The progress and development of ancient landscape agriculture, handicrafts and commercial trade directly promoted the economic prosperity of this period and laid the foundation for the prosperity of the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
Agriculture is the most basic and basic industry in feudal society. In the feudal society based on agriculture, the rise and fall of agriculture is directly related to the rise and fall of the whole society. The Sui Dynasty and the early Tang Dynasty implemented the system of land equalization and rent adjustment, which realized "land to the tiller" on a large scale, paid taxes fairly, reduced the burden on farmers and mobilized their enthusiasm for production. The government organized farmers to build water conservancy projects, the irrigation area was expanded, and the drought resistance was enhanced: the production tools were continuously improved, and the production technology was also continuously improved and popularized, so that agricultural production in this period was rapidly restored and developed. During the period of Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty, Chinese and foreign warehouses in feudal countries were all surplus, including Taicang in Xijing, Yongfeng Warehouse in Huazhou and Taiyuan Warehouse in Shaanxi, and there were tens of millions of stones stored in them. There are also tens of millions of pieces of cloth and silk in the treasures of Chang 'an, Luoyang and Taiyuan. These, together with the reserves in other places, are enough for the rulers of the Sui Dynasty to use for fifty or sixty years. From the Tang Dynasty to Xuanzong, most of the grain stored in ordinary people's homes could be eaten for several years. By the eighth year of Tianbao (749), the grain stored by the government was about 654.38 billion stone. At that time, food prices fell to the lowest price in history and remained stable for a long time. However, after the "An Shi Rebellion", the farmland equalization system and the tenancy adjustment system were gradually abandoned, and the water conservancy facilities in most parts of the north were in disrepair, the population was depressed, and agricultural production declined. Due to the long-term accumulation and development of manpower and technology, agricultural production in the south maintained the upward development momentum and supported the gradual decline in the middle and late Tang Dynasty.
With the recovery, development and prosperity of agriculture, handicrafts have also developed. In the Sui Dynasty, both private and government-run handicrafts reached a high level. In the silk weaving industry, the exquisite carving of silk brocade in Shu County (now Sichuan) is praised by the world, and the chicken-singing cloth produced in Zhang Yu (now Nanchang, Jiangxi) is also very popular among consumers. In the porcelain industry, white porcelain had appeared at that time, and glass could be made, and the technology was quite skilled; The shipbuilding industry is unprecedentedly developed. It can build a four-story "Dragon Boat" with a height of 45 feet and a length of 200 feet. The scale and level of handicraft industry in Tang Dynasty reached an unprecedented height. Textile industry was the main handicraft sector in Tang Dynasty. In the early Tang Dynasty, the varieties and output of silk weaving, linen spinning and cotton spinning were very considerable, and they became the main targets of the national rent-and-mediocrity tune. In the late Tang dynasty, the silk industry in the south still developed greatly, and the quality and level of silk products even exceeded the previous production level. Mining industry, especially iron, copper, tin and other mining industries, maintained a prosperous state throughout the Tang Dynasty, and silver mine smelting reached a large scale and a high level in the late Tang Dynasty. In the production of porcelain, techniques such as Yuezhou Jade Ice, Xingzhou Yin Xue and underglaze color were used, and the three-color pottery figurines were praised by later generations. Due to the improvement of technology and the increase of output, porcelain began to be widely used among the people. Papermaking is more developed. The linen paper in Yizhou (now Chengdu, Sichuan), the thin white paper in Bozhou (now Yongji, Shanxi) and the Liuhe stationery in Yangzhou all enjoy high reputation: the production of ink, inkstone and pen has also seen many famous products.
On the basis of the development of agriculture and handicrafts, commercial trade has become more active than before. In the first year of Emperor Kai of Sui Dynasty (58 1), the Sui Dynasty unified the currency and minted five baht, which solved the problem of uneven currency weight since the Zhou Dynasty and facilitated the circulation of goods. After the Grand Canal was dug, business travel continued, which promoted the development of business. At that time, Chang 'an and Luoyang, the largest commercial cities, became places where domestic and foreign business travelers gathered. Cities such as Danyang (now Nanjing), Shujun (now Chengdu), Jiangdu (now Yangzhou) and Jingkou (now Zhenjiang) are also prosperous. In the early Tang Dynasty, some local political and military centers and land and water transportation fortresses gradually became larger commercial cities. The commerce in the late Tang Dynasty was more developed than that in the early Tang Dynasty. Although Chang 'an and Luoyang were destroyed by war, they quickly recovered their prosperity. In Yangzhou, Yizhou, Hongzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Quanzhou, Mingzhou and other cities, business activities are booming. There are also "night markets" in Yangzhou, Bianzhou (now Kaifeng) and Chang 'an. There are many formal markets, commonly known as "grass markets", in places such as land and water traffic arteries or ferries. In the case of frequent transactions, there are counters in big cities. The merchant deposits the money in the counter, and the counter pays it on behalf of the merchant according to the voucher issued by the merchant, and charges a certain storage fee. Later, due to the shortage of coins, businessmen gave money to local war zones, military envoys or rich people, obtained coupons, and returned to the local area to collect them with coupons, which was called "flying money" or "convenient exchange", similar to today's "checks".
