Economy of the Song dynasty: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Chinese Seisou Genbou coin.jpg|alt=A circular golden coin with a square hole in the center and four Chinese characters, one to each side of the hole, embossed into the body of the coin.|thumb|A [[Northern Song]] coin (''sheng song yuan bao'' {{zhi|c=聖宋元寶}})]]

The '''economy of the [[Song dynasty]]''' (960–1279) inhas [[China]]been wascharacterized as the most prosperous economy in the world duringat itsthe time according to one source.{{sfn|McDermottShiba|2015|p=435}} The dynasty moved away from the top-down command economy of the [[Tang dynasty]] (618-907618–907) and made extensive use of market mechanisms as national income grew to be around three times that of 12th century Europe.{{sfn|Liu|2015|p=294}} The dynasty was beset by [[History of the Song dynasty|invasions and border pressure]], lost control of North China in 1127, and fell in 1279. Yet the period saw the growth of cities, regional specialization, and a national market. There was sustained growth in population and per capita income, structural change in the economy, and increased technological innovation such as movable print, improved seeds for rice and other commercial crops, gunpowder, water-powered mechanical clocks, the use of coal as an industrial fuel, improved iron and steel production, and more efficient canal locks. According to another source; while China was a very advanced and prosperous country at that period of time withhad a steel production of around 100,000 tons plus urban cities with millions of people; it was not particularly superior or more dynamic thanat the other great civilizations in Europe or India or the Islamic World; Europe who boosted around 100 million people in the 13th century was founding its universities of [[Cambridge]] and [[Oxford]], building its great cathedrals , proclaiming the [[Magna Carta]] , achieving great wealth with the cites of [[Pisa]] and [[Venise]], preparing the [[Italian Renaissance]] and the discoveries of the New World plus launching the [[Crusades]] and the City of [[Constantinople]] was still the center of World Trade between East and West and the capital of the very wealthy [[ Byzantine Empire]]time.<ref>{{Harvnb|A History of the Modern to 1815|, McGraw-Hill|, R.R Palmer|, Seventh Edition|, 1992|, ISBN 0-07-048564-X|, page:42/45}}</ref>{{failed verification|no mention of Song dynasty or comparison between China and other civilizations|date=January 2024}} As a comparison in 1025, the annual income of the Byzantine Empire had increased to 5,900,000 nomismata (around 38 tons of gold) which allowed the Byzantine Empire to amass a large surplus of 14,400,000 nomismata (200,000 pounds/90 tonnes of gold) , these numbers were relatively higher than the annual income of 500 tons of silver of the Song Empire <ref> {{Harvnb|Treadgold Warren|1997|A History of the Byzantine State and Society|Stanford, California: Stanford University Press|ISBN 0-8047-2630-2| page 775}} </ref>.{{failed verification|no mention of Song dynasty or China|date=January 2024}}

[[File:水磨齿轮.jpg|thumb|left|A [[watermill|water-powered grain mill]] from the ''Nong shu'' by [[Wang Zhen (inventor)|Wang Zhen]], [[Yuan dynasty]]]]

[[File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Manufacture - pic1174 - 秧馬圖.svg|thumb|A "seedling horse" invented during the [[Song dynasty]] to pluck out seedlings, 18th c. drawing]]

There was a massive expansion of ploughland during the Song dynasty. The government encouraged people to reclaim barren lands and put them under cultivation. Anyone who opened up new lands and paid taxes werewas granted permanent possession of the new land. Under this policy, the cultivated land in the Song dynasty is estimated to have reached a peak number of 720&nbsp;million [[Chinese units of measurement|''mu'']] (48 million hectares) and was not surpassed by later Ming and Qing dynasties.<ref>Qi Xia, ''Economy of the Song Dynasty, Part I'', Chapter 1, page 65 {{ISBN|7-80127-462-8}}/F</ref>

