Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 7, 2022

The Productivity Level in the Song Dynasty

(Abstract)

Jiang Xidong

Exploring the evolution and changes in social history should begin with research on the fundamental problem: the state of development of productivity. The Song dynasty witnessed at least forty-five cases of improvement of production technologies, production objects, and production tools, of which at least fifteen took place in agriculture and at least thirty in handicraft industry. The overall Song productivity level exceeded that of the previous dynasties, but it also had many limitations; seven bottlenecks restricted its further development. The Ming and Qing dynasties outperformed it in only two fields: agricultural technology and the fire lance \[which used gunpowder\], while failing to make major breakthroughs in the other five fields. Although the Ming and Qing dynasties surpassed the Song dynasty in terms of total productivity and technology, especially when it came to the introduction of crop-planting techniques, their per capita productivity and quality of development lagged behind, leaving the whole of society stagnant and conservative, for several reasons: no major breakthrough was made in production tools; some important tools even went backward, and the population increased sharply. Compared with previous dynasties and the Ming and Qing, the Song reached a peak productivity level. The changing productivity level is the primary reason for Song development, Ming and Qing stagnation, and the rise of Europe.