Research on the Layout of Handicraft and Commerce in Jiangnan during the Tang and Five Dynasties

Author: Zhang Jian Guang / Country:
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-05-01
Features: The Layout of the Textile Industry The textile industry was one of the most important sectors in the hand industry of Jiangnan during the Tang and Five Dynasties period. Due to its wide scope, large number of workers, and significant output, the textile industry had a crucial impact on the economy of Jiangnan. To some extent, the development of the textile industry in Jiangnan can reflect the overall trajectory of the region's hand industry.
I. The Geographical Layout of Silk Textile Industry Research on the geographical layout of silk textile industry in the Tang and Five Dynasties period has been extensively conducted by scholars both domestically and internationally, most of whom have studied Jiangnan as a whole. In reality, the distribution of silk textile industry in Jiangnan has many unique characteristics, with uneven development among various prefectures and inconsistent growth rates in different periods. Studying the layout and characteristics of silk textile industry in Jiangnan during different periods not only helps understand the development patterns of the Jiangnan silk industry but also contributes to accurately assessing its position in the country.
1. The Distribution of Silk Industry in the Early Tang Dynasty The silk textile industry in Jiangnan has a long history. Archaeological workers have discovered numerous textile tools in the Hemudu site as early as the Neolithic period. Experts believe that the Hemudu people were "close to utilizing wild silkworms and silk insects." Records from the pre-Qin, Qin-Han, and Eastern Wu periods all mention the production of mulberry and silk textiles in Jiangnan. During the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties, there was a breakthrough in silk cocoon production in Jiangnan. According to the "Wu Du Fu" by Zuo Si, the term "local tribute of eight silkworms" emerged, indicating the achievement of multiple silkworm harvests in a year. Xiao Ziliang of the Southern Qi Dynasty once said, "In the inner regions of Sanwu, the people are impoverished and often suffer from hardship. Silk farmers rarely obtain a harvest, and hunger and cold are particularly severe. The looms are diligently worked, and each pair produces three hundred pieces." This shows that silk textile production was already quite common in the Sanwu region during the Southern Dynasties.
The "Book of Sui" (Volume 3, "Geographical Records") provides a summary of the silk industry in Jiangnan before the Tang Dynasty: "Danyang, the former capital, is connected to Wu and Huai in the east, and to Jiang and Hu in the south. Xuancheng, Pingling, Wu Jun, Jieshi, Yuhan, and Dongyang also share similar customs. They have four to five silkworm harvests a year and are diligent in spinning. Some even wash silk at night and finish weaving by morning, which is known as the 'rooster-calling cloth.'" These regions had a silk industry throughout the dynasties, laying a preliminary foundation for the development of silk weaving in the Tang Dynasty. However, compared to the northern regions, the development level of the silk industry in Jiangnan was still relatively low.
After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, with social stability and the development of agriculture, silk textile production gradually flourished in Jiangnan. Due to fragmented historical records, examining the specific development of the silk industry in Jiangnan during the early Tang Dynasty relies primarily on tribute and tax data. However, these records are not entirely comprehensive, focusing mainly on the Kaiyuan and Tianbao periods of the Tang Dynasty. There is a complete lack of silk textile data from the 7th century, so our research can only provide a general trend.
During the Kaiyuan and Tianbao periods, Jiangnan had three circuits with a total of 15 prefectures. Ming, Tai, and Xing prefectures were excluded due to the absence of records of silk tribute. The last column in the table lists the "reduced and constructed tribute" recorded in the "Old Book of Tang" (Volume 105, "Biography of Wei Jian"). Since the reduced and constructed tribute is a supplement to the regular tribute but not entirely consistent with it, this row is included as a special entry. The records of the reduced and constructed tribute are incomplete, and it is unknown whether other regions' reduced and constructed tribute included silk products. Based on the list, we can further study the main areas of silk weaving in the early Tang Dynasty in Jiangnan. We categorize silk, ramie, silk, and silk gauze as general silk textiles, while silk, brocade, gauze, and silk cloth are classified as special silk textiles (including processed ramie cloth, which is also counted as special silk textiles). Silk cloth, being a combination of silk and hemp cloth, is included in the special silk textiles category.
Statistics show that there are six prefectures in Jiangnan that contribute general silk textiles: Run, Mu, Wen, Qiu, Chu, and Wen. Run and Mu contribute both general and special silk textiles, but since the "Yuanhe Gazetteer" records the tribute of both prefectures, silk was indeed submitted. The other four prefectures contribute only ramie as general silk textiles and are all located in southeastern Zhejiang, indicating a relatively similar level of development in silk textile production. There are eight prefectures that contribute special silk textiles: Run, Chang, Su, Hu, Hang, Mu, Yue, and Xuan. General silk textiles reflect the prevalence of silk textile production in a region, while special silk textiles better demonstrate the technical level of textile production. Therefore, prefectures that produce special silk textiles must have been more developed in silk textile production during that time.
