READING 3

Candice Goucher, Charles LeGuin, and Linda Walton, In the Balance: Themes
in Global History (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 1998), selections from chapter 11,
Commerce and Change in Asia, Europe, and Africa.
Abstract: This essay describes the commercial revolution in China between
750 and 1250 and the impact it had on Chinese society. It argues that the
Chinese commercial revolution did not take place in isolation, since it was
situated at the eastern end of a network of trading ties that linked peoples
across Eurasia. It did, however, result in massive changes at all levels of
Chinese society, from the growth of cities to gender roles.

The Commercial Revolution in China, CA. 7501250

The wealthy and sophisticated urban society observed by Marco Polo in
thirteenth-century China was a product of changes that took place between
about 750 and 1000, changes that fundamentally altered the Chinese
economy. The first half of the Tang dynasty (618907), up to about 750, was a
time of imperial order, symbolized in the symmetry and regularity of the city
plan of Changan, the Tang capital. Changan was the capital of a huge
empire that dominated East Asia, extending the influence of Chinese culture
eastward to Japan and westward to Central Asian oasis states such as Khotan.
Changan was also the eastern terminus of the Silk Road and the destination
of great Central Asian caravans that brought foreign goods and traders to
China. Arab merchants and other foreigners, such as Central Asian Buddhist
monks, resided in Changan.

Commerce in Tang Changan

Commercial activity was subject to regulation by the government according
to the Tang legal code, which stipulated punishments for such practices as the
use of unofficial weights and measures, the sale of poor-quality goods, and
the fixing of prices. Though such regulation applied in theory to markets
throughout the empire, it was particularly apparent in the imperial capital.
The gates in the walls of the city were closed at night, and the opening and
closing of the two central marketplaces on the east and west sides of the city
were controlled by the government.

Hang
Merchants and craftsmen were organized by location according to the
commodities they handled or produced into hang, literally alleys. Hang
have often been likened to medieval European guilds, associations of
merchants or craftsmen, but the differences far outweigh the similarities. The

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 only similarity between them is that they both were organizations of
merchants and craftsmen. The important distinction is that the hang was an
association organized by the state to oversee such things as the prices and
quality of goods traded as well as the behavior of merchants, while the
European guild was organized by merchants and craftsmen themselves to
further common interests and protect their rights to trade (see below).

Tang China and the East Asian World

Tang China was the great power in East Asia through the first half of the
eighth century, employing both political and cultural means to achieve this
position. By exerting military force through the exploits of imperial armies
and at times through diplomatic alliances, China exercised varying degrees of
dominance over border regions in Central Asia, Southeast Asia (Vietnam),
and Korea. Cultural influence was equally important in Chinas dominance of
East Asia during the Tang. For example, the Korean state of Silla adopted
aspects of Chinese governance and Buddhism from China. Silla was able to
defeat competitor states and unify the peninsula under its control in 668 in
part through its close ties with Tang China. Chinese cultural influence
penetrated beyond the Korean peninsula to Japan, where both Chinese and
Korean Buddhist missionaries carried Chinese ideas and institutions along
with Buddhist religion.

Weakening of the Tang Imperial Order

In the mid-eighth century, however, two momentous events took place that
substantially weakened the Tang central government and reduced Tang
power in East Asia, setting the stage for the transformation of Chinese society
over the next several centuries. In 751, Tang armies confronting the
expanding Islamic Empire in Central Asia were defeated by a coalition of
Arabs and Turks at the Talas River, significantly altering the balance of power
in Central Asia, where China had previously been dominant. This defeat was
followed in 755 by the rebellion of An Lushan, a court favorite and regional
military commander who sought to topple the Tang ruling family and claim
the throne for himself. Though Tang rule survived this challenge, the
suppression of the An Lushan Rebellion in 763 had a high cost. Regional
military commanders, whose support had been vital in suppressing the
rebellion, gained greater independence from the court and from control by
the central government. The weakening of the central government, coupled
with commercial growth and change, helped to bring about the demise of the
old economic and social order and thus to set the stage for the commercial
revolution of Song (9601279) times observed by Marco Polo.