{{quotationblockquote|While there was already a great diversity in agricultural implements of the tread plow (''tali'' 踏犁) because of lacking oxen, of lever-knife (''zhadao'' 鍘刀) and the northeastern-style plow (''tang'' 耥), the use of water power to move millstones, grinding stones and hammers and to move water from canals and rivers to irrigation ditches by a chained-buckets mechanism (fanche 翻車) became more and more usual, especially with large land owners. Until then, water was hoisted by a mechanism where large step-powered wheels (''tache'' 踏車) moved chained buckets with water from the river to a ditch. As an inplement to pluck out rice seedlings peasants made use of the "seedling horse" (''yangma'' 秧馬), planting and fertilizing was the task of a machine called "dung-drill" (''fenlou'' 糞耬). In northern China, a "drill-tiller" (''louchu'' 耬耡) was in use, while in the lower Yangtze region, a "plow-weeder" (''tangyun'' 耥耘) became widespread at the end of Southern Song. For harvesting, a pushing scythe (''tuilian'' 推鐮) with two wheels was invented.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Song/song-tech.html|title = Song Period Science, Technology, and Inventions (www.chinaknowledge.de)}}</ref>|Ulrich Theobald}}

High yield [[Champa]] [[Rice#Harvesting, drying and milling|paddy]] seeds, Korean yellow paddy, Indian [[green pea]], and Middle East [[watermelon]] were introduced into China during this period, greatly enhancing the variety of farm produce. Song farmers emphasized the importance of [[night soil]] as [[fertilizer]]. They understood that using night soil could transform barren wasteland into fertile farmland. Chen Pu wrote in his ''Book of Agriculture'' of 1149: "The common saying that farmland becomes exhausted after seeding three to five years is not right, if frequently top up with new soil and cure with night soil, then the land becomes more fertile".<ref>Qi Xia, p135</ref>

[[File:王禎農書－耬鋤.png|thumb|left|A drill-tiller (''louchu'') from the ''Nong shu'', [[Yuan dynasty]]]]

The songSong period witnessed a rapid expansion of commercial [[cash crop]]s such as tea, sugar, mulberry, and indigo.{{sfn|Glahn|2016|p=376}}

[[Tea]] became one of seven common household items - the others being rice, salt, soy sauce, cooking oil, vinegar, and charcoal - during the Song dynasty. Tea houses became a fixture of urban life. As a result of the popularity of tea drinking, tea plantation during the Song period expanded threefold compared to the Tang period. Foreign consumption by Central Asians also fueled the commercialization of tea plantation, particularly in [[Sichuan]]. Frontier trade made up a third of Sichuan's tea trade prior to 1104.{{sfn|Glahn|2016|p=376-377}} According to a survey in 1162, tea plantations were spread across 66 prefectures in 244 counties.<ref>Qi Xia 856</ref> A variety of tea products were produced with the most prized variety from [[Raozhou]] in [[Jiangxi]] selling for 500 coins per ''jin'' (0.59 &nbsp;kg) while the cheapest teas sold for only 37 coins.{{sfn|Glahn|2016|p=377}}

Tea cultivation was at the forefront of development in southern China where the rugged interior upland valleys were unsuitable for rice agriculture. Regions such as [[Fujian]] produced only 230,000 &nbsp;kg of tea at the start of the dynasty and increased production to 1.9 million kg by 1084. Most tea plantations were run by rural households but some large private and state-run plantations employed as many as 100 workers. Like the salt industry, tea became a significant source of government income but a monopoly on tea plantation never formed. Despite this, tea production was highly centralized. Outside of Sichuan, a mere five prefectures made up 55 percent of total tea production in 1162.{{sfn|Glahn|2016|p=377}} The Beiyuan Plantation (North Park Plantation) was an imperial tea plantation in Fujian. It produced more than forty varieties of tribute tea for the imperial court. Only the very tip of tender tea leaves were picked, processed and pressed into tea cakes, embossed with dragon pattern, known as "dragon tea cakes".<ref>Xiong Fan (Song dynasty) ''Xuanhe Beiyuan Dragon Tea Cakes''</ref>

Cotton was introduced from [[Hainan]] Island into central China. Cotton flowers were collected, pits removed, beaten loose with bamboo bows, drawn into yarns and weaved into cloth called "jibei"."<ref>Qi Xia, 156</ref> The cotton jibei made in Hainan has great variety, the cloth has great width, often dyed into brilliant colors, stitching up two pieces make a bedspread, stitching four pieces make a curtain<ref>Zhou Qufei, p228</ref> [[Hemp]] was also widely planted and made into linentextile. Independent mulberry farms flourished in the Mount Dongting region in [[Suzhou]]. The mulberry farmers did not make a living on farmland, but instead they grew mulberry trees and bred [[silkworm]] to harvest silk.