With the prosperity of economy, great achievements have been made in infrastructure construction in Sui and Tang Dynasties, especially in the construction of cities and the opening of canals.
Chang 'an, as the capital of Sui and Tang Dynasties, has made new development on the basis of the previous generation's construction. In the second year of Emperor Kai of Sui Dynasty (582), the construction of Daxing City (Chang 'an City) was started, which lasted for more than 50 years until the completion of Guo Cheng in the fifth year of Tang Yonghui (654). In the Tang Dynasty, Chang 'an City was 70 miles around, with a total area of 84 square kilometers, which was 10 times that of Xi 'an Old Town (a building in Ming Dynasty) today, and even larger than the current Beijing Old Town, and it was the largest city in the world at that time. The layout of the whole city is neat and beautiful. It consists of Miyagi, Imperial City and Outer Guo Cheng. Miyagi is the imperial palace area, the imperial city is the office area of the central government, and the foreign countries guard the imperial city and Miyagi from the east, west and south. It is a residential area for people and officials, and also an industrial and commercial area. In foreign city, there are 108 squares, which are divided by 1 1 north-south streets and 14 east-west streets. There are more than 65,438+000 temples in Guo Cheng, of which Ji 'an Temple is the most famous. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda built by Xuanzang when he put the scrolls brought back from India in Tang Gaozong was in Jionji, and it is still well preserved. This is a world-famous monument.
Yang Di thinks that Luoyang is "connected by land and water, paying tribute, etc.", that is, the land and water transportation is convenient, and the distance from each place to Luoyang is equal. Taking this as the center is the most convenient way to control the whole country. In the fourth year of Renshou (604), Luoyang was ordered to be built as Kyoto. In the second year, Su Yang, the prime minister, and Yuwen Kai, a famous architect, designed and built the Luo Yang, recruiting 2 million people to build it every month, which took 10 months to complete. After the new Luoyang City was repaired, Yang Di moved the residents of Luoyang City and wealthy businessmen from all over the country to live here, making it a famous commercial city in China and an important stronghold of international trade at that time. Although Chang 'an was still the capital at that time, Yang Di lived in Luoyang, which became the center of politics, military affairs and grain transportation. Until the Tang Dynasty, Luoyang was still the capital of the East.
While building Luoyang, the capital of eastern China, Yang Di has built a Grand Canal with Luoyang as the center and connecting the north and the south, which is convenient for water transportation and military transportation. The Grand Canal (including the Guangtong Canal, 300 miles from Daxing City to Tongguan, which was opened by Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty in four years) was over 5,000 miles long and was one of the greatest canal projects in the world at that time. After the Grand Canal was opened, it became the main artery of China's north-south traffic, adapted to the needs of economic exchanges between the north and the south at that time and later, strengthened the ties between the north and the south, promoted the economic development along the river basin, and played a great role in promoting the national economic and cultural development, exchange and unification.
The development of social undertakings such as culture, science and technology is bound to be related to the economic prosperity in this period, and together with the economic prosperity, it constitutes the overall civilization and progress of the economy and society in the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
In the field of science and technology in this antique period, inventions and creations emerge one after another. In astronomical calendar calculation, Wang Xiaotong's "Yoshitani Shujing" solved some complicated engineering calculation problems by solving cubic equations for the first time. Li et al. annotated 65,438+00 arithmetic classics in the early Tang Dynasty, which became the arithmetic teaching book stipulated in the Tang Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, a group of eminent monks completed the Dayan Calendar, which correctly grasped the changing law of the earth's speed around the sun. He also cooperated with Liang Lingzan to create a ecliptic instrument that can directly measure the coordinates of the ecliptic, and made a clay bronze instrument that rotates with the water leakage, which is the predecessor of the astronomical clock. In medicine, the Theory of Etiology by Chao et al. in Sui Dynasty, Qian Jin Fang and Qian Jin Fang by Sun Simiao in early Sui Dynasty, The Secret Recipe of Foreign Taiwan by Wang Tao in Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty and Tang Herbal Medicine revised by Tang Gaozong et al. pushed the medicine of this period to a peak. In terms of architectural technology, the Anji Bridge in Zhaozhou designed and built by Li Chun, a craftsman in Sui Dynasty, Yuwen Kai and Gao Longyi, architects in Sui Dynasty, and Chang 'an City designed by Yan Lide in Tang Dynasty are among the best in the world. Engraving printing, invented in the late Sui and early Tang Dynasties, was also the most advanced printing technology in the world at that time.