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 Confucianism and Commerce
Scholar-officials traditionally occupied the highest position on the Confucian
social scale, while merchants were relegated to the lowest. In order to protect
the status of scholar officials merchants were subject to sumptuary laws that
regulated what kinds of clothes they could wear and what kinds of residences
they could build. They were also not allowed to take the civil service
examinations. Beginning in the mid-eighth century, concurrent with political
changes that weakened the Tang state and Tang power in Central Asia,
merchants grew in wealth and power as commerce began to expand beyond
the neat boundaries set up by imperial government authority, reflected in the
regulated marketplaces of Changan. An early-ninth-century poet provides us
with a description of a wealthy merchant that contrasts sharply with
Confucian dogma about the social position of merchants: Wherever profit is
to be made he goes. . . . His food and drink are sweet and well spiced. With
interest and capital constantly breeding rich profit. . . . He frequents
noblemens houses, the residences of royal princesses. . . . Knowing that his
riches make him powerful as a prince.
The negative view of merchants and commercial activities in much written
documentation of this era reflected traditional Confucian attitudes, which
viewed commerce as a vulgar occupation decidedly inferior to scholarship
and government service, as well as agriculture. The comments of an early-
ninth-century writer observing the lively economic activity taking place in a
market on the outskirts of an administrative city suggest something of the
tension between Confucian ideals that disparaged commerce and the vital
reality of the marketplace: Hearts intent on profit are excited. . . . At midday
they throng together, ten thousand feet led by the single thought that they all
fear somebody else will forestall them. . . . All desire only to act like scavenger
dogs or carrion crows, delighted to get hold of some putrid leftovers.
Antipathy toward commerce in Confucian thinking did not prevent
merchants from being prosperous nor scholars from engaging in commerce
indirectly by investment. Confucian hostility to commerce did mean that the
official attitude toward merchants was negative, that the state sometimes
attempted to control and regulate commerce, and that merchants never
developed the kind of autonomy they acquired in Europe (see below).

The Commercial Revolution of the Song (9601279)

Though the political breakdown of the Tang Empire allowed commerce to
expand beyond the confines of official markets and for merchants to grow
wealthy by operating more freely, the conjunction of factors that produced
the commercial revolution of the Song did not come together until around
1000, a generation after the reunification of China under the Song dynasty
(960). The Song established its imperial government in the city of Kaifeng,

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 along the Yellow River in north China, which became a lively center of
population and commerce in addition to government. Kaifeng lay at the
terminus of an extension of the Grand Canal that linked the Yellow and
Yangzi Rivers and was thus strategically located as a transport depot for
goods brought by boat from the rich Yangzi delta region. An efficient
transportation network, by both water and land, along with increased
agricultural production, population growth, and the expansion of markets
were key factors in the commercial revolution of Song times.

Agriculture and Population

By around 1000, the introduction of new strains of early-ripening and
drought-resistant strains of rice from Southeast Asia began to increase the
supply of food. These imported strains of rice either allowed planting and
harvesting more than one crop a year, because the rice plants matured
quickly, or enabled farmers to plant rice in places that were not well irrigated
and where it had not been possible to plant before. At the same time,
improvements in dam technology allowed the reclamation of lowland
swampy areas to open up new land for farming.
The resulting increases in food production contributed to population
expansion. From a rough estimate of 60 million in the Tang dynasty, Chinas
population grew to around 100 million by the mid-thirteenth century.
Population growth, in turn, contributed to the expansion of markets for
products. An expanded marketplace, coupled with efficient transportation
networks facilitated by stable political conditions under the Northern Song
(9601126) encouraged regional specialization of production for the market.