{{wide image|File:蠶織圖長卷.jpg|2000px|SilkSong silk production facility, [[Song dynasty]]}}

[[File:Bigdragoncake.jpg|alt=A drawing depicting a design inside of a circle, with that circle inside of a larger circle. The inner circle design contains a dragon curled in on itself, surrouned by flame. The outer circle contains a ring of small, isolated clouds spaced equally from each other.|thumb|right|220px|TeaSong tea in the form of a cake, called the big dragon cake, [[Song dynasty]]]]

[[File:水锤.jpg|thumb|Hydro-powered hammer from the ''Nong shu'', [[Yuan dynasty]]]]

Rural families that sold a large agricultural surplus to the market not only could afford to buy more charcoal, tea, oil, and wine, but they could also amass enough funds to establish secondary means of production for generating more wealth.<ref name="ebrey cambridge 141">Ebrey, ''Cambridge Illustrated History of China'', 141.</ref> Besides necessary agricultural foodstuffs, farming families could often produce wine, charcoal, paper, textiles, and other goods they sold through brokers.<ref name="ebrey cambridge 141"/> Farmers in [[Suzhou]] often specialized in raising ''[[bombyx mori]]'' to produce [[silk]] wares, while in [[Fujian]], [[Sichuan]], and [[Guangdong]], farmers often grew sugarcane.<ref name="ebrey cambridge 141"/> In order to ensure the prosperity of rural areas, technical applications for public works projects and improved agricultural techniques were essential. The vast irrigation system of China had to be furnished with multitudes of [[wheelwright]]s mass-producing standardized waterwheels and square-pallet [[chain pump]]s that could lift water from lower planes to higher irrigation planes.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 347">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 347.</ref>

For clothing, [[Han Chinese clothing|silken robes]] were worn by the wealthy and elite while [[hemp]] and [[ramie]] was worn by the poor; by the late Song period cotton clothes were also in use.<ref name="ebrey cambridge 141"/> Shipment of all these materials and goods was aided by the 10th century innovation of the canal [[pound lock]] in China; the Song scientist and statesman [[Shen Kuo]] (1031&ndash;10951031–1095) wrote that the building of pound lock gates at Zhenzhou (presumably Kuozhou along the Yangtze) during the 1020s and 1030s freed up the use of five hundred working laborers at the canal each year, amounting to the saving of up to 1,250,000 strings of cash annually.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 352">Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 352.</ref> He wrote that the old method of hauling boats over limited the size of the cargo to 300&nbsp;tan of rice per vessel (roughly {{convert|17|t|kg|abbr=on|disp=x|/}}), but after the pound locks were introduced, boats carrying 400&nbsp;tan (roughly {{convert|22|t|kg|abbr=on|disp=x|/}}) could then be used.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 352"/> Shen wrote that by his time (c. 1080) government boats could carry cargo weights of up to 700&nbsp;tan ({{convert|39|t|kg|abbr=on|disp=x|/}}), while private boats could hold as much as 800&nbsp;bags, each weighing 2&nbsp;tan (i.e. a total of {{convert|88|t|kg|abbr=on|disp=x|/}}).<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 352"/>

[[File:Qingming Festival Detail 1.jpg|thumb|right|220px|alt=A small section of a larger scroll detailing a number of small shops lined up against the edge of a river. Several conversations can be seen taking place, however most of the people in the picture are simply filing past the shops.|Shops and stalls with parasols and thatched roofs, lined against the riverfront, close-up detail from [[Along the River During Qingming Festival|a long handscroll painting]] by [[Zhang Zeduan]] (1085–11451085–1145)]]

