To a large extent, the city square system is more convenient for the management and restraint of the people, that is to say, when the government designs the layout and function of the city, it considers more its management function, and the function of people's life and production is secondary, because it embodies the strong will of the government, so that the urban pattern presents a strict, standardized and uniform style. The Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi once described Chang'an City under the Shifang system - hundreds of thousands of houses are like a game of Go, and the 12th Street is like a vegetable garden. In fact, the ruling style of a society can be reflected in architecture, and anyone who has wandered the streets of the quaint towns of Europe will surely agree with this view.
"Those who live in the city are the fang, and those who live in the countryside are the village. "A dwelling is a dwelling in a city, so you should live in a neighborhood that is cut into squares by streets, and when the curfew arrives, it is forbidden to leave the town, and only the night watchmen wander the empty streets. In times of emergency, there will be sentry guards on every street corner, so that your whereabouts will appear on the desk of the government the next day.
The city square system is not based on factors such as the scale of the regional economy and the number of permanent residents to plan the number of city squares, but according to the feudal hierarchy of the city, such as Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty with 108 squares, Luoyang with 103 squares, Yangzhou and Suzhou with 60 squares, and only 4 squares in Shazhou and Guazhou in the northwest. If someone wants to go out to see a doctor late at night, I'm sorry, it's a very troublesome thing, you have to call the husband or Fang Zheng on the errand, and they will take you to the Fang Gate, and you will be released after the interrogation and registration of the errand officer. If you live in the workshop, you can open a door on the street, and you won't go through the door when you enter and exit. The Tang Dynasty also implemented the "neighborhood protection system", where there were illegal acts such as evasion and theft, and neighbors had the responsibility to expose, report, and even assist the officials to arrest them.
Fang is the place of residence, the city is the place of doing business, and the fang and the city are separated; Because of the ancient emphasis on agriculture and the suppression of commerce, all markets were limited, and there were only one or two in a city, and "all non-prefectures and counties were not allowed to buy cities". Because the vast rural areas were not allowed to establish cities, economic activities were suppressed, and people had to abide by their duties and concentrate on farming. In the Tang Dynasty, the porcelain firing of Yingchuan County was a little famous, but to engage in this business, it was first approved by the county government for the record, and then it could be openedPorcelain out of the kiln can only be transported to Luoyang's East Market to sell. There used to be Yingchuan CountyA potter, who often helped the kiln owner sell porcelain in Luoyang, later met a Sogdian merchant in Luoyang, and had a very good personal relationship after getting acquaintedThe Sogdian merchant talked about his idea of building a kiln and working alone, and the Sogdian merchant lent him more than 100 horses of silk as start-up capital. Bai Juyi's poem "carbon seller", his business activities and Yingchuan kiln workers are no different, in the south of the Qinling Mountains after cutting and burning carbon, but also to drive an ox cart to run the ice ruts to Chang'an to sell. The poem reads: "The cattle are trapped and the people are hungry, and they are resting in the mud outside the south gate of the city. "A car of carbon has not been sold, the market is in front of you, why should you rest? In fact, the old man was also very anxious, but the market at that time opened very late, almost half-day, and he would not consider the interests and feelings of practitioners at all. According to the "Tang Hui Yao", "the city should beat the drum 200 times at noon, and seven minutes before the end of the day, the cymbals should be beaten 300 times." "The Tang Dynasty was still relatively open, and the inhibition of industry and commerce was still so serious, as can be imagined as far back as the Qin, Han, Wei, and Jin dynasties.
The city is a fixed commercial place, and there is a city in charge of the key and daily affairs of the opening and closing of the market, and the government also has a school seal office, which inspects and calibrates the merchants' private fights, scales, and rulers in August every year. ”
Outside the city, commercial activities in the market are not absolutely absent, but most of these commercial activities are carried out privately, probably with the tacit approval of the local **. For example, at that time, there was a colorful valerian shop in Xuanyang Fang in Chang'an, a "Hu Ren's Cake House" in the inner door of Shengping Fang, and an orchid wine shop that Li Bai entered when he was exhausted and his excitement was not exhausted; In addition to the shops in the streets, there are also people who walk the streets and alleys, lead cars and sell oars, such as Zou camel in Chang'an, who was poor first, tried to sell steamed cakes with a cart, and then became very rich.
The fang market system was not abolished until the Song Dynasty, and only then did the folk industry and commerce be cultivated and developed, until the Ming and Qing dynasties formed a relatively strong national industrial and commercial atmosphere.