Economic restructuring and demographic growth: demystifying growth and development in <scp>N</scp>orthern <scp>S</scp>ong <scp>C</scp>hina, 960–1127

Deng, Kent; Zheng, Lucy

doi:10.1111/ehr.12100

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Census records indicate that China’s population swelled to nearly 100 million people for the first time ever, double the population of the Han dynasty (Table 2). The rapid increase in the number of people that the Northern Song dynasty ruled over put an unprecedented strain on both the environment and the economy (Deng and Zheng, 2015; Durand, 1960). According to the Songshi Bing Zhi (History of the Song Dynasty, Journal of Military Vol.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…After Emperor Taizu (Zhao Kuangyin AD 927–976, reigned from AD 960 to 976) conquered the warring factions of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (AD 907–960) and established the Northern Song dynasty capital at Bianjing, modern-day Kaifeng (Fairbank and Goldman, 2006: 88), he ushered in an era of unprecedented economic prosperity and population growth that required him and his successors to fiercely defend the Northern Song dynasty’s northwestern and northeastern borders against the Western Xia Kingdom and the Liao Dynasty, respectively. However, frequent military campaigns against both nomadic kingdoms weakened the Northern Song dynasty’s status as an economic and military power and indirectly took funds and personnel away from dealing with the growing flood risk of the Yellow River (Deng, 2013; Deng and Zheng, 2015).…”

Section: A Brief Overview Of the Climate Environment And History Of The North China Plain And Loess Plateaumentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We bring together evidence from archaeology, geology, and history, to discuss the role the AD 1048–1128 Yellow River floods had in hastening the collapse of the Northern Song dynasty (AD 960–1127), a period that is often regarded by historians as the apogee of Medieval China’s economic and cultural influence (Deng, 2013; Deng and Zheng, 2015; Jones, 1990; Figure 1). Historians have recently shown that people living in the agricultural heartland of the North China Plain bore the brunt of the devastation brought on by the AD 1048–1128 floods, leaving the Northern Song dynasty’s breadbasket of modern-day Henan and Hebei Provinces unable to recover for hundreds of years (Lamouroux, 1998; Mostern, 2016; Zhang, 2009, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The collapse of the North Song dynasty and the AD 1048–1128 Yellow River floods: Geoarchaeological evidence from northern Henan Province, China

et al. 2018

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From AD 1048 to 1128, Yellow River flooding killed over a million people, left many more homeless and destitute, and turned parts of the once fertile North China Plain into a silted-up agricultural wasteland. Brought on in part by climate change and the Northern Song dynasty's (AD 960-1127) mismanagement of the environment, the Yellow River floods likely hastened the collapse of the Northern Song dynasty. Despite the magnitude of this flood event, no sedimentary deposits have yet been linked to these historically recorded floods. In this research paper, we provide archaeological, sedimentary, and radiocarbon evidence of the AD 1048-1128 Yellow River floods at the Dazhanglongcun, Xidacheng, and Daguxiancun sites in Neihuang County, Henan Province. Based on our data, we argue that the AD 1048-1128 Yellow River floods deposited over 5 m of alluvium on villages in the North China Plain, radically changing both the physical and political landscape of Northern Song dynasty China.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Brief Overview Of the Climate Environment And History Of The North China Plain And Loess Plateaumentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The collapse of the North Song dynasty and the AD 1048–1128 Yellow River floods: Geoarchaeological evidence from northern Henan Province, China

et al. 2018

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“…The imperial examinations also gained importance from the Song dynasty onward and further eroded the influence of the aristocracy, leading to the rise of absolute monarchy and an improvement in the status of the commoners (Fogel, 1984; Miyakawa, 1955). Other work has shown that there were also considerable institutional differences between the Song and the Ming‐Qing (1368–1912) dynasties (Deng & Zheng, 2015; Liu, 2015; von Glahn, 2019).…”

Section: Four Views On the Early Modern Statementioning

confidence: 99%

The state in Chinese economic history

Qian

Sng

2021

Aust Econ Hist Rev

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We survey the recent economics and history literature on the Chinese state to investigate its role in China's long‐term socioeconomic development. We highlight three insights. First, unlike in Europe, where interstate competition helped give rise to capitalist states with high capacity, the Chinese state emerged from a different historical context. Second, the 18th‐ and 19th‐century Chinese state does not fit into the mould of a strong and extractive Oriental despotic state as once commonly believed. By conventional measures, early modern China had a weak state. Third, state building and centre‐local relations are two useful dimensions to understand development and change in China's recent history and political economy. To adapt China to a changing world, Chinese state builders embarked on a long process of state building from the late‐19th century through the Republican and Communist eras. Facilitated partly by regional decentralisation, the process now sees the Chinese state playing a substantially larger role in the economy and everyday life than any previous time in history.

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