The city economy offered a new range of professions and places of work. After the fall of North China, one nostalgic writer delighted in describing each location and business in the former capital, [[Kaifeng|Bianjing]], near present-day [[Kaifeng]]. In ''[[Dongjing Meng Hua Lu (Dreams of Splendor of the Eastern Capital)]]'' he writes of the alleys and avenues around the East Gate of the Xiangguo Temple in Kaifeng,

Similarly, in the "Pleasure District"<ref name="west 72">West, 72.</ref> along the Horse Guild Avenue, near a [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian temple]] temple in Kaifeng, he writes:

Kaifeng shopkeepers rarely had time to eat at home, so they chose to go out and eat at a variety of places such as restaurants, temples, and food stalls.<ref name="west 74">West, 74.</ref> [[Culture of the Song dynasty#Food and cuisine|Restaurant businessesRestaurants thrived]] on this new clientele,<ref name="west 74"/> while restaurants that catered to regional cooking targeted customers such as merchants and officials who came from regions of China where cuisine styles and flavors were drastically different than those commonly served in the capital.<ref name="gernet 133">Gernet, 133.</ref><ref name="west 70">West, 70.</ref> The pleasure district mentioned above—where stunts, games, theatrical stage performances, taverns and singing girl houses were located—was teeming with food stalls where business could be had virtually all night.<ref name="west 74"/><ref name="gernet 184">Gernet, 184.</ref> The success of the theatre industry helped the food industry in the cities.<ref name="west 74"/> Of the fifty some theatres within the pleasure districts of Kaifeng, four of these could entertain audiences of several thousand each, drawing huge crowds which would then give nearby businesses an enormous potential customer base.<ref name="west 76">West, 76.</ref> Besides food, traders in eagles and hawks, [[Culture of the Song dynasty#Paintings|precious paintings]], as well as shops selling bolts of silk and cloth, jewelry of pearls, [[Chinese jade|jade]], [[rhinoceros]] horn, gold and silver, hair ornaments, combs, caps, scarves, and aromatic incense thrived in the marketplaces.<ref name="west 75 76">West, 75&ndash;76.</ref>

The arrangement of allowing competitive industry to flourish in some regions while setting up its opposite of strict government-regulated and monopolized production and trade in others was not exclusive to iron manufacturing.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 23">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 23.</ref> In the beginning of the Song, the government supported competitive silk mills and [[brocade]] workshops in the eastern provinces and in the capital city of [[Kaifeng]].<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 23"/> However, at the same time the government established strict legal prohibition on the merchant trade of privately produced silk in [[Sichuan]] province.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 23"/> This prohibition dealt an economic blow to Sichuan that caused a small rebellion (which was subdued), yet Song Sichuan was well known for its independent industries producing timber and cultivated [[Orange (fruit)|oranges]].<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 23"/> The reforms of the [[Chancellor of China|Chancellor]]chancellor [[Wang Anshi]] (1021&ndash;10861021–1086) sparked heated debate amongst ministers of court when he nationalized the industries manufacturing, processing, and distributing tea, salt, and wine.<ref name="ebrey 164">Ebrey, 164.</ref> The state monopoly on Sichuan tea was the prime source of revenue for the state's purchase of horses in [[Qinghai]] for the Song army's cavalry forces.<ref name="smith 77">Smith, 77.</ref> Wang's [[Salt in Chinese History#Official supervision, merchant transportation in the Tang and Song dynasties|restrictions on the private manufacture and trade of salt]] were even criticized in a famous poem by [[Su Shi]], and while the opposing politically charged faction at court gained advantage and lost favor, Wang Anshi's reforms were continually abandoned and reinstated.<ref name="ebrey 164"/> Despite this political quarrel, the Song Empire's main source of revenue continued to come from state-managed monopolies and [[indirect tax]]es.<ref name="gernet 18">Gernet, 18.</ref> As for private entrepreneurship, great profits could still be pursued by the merchants in the luxury item trades and specialized regional production. For example, the silk producers of Raoyang County, Shenzhou Prefecture,in southern [[Hebei]] province were especially known for producing silken headwear for the Song emperor and high court officials in the capital.<ref name="friedman 3">Friedman et al., 3.</ref>

