Clues of social and economic development in ancient Chinese history
(1) Production tools and technologies:
1. Yuanmou people and Beijingers have learned to make stone tools and use natural fire. The culture of this period is called "Paleolithic culture".
2. People in the Peak Cave used stone tools to polish and drill holes on small objects, and already knew how to make fire manually.
3. The original residents of Hemudu and the original residents of Banpo have generally used grinding stone tools and entered the Neolithic Age.
4. In the middle and late Dawenkou culture, the craftsmanship level of jade production was quite high, including polishing, engraving and other technologies.
5. During the Shang and Western Zhou dynasties, most of the farm tools used by slaves and common people were made of wood, stone, bones and clams, and only a very small amount of bronze farm tools were used. People already knew how to apply manure, wood ash and green manure.
The bronzes of the Shang Dynasty were not only majestic in shape, but also exquisite in craftsmanship. In the early days, there were two technologies of flat carving and relief.
Jade carvings from the Shang Dynasty used natural colors and layers to carve different shapes and parts of animals.
6. In the late Western Zhou Dynasty, my country began to use iron tools.
7. During the Spring and Autumn Period, iron farm tools began to appear. During the Warring States Period, the scope of use of iron farm tools expanded. The arrival of the Iron Age marked a significant increase in my country's social productivity. During the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period, people began to plow and gradually promote it. The use of ox plow was a revolution in agricultural power in the history of my country's agricultural technology.
8. During the Han Dynasty, agricultural tools were improved and ox plowing was widely promoted. The types of iron farm tools increased and were widely used. The Western Regions and the Pearl River Basin used iron farm tools passed down from the Central Plains. Plowing walls with crushed soil were installed on the plow, which was more than a thousand years earlier than in Europe. The Western Han Dynasty agronomist Zhao Guo invented the sowing ox plowing cart (a animal-powered seeder that can sow barley, wheat, soybeans, sorghum, etc.). The two-ox-style ox plowing method was promoted to the Pearl River Basin by the Eastern Han Dynasty. The more flexible and convenient operation of the one-ox plowing ox plowing method also began to appear. Plowing and management technology progressed rapidly. During the Western Han Dynasty, field replacement methods were promoted in arid areas, and the yield per mu was increased by more than one hu. Agronomist Feng Sheng summarized the famous regional planting method. People also learned the rice seedling transplantation technology. The Han River Basin also had rice rotation planting methods, which were ripe twice a year.
9. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties: During the Cao and Wei dynasties, Ma Jun improved the overturning and used it for agricultural irrigation. Water mills, water mills, etc. were widely used in grain processing. Jiayuguan in the northwest used the farming method of two cattle and one cattle and one cattle. They were deeply cultivated and accumulated manure fields, and later it was spread to the south.
10. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties: New irrigation tool trolleys were created; the curved plows appeared in the Jiangdong area to facilitate paddy fields.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, agricultural technology had some new developments. Farmers used round and pointed plowshares suitable for different soils. In order to solve the difficulties of insufficient oxen, some areas used human-operated plows.
(2) Crop promotion:
1. Primitive society: The primitive residents of Hemudu have planted rice. The primitive residents of Banpo have mastered the technology of growing millet and also planted vegetables and hemp.
2. During the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, crop varieties, farming technology and farmland water conservancy all developed significantly. The "grains" that were later commonly known as the "five grains" were planted during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and the oracle bone inscriptions and the Book of Songs were also recorded.
3. During the Han Dynasty, rice and wheat planting was promoted. In addition to the main varieties of millet and sorghum, rice and wheat were promoted and planted, and also became the main grain crops. The main crop in the north was winter wheat, and rice was widely planted in the south. Grapes, pomegranates, alfalfa, beans, flax, walnuts, etc. in the Western Regions were successively transplanted into the mainland. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were double-season rice, mulberry and hemp planting expanded, and cotton was planted in Xinjiang.
4. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, rice was planted on a large scale in the Jianghuai area, and the Jiangnan area became an important grain production area. During the Tang Dynasty, tea trees were widely planted. The famous tea gardens were large in scale and had a large output.
Five, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms: The south was widely planted with economic crops such as mulberry and tea trees.
6. During the Northern Song Dynasty, millet and wheat in the north were planted in large quantities in the south of the Yangtze River, and rice was widely planted in the north of the Yangtze River. The rice-quality rice introduced from Vietnam also spread to the Jianghuai region. Cotton planting was promoted from Fujian and Guangdong to the Yangtze River Basin.
7. During the Yuan Dynasty, the number of crops increased, and cotton planting was spread throughout the south. Watermelon, Chinese cabbage, etc. were introduced.
8. During the Ming Dynasty, cotton cultivation was promoted from Jiangnan to Jiangbei. The new high-yield crop varieties introduced by foreign countries in the Ming Dynasty were continuously promoted in the Qing Dynasty, so that barren land that was not suitable for growing rice and wheat were utilized, and the total grain output increased significantly.
9. In the early Qing Dynasty, the planting area of ​​economic crops such as cotton, sericulture, tea, and oil were expanded, and some professional production areas were also formed.
(3) Construction and repairing water conservancy
1. Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period: In the Central Plains, orange steaks were commonly used (composed of two wooden poles, one vertically on the river or well, and the other hanging horizontally on the top of a straight wood, with a large stone tied at one end, and a long rope hanging on the other end, and a lever principle was used to draw water and irrigate the fields) to irrigate the farmland. Shaobi, the prime minister of Chu, Sun Shuao, built by the Wei State during the Warring States Period, Dujiangyan, built by Li Bing, guarding Shu of Qin, and Zheng State in Qin, the Zheng State canal built by the watercraft in Qin, are all famous water conservancy projects.
2. During the Qin Dynasty, in order to unify Lingnan, Qin Shihuang ordered the construction of Ling Canal to communicate with Xiang River and Li River (now Li River) and connect the two major water systems of the Yangtze River and the Pearl River. Ling Canal is one of the ancient artificial canals in the world.
3. The regional characteristics of farmland water conservancy in the Han Dynasty are obvious. The Yellow River Basin is mainly used to build irrigation canals, and famous projects such as Cao Canal, Liufu Canal, Bai Canal, etc.; between the Jianghuai and Jianghan, the Jianghan area, the construction of natural ponds is mainly used to drain water and build dams and turn wet silt places into fertile fields; in the northwest, it mainly uses snow water or groundwater to build special water conservancy projects Kaner wells (irrigation projects in Xinjiang area. A series of wells are dug from the hillside to the fields, and then hollowed out the bottom of the well.
Chengnangou lures the melted snow and groundwater from the mountains to irrigate the fields. Many historians believe that the construction technology of Kanerjing was first used when building the Longshou Canal in the Western Han Dynasty, and later introduced it with the Western Han government to farm in Xinjiang. The well canal is an innovation in the history of world water conservancy. It is suitable for farmland irrigation in areas with soft soil and difficult to build canals.). In response to the flooding of the Yellow River, Emperor Wu of Han and Emperor Ming of Han have carried out large-scale Yellow River control projects, achieving good results.
4. The Sui Dynasty: The Grand Canal opened is conducive to farmland irrigation. The Grand Canal is centered on Luoyang, connecting to Zhuo County in the north and Yuhang in the south. It is the earliest and longest Grand Canal in the world.
5. Tang Dynasty: Full-time officials were assigned to manage water conservancy, and many water conservancy projects were built in various places, which greatly exceeded the sum of the Six Dynasties.
Sixth, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Periods: Southern countries attached importance to the construction of water conservancy, and Wu and Yue built seawalls to resist the invasion of Qiantang River tides.
7. The Hetao and Hexi Corridor areas in Xixia have relatively complete irrigation systems and are the main grain production bases.
Chapter completed!