What is the reason for the southward shift of the economic center of gravity of the Tang Dynasty?
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From the middle of the Tang Dynasty, due to the influence of the Anshi Rebellion, the economic center of gravity gradually shifted to the south. In this process, the increase in the population of the South and the continuation of the war in the North were important driving forces.
During the Anshi Rebellion, the society in the north was in turmoil, and the war caused a large number of people and people to be displaced, while the relatively stable environment in the south attracted a large number of people from the north to move south.
This phenomenon has left a deep imprint on history and has had an important impact on the social and economic development of our country in ancient times.
Before the outbreak of the war, our population was mainly concentrated in the north, but the war mainly took place in this densely populated region, which led to a large displacement of the population in the north.
At the same time, due to the continuous conscription, the labor force in the south has also been greatly lost, and large tracts of land have been left uncultivated, which has caused serious constraints on the economic development of the north. After the war, a large number of people moved south, which greatly increased the population of the south and increased the distribution rate of the population in the south.
As a result, the population of some remote southern areas has surged, bringing a large number of labor to the south and promoting the economic development of the south. During the Tang Dynasty, the economy mainly relied on agricultural production, and the development of agriculture determined the development of the local economy to a certain extent.
Sufficient labor force is an important prerequisite for the development of agriculture, if a place is sparsely populated, then the economic development of the region will usually lag behind, if the population is sufficient, then economic development will also be driven.
The large migration of the population from the north to the south led to a large increase in the population of the south, which played a positive role in promoting the development of local agriculture and was also an important reason for the gradual shift of the economic center of gravity of the Tang Dynasty to the south.
After the Anshi Rebellion, the proportion of the population between the north and the south of China has undergone major changes, which has completely changed the situation that the population of the north far exceeds that of the south. Before the outbreak of the war, Henan and Hebei in northern China developed rapidly, and the population ratio between the north and the south was 6:4, which led to the rapid economic development of the north.
However, the war led to a large loss of population in the South, a significant weakening of the North's economic power, and a continuous decline in the population growth rate in the North. In the south, due to the increase in population, agricultural development has been promoted, and the economy has also been boosted, and the population has become more and more dense.
Since then, China's economic center of gravity has gradually shifted from the north to the south. For the North, the loss of a large number of people means the disruption of economic activity, which will inevitably lead to a period of economic stagnation in the North.
And the increase in the population of the South brought not only an abundant labor force, but also advanced labor technology. As a result, the South's labor force and resources have been significantly improved, and the South's economy has achieved steady growth.
Although the cultural center of gravity of the Tang Dynasty was still in Luoyang and Chang'an in the north, the economy mainly relied on the south.
With the increase in the population of the South, agriculture in the South has developed significantly. The farming system in the south has changed from once every two years to three times a year, which has greatly improved the utilization rate of land.
One of the important factors in the development of agriculture in ancient China was the flatness and fertility of the land, while the south was dominated by mountains and forests, and there was less land for agricultural cultivation than in the north.
However, in the south, the alkalinity of the soil was reduced, the quality of the land was improved, the planting area was expanded, and the development of local agriculture was promoted. Planters in the south not only pay attention to the expansion of planting area, but also pay attention to the improvement of productivity.
Coastal areas protect planted land by raising seawalls to prevent inundation by seawater. In the south of the Yangtze River, silkworm sand and beans are widely used as fertilizer for crops to increase crop yields.
Cattle have been widely used in the Jiangnan area, and cow dung has also been used as fertilizer for crops, which has greatly improved production efficiency.
After the middle of the Tang Dynasty, agricultural production technology in the south also made significant progress. Tools such as plows, harrows, and plows were widely used in crop production in the Gangnam region, and production efficiency was greatly improved by turning and flattening the land, as well as the introduction of rakes.
In addition to the use of tools for farming, cattle farming is also used in the south according to the quality of the soil, which further increases agricultural productivity. The climate fluctuations in the south are relatively small, which provides favorable conditions for land development.
Through the use of irrigation tools and ploughing, agricultural production efficiency in the south has been significantly improved, making agricultural production technology more mature in the south. The main crop in the south is rice, which has a shorter cultivation cycle.
With the improvement of rice cultivation technology and the increase in planting area, the yield of rice has also increased significantly. The migration of northerners to the south brought with them wheat planting technology, which increased the yield of rice and wheat in the south, and greatly promoted the economic development of the south.
In ancient times, the main grains in China were millet and wheat. However, with the development of agriculture in the south, especially after the Anshi Rebellion, the rice planting technology in the south has been greatly improved, and the varieties have gradually increased.
Now, rice has become the main food in China, which has greatly promoted the economic development of the south, especially the important agricultural production areas, such as Yangzhou and other places, which have also risen rapidly.
In the late Tang Dynasty, the cash crop planting technology in the south reached a new height, which greatly promoted the improvement of the economic level and agricultural production technology in the south. In addition to traditional crop cultivation, farmers in the Jiangnan region have also begun to develop more land to grow cash crops.
Among them, some farmers who planted crops turned to planting cash crops, and some of the originally abandoned ponds were also reused to raise fish or grow cash crops such as gourd, water chestnut, reed, and cattail, which greatly improved the utilization rate of land.
The expansion of cash crop cultivation also led to the diversification of agricultural development in the south, and tea cultivation technology also reached maturity during the Tang Dynasty. In the history before the Tang Dynasty, although there was no detailed record of the artificial tea cultivation technology, after the middle of the Tang Dynasty, with the development of agriculture in the south, the tea cultivation technology was also greatly improved.
According to records, people at that time had already mastered the method of tea planting, and by studying the growth environment and characteristics of tea, the tea planting technology was divided into two types: direct planting and transplant planting.
After the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the continuous improvement of tea planting technology has led to the emergence of tea plantations in a large area of the hills and flatlands in the south of the Yangtze River, which has undoubtedly greatly promoted the development of cash crops in the south.
With the substantial growth of the planting area of cash crops and the continuous improvement of planting technology, the southern region has successfully upgraded its industrial structure, got rid of the dependence on single crop cultivation, and cash crops have become an important economic pillar in the south.
At a time when the economy of the north has reached saturation, the south has improved the quality of overall economic development and raised the level of economic development through the upgrading of industrial structure. Cash crops are important raw materials for the commodity economy, and the rapid development of the commodity economy in the south is also an important reason why China's economic center of gravity is located in the south for a long time.
The improvement of cash crop planting technology in the south has promoted the commodity trade in the south and promoted the development of the commodity economy in the south. The stable commodity supply and demand relationship in the south also laid the foundation for the later development of the south.
Although agricultural production still occupied the core position of the country in the late Tang Dynasty, the status of the commodity economy gradually improved, playing a key role in the country's economic development.
Subsequently, the economic status of smallholder farmers declined, while the rapid development of cash crop cultivation in the south has alleviated this crisis to some extent. The superior geographical location of the southeast coast has further promoted the south's external development and made it grow in the tide of international development.
All in all, the beginning of the southward shift of the economic center of gravity of the Tang Dynasty was the Anshi Rebellion, which led to the destruction of the economy in the north and the relative stability of the south, which became an important area for population migration.
The increase in population has provided a strong impetus for the development of agriculture in the South, and the influx of labor has not only improved the land efficiency of the South, but also promoted the increase in crop yields.
As the cornerstone of China's ancient economic development, agricultural development has enabled the rapid rise of the southern economy, and the economic center of gravity has gradually shifted from the north to the south.