The Pattern of the Chinese Past(V)

In chapter ten Elvin asserts that the development of better transport and communication were almost as important as better agriculture itself in bringing about an economic revolution.1 He says that both Tang and Sung governments had improved the transportation routes in the empire, including the maintenance of perishable wooden bridges that were costly to maintain. As for sea transport, according to Elvin, at Sung times, Chinese sea-going junks were quite sophisticated. But it was the growth of river and canal shipping that provided the greatest economic impetus. Many separate waterways were linked up to form a national network during the Tang and Sung periods. Chapter eleven is about revolution in money and credit. Elvin suggests some reasons to explain why the monetary revolution took place.2 One reason was the growing interdependence of the regional Chinese economy starting from the period of 'Five Dynasty'. At first copper money was in use. But as copper was in short supply, paper money was invented starting from the Tang period.3 But later paper money became a bureaucratic monstrosity that would hamper the productive forces and attribute to the transformation of Chinese society and economy beginning in the 14th century. In chapter 12, Elvin talks about revolution in market structure and urbanization. All along, most Chinese people were little affected by commerce until the later part of the Tang dynasty when markets became numerous. Government controlled market began to give way to commercial freedom. Chinese rural economy began to link up with the market mechanism.4 The consequence was the appearance of a national internal customs network. Increased marketing activities turned the Chinese peasantry into petty entrepreneurs and a wide range of new occupations were opened up in the countryside. Vegetable and fruit were produced for urban consumption. Rural production began to be market oriented, for example silk had displaced rice as the basis of peasant economy.5 International trade was also booming, in particular with Japan and south-east Asia.6 The effect of these economic changes accumulated in an urban revolution: cities spilled out into the suburbs. The number of urban inhabitants began to rise. Big cities began to pop up. Urban landownership became an important source of profit beginning in Sung times, and urban real estates became the object of taxation.7 At this juncture, Elvin highlights one observation: Chinese cities did not play the same historic role as their counterparts in medieval Europe. Cities in China were not centres of political or personal freedom, their inhabitants did not develop any civic consciousness. The reason was that all Chinese cities were under one single ruler, they could not have independent development. In Europe different cities might have different feudal political and military structure.8 (to be continued)

Notes:
1. Elvin, Mark. The Pattern of the Chinese Past. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1973. page131
2. page 150
3. page 155
4. page 166
5. page 168
6. page 171
7. page 175
8. page 177