Market Economy
In contrast to the localized economy of the Tang, in which villages produced
what they used and trade was limited to local exchange (with the exception of
long-distance trade in luxury goods and salt), the growing market economy
of the Song encouraged the production of goods for the market which had
expanded with the increase in population. Specialization in the production of
certain goods for the market generally means more efficient use of labor and
raw materials. Regional specialization was feasible because there were
relatively rapid and efficient means of transporting goods to central
marketsboth roads and waterwaysand a distribution network of
merchants and warehouses to store goods and bring them to markets in a
timely fashion. Regions began to specialize in the production of textiles, such
as silk, which required the cultivation of mulberry bushes and the feeding of
silkworms as well as the skill of weavers, or in agricultural products such as
oranges. Tea, for example, was produced in the southeastern province of
Fujian but was marketed to regions all over China.

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 Trade with Chinas nomadic neighbors, who were at times enemies, provided
the Chinese both markets for their own products and a source of necessary or
luxury goods. During the Northern Song, the Chinese imported silver, hemp
cloth, sheep, horses, and slaves from the Khitan people in southern
Manchuria. During the Southern Song (11271279), after the north had been
conquered by the Jurchen Jin state, the Chinese exported tea, rice, porcelain,
sugar, silk, and other goods to the Jurchen in exchange for medicines, horses,
and other items.

Maritime Trade and the Commercial Revolution

Maritime trade had begun to prosper under the Tang, when Indian and Arab
merchants traveling Indian Ocean maritime routes established permanent
communities at the southern port of Canton. With the commercial revolution
of the Song, maritime trade was recognized as a vital part of the economy and
received official patronage and supervision. By the mid-twelfth century,
profits from maritime commerce were about one-fifth of the states total cash
revenues.

Shipbuilding and Navigational Technology

Shipbuilding was highly developed during the Song, and inland shipping as
well as oceangoing trade supplied regional needs and contributed to the
economic prosperity of the Chinese empire by providing extensive markets
for its products. Seagoing vessels had from one to four masts, with bamboo
matting often used for sails. Relying on monsoon winds, these ships traveled
south in the winter and north in the summer. With favorable winds, it was
possible to go from Fujian along the southeast coast of China to Korea in as
few as five days. Since oceangoing sailing ships could not navigate shallow
coastal waters or rivers, goods were transferred to shallow-draft oared galleys
for inland transport. In addition to the use of sails and oars, boats were pulled
over dangerous rapids and through passages such as the Yangzi gorges by
haulers who walked along the riverbanks dragging the boats by ropes.
Navigation for ocean going vessels was aided by the magnetic compass, the
origins of which go back to the Han (206 B.C.E.220 C.E).

Trade Goods
By the Song, the southward-pointing compass was regularly relied upon by
Chinese navigators, who carried on trade with Japan, Southeast Asia, and
lands as far as the east coast of Africa and the Arabian Sea. From Japan came
gold, pearls, shells, copper vessels, and weapons, among other things. The
Chinese exported to Southeast Asia precious metals, iron implements and
utensils, ceramics, lacquerware, silks and other textiles, paper, books, grains,
and other specialized items. From Southeast Asia came spices, cotton, and a
number of luxury items such as ivory and rhinocerous horn.

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 Quanzhou
Maritime trade focused on Southeast Asia and the Arab world was overseen
by superintendents of trade appointed to serve at major port cities such as
Quanzhou. Quanzhou, known as Zayton in Marco Polos writings, was an
important center of oceangoing trade during the Song and the home of
foreign merchants who prospered on the profits of trade with the Chinese.
One of these, an Arab merchant who took a Chinese name, Pu (for the Arabic
Abu) Shougeng, was appointed superintendent of trade at Quanzhou and
commander of the provincial naval squadron during the thirteenth century.
He was the most influential official on the southeast coast, and his power was
reflected in the wealth of his son-in-law, who possessed eighty seagoing ships
and warehouses filled with pearls and other valuable imported goods.