In the field of literature and art, it is the pinnacle. The poetry creation represented by Li Bai, Du Fu and Bai Juyi has brought this literary form to the extreme. The movement and creation of ancient prose advocated by Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan swept away the soft, flashy and rigid style of writing since the Six Dynasties and made great contributions to the development of ancient prose in China. The novels that appeared in this period, as well as the proverbs and essays that appeared with the translation of Buddhist scriptures and the spread of Buddhism, also added new wonders to the literary field and opened up a new road for later literary creation. In the field of art, statues are made in cave temples and stone carvings are made in front of graves. The figurines in tombs are the main types of sculpture art, such as the grotto sculptures in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, Longmen in Luoyang, Tianlong Mountain in Taiyuan and Beishan in Dazu, Sichuan, the relief of Liu Jun in Zhaoling of Emperor Taizong, and the painted pottery figurines in Tang Dynasty, which can best represent the level of sculpture art in this period. Yan Lide and Yan Brothers' character story paintings, Wu Daozi's Buddhist and Taoist paintings, Natalie's ladies' paintings and Zhan Ziqian's landscape paintings. Bian Ying's flower-and-bird paintings, as well as the paintings of cattle and horses by Han Hun, Dai Song, Cao Ba and Han Gan, pushed the painting art of this period to a peak. Ou Yangxun, Yu Shinan, Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan, Sun, Zhang Xu and Huai Su all have their own unique calligraphy art, which has been praised by the world so far. The court music and dance in Sui and Tang Dynasties was formed on the basis of the traditional music and dance of the Han nationality, drawing lessons from the essence of music and dance of frontier nationalities and neighboring countries. It showed unprecedented exquisiteness and was widely spread among the people and surrounding areas, and it still has strong artistic appeal.
Great achievements have also been made in the research of philosophy, religion and other ideological and academic fields. In terms of religion, Buddhism introduced into China in the Han Dynasty began to appear sects from the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The main sects in Sui and Tang Dynasties were Tiantai Sect, Faxiang Sect, Huayan Sect and Zen Sect, and their doctrines were different. Up and down. The rulers of Sui and Tang Dynasties advocated that Buddhism was widely spread, and there were many temples and monks and nuns. Although Tang Wuzong ordered the extinction of Buddhism, it quickly flourished and became the main religious form in China. Taoism was also very popular in the Tang Dynasty, and many famous Taoists were favored by the emperor. However, because Taoism is mainly popular in the upper class, its influence is not as extensive as that of Buddhism. Western Zoroastrianism (also known as Zoroastrianism or Zoroastrianism), Nestorianism (another branch of Christianity), Manichaeism (also known as Zoroastrianism), Islam, etc. With the development of western traffic during this period, it was introduced to China one after another. Philosophically, Fu Yi and Lv Cai in the early Tang Dynasty attacked religious superstition from the viewpoint of simple materialism. Later, Liu Zongyuan, Liu Yuxi and others refuted the idealism and the theory of human nature of traditional Confucianism from different angles, trying to correctly explain the relationship between man and nature. Advocating atheism and the idea that man can conquer nature is of great significance to the progress of the times. Academically, the greatest achievements of this period are history and geography. When Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty, it was forbidden to compile national history privately and not to conceal people's feelings. Emperor Taizong set up a history museum to compile the history of the previous generation and the current dynasty, and let the prime minister supervise the revision, so that the official revision of history and the supervision of the prime minister were customized; Shi Tong written by Liu Zhiji in Tang Dynasty is the first systematic historical criticism and theoretical work in China. The Six Codes of Tang Dynasty compiled by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty and the General Code compiled by Du You of Tang Dezong recorded various laws and regulations at that time in detail, creating a new form and style of historiography compilation. In Tang Xianzong, the Annals of Yuanhe County written by Li Jifu, the prime minister, is the oldest existing geographical annals in China, with high historical value. When Fan Chuo was in Tang Yizong, he collected historical materials about Yunnan and wrote Schumann, which is the most precious document to study the history of Yunnan brothers today. In Tang Dezong, Prime Minister Jia Dan made a chart of Chinese and foreign nationalities three feet long and three feet wide. Every inch on the map represents the actual 65,438+000 miles. Although this picture has been lost, in the seventh year of the pseudo-Qi Fuchang (1 137), it was restored to the Huahe picture and carved on a stone. The existing forest of steles in Anbei, the outline of China mountains and rivers and flat terrain painted by Hua, is roughly similar to today's map, and it is the oldest map in China.