Xixia handicraft industry is divided into official camp and private camp, with official camp as the main one. Its production purpose is mainly for the use of Xixia nobles, followed by production and export. Handicraft door is relatively complete, which is classified in the revised code of Xia Renzong, "Tiansheng changes the old and new laws to make the company preface door" Handicraft industry is dominated by textile, smelting, gold and silver, wood production, salt mining, brewing, ceramics, architecture, bricks and tiles. And weapons manufacturing is relatively developed.
The green salt of Xixia is a favorite commodity of people in the border areas of Song and Xia Dynasties, and it is also one of the important financial resources of Xixia. The main producing areas are Wuchi, Bai Chi, Wachi and xixiang pools in Yanzhou (north of Yanchi in Ningxia), Hexi Corridor and hot spring pools in Yanzhou, Yanshan and Lingzhou (Wuzhong in Ningxia) in Xi 'an (west of Haiyuan in Ningxia). The produced green salt is sweet and cheap, which is more popular than the salt solution in Hedong in Song Dynasty. In addition, the alkali river in Xi 'an also produces white salt and red salt, but the quality is not as good as green salt. Xixia blue-and-white salt was mainly used for official trade with Song Dynasty, Liao Dynasty and Jin Dynasty except for Xixia people, among which the most was transported to Guanzhong area of Song Dynasty in exchange for a large amount of food. Therefore, the Song court banned the import of green salt from Xixia, and the Song people could only make huge profits by smuggling imports. The carpets in Xixia are valuable commodities for export, among which the white carpets made of white camel hair are recorded as "the best carpets in the world" in The Travels of Marco Polo. Xixia is rich in minerals, so its weapon manufacturing industry, such as arm bow, cyclone gun, cold forged armor that crossbow can't penetrate, is praised by the world. What is particularly worth mentioning is Xia Guo Jian, who was extremely sharp and valuable for a while, and was cherished by the Song people at that time.
Xixia printing industry is quite developed. In order to absorb Chinese culture and maintain their own culture, Xixia people carved books in Xia and Chinese. In order to develop the printing industry, Xia Ting also set up a book engraving department, which specializes in publishing. Private individuals and schools may also engrave books. There are many kinds of carved books, including Buddhist scriptures, Chinese classics, literary poems, phonology, divination mantras, medical skills, etc., among which Buddhist scriptures are the most. For example, in 1 189, Xia Renzong gave a Dafa meeting in Dadumin Temple, and distributed100000 copies of the Buddhist Sutra of Viewing Maitreya Buddha's Ascension Rate, and 50000 copies of Vajrayana Sutra and Guanyin Sutra in Chinese.
Xixia originally had no porcelain, which was mainly obtained by plundering Song people. After celebration and discussion, Xixia learned porcelain-making technology from Han nationality. In the summer period, the porcelain industry began to develop, with Xingqing as the production center. Judging from the ceramics unearthed in archaeology, the porcelain fired in Xixia is mostly white porcelain bowls and plates. Its porcelain is inferior to Song porcelain in technology, but it is simple and dignified, forming a unique Xixia porcelain. Iron smelting and metal manufacturing Jing Zong once set up an iron smelting business in eastern Zhou Xia, which was responsible for the mining and smelting of iron ore. There is a wrought iron picture in the Xixia mural of Yulin Cave in Anxi. In the picture, two people strike the iron with a hammer, and one person blows air behind a vertical bellows. 1976 The gold-plated bronze bull unearthed in Xiawangling area is huge in size and lifelike in shape, showing superb smelting and casting technology at that time. Xia porcelain found in Lingwu County, a ceramic industry, has thin walls, gray tires, delicate tires, some irregular shapes and white glaze, but the glaze color is unstable, there is no glaze hanging on the lower part of the surface and the circle foot, and there are sand marks on the bottom of the porcelain, which obviously cannot be compared with Song porcelain. Sauce-brown glazed vase found in Ejinhoro Banner, Inner Mongolia, carved with peony patterns, dignified and generous in shape and fancy, is a fine product of summer porcelain. Engraving printing industry Xia Guo imported a large number of China classics from Song and Jin Dynasties. The printed version of Jin Ping Mei is sold in Xia Guo. Most of the books carved by Xia Guo are Buddhist scriptures. Existing printed editions include Yin Tong engraved in the sixth year of Chongzong (A.D. 1 132), Pearl in the Palm of Fan Han published in the 21st year of Injong Ganyou (A.D. 1 190), and Pearl in the Palm of Fan Han published in the 20th year of Injong Ganyou (A.D.) In addition to Buddhist scriptures, there are poems, essays, novels, proverbs, words, phonology, laws, medical skills, calendars, divination, mantras and other books, as well as a large number of Chinese books translated by Xixia, including Confucian classics, philosophers, historical biographies, military books, medical books, prints and so on. The government has a "writing department" as the government's publishing agency. The early summer is mainly related to the Song Dynasty; In the later period, it was the state of Jin. The trade between Xia, Song and Jin mainly adopts the following ways. In Song Dynasty, monopoly markets were set up on the cross-strait border to trade bulk goods, and the opening and closing of monopoly markets were used to contain summer, so as to achieve the political effect of being far away from the frontier and the horizon. And the city has set up small-scale kiosks along the border, mainly to meet the daily needs of the border people of both sides. In Song Dynasty, there were Pingcheng on Hedong Road, and Jiuliangjin, Wubao, Ginkgo, Jintang, Bai Bao, Ma Xia and Zhejiang on Shaanxi Road. For example, in 1002, Li and his men established "conference" trade in Chishachuan and Tokou respectively. "Fair" is a formal market. Xia's envoys pay tribute to Kaifeng every year according to the regulations. In addition to giving preferential treatment, the Song government also allowed envoys to trade at will in Beijing. This kind of transaction is often large and profitable. Xia and Liao also traded through envoys. In Shanghai, guests from Linhuangyi and Zhongjing have places to receive Shi Xia. Shi Xia entered the country and allowed private trade along the way. In the trade between Xia and Jin Dynasty, Xia made a deal with wealthy businessmen when he entered Jin Dynasty, and stayed in Duting for trade after he arrived in Zhongdu.
