Ancient Chinese Economy
Rice Paddy
In China, as in West Asia, Africa, or Europe, most people have spent most
of their time farming for the last ten thousand years. In northern China,
people mostly farm wheat, while in
southern China it is mostly rice.
Here's a video of people picking rice:
But there was also a lot of trade in China, and between China and the
West. Some of the traders went south to India,
and some went along the northern Silk Road through Turkestan and Uzbekistan
to the Persian Empire.
Mainly people shipped silk to the
West, and imported gold.
Han Dynasty coin of the Empress Kuo
People first used cowrie shells for money in China as early as 1800 BC,
under the Shang Dynasty. Then people
used metal imitations of cowrie shells, and then metal strings of beads
called cash. We don't know whether the idea to make coins with writing
on them guaranteed by the government came from Western
Asia or not. But there were definitely bronze
coins in China by the 400's BC in the Chou
Dynasty.
Chinese paper money
Another important industry in China was mining. In the Han Dynasty, people in China began running businesses digging deep pits to get salt to sell. Most of the men who worked in the mines were probably slaves.
To find out more about the ancient Chinese economy, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:
Eyewitness: Ancient China, by Arthur Cotterell, Alan Hills, and Geoff Brightling (2000). For kids.
Negotiating
Daily Life in Traditional China: How Ordinary People Used Contracts, 600-1400,
by Valerie Hansen (1995).
