Generally speaking, the Song Dynasty was in the late feudal society of China, and its dominant economic model was still the natural economy, while the commodity economy in a secondary position had a great development, showing unprecedented prosperity, as shown in the following aspects.

"Integration of stores and markets" is an important feature of the development of urban commodity economy in Song Dynasty. Cities before the Song Dynasty were generally the political center of an administrative region, and the "housing market system" was implemented for a long time, separating housing from the city. Fang is the residential area and administrative unit of urban residents, and the city is the trading place. The market management is extremely strict, surrounded by high walls, and the business hours are subject to the closure of the market gate. Generally, the market closes at sunset, and the trading time is limited, which is extremely unfavorable to the development of commodity economy. Due to the war in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, the "Fang Shi system" was destroyed. Although it was restored in the early Song Dynasty, it was unable to reproduce its old appearance. With the development of urban economy, commercial activities in Kaifeng, Tokyo began to appear "street invasion". In the five years of Taiping and Xingguo (980), the phenomenon of street stalls and shops in shops became more and more serious, which broke the old urban pattern of separating shops from cities and broke through the restrictions of trading time and region. Although the court intervened in this phenomenon, it was repeatedly banned. From the Northern Song Dynasty to the first year of Daoguang (995) and the middle age of Xianping (998- 1003), two attempts were made to restore the Fangshi system, but both failed. At the beginning of Song Renzong's accession to the throne, he had to admit this fact, and simply knocked down all the walls of Fanghe City, announcing the complete collapse of the old Fanghe market system. Shops and workshops stand on the streets, and workshops and cities are integrated, which indicates that the embryonic form of modern cities has emerged. At that time, Kaifeng, Tokyo, was already "densely populated, with more than a dozen people added, neither increasing nor decreasing." The so-called flower array wine pool, Xiangshan medicine sea. Are there any secluded alleys, Yan Guan Gelou, there are thousands. "It is conceivable that its business is booming. Due to the integration of shops and cities and the appearance of modern urban prototype, the development of commodity economy has been further promoted. At that time, the traditional "curfew" law had been abolished in Kaifeng, Tokyo, and there was no time limit for commodity trading, so night markets generally appeared. According to China in Tokyo (Volume III) written by Meng Yuan, a veteran of the Song Dynasty, the night market didn't reopen until midnight. Wherever you want to go, you are familiar with it. " "Ghost Town" is also a kind of night market. In Panlou Street, it is called a "ghost town" because it lights up every five minutes, buying and selling clothes, pictures, garlands and wet wipes until dawn. The rapid development of Tokyo's commodity economy will inevitably spread to all parts of the country. At that time, grass markets in southern towns also mushroomed. During the Xining period of the Northern Song Dynasty (1068- 1077), there were nearly 2,000 towns in China, while there were more than 1300 roads in the south. These emerging commercial towns have changed the specifications and nature of the old county towns, from a single political center in the region to a dual political and economic center. This kind of grass market, which is located outside the town, has gradually merged into the city with the historical process of "the integration of shops and cities". Many citizens moved to the grass market for the convenience of trading, making the grass market a new commercial city.

The appearance of national household registration is another important feature of the development of commodity economy in Song Dynasty. Before the Song Dynasty, there was little difference between urban and rural household registration, and there was no special name "Fangguohu". During the Northern Song Dynasty, the urban commodity economy developed rapidly, and the citizen class grew unprecedentedly. According to Mr. Zhou's research, there were about130,000 households (excluding counties) in Kaifeng, Tokyo (102-106), and the total population should be around1500,000. (4) Wu Tao thought that the total number of major customers in Tokyo at that time should exceed 260,000. It can be seen that Kaifeng, Tokyo has a large number of residents, and it was the most populous metropolis in the world at that time. With the rapid increase of urban population, household registration management has encountered new problems. Song Taizong ordered several times to clean up the household registration, but failed to solve the chaotic household registration problem. Because there were too many people (customers) without real estate at that time, it was not easy to register and settle down. In the third year of Tianxi (10 19), Beijing official and local official Xue Tiandu were appointed as Guo's residents. Invitation from Zheng Feng, Minister of Housing. "6. At the invitation of Feng Zhi, the official of the quasi-household registration department, he was appointed as an imperial minister, and together with Xue Tian, the magistrate of Yuzhou, conducted a pilot household registration ranking in Luoyang, which was later extended to the whole country. At that time, there were about 980 thousand households with a population of about 5 million. ⑦ These Chinese families are listed separately and divided into ten grades according to the amount of property. Fangguohu is the so-called urban hukou today, which is the inevitable product of the development of commodity economy. Its appearance not only shows the prosperity of urban commodity economy in the Northern Song Dynasty, but also marks the formal formation of the citizen class, which is of great significance in the history of social and economic development in China. As Marx said: "All developed division of labor based on commodity exchange is based on the division of labor between cities and villages." The establishment of China's household registration has separated cities from villages, further promoting the development of urban commodity economy and the division of labor in commodity exchange.

The formation of guild organization is another important feature of the development of urban commodity economy in Song Dynasty. Guilds are also called "travel groups", or simply "travel groups". Every guild has a "leader" or "group leader". Generally, people with strong economic strength in the guild will be elected as leaders. There were more than 160 guilds in the Northern Song Dynasty, and more guilds in the Southern Song Dynasty. Some changed their names to "city" and "branch office". After continuous merger, its organization is getting bigger and bigger, which plays an important role in business activities.

The guild can re-determine the unified price according to the changes in market conditions; It can protect the interests of local businesses and resist foreign businessmen from seizing the local market; Be able to adjust the relationship between guild members and the government, and protect the interests of the group's businessmen as much as possible when dealing with the taxes of governments such as "matching" and "supply banks". As American economic historian Thompson said: "Guilds control capital and manage labor; They dominate the distribution of production; They set prices and wages. But in their organizations, there is also a social influence. The purpose of the guild is partly social and partly mutual. " Pet-name ruby guild is a social group formed by city businessmen and craftsmen because of the same occupation and interests. It is the product of the development of commodity economy, which has an influence and function on the development of commodity economy.