Commerce and Currency

In the Northern Song, state revenues from commercial taxes and state
monopolies (principally iron and salt) equaled the yield from agrarian taxes;
by the Southern Song, commercial revenues far exceeded the income from
agrarian taxes. The increasing use of both metal and paper currency and the
development of institutions of banking and credit that took place in the Song
were both vital aspects of the commercial revolution of the period. Between
the eighth and eleventh centuries, for example, the output of currency
quadrupled, while the population grew much more slowly.

Growth of Money Economy

The shift from localized economies based on barter or exchange of goods to
an increasingly monetized economy of scale that integrated regional
economies was aided by the use of paper currency and credit. The round
copper coin with a square hole, called cash, which was strung in units of
1,000, was the basic unit of currency minted by the Song state, but it was
heavy and cumbersome to use and transport in any great quantity.
Innovations such as the use of certificates of credit or bills of exchange
(documents showing that money deposited in one place could be exchanged
for a receipt that could be used to pay for goods in another) made it possible
for merchants to carry on trade across regions with ease.

Paper Currency
Paper had already come into use in the first and second centuries, and the use
of paper currency began in the late Tang as groups of merchants made use of
paper certificates in place of metal coinage. In the Tang these certificates were
known as flying cash; by the Song, official paper currency was printed by
the government. Merchants could deposit a large amount of metal currency
with a reliable person, family, or institution, such as a Buddhist temple, in

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 one location and receive a receipt redeemable for the same amount in another
location with a similarly reliable agent.

Technology and the Commercial Revolution

In addition to shipbuilding and navigational technology, advances in
printing, the textile industry, and ceramic production were part of the
technological changes of this era. The earliest extant texts printed on paper
with carved woodblocks, dating from the eighth century in Korea and Japan
and from the ninth century in China, were Buddhist texts. The inspiration for
printing in China, as in Europe, came from the desire to propagate religious
ideas; printed books in China promoted Buddhism, and the European
Johannes Gutenbergs first printed text was the Christian Bible.

Printing Technology
Movable typeseparate letters or characters made of clay, wood, or metal
arranged to make a page of textwas invented in China 400 years before its
appearance in Europe. However, because written Chinese uses a script with
thousands of different characters, as opposed to an alphabetic one with fewer
than a hundred letters as in European languages, movable type did not
dominate printing in China as it eventually did in Europe. Carved
woodblocks remained the favored method of printing because it was actually
easier and more efficient to carve a page of text than to create the vast number
of pieces of type necessary to typeset a page of Chinese characters.

Textile and Ceramics Industries

The new technology of printing was used to spread knowledge of other new
technologies used in agriculture and textile production, and in this way
contributed substantially to the economic revolution of Song times. Advances
in the textile industry improved production, the scale of which is suggested
by an early-fourteenth-century account of a mechanical spinning wheel that
could spin 130 pounds of thread in twenty-four hours. Along with cotton and
silk textiles, the production of ceramics expanded, with both imperial and
private commercial kilns scattered throughout the empire. The technique of
making porcelain was perfected in the twelfth century, and a wide variety of
ceramic art was produced, many examples of which are preserved in
museums throughout the world today.

Iron and Industry

For many centuries Chinese craftsmen had produced cast iron, and they also
made steel, utilizing smelting techniques well in advance of Europe. The iron
and steel produced were used for many purposes, but farm tools, currency,
and armaments were by far the most important. By the early twelfth century,
the production of crude iron concentrated in north China ranged between

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 35,000 and 125,000 tons, a level comparing favorably with that of England
several centuries later. Since the north China plain was already deforested by
the Tang and therefore access to charcoal was limited, growth in the
production of iron during the Northern Song was dependent on the use of
coal, an innovation that Europe did not employ until the eighteenth century.
The life of Wang Ge, an industrial entrepreneur of the twelfth century,
illustrates something of the scale of enterprise and the conditions of
production in the iron industry. With a modest capital investment Wang
acquired a timber-covered mountain and began to produce charcoal, utilizing
the slack-season labor of local farmers. He then set up two foundries to
produce iron, making use of local iron ore deposits. He employed around 500
workers, all of whom were members of the floating population, vagabonds
who for some reason had lost or left their farms and homes. Wang himself
managed one of the foundries, but the other was under the supervision of a
manager. With the profits of the two foundries, he also acquired other
enterprises, such as a wineshop, and a lake where he engaged several
hundred families in fishing.