From this, we can see that the silk weaving industry in the early Tang Dynasty in Jiangnan generally presented the following situation: the northern regions developed significantly faster than the southern regions, and the overall technical level was higher in the Taihu Lake area in western Zhejiang. The silk industry at that time was basically divided into three tiers: the fastest-developing were prefectures that contributed special silk textiles, followed by those that contributed general silk textiles, and the most backward were the eastern coastal and western mountainous areas, including Xing prefecture. Among the eight prefectures that produced special silk textiles, ranked by the number of varieties, they are Yue (6 types), Run (5 types), Chang (3 types), Hang (3 types), Su (2 types), and Hu, Mu, and Xuan (each 1 type). We can draw the preliminary conclusion that the most developed silk textile regions in the early Tang Dynasty were Yue, Run, Chang, Hang, and Su. The first two prefectures had already achieved rapid development in silk weaving during the Southern Dynasties and were the most advanced in agriculture and hand industry at that time. The development of the last three prefectures gradually rose during the early Tang Dynasty. For example, in Yixing County of Changzhou, during the Tianbao period, the county magistrate Li Ming governed with deep popular support. "The villagers welcome you with cups of wine, dancing and singing together. Farmers abandon their raincoats and hats, and silk women drop their hairpins. They greet and celebrate with joy, showing their deep affection." Professor Lu Huayu believes that calling the women of Yixing silk farmers indicates that almost every household in the area raised silkworms. As for Hu Zhou, it was mainly engaged in ramie cloth weaving during the Tang Dynasty.
The table also shows that Chu, Wen, Xuan, and Hu prefectures mainly contributed silk textiles during the Kaiyuan period, while there is no record of them during the Tianbao period. This does not mean that these prefectures did not produce silk textiles during the Tianbao period, but at least it indicates that their development was relatively slow in the early Tang Dynasty, and silk textile production did not hold a significant position in the local economy.
2. The Distribution of Silk Industry in the Late Tang Dynasty Due to the abundance of literary works, the data on the silk industry in the late Tang Dynasty is relatively richer. However, we will first briefly describe the general situation of the textile industry at that time by referring to the Yuanhe tribute in the "Yuanhe Gazetteer" and the Changqing tribute in the "New Book of Tang."
The Yuanhe tribute in the "Yuanhe Gazetteer" is incomplete and can only be used as a rough reference. For the missing records, the table uses "?" to indicate. According to the table, among the 16 prefectures in Jiangnan during the late Tang Dynasty, only three contributed general silk textiles: Changzhou (2 types), Chuzhou (2 types), and Wenzhou (1 type). Compared to the early Tang Dynasty, Changzhou was included, while Qiu and Wen prefectures were excluded. General silk textiles in the early Tang Dynasty were mainly silk and ramie, but at this time, the general silk textiles included more varieties, with silk, ramie, and silk being contributed to the court. There are 11 prefectures that contributed special silk textiles: Yue (dozens of types), Xuan (multiple types), Run (6 types), Su (3 types), Chuzhou (3 types), Changzhou (2 types), Hu (2 types), Hang (2 types), Wenzhou (2 types), Ming (2 types), and Wenzhou (1 type). The prefectures that contributed special silk textiles included Chuzhou, Ming, and Wenzhou, indicating that their silk industry had begun to develop and their technical level had improved rapidly.
The table shows that Qiu, Wen, Tai, Xing, and Chi prefectures did not contribute silk textiles. Among them, Qiu and Wen contributed general silk textiles in the early Tang Dynasty but were not recorded in the late Tang Dynasty. Tai and Xing prefectures had no records in the early Tang Dynasty and still had no records in the late Tang Dynasty. Chi prefecture was established in the middle Tang Dynasty and also had a silk industry. Du Mu's poem "On the Pool Pavilion in Chi Prefecture" says, "The winding belt of bamboo villages, the land of silk is full of looms." Du Xunhe's poem "Offering to the Magistrate of Chi Prefecture" says, "Separating the wild color to harvest new wheat, startling the oriole's song to pick tender mulberry." His poem "Returning from Jiangxi to Jiuhua" says, "The silk woman has no clothes, and the silkworms are still small; the farmer lacks food, and the wheat has not yet ripened." The area around Jiuhua Mountain in Chi Prefecture was a silk and wheat production region in the late Tang Dynasty.
There was also a small amount of silk production in Xing prefecture. The "New Anhui Gazetteer" (Volume 8, "Biography of the Two Zhang Sisters") says, "The two Zhang sisters were the daughters of Zhang Ding from Xing Prefecture. Their mother, Cheng Shi, and the two daughters went mountain climbing to pick mulberry leaves. The magistrate Liu Zan praised them and exempted their family from taxes, renaming their hometown, Heyang, as Filial Daughter Village to honor them." Although the mulberry leaves were wild rather than artificially planted, the purpose of picking them was naturally for raising silkworms and weaving.
Jixi County was established in the second year of the Dali period (767). The "Yuanhe Gazetteer" (Volume 28) says, "This county has two streams, Nuoxi and Huixi, one mile apart, flowing separately and then merging, resembling a 'jixi' (thread-like intertwining), hence the name." However, the "New Anhui Gazetteer" (Volume 5, "Water Sources") tells a different story about the origin of the county name: "The stream water is very suitable for washing silk. Women from several miles away come to wash silk, and those far from home weave nearby to guard it. During spring, there are many beautiful clothes, and everyone weaves here, even those who do not wash silk also join in. The county name also takes this meaning into account." Whether this explanation is credible or not, it shows that Xing prefecture had a silk weaving industry.
It can be seen that the five prefectures mentioned above, which had no records of silk tribute, had silk weaving to some extent, but the quality of their textiles was not very high, and the popularity of mulberry planting and silkworm raising was not very high. For example, in Xing prefecture, the silk weaving industry was almost negligible. The "Huangzhi Anhui Prefecture Gazetteer" (Volume 12) quotes the "Dehengzhong Liusongzhong Dezheng Ji" by Bao Yueming, a professor of medicine in Huizhou Road during the Yuan Dynasty, who said that most of Anhui Prefecture was mountainous, "Unable to plant mulberry trees, without cocoons or silk, tax revenue depends on neighboring prefectures." These natural conditions limited the development of the silk industry in the region.