During the Song Dynasty, the geographical distribution of literati was mainly in the Yellow River Basin and the Yangtze River Basin. In comparison, the literati were more densely distributed in the south, which reflected the southward shift of the economic center of gravity and the southward migration of northerners. The prosperity of Song Dynasty's handicraft industry and commercial economy, the invention of movable type printing, the improvement of the imperial examination system, and the rise of citizen culture all led to the emergence of a large number of literati.