Author: Xiao Jianle (Professor, Yunnan University for Nationalities).
The Tang and Song dynasties were a period of great development and change in Chinese history, and the development and transformation of this period were particularly prominent in the city. Many scholars have focused on the Song Dynasty, but in fact, the characteristics of urban development and transformation in the middle of the Tang Dynasty are very obvious. The author believes that there is a need for further research on related issues, and more new understandings may be drawn from the perspective of urban-rural development and diversion. By the middle of the Tang Dynasty, there was a clear political and economic divide between urban and rural areas in China, with cities gradually becoming political and economic centers, and urban and rural areas showing obvious "center" and "periphery" characteristics.
"Center" and "periphery" in the political sense
Many scholars have put forward their own views on the formation of early Chinese cities. To sum up, most scholars believe that cities have been closely linked to politics since their birth, and that the political and military needs of their rulers were key factors. In the early days of China, cities were built by the ruling class according to political needs, such as the feudal princes of the Zhou Dynasty, each of whom had a national capital, and later gradually evolved into a city and became the ruling center of the country. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were many cities under the rule of each feudal state, all of which became the backbone of the rule. As a result, cities have become the goal of all countries, while the vast rural areas outside the capital have been neglected. "Mozi: Seven Tribulations" said: "The city is the one, so it is self-defending." "The Book of Rites, Rites and Fortunes" said: "The city is solid. "Obviously, the main functions of the city during this period were political and military, and the economic role was secondary. In the early days, people in the cities were gathered together in units of class (stratum) and occupation, and the ruling class mostly lived in the cities and formed a culture that adapted to this. The Japanese scholar Yoshinobu Spo deduced that the layout of the city was mainly political, and that "the gentry district, one of the two cores of Chinese cities, usually occupies the central part of the north side of the east-west axis, which matches the name and the reality, indicating that the central yamen of its administrative function is located here." In the early days of urban formation, transportation was inconvenient, and most of the national capitals were located in the center of the geographical sense to promote the role of political centers, and the same was true for other cities in the early days, which were the political ruling centers of their regions.
Political hierarchy determines the size of a city. At the beginning of the city's construction, the first consideration was not the actual needs of life, but the order and dignity embodied in the city's political hierarchy. "Zuo Biography" records, "The system of the first king, most of them are only one of the Three Kingdoms, one of the middle five, and one of the small nine." The Book of Yi Zhou records that during the Western Zhou Dynasty, "it was made into a large city into a Zhou in the soil, with a city of 1,720 zhang and a city of 70 li." The south is in Luoshui, and the north is in Jiashan, thinking that the world is big. The suburbs are 600 miles away, and the west of the country is thousands of miles away. It is divided into 100 counties, the county has four counties, the county has four counties, the large county city Fang Wangcheng is one of the three, and the small county town Fang Wangcheng is one of the nine". The first climax of urban construction in the history of our country was the Zhou Dynasty, in line with the purpose of building cities for the purpose of dividing the politics of feudalization, a set of strict city construction systems were formulated to strengthen the role of urban political centers. There is a detailed record of urban planning in the Zhouli Examination of the Gongji, which formed a strict political hierarchy. At the top of this hierarchy are the capitals, and below are the prefecture-level and county-level administrative offices, which constitute the national political network. After the unification of Qin, in order to maintain the need to rule and embody order, a national top-down political system network was formed with cities at all levels as nodes. The influence of this administrative core network on the development of the national urban system is manifested in the absolute dominance of cities with political functions. By the early Tang Dynasty, urban planning was based on the administrative hierarchy of the city.
