The history of the early Tang dynasty

after a period of recovery, the social economy in the early Tang dynasty began to develop rapidly.

1. Agricultural industry

The rapid development of agriculture in Niu Geng in the Tang Dynasty was one of the important reasons for the further promotion of iron plows in Niu Geng. In the Yellow River valley, Gansu and Xinjiang, the iron plow Niu Geng has been widely used in agricultural production. This situation is not only recorded in the literature, but also reflected in some tombs and many murals "Niu Geng Map" in Dunhuang and Yulin Grottoes. Most of them are carried by two cows, with long single straight-shaft plows; A few use a cow to plow the fields, and the plows have double long straight shafts and short curved shafts. Ploughs are all made of iron, and plow walls (soil) are often used. At this time, Niu Geng was also popularized in Jiangnan area, and the Quyuan plough was used. (Tang) Lu Guimeng recorded in detail the structure and use effect of the Quyuan Plough used in Jiangdong (now Jiangnan) in Leijing. Curved-shaft plow is lighter than straight-shaft plow, and the plow shaft bows to facilitate deep ploughing; The traction point is low and the plow frame is stable; The plow shaft is shortened and the rotation is convenient. This is the most advanced type of ancient walking plough. However, few people used this kind of plow at that time, and the most people used two cows to lift the bar. According to documents and archaeological data, at this time, Tieli Niu Geng was also popularized in the border areas.

building water conservancy in the Tang dynasty, water conservancy has made great progress. There are more than 16 important water conservancy projects recorded in the early Tang Dynasty. It is distributed in the north and south of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, and reaches Huaishui and the Yangtze River basin in the south. General canals and ponds can irrigate hundreds of hectares of fields. For example, Ganquan Canal was built in Wenshui (now Shanxi) at the beginning of Kaiyuan, and thousands of hectares of farmland were irrigated. In Pengshan (now Meixian County, Sichuan Province) and Wuling (now Changde, Hunan Province), weir canals were built, each irrigating more than 1, hectares.

the irrigation tools used have also improved, such as windlass, orange peel, rollover and other traditional water pumping tools, which have been widely used. In addition, some new irrigation tools have appeared in the paddy fields in the south of the Yangtze River, among which the main ones are waterwheels and tube cars. A waterwheel is similar to a truck, in that a number of wooden barrels or bamboo tubes are tied to the wheels with giant wooden wheels, which rotate with the water flow, and the river water is drawn to a high water tank and introduced into a ditch for irrigation. Waterwheels are also popularized in the north. Water hammer, water mill and water mill are also widely used.

the development of water conservancy plays an important role in the development of agricultural production and grain processing.

Reclamation and yield There were many barren fields in the early Tang Dynasty, and then they were gradually reclaimed. During the Tianbao period, many high mountains and deep valleys were also cultivated, with an area of 8.5 million hectares. Grain yield per mu has also increased. In the eighth year of Tianbao, the official warehouse stored 96 million stones of grain. Qingzhou and Qizhou areas, when the rice price is the lowest, there are only five articles per bucket.

2. Handicraft

Handicraft in the Tang Dynasty can be divided into government-run and private.

Government-run handicraft industry played an important role in the handicraft industry in the Tang Dynasty. The highest institution in charge of government-run handicrafts in the central government is the Ministry of Industry. The products of government-run handicrafts are generally not sold in the market, but only for the royal family and government consumption. Workers in government-run handicrafts include craftsmen, criminals, official handmaiden, official household, miscellaneous household and so on. Government-run handicrafts are large in scale, with fine division of labor, and the best craftsmen are engaged in production, which is conducive to the development of production and the improvement of technology. However, the characteristics of compulsory labor in government-run handicrafts are outstanding, which restricts the labor enthusiasm of craftsmen.

The owners of private handicrafts are mainly family handicrafts in rural areas, and their products are also sold in the market when they have more than enough for their own use after paying taxes. Handicraft workshops are mostly concentrated in cities, including paper workshops, felt workshops, wine shops, copper workshops, dyeing workshops and brocade workshops. Some workshops are large in scale, such as He Mingyuan, a rich man in Dingzhou (now Dingxian County, Hebei Province), who "has 5 silk machines at home". The development of private handicraft industry has been seriously hindered by the government's recruitment of craftsmen to serve in government-run workshops.