Sea trade to the South East Pacific, the Hindu world, the Islamic world, and the East African world brought merchants great fortune.<ref>Rossabi, 77&ndash;78.</ref> Although the massive trade along the [[Grand Canal of China|Grand Canal]], the [[Yangtze River]], its tributaries and lakes, and other canal systems trumped the commercial gains of overseas trade,<ref name="fairbank 89">Fairbank, 89.</ref> there were still many large seaports during the Song period that bolstered the economy, such as [[Quanzhou]], [[Fuzhou]], [[Guangzhou]], and [[Xiamen]]. These seaports, now connected to the hinterland via canal, lake, and river traffic, acted as a string of large market centers for the sale of cash crops produced in the interior.<ref>Rossabi, 79.</ref> The high demand in China for foreign luxury goods and spices coming from the East Indies facilitated the growth of Chinese maritime trade.<ref name="fairbank 92">Fairbank, 92.</ref> Along with the mining industry, the shipbuilding industry of [[Fujian]] province increased its production exponentially as maritime trade was given more importance and as the province's population began to increase dramatically.<ref name="golas"/>

[[File:Porcelaine chinoise Guimet 231102.jpg|thumb|right|200px|alt=A green-grey plate with a leafy vine pattern painted into the center. The edge is divided into six sections, each arched slightly outward, to create the illusion that they were flower petals.|A [[celadon]] plate from Yaozhou, [[Shaanxi]], 10th to 11th10th–11th century.]]

Considerable scholarship has been concentrated on researching the level of living standards during the [[Song dynasty]]. A recent study by economic historian Cheng Minsheng estimated the average income for lower-class laborers during the Song dynasty as 100 wen a day, about 5 times the estimated subsistence level of 20 wen a day and a very high level for preindustrial economies. Per capita consumption of grain and silk respectively was estimated by Cheng to be around 8 jin (about 400 g each) a day and 2 bolts a year, respectively.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://economy.guoxue.com/article.php/21474 |title=宋人生活水平考察 (1) |author=Cheng, Minsheng |date=30 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716073625/http://economy.guoxue.com/article.php/21474 |archive-date=16 July 2011}}</ref>

[[File:Song Dynasty Porcelain.jpg|thumb|[[Qingbai ware]] from the [[Song dynasty]]]]

Accompanying the widespread printing of paper money was the beginnings of what one might term an early Chinese [[industrial revolution]]. Historian Robert Hartwell<ref>{{Cite web|title=Publications of Robert Hartwell (1932-1996)|url=http://faculty.washington.edu/ebrey/hartwell.htm|access-date=2021-03-20|website=faculty.washington.edu}}</ref> estimates that per capita [[iron]] output rose sixfold between 806 and 1078, such that, by 1078 China was producing 127,000,000&nbsp;kg (125,000&nbsp;t) in weight of iron per year.<ref name="Ebrey 158">Ebrey et al., 158.</ref> However, historian Donald Wagner questions Hartwell's method used to estimate these figures (i.e. by using Song tax and quota receipts), and believes the total receipts of iron represents only a rough approximation of total government consumption of iron.<ref>Wagner (2001), 175&ndash;197.</ref> Taking into account Wagner's reservations, the lowest estimates still put annual iron production levels at several times higher than the [[Tang dynasty]].{{sfn|Twitchett|2015|p=377}}

{{quotationblockquote|During the era of the iron monopoly, smaller bloomery furnaces – the only iron smelting technology available in Europe before the twelfth century – seem to have disappeared entirely. Even after the Eastern Han government rescinded the iron monopoly in 88 CE iron manufacture remained confined to large-scale blast furnaces and foundries. The blast furnace technology and the economies of scale achieved by the state ironworks in the Han apparently rendered the bloomery technology economically obsolete. When small-scale ironworks reappeared in China during the Song dynasty they were operated using small blast furnaces rather than bloomery techniques.{{sfn|Glahn|2016|p=235}}|Richard von Glahn}}

