Zhejiang, a rich hometown in the south of the Yangtze River, had an amazing development of commodity economy in the Yuan Dynasty.

Zhejiang is located in the rich hometown of Jiangnan, with hot environment, fertile land, rich products, numerous seaports and convenient external transportation. It is also located at the southern end of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and local commercial activities have flourished since the Sui and Tang Dynasties. This good trend remained until the Song Dynasty, especially in the Southern Song Dynasty, when Zhejiang became the political, economic and cultural center of the country. After entering the Yuan Dynasty, although it lost its position as a political center, the economic structure did not change much. Under the unified political environment of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhejiang people enjoyed peace for more than half a century. As a result, Zhejiang, which had a good foundation in all aspects, became increasingly prosperous in society and economy. With the rapid development of commodity economy, its economic strength is in a leading position in the country. This paper intends to focus on the development of Zhejiang commodity economy in the Yuan Dynasty, in order to put forward some humble opinions for historians to study the social and economic development in the Yuan Dynasty, and please correct the shortcomings.

The richness of commodity types, the expansion of circulation field and the perfection of commercial division of labor fully reflected the improvement of Zhejiang's commercialization in Yuan Dynasty.

The commodities that entered the circulation field in Yuan Dynasty included all kinds of agricultural products, handicrafts and exquisite handicrafts and luxury goods that met the daily needs of the public. Products such as grain, silk and porcelain occupy a large share in Zhejiang's commodity economy. Zhejiang was the most important grain-producing area in Yuan Dynasty, and it was far ahead in the whole country in terms of grain yield per unit area and total output. As an indispensable article in people's life, grain not only supplies local grain and pays taxes, but also a considerable part has entered the circulation field. Especially in most parts of the north, officials, soldiers, artisans, citizens and vendors in cities need to rely on Jiangnan for food. The South-to-North Water Diversion Project became a basic national policy at that time, and millions of stones of grain were trafficked through the sea lanes and the Grand Canal every year. Some of these northbound grains were shipped by * * *. The other part is sold by businessmen themselves. Western Zhejiang is the granary of the world. If the harvest year is successful, the surplus refined grain will be added to the grain of other counties and sold to Waihechuan 1. The quantity of these grains supplied and sold directly affects their prices in the market. As the saying goes, it is getting cheaper and more expensive, which shows that the price fluctuates with the change of supply and demand in commodity exchange. Zhejiang has not only grain exports, but also some grain imports. For example, in the corner of Linhai, Qingyuan Road County, East Zhejiang, the people have no savings all their lives, and the hukou is counted by vendors. Usually, half of the grain needs to be transported from other counties. As we all know, in the event of famine, this dependence on food will be more urgent. According to historical records, Le Dayuan, a grain merchant in Dinghai (now Zhenhai, Ningbo), traveled between Qingyuan, Guangdong and Fujian. In the eleventh year of Dade (1307), there was a famine in eastern Zhejiang, and Le Dayuan once sent a huge ship to sell rice from Quannan and Guangdong, and the parity made people feel 4. People in Jiangsu and Zhejiang are more interested in profit than in business. As a commodity, grain was not only heavily trafficked in the Yuan Dynasty, but also had a very prosperous long-distance trade migration in the vast southern areas such as Fujian, Guangdong, Dadu and Helin, which showed that its commercialization degree had been greatly improved.

Hangzhou, Huzhou and other roads were also important silk production centers in the south of the Yangtze River in the Yuan Dynasty, and silk trade in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces was still very prosperous, accounting for a large proportion in the whole commodity economy. The rise of cotton textile industry in Jianghuai and other places has made cotton textile products enter the circulation market and enriched the types of traditional handicraft products. Since Songjiang, which is adjacent to Zhejiang, spread cotton textile technology from Huang Daopo, many households engaged in this industry competed to transfer goods to other counties, with their homes in the north and their clothing gradually expanding. Porcelain is another traditional handicraft. At this time, Zhejiang Longquan celadon continued to develop, not only throughout the north and south of China, but also exported to overseas markets in the East and West. Known as Chu Porcelain and Qing Chu, it has become an important source of national commercial tax. In addition, fruits, bamboo and other local products are also prosperous in commercial trade. For example, citrus trees are widely planted in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, and the profits are quite rich. There is a market in Hangzhou that specializes in buying and selling oranges. The Yuan Dynasty opened up a vast domestic market and set up shipping companies in the southeast coast to expand overseas trade. Overseas trade has provided numerous Bang Qi products for handicrafts and luxury goods markets to a great extent, among which various spices from Nanyang, such as ivory and pearls, Japanese folding fans, knives and mother-of-pearl vessels, are deeply loved by the upper rulers and the rich.