The main handicrafts include textiles, ceramics, mining and metallurgy in the early Tang Dynasty.

silk weaving and hemp weaving are the most important textile industries. The main producing areas of silk products are still in Hebei and Henan today. The main varieties are silk, silk, brocade, silk, silk, yarn and so on, with various colors, exquisite patterns, bright colors and exquisite weaving. At that time, the vast majority of the cloth produced was linen, and linen fabrics were rich in the south, and the cloth of Huangzhou (now Huanggang, Hubei) was one of the top grades. Wool products are mainly produced in northwest China today. Cotton fabrics are mainly produced in Gaochang (now Turpan, Xinjiang) and Lingnan area. At that time, cotton cloth was called white folded cloth and had been sold in the mainland. The printing and dyeing technology in the Tang Dynasty also reached a fairly high level. The printing and dyeing methods such as Jia Valle, Wax Valle and Stranding Valle were widely popular, and the printed patterns were very beautiful.

the ceramic industry developed greatly in the Tang dynasty, and the porcelain-making technology also made great progress. The celadon jade ice in Yuezhou (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang), the white porcelain silver snow in xing zhou (now Xingtai, Hebei), the celadon and white porcelain in Changnan Town (now Jingdezhen, Jiangxi) and the white porcelain in Dayi, Sichuan are all famous. Pottery is most famous for its three colors in the Tang Dynasty. This is a kind of lead glazed pottery with vivid shapes and colorful colors. Because it is mainly cyan, green and Huang San colors, it is named Tricolor.

The mining industry was relatively developed in the Tang Dynasty, and the main minerals were gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, alum, mercury and cinnabar. The scale of foundry industry is headed by casting money. During Xuanzong's reign, the government had 99 coin-casting furnaces, casting 327, ounces of money every year. In addition, there are many private thieves casting money. The metal manufacturing and processing technology in the Tang Dynasty has reached a fairly high level. Wu Zetian once cast a 15-foot-high Tian Shu in Luoyang, and there was a 17-foot iron mountain around it. In the prosperous Tang Dynasty, some exquisite gold and silver wares were cast, cut, polished, welded, riveted, plated and chiseled. At that time, there may have been a simple lathe with hand pedals.

3. commerce and transportation

in the early Tang dynasty, with the development of agriculture and handicrafts, commerce and transportation also developed rapidly.

commerce and bazaar at that time, the cities were still dominated by political cities, with few purely commercial cities, but all political cities rapidly increased the nature of commercial cities to varying degrees. Chang 'an, the capital of China, is not only the political center of the country, but also the largest commercial city. More than 7 miles around Chang 'an, it consists of Miyagi, Imperial City and Outer Guo Cheng. Outer Guo Cheng is a residential area and an industrial and commercial area, with 18 squares and two cities. Fang is a residential area and the city is an industrial and commercial area. Shops selling goods in the city are called "shops", and shops dealing in similar goods are concentrated in the same area and called "shops". There are 22 lines and thousands of shops in the East City, and there are many shops around for merchants to store and wholesale goods. The western market is more prosperous than the eastern market, and foreign businessmen gather, and the "Hu Feng" is very prosperous. At that time, there were cities in major cities, states and most counties. In rural areas, there are also places for regular trading, which are called "grass markets", "markets" or "fairs".

domestic traffic was quite developed in the Tang dynasty. Domestic land transportation is centered on Chang 'an, east to Song (now Shangqiu, Henan) and Bian (now Kaifeng), and as far as Shandong Peninsula. West to Qizhou (now Fengxiang, Shaanxi) and Chengdu; Northwest to Liangzhou (now Wuwei, Gansu), far to the western regions; North to Taiyuan and Fanyang (now Beijing); South to Jing (now Jiangling, Hubei) and Xiang (now Xiangfan), as far as Guangzhou. Domestic waterway transportation has the Grand Canal running through the north and south, and the Yellow River, Huaihe River and Yangtze River form a crisscross waterway network with many rivers and lakes in the south. Domestic shipping has also begun to take shape, and there are coastal routes in Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi.

The post-delivery system in the Tang Dynasty also developed greatly. On the main roads of land and water transportation, there is a post every 3 miles, and there are 1,643 posts in China, including 1,297 land posts, 26 water posts and 86 land and water posts. The land post is equipped with horses, and the water post is equipped with boats for official exchanges and document delivery. On the land and water transportation lines, there are also privately-run hotels to receive merchants and provide accommodation and horses.

Foreign traffic is also very developed. The main transportation lines are the land in the northwest and the sea in the southeast coast. By land, Luoyang and Chang 'an pass through Hexi Corridor and the Western Regions, leading to Central Asia, West Asia, South Asia and Europe. This is the famous "Silk Road" in history. The southeast sea route can reach Southeast Asian countries, Silla, Japan, Persia,  and other countries from Guangzhou, Yangzhou, Dengzhou (now Penglai, Shandong), Chuzhou (now Huai 'an, Jiangsu) and Mingzhou (now Ningbo, Zhejiang).

References:/dynaty _ list/d _ chao/5e68B831f989E4 de99AEE2fb24BBDD.