Political factors influence urban development. The political nature of the city is manifested in the internal structure and various aspects of urban development. The official residence that embodies political power is located in the center of the city, such as "Zuozu Right Society" and "Sleeping in the Front and After", and the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms: Book of Wei" records that "all emperors who migrate to the capital and establish a city, all first determine the position of heaven and earth and sheji, and respectfully serve them, and the palace room will be camped in the palace room, then the temple will be the first, the stable will be secondary, and the living room will be the last", and the market that reflects economic activities is in a subordinate position. "Zhou Li, Examination of the Gongji" has standards for the setting of the city wall and the market, "The craftsman camps the country, the square is nine miles, the side is three gates, the country has nine longitudes and nine wefts, and the warp and nine tracks are painted." Left ancestor right society, facing the back market", forming a palace for the city center, the market for the subordinate city system. In the case of feudalism, it was the power of the supreme ruler to set up cities and determine their size and hierarchy. The Tang Dynasty Hui Yao has detailed regulations on the setting of markets in the city, and Tang historian Wu Jianguo summarized the following according to historical documents, "The cities of the Tang Dynasty can be divided into four levels, namely, cities, prefectures, prefectures, and counties." The influence of politics on urban development is also reflected in the structure of urban residents and consumption. Since the birth of Chinese cities, urban residents have lacked close ties with the market, and in the early days of the underdeveloped commodity economy, the population of cities was mainly non-industrial and commercial people. Although most of the officials and dignitaries lived in the cities, they mostly had pastoral villas in the countryside, and there were special personnel to produce grain, fruits and vegetables. The distinction between urban and rural areas in early China was largely a distinction between rulers and the ruled, reflecting a distinction between status and hierarchy rather than occupation. In order to rule the needs of successive dynasties, they often adopted the strategy of weak branches, moving the families of the rich and powerful to the capital and other cities, which further strengthened the political center of the city. From the perspective of the origin and development of China's cities, there is a clear hierarchical difference between cities and villages, with cities being the "center" and administrative centers in the political sense, while villages are the "periphery", and cities have a great centripetal force on the countryside.
The urban system of the Tang Dynasty from the perspective of division of labor.
Although the political and military factors are very important in the early stage of the development of China's cities, the support of the economic development level of the region where the cities are located is also indispensable, and the development of cities fundamentally depends on the increase of the grain surplus rate brought about by agricultural development. With the development of productive forces, the trading efficiency of urban commodities in the Tang Dynasty continued to improve, and the economic ties between the city and the surrounding areas became increasingly close. By the middle of the Tang Dynasty, with the gradual enhancement of the economic attributes of the city, the city not only became a place where industry and commerce gathered, but also gradually became a regional commodity trading center, assuming the function of commodity turnover. Before the Tang Dynasty, the hierarchical scale of a city was based on its political status, forming a relatively strict hierarchical system, that is, the level of political status determined the size and prosperity of the city. With the development of the economy, especially the commercialization of agriculture and the progress of industry and commerce, the political factors influencing the development of cities gradually weakened by the middle of the Tang Dynasty, and the economic factors gradually increased.
In the early Tang Dynasty, the national cities were led by the political center cities of Chang'an and Luoyang, and with the economic development, some local political cities began to emerge and occupy a pivotal economic position, as evidenced by the saying of "Yang Yi Yi Yi Two". After the middle of the Tang Dynasty, Yangzhou's economic status improved rapidly, and its influence increased rapidly, and Chengdu (Yizhou) was also the fourth largest city after Beijing, Luozhou, and Yang. In the middle of the Tang Dynasty, many cities, especially those in the south, relied on their economic strength to effectively enhance their influence and even political status.
The stability and unification of the Tang Dynasty provided stable prerequisites for economic and social development, especially urban development. The development of land transportation and the increasingly frequent water transportation of the Grand Canal have provided convenient conditions for the development of goods and the flow of people. The development of the commodity economy has promoted the development of the social division of labor and the expansion of the market network, which has brought about the expansion of the trading radius and the increasing frequency of commodity transactions. Before the Middle and Tang Dynasty, the economic function of the city was weak, the economic connection between the city and the surrounding areas was less, and the supply of materials in the city was mainly tribute. After the Tang Dynasty, the economic functions of cities were generally enhanced, and many cities were in the center of the regional economy, and the economic ties between cities were continuously strengthened. This major change in the traditional urban economy was mainly completed in the Tang Dynasty, and the pivotal role of the city in the turnover of goods became increasingly apparent, and a hierarchical urban hierarchy was gradually formed.