The division of labor in the commercial market in Yuan Dynasty tends to be further refined and improved. In many cities, special commercial and trade zones are set up according to different product transactions. According to the careful records of people in the late Song Dynasty and early Yuan Dynasty, there are drug markets, flower markets, pearl markets, rice markets, meat markets, vegetable markets, fresh fish markets, South Pig Bank, North Pig Bank, cloth markets, crab banks, flower groups, olive groups, orange groups, owl groups and academic groups in Hangzhou. Hangzhou is densely populated, and market residents eat a lot of rice and give it to commodity grain. Shops directly related to people's livelihood, such as Midian, have been set up in various cities, either officially or privately. In addition, there are a large number of tea shops, wine shops, hotels selling tea, noodle shops, vegetarian restaurants (specializing in all kinds of snacks), meat shops and snack bars in Hangzhou. Another example is Chaozhou Road Changxing State (now Zhejiang), where there are five cooked shops, namely, incense sticks, money houses, bluebird, dusheng, candle-pouring and paper printing, horses, teachers, net fittings, tailors, brocade scales, garden shops, Cao Xing shops, five-color shops, main shops, double-line shops, sugar cakes and fruit shops. Most of them belong to the commercial division of labor, and a few, such as teachers' shops, online distribution shops and tailor shops, are subordinate to the service industry. The division of labor in the service industry has been relatively perfect since the Song and Yuan Dynasties. The refinement and perfection of the division of labor in the commercial market can discount the improvement of the degree of commercialization of a society. After the development of industry and commerce in Yuan Dynasty, Zhejiang counties gradually gained a good reputation in the local area. In the Ming Dynasty, Hangzhou was the capital of Hangzhou, with many department stores. Husi, Jiazhi, Shaozhi Tea Wine, Ningzhihai Fault, local magnetism, strict lacquer, elegant orange, lacquerware and golden wine produced in other counties and cities were all named after places. These places are named after them.

Yuan Dynasty is a very important historical stage in the history of the development of towns in Zhejiang. Some scholars pointed out that the reliability of population statistics in Yuan Shizu in the 27th year of Yuan Dynasty (1290) was greater than that of other household registration data (10), and according to the statistics in Geography 5, Volume 62 of Yuan History, the population of Hangzhou, Jiaxing, Wugang and Taiwan at that time exceeded1000,000, among which

18347 10, Jiaxing Road 2,245,742, Wuzhou Road1003,833, and other roads in Huzhou, Qingyuan, Wenzhou, Shaoxing, Chuzhou and Quzhou have a population of about 500,000, which provides favorable conditions for the development and expansion of urban economic scale. The long-term good development of commodity economy has promoted the strengthening of the function of market economy. During this period, metropolises such as Hangzhou and port trading cities were quite prosperous, and a large number of commercial towns emerged, and the urban system was further developed and improved.