Technology Transfer: Iron, Gunpowder, and the Mongols

One Chinese invention, gunpowder, when combined with the production of
iron, had dramatic consequences not only for the Chinese but also for the
world. The first evidence of knowledge of gunpowder dates from the ninth
century and is connected to Daoist alchemical experimentation, by which
Daoists sought ways to transform one element into another. By the year 1000,
the combination of charcoal, saltpeter (potassium nitrate), and sulfur that
yields gunpowder was being used by the Chinese in small incendiary
devices. Gradually more complex and sophisticated weapons were used in
Song warfare against their northern nomadic neighbors, and both the
discovery of gunpowder and the advanced state of the iron industry in north
China would seem to have made the Chinese formidable foes. But in the early
twelfth century, north China was conquered by the Jurchen people from
Manchuria whose horsemanship and military skill enabled them to defeat the
Chinese. With the Jurchen conquest of north China, an early form of
technology transfer took place that eventually put both iron and gunpowder
into the hands of the Mongols, who succeeded the Jurchen, and contributed
significantly to the Mongol conquest of Eurasia in the thirteenth century.

Chinese Society and the Commercial Revolution

Even as a commercial revolution took place in Song China, the lives of the
vast majority of the population were still tied to the land and to agricultural
production. Many of those who farmed the land were also bound to
landlords as tenants who owed rent and often labor service to their masters.

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 Others were free and farmed plots of land independently. The continuities of
life in rural villages, however, were also affected by the changes of the
commercial revolution. For example, cities might offer better prospects of
employment for landless laborers in the countryside who were otherwise
dependent on being hired for seasonal agricultural work.

Gender Roles
Material prosperity brought often contradictory changes to the lives of
women. The commercialization of textile production, for example, meant that
the traditional female work of spinning and weaving cloth took on greater
economic value at least within the household. But this shift did not appear to
produce any gains in the status of women in society as a whole. There is no
evidence that their status was any less subordinate to men simply because the
economic value of their labor had increased.
In other ways, there are clear signs that the status of women declined, but it is
difficult to explain why this should be the case. The most notorious of
Chinese customs with regard to women is without doubt the practice of
footbinding. We know little about the origins of this custom other than that it
began sometime in the late Tang (618907)commonly attributed to a
technique used by a court dancer that appealed to the emperorand by the
early Song had spread beyond the court to at least the upper levels of society.
The feet of young girls were tightly bound so that their toes were turned
under to produce a tiny foot, which was considered beautiful. This painful
procedure was carried out on daughters by their mothers so that they would
meet standards of beauty and be good candidates for marriage.
The spread of footbinding, precisely during the era of the commercial
revolution, suggests that increasing material prosperity made it possible for
some women not to engage in physical labor, since the bound foot would at
the very least make a womans mobility limited. It may even have been
regarded as a kind of status marker indicating wealth to have women in a
household whose feet were bound and who were relatively inactive, though
they could work at sedentary tasks. The spread of footbinding is a powerful
example of the sometimes contradictory effects on society of economic
changes and transformations in material life produced by the commercial
revolution.

Summary
Economic changes in China were on such a large scale that they have been
called revolutionary. As commerce grew in importance, Chinese people
experienced significant changes in the social order, particularly the growth of
merchants as a social and economic class. The daily material lives of people
were transformed by the expansion of commerce, which brought new goods

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 and products to eat, wear, and use, and by developments in technology, such
as printing and metalworking. However, after the commercial revolution,
which was followed by the Mongol conquest, China turned inward, rejecting
the exploration of the rest of the world.

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