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What are the Effects of Urbanization in the Southern Song Dynasty?

The towns in the Southern Song Dynasty were not only very developed in industry and commerce, but also increasingly showed the characteristics of urbanization in social form. This undoubtedly has a very important and far-reaching significance in the development history of ancient Chinese society, especially the rural society.

The Jiangnan area in the Southern Song Dynasty mainly refers to the east and west roads of Jiangnan and the two east and west roads of Zhejiang, which are roughly equivalent to today’s Jiangsu, southern Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Shanghai. These areas were economically developed at that time, driving the surrounding suburbs. and rural areas are involved in the process of urbanization, and promote the development of towns and grass markets, which are clearly mentioned in terms of total volume and development level.

The towns and cities in the Jiangnan region of the Southern Song Dynasty, except for some small-scale grass cities, their social forms have increasingly shown the characteristics of urbanization, which is a manifestation of cities expanding outward and beginning to penetrate into rural areas. The town has initially developed into an emerging economic city that is different from traditional prefectures, counties and cities, and has promoted the process of rural urbanization in the south of the Yangtze River.

Generally speaking, the urbanization of the Southern Song Dynasty has two obvious characteristics: first, the number of cities and towns has increased. Compared with the Northern Song Dynasty, the number of cities and towns in the Southern Song Dynasty has increased. Second, the level of marketization has improved. Industry and commerce are relatively developed, and the degree of marketization is relatively high.

In the process of urbanization, there will inevitably be the flow of rural population to cities and towns, and the flow of population between cities and towns, including the flow of urban residents to the countryside. Many peasants abandoned their roots, abandoned agriculture and started business, detached from the land, left the countryside, and moved to cities and towns to seek a better life. Merchants are the most active group in the flow to cities and towns.

This group has a wide range of activities and travels between villages and towns and is scattered in every corner of towns. With the progress of urbanization in the Southern Song Dynasty, more and more rural population entered the cities, some settled down and became urban population, some became floating population, some became more and more impoverished, and the gap between the rich and the poor widened.

After the changes in the structure of residents, the urban population has become increasingly complex and fluidity has increased, and currency relations have developed into one of the main forms of communication between people. Combining occupations and hobbies as new social relationships, especially business relationships, a large number of people have formed many similarities in emotions, living customs, habits, etc. More and more people have left their original life circles and joined In the new social circle, the inherent patriarchal clan system was impacted, and new social organizations increasingly replaced the old group organizations.

During the process of urbanization in Jiangnan, the social way of life in the original rural areas has undergone major changes. For example, in terms of education, many Jiangnan cities and towns have government-run schools, private academies, primary schools, Mongolian schools, etc.; Agricultural production has become a town resident, driving changes in rural lifestyles, social and economic structures, ideological concepts, and value pursuits, breaking the closed and single way of life in the past, and increasing commercial and entertainment venues; urbanization has also promoted social development.

The change of concept and the trend of emphasizing business and profit have led to changes in rural ethics, interpersonal relationships, and family relations. Cultural life has become secularized, secular culture of recreation and entertainment has begun to rise, and lifestyles have begun to diversify. , The nightlife is rich and varied.

However, in the process of urbanization of Jiangnan in the Southern Song Dynasty, due to the disruption of the overall balance of inherent rural life, the social structure lost its original balance and relative stability, resulting in an imbalance in the social structure, resulting in a series of social problems.

Disintegration, population movement creates new management problems. Another social problem is that the gap between the rich and the poor is widening, the social stratum is shifting up and down rapidly, and social mobility is frequent, which has caused instability in the people’s hearts.

Due to the impact of traditional values, there have been some social problems such as hatred of the rich and revenge; and Even problems like fires happen from time to time.