The commodities obtained in Song and Jin Dynasties mainly include tapirs, silks, Luo, Qi, incense, porcelain, lacquerware, ginger and cinnamon. Tea is the most interesting commodity in Xia Guo. It is not only for the summer people to eat, but also used to trade with neighboring countries in the northwest to reap huge profits. Xia Guo also tried to trade iron products in various ways, but the outflow of iron products was forbidden in Liao and Jindu. Xia Guo's export commodities include sheep, horses, cattle, camels, salt, jade, carpets, licorice, honey, wax, musk, brown hair, antlers, sal ammoniac, Bupleurum, cistanche deserticola, rhubarb, safflower and feathers. Among them, livestock, fur products and wool textiles are the bulk. The green salt produced in Yanzhou area is pure in quality and slightly turquoise. Long before the founding of Xia Dynasty, local people obtained salt grains from salt lakes, transported them to Guanzhong to meet the needs of mainland people, and then bought back food and other production necessities. Later, Xia monopolized the production of salt, which became an important fiscal revenue, forcing the Song government to buy it in exchange for materials. In order to protect the monopoly interests of Xiezhou, the Song Dynasty always shut the door and prohibited private businessmen from entering the country. However, due to the low price and high quality of green salt, smuggling can not be banned, and the number of private sellers is quite large. Among these medicinal materials, rhubarb produced in Xia Guo is the most famous, and merchants sell it everywhere. Xia Guo lies on the main road between China and Central Asia. It extracts physical objects from Uighurs or Central Asian businessmen, or buys and sells them, from which it makes huge profits. In order to facilitate traffic, Xia Guo has built a post road, which runs through the whole territory. Twenty-five stations from east to west, ten stations from north to south, and twelve stations from northeast of Xingqing Prefecture can reach Qidan. The construction of this postal road has promoted the development of commerce.
As Xixia owns the Hexi Corridor, the commercial artery of the Silk Road, the domestic animal husbandry is rich, and there is a great demand for grain, tea and some handicrafts, so foreign trade is one of the lifeblood of Xixia economy, which is mainly divided into tribute trade, monopoly trade and market theft. Xixia's urban commerce is very prosperous, and Xingqing, Liangzhou, Ganzhou and Heishui City are all very prosperous. Commodities are mainly grain, cloth, silk, livestock and meat. Xixia can manage the trade between the western regions and the Central Plains by controlling the Hexi Corridor, and has frequent commercial trade with the Northern Song Dynasty, Liao Dynasty, Jin Dynasty, Western Zhou Uighur and Tubo. Due to Xixia's excessive monopoly on Hexi Corridor, some western businessmen changed to the Qaidam Basin and arrived in Qin Zhou (Tianshui, Shaanxi) in the Song Dynasty through Shaanxi (Xining, Qinghai), which was called Tuguhun Road in history.
The relatively large and stable trade is monopoly trade, and there are monopoly markets in the border areas between Xixia and Northern Song Dynasty, Liao Dynasty and Jin Dynasty, such as the Baoan Army (Shaanxi Zhidan), Zhenrongjun (Ningxia Guyuan), Linzhou and Yanzhou established in Song Dynasty. With the Liao Dynasty in Tiandefu, Yunnei and Yun Bei, Yinwengkou, Yaoguo and Shangshi Lengpo. The monopoly market has fixed trading places and people to evaluate the grade of commodities, and the supervision and inspection personnel sent by both governments manage the market and collect taxes. The main contents of trade are livestock, woolen goods and medicinal materials. Goods outside the "official market" are not subject to this restriction. After the Jin Dynasty destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty, because the Southern Song Dynasty was isolated from Xixia, Xixia's foreign trade was in the hands of the Jin Dynasty, and it had to rely on the Jin Dynasty economically. 1 14 1 year, the rulers agreed to open the security forces, Lanzhou, Suide, Zhou Huan and Dongsheng. In A.D. 1 172, Jin Shizong of the Jin Dynasty closed these markets on the grounds that the security forces, Lan and Suide did not produce cloth, thinking that it was not cost-effective to exchange textiles for luxury goods in Xixia. This made the relationship between the two sides tense. In the last years of Xia Renzong, wars continued, and it was ten years before normal trade was resumed. Finally, a large number of scattered "stolen markets" (private markets), that is, informal markets and smuggling trade, such as green salt trade, exchanged smuggling for food in the Song Dynasty.
Due to the prosperity of Xixia commerce, it is also very important as a currency in circulation: first, Xixia currency minted by China; The other is the currency imported during the Song and Jin Dynasties. As early as the summer period, there was money. Except Xia Xianzong and the emperors at the end of the Xia Dynasty, every generation of emperors had examples of casting money. Xia Renzong also established Tongji Sword Coin in 1 158. Most of Xixia coins are exquisitely cast, and calligraphy is elegant and smooth. There are five kinds of coins written in Xixia script, namely "Reviving Qian Bao", "Da 'an Qian Bao", "Guan Zhen Qian Bao", "Gan You Qian Bao" and "Tian Bao Qing Qian".