Through many written petitions to the central government by regional administrators of the Song Empire, historical scholars pieced together an idea of the size and scope of the Chinese iron industry during the Song era. The famed magistrate [[Bao Zheng|Bao Qingtian]] (999&ndash;1062) wrote of the iron industry at [[Hancheng, Shaanxi|Hancheng]], Tongzhou Prefecture, along the [[Yellow River]] in what is today eastern [[Shaanxi]] province, with iron smelting households that were overseen by government regulators.<ref name="wagner 181">Wagner, 181.</ref> He wrote that 700 such households were acting as iron smelters, with 200 having the most adequate amount of government support, such as charcoal supplies and skilled craftsmen (the iron households hired local unskilled labor themselves).<ref name="wagner 181"/> Bao's complaint to the throne was that government laws against private smelting in Shaanxi hindered profits of the industry, so the government finally heeded his plea and lifted the ban on private smelting for Shaanxi in 1055.<ref name="wagner 181"/><ref name="wagner 182">Wagner, 182.</ref> The result of this was an increase in profit (with lower prices for iron) as well as production; 100,000 ''jin'' (60 [[tonne]]s) of iron was produced annually in Shaanxi in the 1040s AD, increasing to 600,000 ''jin'' (360 tonnes) produced annually by the 1110s, furbished by the revival of the Shaanxi [[mining]] industry in 1112.<ref name="wagner 182 183">Wagner 182-183.</ref> Although the iron smelters of Shaanxi were managed and supplied by the government, there were many independent smelters operated and owned by rich families.<ref name="wagner 178 179">Wagner, 178-179.</ref> While acting as governor of [[Xuzhou]] in 1078, the famous Song poet and statesman [[Su Shi]] (1037&ndash;1101) wrote that in the Liguo Industrial Prefecture under his administered region, there were 36 iron smelters run by different local families, each employing a work force of several hundred people to mine ore, produce their own charcoal, and smelt iron.<ref name="wagner 178 179"/> The 36 smelters produced 7,000 tons of iron and steel per year.{{sfn|Glahn|2016|p=379}}

Since Jin Zhou was in close proximity to the Song capital at [[Kaifeng]], the latter became the largest producer of gunpowder during the Northern Song period.<ref name="Zhang 489"/> With enhanced sulfur from pyrite instead of natural sulfur (along with enhanced [[potassium nitrate]]), the Chinese were able to shift the use of gunpowder from an [[Incendiary ammunition|incendiary]] use into an explosive one for early artillery.<ref name="Zhang 489 490">Zhang, 489-490.</ref> There were large manufacturing plants in the Song dynasty for the purpose of making 'fire-weapons' employing the use of gunpowder, such as [[fire lance]]s and [[fire arrow]]s. While engaged in a war with the [[Mongol]]s, in 1259 the official Li Zengbo wrote in his ''Ko Zhai Za Gao, Xu Gao Hou'' that the city of [[Qingzhou]] was manufacturing one to two thousand strong iron-cased bomb shells a month, dispatching to [[Xiangyang District, Xiangfan|Xiangyang]] and Yingzhou about ten to twenty thousand such bombs at a time.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 173 174">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 173-174.</ref> One of the main armories and arsenals for the storage of gunpowder and weapons was located at [[Weiyang Palace|Weiyang]], which accidentally caught fire and produced a massive explosion in 1280 AD.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 209 210">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 209-210.</ref>

With many 9th century Tang era merchants avoiding the weight and bulk of so many copper coins in each transaction, this led them to using trading receipts from deposit shops where goods or money were left previously.<ref name="bowman 105"/> Merchants would deposit copper currency into the stores of wealthy families and prominent wholesalers, whereupon they would receive receipts that could be cashed in a number of nearby towns by accredited persons.<ref name="gernet 80">Gernet, 80.</ref> Since the 10th century, the early Song government began issuing their own receipts of deposit, yet this was restricted mainly to their monopolized salt industry and trade.<ref name="gernet 80"/> China's first official regional paper-printed money can be traced back to the year 1024, in [[Sichuan]] province.<ref name="Benn 55">Benn, 55.</ref>

