Economy
Production Development
After Tang Xuanzong came to power, political stability created conditions for social and economic development, production developed, and the economy prospered. During the Kaiyuan period, the land was opened up, and many "high mountains and ravines were filled with grass and grass."
According to Du You's "Tongdian": "In the 13th year of Kaiyuan (Kaiyuan), when I was granted the title of Mount Tai, my rice bucket reached thirteen coins, and my Qingqi grain bucket reached five coins. Since then, there are no precious things in the world. The price of rice in Beijing is less than 20 coins, noodles are 32 coins, and silk is 210 coins per piece. It reaches Bian (now Kaifeng, Henan) in the east, and reaches Qizhou (now Fengxiang, Shaanxi) in the east. There are many restaurants on the road to entertain guests, and there are plenty of wine and food in each store. There are donkeys to rent passengers, and it is called the Post Donkey in the south, from Jingxiang (today's Jiangling, Xiangfan, Hubei), to Taiyuan and Fanyang in the north. Today's Beijing), and as far west as Shuchuan (now Chengdu, Sichuan) and Liangfu (that is, Liangzhou, now Wuwei, Gansu), there were shops for business travelers, covering thousands of miles, and they could not hold an inch of food at that time. The output of cloth is abundant, prices are low, commerce is prosperous, roads are smooth, and travel is safe. By the 20th year of Kaiyuan, there were 7,861,236 households in the country (more than 10 million at most), with a population of 45,431,1265. In the early Tang Dynasty, household registration increased by more than one and a half times.
Area of ??cultivated land
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the area of ??cultivated land nationwide was 660 million acres. Compared with the Han Dynasty, the territory of the Tang Dynasty expanded further; the Grand Canal more closely connected the Yellow River Basin and the Yangtze River Basin, promoting the growth of the national economy. History said: "At the time of Kaiyuan and Tianbao, the cultivators were working hard, the mountains were full of valleys, and the grass was full." According to current historical data, the actual cultivated land area in the country at that time was about 8.5 million hectares, which is equivalent to 660 million acres today (currently 1.8 billion acres in China), and the per capita occupation was more than 9 acres. Far more than China’s average today (1.4 acres).
Promoting frugality
Xuanzong was very frugal during this period. He stipulated that ministers below the third rank and those below the concubine in the inner palace were not allowed to wear ornaments made of gold and jade, and dismissed the palace maids. , to save money. He also ordered that all parts of the country were prohibited from mining pearls, jade and manufacturing brocades, thus changing the extravagant style of the harem since Wu Zetian. He also ordered Yu Wenrong to conduct an inventory of fugitive households and foreign lands across the country. More than 800,000 households were found, which greatly increased the Tang Dynasty's tax revenue and sources of troops. Because of these measures, the Tang Dynasty's finances became abundant, the country's granaries were abundant, and prices were very cheap.
Economic prosperity
Agriculture
During the Kaiyuan period, Datang built large-scale water conservancy projects. During the Kaiyuan period, 38 water conservancy projects were built in the Tang Dynasty. During the Tianbao period, 8 more water conservancy projects were built. There are 46 places. Xuanzong also established large-scale farming in various parts of the country. The development of agricultural production caused mountains of grain to accumulate in government warehouses.
Farming technology has improved, and rice seedling transplantation is widely used. Tea production developed greatly during the Kaiyuan period. The world's first tea monograph "Tea Classic" appeared in the Tang Dynasty. The author Lu Yu was called the "Tea Sage" by later generations. The practice of drinking tea began to flourish in the Tang Dynasty. Production tools have also been improved, and a new agricultural tool has appeared - the curved shaft plow; a new irrigation tool - the barrel cart has been created.
Handicraft industry
During the Kaiyuan period, the silk weaving industry had many varieties of designs and colors and superb technology. In the ceramic industry, celadon from Jingde, white porcelain from Xing kiln, and tricolor porcelain from the Tang Dynasty also appeared.
City size
The world-famous metropolises during the Kaiyuan period were mainly distributed in China, such as Chang'an, Luoyang, Yangzhou, Chengdu, etc. Chang'an City is divided into Fang and City. Fang is a residential area and City is a prosperous commercial area.
Chang'an City is the center of exchanges between various ethnic groups and an international metropolis. Its architectural form not only influenced the establishment of capitals of various dynasties in later generations, but also affected Korea and Japan. The construction of Japanese capitals such as Heijo-kyo and Heian-kyo were based on Chang'an City in the Tang Dynasty.
Population
From the beginning of Wude to the end of Tianbao, the household registration and population of the Tang Dynasty were lower than those of the Sui Dynasty. It is possible that due to insufficient laws and regulations, household registrations were often hidden and not reported, so the history books recorded as Imaginary numbers are less than the actual data. According to the "Old Book of Tang" records, there were 1.8 million households in the first year of Wude in the Tang Dynasty (618); 2.19 million households in the seventh year of Wude in the Tang Dynasty (624); and 300 households in the 13th year of Zhenguan (639). 040,000 households, 3.6 million households in the 22nd year of Zhenguan (648 years) of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, 3.8 million households in the 3rd year of Yonghui (652 years) of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, and a population of 70 million It is the national population during the Tianbao period (742-755) ruled by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. Scholars have speculated based on various historical materials that in the middle of the 8th century AD, the actual number of households in the Tang Dynasty exceeded 13 to 4 million, and the actual population exceeded 70 million.
According to "Food and Goods" in Volume 7 of "Tongdian", in the thirteenth year of Emperor Xuanzong's Tianbao reign (754 years), there were 9,069,154 households and 52,880,488 people in the country.
Du You's "Tongdian" believes that a large number of households were concealed during the Tianbao period of the Tang Dynasty. In fact, there were 13 to 14 million households in the Tang Dynasty at that time.
Scholars have analyzed various historical data and found that in the middle of the 8th century AD, the actual number of households in the Tang Dynasty exceeded 13 to 4 million, and the actual population was about 80 million.
Historian Feng Guodong's "Chinese Population History" analyzed that there were about 14.3 million to 15.4 million households in Tianbao Shisan in the Tang Dynasty, and about 74.75 million to 80.5 million people.
At that time, there were fifteen roads in the country, and the population north of the Huaihe River in the Qinling Mountains was 30 million. The most populous areas are Henan, Hebei and Huaibei, with a combined population of nearly 20 million. Chang'an, the capital city of Jingzhao Prefecture, has a population of 1.96 million, while Luoyang, Henan Prefecture, has a population of 1.18 million. Weizhou, a transportation hub city along the Grand Canal in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, also had a population of 1.1 million. Hedong Road has a population of 3.72 million; Guannai Road has a population of 1.5 million; Longyou Road has the smallest population, only 530,000. Among the southern provinces, Jiangnan East Province has the largest population, with 6.61 million. Followed by Jiannan Road, with a population of 4.09 million, of which Chengdu Prefecture has a population of 920,000. The population of Jiangnan West Road is also 3.72 million, Huainan Road is 2.27 million, and Lingnan Road is 1.16 million. Qianzhong Road has the lowest population in the country, with only 160,000.
In the 8th century, the population of other countries in the world at that time was as follows: The population of the Kingdom of East Frankfurt from the Seine River to the Rhine River was 2-3 million. Until the 16th century, the population of the Mediterranean region was only 50 million to 60 million. The population of North Africa is 3 million. In an era dominated by agricultural economy, population is the productive force. The prosperous population during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty reflected that China's overall economic strength at that time was unique among the nations in the world.