This long crisis was partially resolved by the creation of a military dictatorship which was to be finally swept away through the development of peasant militias, whose leaders founded in 1949 the People's Republic of China. The little Chinese cities of remote antiquity were only enclaves in the midst of vast extents of uncultivated land and did not extend beyond the limits of the lower basin of the Yellow River. The warlike, China of the sixth to eighth centuries turned towards central Asia and succeeded in extending its authority to the regions beyond the Pamirs, while China of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was a maritime, trading land threatened by the advance of the empires of the steppe. From this perspective, Elvin sees the economic and technological periods of Chinese history as fundamental to understanding the Chinese past. Permanent Agriculture Permanent agriculture.
Fields take the place of clearances.
A free peasantry 3rd Century CE - State Administration of Land Holdings Establishment of state colonies and hereditary military households in Wei. In other areas distribution of large land-holdings. 7th Century CE - Expansion into Yangtze River Valley Expansion of population and administrative base to Yangtze valley. The Yangtze River valley becomes the chief rice surplus area of China and the basis of imperial power. Bondage to the soil is first found in the 10th century.