The economic hierarchy of regional cities is formed. The continuous enhancement of the economic function of the city has challenged the existing urban political hierarchy, and with the increasing promotion of economic forces, the urban economic hierarchy has become increasingly apparent. The lower reaches of the Yangtze River were the areas with obvious development of urban economic functions during this period. The southward shift of the economic center of gravity and the development of Jiangnan have provided a strong impetus for the development of Jiangnan cities. The opening of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal has injected strong vitality into the rapid development of coastal cities, especially those in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Based on this, in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the economically developed Jiangnan region formed a "five-level city system with Yangzhou as the regional central city, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Yuezhou as the sub-regional central cities, the general state capitals (such as Xuanzhou, Changzhou, etc.) as the first-class regional central cities, the county seat as the four-level regional central city, and the emerging towns and grass-roots cities as the fifth-level regional central towns". The formation of the urban hierarchy system in the economic sense is conducive to meeting the needs of centralized trading of commodities at different levels, and at the same time, the transaction cost is reduced and the transaction efficiency is improved by reducing the spatial distance. In this way, the formation of a regional urban hierarchy is not only the result of the development of the social division of labor, but in turn can promote urban development.
The development of division of labor and the degree of specialization of cities at the same level have been improved. Cities at the same level refer to cities of the same level under the same city system, most of which are based on local resources, gradually develop and form their own industrial or handicraft advantages, and establish a relatively complete division of labor system. At the same time, the city's characteristics and professional development have further enhanced the city's economic status. Silk weaving and salt are the main handicraft industries in Suzhou. Bai Juyi wrote in "New Cloth Qiu": "The cinnamon cloth is as white as snow, and Wu Mian is soft as the clouds. The cloth is heavy and thick, and there is residual warmth for the fur. "Suzhou's salt industry is developed, from the beginning of the Qianyuan Dynasty to the Yuanhe and Kaicheng years, it is very prosperous. In addition to the silk weaving industry, Yuezhou also had a porcelain industry and a paper industry, and the porcelain production here occupied an important position in the country and developed rapidly during the Tang Dynasty. With the expansion of market demand, the progress of papermaking technology is also very rapid, and there has been a great breakthrough in papermaking technology, so that paper tents and paper quilts have begun to be made with paper. The development of specialized production of similar commodities in the same city will bring about the improvement of technology due to mutual learning and imitation, thus promoting the development of specialization. The production of similar commodities is concentrated in one city, and the intensification of competition is an inevitable trend, and competition will also promote the development of division of labor and specialization. "With the development of transportation and the progress of productivity, commodity exchanges became more and more frequent after the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the professional market gradually increased, and the scope of commodity circulation continued to expand, and the market gradually developed from a narrow primary market form such as grass markets and towns to a larger regional market across state and county."
Cities at the same level make full use of the resource advantages of the region where they are located, form a dislocation development trend, and gradually form industrial advantages, form a reasonable social division of labor between different cities, so that the economic rationality of the city's existence has been improved, and the role of the city's economic center has been gradually enhanced.
The formation of the "center" and the "periphery" in the economic sense.
Under the system of "industrial and commercial food officials", before the middle of the Tang Dynasty, cities had strong political colors, and there was a single flow between urban and rural areas. Cities are "parasitic" and closed, urban businessmen are "registered" in management, and the movement of people between cities and villages is severely restricted. Under the strict fang market system, the subordination of the economy to politics is obvious. Before the Tang Dynasty, cities were "imported" economic cycles, which were a one-way flow of people, money, and goods. After the middle of the Tang Dynasty, with the increasing development of commodity production and exchange in the city, the economic ties between urban and rural areas were strengthened, and the closed nature of the city gradually weakened and the openness increased. In the Tang Dynasty, especially since the middle of the Tang Dynasty, with the development of the commodity economy, the role of the city as the economic center has gradually increased, which is mainly reflected in two aspects. On the one hand, due to the division of labor and the development of specialization in the city, industry and commerce have begun to show obvious characteristics of the industrial chain, which makes the urban economic activities have an agglomeration effect and overcome the dispersion under the rural operation in the past. On the other hand, cities have gradually become the centers of commodity production and circulation, and the development space for commodity production and exchange is broader, and cities have greater development potential than rural areas.
