percent of the Song registered households recorded in 1109.2In this chapter I reassess the post-1200 economic crisis in a full-scale view. The story I tell about China in these centuries is far more than a demographic one. Nor is it about an economic downturn in a short period. After the Mongol conqueror unified China under the Yuan dynasty, there was an odd discord between the ever-expanding size of the empire and the integration of the national economy. In the centuries after the Mongol conquest, Chinese imperial power greatly expanded territorially and marched far into Central Asia. For the first time, Beijing, a frontier city once repeatedly subjected to nomadic conquests, became the imperial capital. However, with the sharp decline in aggregate population and anti-market policies implemented by the early Ming court, the Chinese economy greatly disintegrated. The recovery, especially the recovery of long-distance trade, was to be delayed until the 1500s, and this recovery was confined to just a few major inland waterways.3 With the sole exception of the northern stretch of China’s Grand Canal, water transports in the north fell into disarray. The full development of the domestic market did not come until the eighteenth century. While this gloomy economic downturn has been a well-known fact, this chapter explores in great depth the key questions of when and how China plunged into such a deep recession and why the revival took such a long time to materialize. Along with the 99SP_LIU_Ch05_097-120.indd 997/9/15 3:36 PM
© 2015 State University of New York

Chapter 5China after 1200Crisis and DisintegrationChina in the three centuries from 1200 to 1500 witnessed a shift from a Kaifeng-centered market system to a Beijing-centered command power. The Mongol conquest of China (1206–1279) and the rise of an autocratic regime in early Ming China from 1368 onward were the most important events that contributed to the downward turn in the Chinese market economy during the next three and half centuries.1 Both census and taxation data vividly reveal how radically aggregate population and urbanization during these four centuries declined. The Mongol conquest, especially the wars between the Mongols and Jurchens from 1211 to 1234 in the north, dealt a devastating blow to the economy. The conquest of the Southern Song in South China was much less destructive, but the military campaigns took an unavoidably heavy toll on the upper- and mid-Yangtze region. In terms of interregional trade, the Kaifeng-centered water transportation regime ended in 1125 when Jurchen troops occupied North China. From then on until Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming dynasty in 1368, China was ravaged by continuous wars and natural disasters. Consequently, early Ming aggregate households as of 1393 amounted to only 6 million, merely 29 percent of the Song registered households recorded in 1109.2In this chapter I reassess the post-1200 economic crisis in a full-scale view. The story I tell about China in these centuries is far more than a demographic one. Nor is it about an economic downturn in a short period. After the Mongol conqueror unified China under the Yuan dynasty, there was an odd discord between the ever-expanding size of the empire and the integration of the national economy. In the centuries after the Mongol conquest, Chinese imperial power greatly expanded territorially and marched far into Central Asia. For the first time, Beijing, a frontier city once repeatedly subjected to nomadic conquests, became the imperial capital. However, with the sharp decline in aggregate population and anti-market policies implemented by the early Ming court, the Chinese economy greatly disintegrated. The recovery, especially the recovery of long-distance trade, was to be delayed until the 1500s, and this recovery was confined to just a few major inland waterways.3 With the sole exception of the northern stretch of China’s Grand Canal, water transports in the north fell into disarray. The full development of the domestic market did not come until the eighteenth century. While this gloomy economic downturn has been a well-known fact, this chapter explores in great depth the key questions of when and how China plunged into such a deep recession and why the revival took such a long time to materialize. Along with the 99SP_LIU_Ch05_097-120.indd 997/9/15 3:36 PM
© 2015 State University of New York

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Illustrations vii
  4. Acknowledgments xiii
  5. Dynasties, Events, and Equivalents xv
  6. Introduction 1
  7. The Market Economy in Late Imperial China
  8. Issues and Approaches 15
  9. The Nature of Song and Ming Economic Data 35
  10. The Song Era
  11. How Large Was the Money Economy? 57
  12. Trade and Water Transport in the Eleventh Century 77
  13. The Ming Er
  14. China after 1200 99
  15. Prices, Real Wages, and National Incomes 121
  16. Agriculture
  17. Agricultural Development of the Lower Yangtze 141
  18. Changes in Agricultural Productivity, 1000–1600 167
  19. Conclusion 197
  20. Chinese Population Data 207
  21. Long-Term Changes in Prices and the Money Stock 215
  22. Waterway Networks in the Eleventh Century 223
  23. Chinese Acreage, 900–1600 229
  24. Long-Term Changes in Real Wages 245
  25. Estimates of National Incomes 259
  26. Major Commodities in the Domestic Market 267
  27. Military Farms, Involuntary Migrations, and Extensive Agriculture 285
  28. Notes 293
  29. Bibliography 329
  30. Index 365
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9781438455693-009

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Illustrations vii
  4. Acknowledgments xiii
  5. Dynasties, Events, and Equivalents xv
  6. Introduction 1
  7. The Market Economy in Late Imperial China
  8. Issues and Approaches 15
  9. The Nature of Song and Ming Economic Data 35
  10. The Song Era
  11. How Large Was the Money Economy? 57
  12. Trade and Water Transport in the Eleventh Century 77
  13. The Ming Er
  14. China after 1200 99
  15. Prices, Real Wages, and National Incomes 121
  16. Agriculture
  17. Agricultural Development of the Lower Yangtze 141
  18. Changes in Agricultural Productivity, 1000–1600 167
  19. Conclusion 197
  20. Chinese Population Data 207
  21. Long-Term Changes in Prices and the Money Stock 215
  22. Waterway Networks in the Eleventh Century 223
  23. Chinese Acreage, 900–1600 229
  24. Long-Term Changes in Real Wages 245
  25. Estimates of National Incomes 259
  26. Major Commodities in the Domestic Market 267
  27. Military Farms, Involuntary Migrations, and Extensive Agriculture 285
  28. Notes 293
  29. Bibliography 329
  30. Index 365
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