In the late 1970s, I found that I didn't have a deep understanding of the "historical premise" of budding capitalism in the middle of Ming Dynasty in the teaching of ancient economic history in China, so I sprouted the desire to study the commodity economy in Tang and Song Dynasties and see how budding capitalism started from the ancient commodity currency economy. The first topic I did was "Some Issues on Merchants and Commercial Capital in Tang Dynasty", which was published in the 4th issue of Journal of Xiamen University (1980). The results show that the accumulation of commercial capital in the Tang Dynasty obviously cannot be the "historical premise" for the germination of capitalism. The reason may be that the level of commodity economy has not yet reached the level enough to germinate capitalist relations of production. In order to illustrate this point, I started a historical investigation of commodity economy and wrote the article "Preliminary Investigation of Commodity Economy in Five Dynasties and Ten Countries". Based on this, regional economic research is carried out to try to find out the specific process of developing from traditional agricultural economy to commodity economy, so there are three papers on Fujian's economic development (two of which were completed in cooperation with Comrade Wei). The above-mentioned research results on the regional economy in Taihu Lake and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (Hubei, Jiangxi and Fujian) have given me a new understanding of the specific process of commodity economy development in this period, especially the relationship between production departments and regions in the development of commodity economy. Looking back, I feel shallow.
At this time, I also dabbled in the discussion about the southward movement of China's ancient economic center. Since the publication of Zhang Jiaju's book "The Economic Center of the Song Dynasty Moved to the South" (1957), the issue of the economic center of China in ancient times has attracted the attention of historians, and the discussion has gradually started. Many scholars have expressed brief or detailed opinions on this issue (see Lu Xing and Ni's "Summary" in the sixth issue of Contention (Nanchang) 1990). Because I have made a preliminary investigation on three areas in the south of the Yangtze River, it is easier to get involved in this discussion. 1988 Comrade Chen Yande and I collaborated to write a long article, "Some Issues on the southward movement of China's ancient economic center", which reflected our views. Published in Guangming Daily (1988), the full text was published in Agricultural Archaeology (198) with Chen Wenhua's love. This paper discusses some theoretical problems of moving south, such as the difference between development zone and economic center; Standards for moving south; Completion time of southward migration; The shift of the economic center of gravity to the south and its separation from the political center, as well as its dependence on the southern landlord group and so on. In short, we will not simply describe the performance of China's ancient economic center of gravity moving south.
On this basis, I applied for the second batch of doctoral programs 1990- 1993 "Comprehensive Research on the Southward Movement of Ancient Economic Centers in China". How to do this project? Because I don't want to repeat the description of China's ancient economic center shifting to the south and the problems that have been raised, I am determined to study the internal reasons for the economic development in the south from the perspective of technological progress. I have been to European universities such as Leiden University in the Netherlands and Oxford University in the UK for academic visits and met many sinologists. I am amazed at their achievements in studying China's economy by using the achievements of technological history. In the process of investigating the history of industrial revolution in europe, we also know the role of European technology history.
I thought that China scholars' analysis of social changes focused on the superstructure and relations of production, but ignored the analysis from the perspective of the history of productive forces. The reason is that China historians lack natural science literacy, and the study of natural science history and social and economic history is not well combined. From the perspective of superstructure and economic base, the emphasis on production relations has started from internal factors, not external factors; But in terms of production itself, productivity is the internal cause and production relations are the external cause. In other words, the accumulation of people's production experience and scientific and technological inventions are the real driving forces for production development and economic progress, and what kind of production relations are only the external conditions for this development.
Based on this understanding, from the perspective of technological progress, I began to write five papers in three fields: shipping industry in Tang and Song Dynasties, farmland water conservancy and agriculture in Tang and Song Dynasties, and metallurgical manufacturing industry, trying to clarify the view that science and technology are the primary productive forces from another angle. The existing research achievements in the history of technology have helped me a lot, and I have also made some discussions when synthesizing the existing achievements. In this way, I have a deeper view on the shift of China's ancient economic center of gravity to the south than before. But throughout the book, whether it is the study of economic process or the study of technological progress, it still feels that it is not comprehensive enough, just a brick and a jade. I hope the experts can correct me more.
Because I have been the administrative leader of the school for a long time, everything is clustered, so that this project will not be completed until this year. Thanks to the kindness of Comrade Xia, president of Yuelu Bookstore, I immediately approved the publication of this book; Comrade Guan Qiaoling of Yuelu Bookstore is the person who directly proposed to publish this book. Thank you together.
Chen Yande and Wei Hongmao from the Institute of History of Xiamen University are collaborators of four papers in this book. Li Wenxuan, an associate professor in the Fine Arts Department, drew two illustrations for this book. Comrade Chen Mingguang, Shi, Han Sheng and graduate students enthusiastically supported the compilation of this book or provided materials and information. I would also like to express my gratitude. In short, the publication of a manuscript is often the crystallization of collective wisdom and labor, and it is true.
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