After the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the effect of urban economic agglomeration became more and more obvious, which changed the simple spatial transfer of handicraft workshops and bazaars between urban and rural areas in the past, and overcame the limitations of the previous scattered economy. The centripetal force of the urban economy gradually took shape, becoming the "center" in the economic sense, while the countryside gradually became the "periphery".
The formation of the "center" of the city in the economic sense is of great historical significance. Throughout the historical development trend of China, there is a trend of gradual weakening of political power and gradual increase of economic power in cities. Of course, the role of the two in the city is more complementary to each other, and political power promotes the formation and development of the city and the mass gathering of the population. Population size and urban development are ultimately inextricably linked to the development of the economy, especially agriculture. Regardless of the purpose of establishing or developing a city, the level of agricultural productivity has always been an important constraint and an important factor that has to be considered. Bao Weimin, an expert in Song Dynasty history, has an incisive discussion on the relationship between political power and economic power in the evolution of urban economic functions in the Tang Dynasty, "The system of market management in the Tang Dynasty is ...... in addition to those in general significance such as regulating operations, rectifying public security, and collecting taxesIt is not so much that the main purpose of the medieval urban market management system, represented by the Tang system, was to 'control' the market, but rather that it was constrained by the nature of the city at that time and had to obey the essential requirements of the city as an administrative center and a military fortress."
In fact, after the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the difference between urban and rural areas is not only manifested in politics and economy, but also in ideology and culture, there are some contempt for the countryside, Liu Kui in the "Sui and Tang Dynasty Jiahua" that is vividly recorded, "Xue Wanche Shang Danyang Princess, Taizong tasted people said 'Xue Horse Village Qi'." The Lord was ashamed not to sit with him for months. The emperor laughed when he heard this, summoned the right wine, held the lance, gambled on the knife, pretended to be invincible, and untied the knife to admire it. Strike the wine, the lord is very pleased, Xue has not had time to get on the horse, and he is called to return with the same load, which is more important than the old." American sinologist Fairbank also believes that after the middle of the Tang Dynasty, there was a phenomenon of cultural urbanization, "The urbanization of Chinese culture is not mainly reflected in the growth of population, but in the leading role played by cities and citizens in society." Unlike the old aristocracy, the new class of gentry lived mainly in the cities, more like landowners living in the countryside than gentry in the countryside. Since almost all the ** and wealthy merchants also lived in the city, the city gathered the leading class of society, and the high culture naturally became greatly urbanized, and its tastes and mentality have the characteristics of citizenization."
The development of the social division of labor has promoted the development of cities and the separation of urban and rural areas. The separation of urban and rural areas is actually the different functions of urban and rural areas under the social division of labor system. With the enhancement of urban economic functions in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the economic division of labor between cities became increasingly obvious, and the development of urban specialization and social division of labor promoted the improvement of urban commodity trading efficiency. At the same time, due to the insufficient development of rural specialization and the excessive transaction radius, the transaction cost increases, and the comprehensive transaction cost in urban areas is lower than that in rural areas. The difference between the two is not only reflected in the political and geographical sense, but also in the concentration of urban industry and commerce, which makes the city gather various factors of production in a limited space, and becomes a veritable "center", and the economic diversion of urban and rural development is gradually presented, which also lays the foundation for the development of Jiangnan towns in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Bright**, 2024-02-05, 14th edition).
*: Guangming Network - "Bright **".