page_title: Economy of the Song dynasty
section_title: Urban employment and businesses
hierarchical_section_title: Economy of the Song dynasty / Commerce / Urban employment and businesses
caption_attribution_description: Close-up detail of the Chinese cityscape handscroll Along the River During Qingming Festival, ink and colors on silk, 25.5 × 525 cm.
context_page_description: For over three centuries during the Song dynasty China experienced sustained growth in per capita income and population, structural change in the economy, and increased pace of technological innovation. Movable print, improved seeds for rice and other commercial crops, gunpowder, water-powered mechanical clocks, the use of coal as a source of fuel for a variety of industries, improved techniques for iron and steel production, pound locks and many other technological innovations transformed the economy. In north China, the main fuel source for ceramic kilns and iron furnaces shifted from wood to coal. This made the job a lot faster because coal burns quicker.
  During the Song dynasty, there was also a notable increase in commercial contacts with global markets. Merchants engaged in overseas trade through investments in trading vessels and trade which reached ports as far away as East Africa. This period also witnessed the development of the world's first banknote, or printed paper money, which circulated on a massive scale. Combined with a unified tax system and efficient trade routes by road and canal, this meant the development of a truly nationwide market.
context_section_description: Within the cities there were a multitude of professions and places of work to choose from, if one were not strictly inheriting a profession of his paternal line. Sinologist historians are fortunate enough to have a wide variety of written sources describing minute details about each location and the businesses within the cities of Song China. For example, in the alleys and avenues around the East Gate of the Xiangguo Temple in Kaifeng, historian Stephen H. West quotes one source:
  Along the Temple Eastgate Avenue...are to be found shops specializing in cloth caps with pointed tails, belts and waiststraps, books, caps and flowers as well as the vegetarian tea meal of the Ding family...South of the temple are the brothels of Manager's Alley...The nuns and the brocade workers live in Embroidery Alley...On the north is Small Sweetwater Alley...There are a particularly large number of Southern restaurants inside the alley, as well as a plethora of brothels.
  Similarly, in the "Pleasure District" along the Horse Guild Avenue, near a Zoroastrian temple in Kaifeng, West quotes the same source, Dongjing Meng Hua Lu (Dreams of Splendor of the Eastern Capital):
  In addition to the household gates and shops that line the two sides of New Fengqiu Gate Street...military encampments of the various brigades and columns [of the Imperial Guard] are situated in facing pairs along approximately ten li of the approach to the gate. Other wards, alleys, and confined open spaces crisscross the area, numbering in the tens of thousands—none knows their real number. In every single place, the gates are squeezed up against each other, each with its own tea wards, wineshops, stages, and food and drink. Normally the small business households of the marketplace simply purchase [prepared] food and drink at food stores; they do not cook at home. For northern food there are the Shi Feng style dried meat cubes...made of various stewed items...for southern food, the House of Jin at Temple Bridge...and the House of Zhou at Ninebends...are acknowledged to be the finest. The night markets close after the third watch only to reopen at the fifth.
  West points out that Kaifeng shopkeepers rarely had time to eat at home, so they chose to go out and eat at a variety of places such as restaurants, temples, and food stalls. Restaurant businesses thrived on this new clientele, while restaurants that catered to regional cooking targeted customers such as merchants and officials who came from regions of China where cuisine styles and flavors were drastically different than those commonly served in the capital. The pleasure district mentioned above—where stunts, games, theatrical stage performances, taverns and singing girl houses were located—was teeming with food stalls where business could be had virtually all night. West makes a direct connection between the success of the theatre industry and the food industry in the cities. Of the fifty some theatres within the pleasure districts of Kaifeng, four of these could entertain audiences of several thousand each, drawing huge crowds which would then give nearby businesses an enormous potential customer base. Besides food, traders in eagles and hawks, precious paintings, as well as shops selling bolts of silk and cloth, jewelry of pearls, jade, rhinoceros horn, gold and silver, hair ornaments, combs, caps, scarves, and aromatic incense thrived in the marketplaces.
caption: Shops and stalls with parasols and thatched roofs, lined against the riverfront, close-up detail from a long handscroll painting by Zhang Zeduan (1085–1145)
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