The central government soon observed the economic advantages of printing paper money, issuing a monopoly right of several of the deposit shops to the issuance of these certificates of deposit.<ref name="ebrey 156"/> By the early 12th century, the amount of banknotes issued in a single year amounted to an annual rate of 26&nbsp;million strings of [[Cash (Chinese coin)|cash coins]].<ref name="gernet 80"/> By the 1120s the central government officially stepped in and produced their own state-issued paper money (using [[woodblock printing]]).<ref name="ebrey 156">Ebrey et al., 156.</ref> Even before this point, the Song government was amassing large amounts of paper [[tribute]]. It was recorded that each year before 1101 AD, the prefecture of Xinan (modern Xi-xianXixian, [[Anhui]]) alone would send 1,500,000 sheets of paper in seven different varieties to the capital at Kaifeng.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 1 47">Needham, Volume 5, Part 1, 47.</ref> In that year of 1101, the [[Emperor Huizong of Song]] decided to lessen the amount of paper taken in the tribute quota, because it was causing detrimental effects and creating heavy burdens on the people of the region.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 1 48">Needham, Volume 5, Part 1, 48.</ref> However, the government still needed masses of paper product for the exchange certificates and the state's new issuing of paper money. For the printing of paper money alone, the Song court established several government-run [[factories]] in the cities of [[Huizhou]], [[Chengdu]], [[Hangzhou]], and Anqi.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 1 48"/> The size of the workforce employed in these paper money factories were quite large, as it was recorded in 1175 AD that the factory at Hangzhou alone employed more than a thousand workers a day.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 1 48"/> However, the government issues of paper money were not yet nationwide standards of currency at that point; issues of banknotes were limited to regional zones of the empire, and were valid for use only in a designated and temporary limit of 3-year's time.<ref name="gernet 80"/><ref name="Huang">{{cite book|author=Ray Huang|title=China: A Macro History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c7PbzIoSc-0C&pg=PA151|year=1997|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=978-0-7656-3145-9|page=151|quote=Like government bonds, each issue had a maturity date, usually three years}}</ref> The geographic limitation changed between the years 1265 and 1274, when the late Southern Song government finally produced a nationwide standard currency of paper money, once its widespread circulation was backed by gold or silver.<ref name="gernet 80"/> The range of varying values for these banknotes was perhaps from one string of cash to one hundred at the most.<ref name="gernet 80"/> In later dynasties, the use and enforcement of paper currency was a method undertaken by the government as a response to the counterfeiting of copper coins.<ref name="Hirzel">{{cite book|author1=Thomas Hirzel|author2=Nanny Kim|title=Metals, Monies, and Markets in Early Modern Societies: East Asian and Global Perspectives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ycvcIp4KrrgC&pg=PA311|access-date=15 February 2013|date=19 September 2008|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|isbn=978-3-8258-0822-8|page=312|quote="end to the problem of counterfeit copper cash was the... enforcement of paper currency"}}</ref>

The subsequent [[Yuan dynasty|Yuan]], [[Ming dynasty|Ming]], and [[Qing dynasty|Qing]] dynasties would issue their own paper money as well. Even the Southern Song's contemporary of the [[Jin dynasty, 1115–1234|Jin dynasty]] to the north caught on to this trend and issued their own paper money.<ref name="gernet 80"/> At the archeological dig at [[Rehe (province)|Rehe]] there was a printing plate found that dated to the year 1214, which produced notes that measured 10&nbsp;cm by 19&nbsp;cm in size and were worth a hundred strings of 80 cash coins.<ref name="gernet 80"/> This [[Jurchens|Jurchen]]-Jin issued paper money bore a [[serial number]], the number of the series, and a warning label that counterfeiters would be decapitated, and the denouncer rewarded with three hundred strings of cash.<ref name="gernet 80 81">Gernet, 80-81.</ref>

[[Qin Jiushao]] (c.1202–61{{circa|1202–1261}}), a mathematician and scholar, wrote an exercise that reflected the essential nature of these companies. He proposed that a partnership of four parties invested 424,000 strings of cash in a Southeast Asian trading venture. Each invested precious metals, perhaps silver, gold or commodities like salt, paper, and monk certificates (which involved a tax exemption). There was significant difference in the value of their individual investments, perhaps as much as eight times. Who was allowed to become an investor may have been influenced by social status and family connections, but each received a share of the profits in proportion to their original investment. {{sfnb|McDermottShiba|2015|p=405}}

[[Category:Medieval economicseconomic history]]