Hangzhou, the capital of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, has a dense population, a vast city, convenient land and water transportation and a large number of merchants from far and near. It is not only a domestic trade center, but also a famous foreign trade port. In terms of commodity economy, it is still the largest metropolis in China. In order to facilitate the collection of business tax, the Yuan Dynasty set up tax agencies all over the country, and Hangzhou and most of them set up tax promotion departments because of their developed businesses. The rank of other tax officials ranges from five to 1 1, which can reflect the prominent position of Hangzhou business tax in the national economy. People praised the beauty of the mountains and rivers in Hangzhou, but the Quartet failed or failed. All the handsome men in the world are driven by the wind, so they will live a happy life in 12. At that time, Mongolians and other semu people with long eyes were everywhere in Hangzhou, and most of them were * * *. For example, there are eight tall buildings near Hangzhou Bridge, all of which live in 13. Ju Jing Jing is far from the burial place of * * *. After liberation,10,000 porous remains were removed and buried. Phoenix temple, the former site of the * * * Master, was rebuilt by wading. 14 * * people are famous for doing business. Their integration into coastal cities has expanded the business groups in Han areas and had a very important impact on business. At that time, night market shops in Hangzhou and other places continued to open at night. History shows that on the land of the south of the Yangtze River, before the clock was banned every night, the streets and alleys were brightly lit and transactions continued. 15 As for the boatmen in Shi Jiao Division, they are also very busy at night. They gather in a crowded place in Chengbu Town and gather tourists to load Nightcrawler, which is called night flight. In peacetime, 16 is everywhere. People in Hangzhou are very profitable and there are many businessmen. Besides operating locally, they are not afraid to go to other counties. At the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhang, a native of Hangzhou, began to engage in shipping trade after living in Quanzhou, and returned to his hometown six years later. 17

In the Yuan Dynasty, the opening and shipping of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal made many towns rise in trading ports and along the canal. From the perspective of overseas trading ports, urban shipping companies were established in Qingyuan, Ganpu, Wenzhou, Hangzhou and other places in Zhejiang in the Yuan Dynasty. Qingyuan used to be a big county in eastern Zhejiang, with clear sea, distant objects, foreign trade, sailing, Wan Li Biji and Yita County Opera 18. Qingyuan Port played an important role in grain transportation in Yuan Dynasty, and set sail from here. Volume 6 of "The Continuation of Supreme Siming" records that * * * people pay taxes, which shows that there are also many * * * people doing business in the local area. Qingyuan Road leads to Yinxian, Cixi, Xiangshan and Dinghai, and Fenghua and Guo Chang. As a big port in eastern Zhejiang, Diqing Port also affects the development of urban economy in the whole region. For example, Juexi in Xiangshan has a steady stream of Jiabo, looking east at Japan and south at Tiantai 19. Wenxi in Cixi is also home to many locals, merchants and three restaurants, and the sound of bagpipes is endless. Its goods are mostly in the northwest mountainous areas, such as wheat, rice, tea, bamboo shoots, melons and fruits, bamboo and so on. The northwest of this city is called Li Mao 20. Wenzhou Port is located in Oujiang River, where the envoys sent to Zhenla (now Cambodia) in the second year of Yuan Zhen (1296) went to sea, and the trade in the city was quite busy. Jiaxing, Huzhou and other areas in western Zhejiang have developed not only transportation, but also agriculture and handicrafts, thus forming many typical towns in the south of the Yangtze River. Ganpu not far from Hangzhou was another important port at that time. Young people in Ganpu have been engaged in navigation for generations, holding a large number of seagoing ships and operating overseas trade, with a huge momentum. 2 1 Qinglong Town in Jiaxing and Zhapu Town in Pinghu have also formed market towns due to overseas trade. There were ten silk villages in Sara Town, Gui 'an County, Huzhou in the Yuan Dynasty. Every morning, the villagers who go to the town to sell silk are jostling with each other. Puyuan is another place in Huzhou where silk production and trade are very prosperous. During Yuan Dade's reign, Pu Ming established four major dental shops to collect mechanical products. This place has gradually become a distribution center for silk trade, gathering far and near, and its business is prosperous, hence the name Yongle City. Wangdian Town, Jiaxing, is a place for collecting goods and trade built by Wang Kui, Minister of Industry and Trade, in Meixi. Since then, it has become more and more prosperous and it has become a huge town. Another example is Tangqi in Yuhang. After the Xiatang River was opened in Zhang Shicheng at the end of Yuan Dynasty, relying on the benefits of the canal, it jumped from a small village to a town. At the end of Yuan Dynasty, there was Pingshui Town in the southeast of Shaoxing, which was originally a grass market in Tang Dynasty. It lives in the upper reaches of Jinghu Lake, and a group of small waters came to this lake, so it was only then that the boat was connected. So the goods produced in the mountains will be lost to the cities, so its market is very prosperous. The development of county towns and rural grass markets is a useful supplement to urban commercial economy.