The+Rise+of+The+Tang+Dynasty+-+Research+Notes+-+Agriculture+and+Economy

Agriculture and the Economy

JunTian Zhi (The Equal Land System) Each peasant was given the equal amount of land
 * Agriculture**
 * Agricultre was very important for the Tang Empire's economy.
 * Much attention was paid to the development of agriculture, reforms implemented to help promote productivity:

Zuo Yong Diao System Source: []
 * Agriculture reforms lessened the peasants' burdens and improved the efficiency of production [[image:http://www.imagehou.com/englsih%20version/002plough.jpg width="241" height="355" align="right" caption="a peasant farming"]]
 * Improvement of production efficiency results in improvement in farm tools and agricultural techniques:
 * The use of irrigation doubled the harvests in some provinces, increase in harvest → increase in food supply → increase in population (Irrigation is used to make crops grow in dry areas.)
 * Many waterways were constructed for the irrigations of fields.
 * a curved shaft to permit a bigger amount of animal power when plouging
 * Iron Harrows
 * The Tret Wheel
 * setting fire on the land to cultivate (SheTianFa)
 * Seperation of the cultivation of seedlings (YangTianFa)
 * Some important contributiuons in agricultural literature:
 * ZhuGe Ying's Book About Sewing and Cultivation, Lu GuiMeng's Book About Fieldwork, Lu Yu's Book about Tea, Han E's Book About Agriculture of the Four Seasons, and Li Shi's Book About Animal Diseases


 * The Great Canal (Da YunHe 大运河) were used to ship food (mainly grain) and everyday items from the south(the richer Yangtse area) to the north.
 * Mulberry trees and tea bushes were beginning to being cultivated in large amounts
 * Hybrid horses (JueTi) and Mules were breeded for farmes.

Source: []

→This rich landlords owned many land, this made the spread of the land very dense and concentrated. Source: [|http://www.chinaknowledge.de]
 * Economy**
 * The Great Canal (Da YunHe 大运河) was prolonged to enhance the transportation of goods.
 * The capital city ChangAn and another important commercial city LuoYang were strengthened and fortified with walls and moat*. The cities were divided into quarters made easy to control.
 * Markets supplied goods.
 * Many temples and monasteries.
 * The Equal Land System gave every peasant an equal amount of land.
 * Every male adult person was given 80 "acres" of land(given back to the government after death) and 20 acres of inheritable fields.
 * Old and sick people got 40 acres.
 * Widows got 30 acres.
 * Priests and monks got 20 acres.
 * Craftsmen and merchants 10 acres.
 * The amount of inheritable fields ranged between those of high positions and those of low positions. E.g. An imperial prince would get 100 hectares of inheritable fields, while state officials of the ninth grade(the lowest grade) would only get 2.5 hectares.
 * These land were not allowed to be sold.
 * State Storehouses were established to prevent famine in the case of trouble or natural disasters, e.g. a drought.
 * Three ways taxes could have been payed: in grain, in textiles or other materials, or in labour and military service.
 * The Equal Land System reduced the amount of rich land owners and large land estates. The system ensured a certain tax income for the Tang government.
 * All land theoretically stilled owned by the emperor.
 * Many Buddhist monasteries were large estate owners. This partly caused the persecutions of Buhhists later on. This prevented the over powering of religious groups.
 * The ZuoYongDiao System is based on the idea of the Equal land system.
 * The ZuoYong Diao system and the Equal land system lessen the peasants's burdens with taxes and improve the efficiency of the production.
 * Equal field system replaced by the Double Tax System in 780AD, because the old system did not work with the new economic situations.
 * Tax was being collected twice a year, this was the "double-tax-system" (LiangShuiFa), the collecting of the taxes depended on the size of the land and the amount the land has harvested.
 * At the start of the 8th century, a fourth tax source were created: miscellaneous taxes for salt, tea, silk, etc.


 * The international trade between China and the other close-by Asian countries **were very important for the elite of the Tang empire.**
 * The custom of tea drinking became widespread.
 * The first bills of exchange were used by tea traders.
 * China's trade opened to countires and kingdoms in the ocean.
 * The economy of the area of the lower Yellow River recovers after having suffered badly near the end of the Sui Dynasty.
 * The Tang government controlled the production of many: metals tools and objects, casting, shipbuilding, spinning and weaving, the fabrication of material and leather, salt, tea, sugar, liquor, medicine, porcelain, paper, ink, etc.
 * Private managed crafts were common especially in Southern Tang Empire.
 * Private salt merchants were prohibited by the law.
 * The capitals and large commercial cities were important trade centers.
 * The markets worked as places for the distribution of goods from different regions of the Tang empire, foreign goods from Southeast Aisa, Japan, Korea(GaoJuLi), etc.
 * Guilds were developed for certain times of groups, e.g. Merchant guilds, Craftsman guilds.
 * In the north, roads were main traffic routes
 * In the south, waterways (rivers, lakes) were main traffic routes
 * Two types of Tang money: KaiYuan TongBao, and the QianFeng YuanBao coins
 * Silk and fine clothes sometimes also served as currency unites.
 * Two types of Tang money: KaiYuan TongBao, and the QianFeng YuanBao coins
 * Silk and fine clothes sometimes also served as currency unites.

The Silk Road Source: []
 * The Tang had a friendly foreign policy, this promoted foreign trades, and the use of the Silk Road.
 * Traded with more than 70 countries!
 * Spread new technologies and ideas, and also got foreign technologies and ideas.
 * Over one million people lived in ChangAn, the capital of the Tang empire.
 * The ecnonomy of the Tang Dynasty was weakend by the An LuShan rebellion.
 * Tea production, papermaking, and shipbuilding became important industries.
 * Night markets started to appear.
 * Tax became a huge financial burden to many.
 * Loans and money lending became more common.

- "moat." //The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition//. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. 28 Apr. 2009. .
 * A deep wide ditch, usually filled with water, typically surrounding a fortified medieval town, fortress, or castle as a protection against assault.

This includes the Southeast Asian countries (this includes indian and arab merchants along the Indian Ocean), Korea and Japan.

Tang Dynasty China > The Rise of the Tang Dynasty > Research Notes > Agriculture and Economy