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Jamie Feinberg

Ms. Diane Nicoll

7th Grade History

October 29, 2017

Agriculture, Technological, and Commercial developments in Tang and Sung Dynasties

There were Agricultural, Technological, and Commercial developments during the Tang and
Sung periods.
There we many developments that were important in Medieval China and Agriculture

was one of them. According to Christopher Muscato “During the Tang Dynasty, Chinese farmers

began the widespread cultivation of garlic, soybeans, and peaches, which had arrived through

international trade, but other than that, most of China's agricultural practices remained the same.”

But when tea came, there was a big change. Everyone in China drank tea and became obsessed

with it. Agriculture in Medieval China also had the Moldboard plow and watermill. The

moldboard was used to move soil out of the way and to the side. It could also build furrows in

the ground for agriculture. The water mill can generate electricity or help with driving a

mechanical process. Tea impacted China because everyone drank it and now people drink it

across the world. The watermill and Moldboard plow impacted China because it made

Agriculture easier. This also impacted the world because we drink tea and use plows.

There were also technological developments. One of these developments was wood

blocking. Wood blocking is the same thing as printing but from a long time ago when we didn’t

have that kind of technology. According to Asian Art Museum “Scholars believe that woodblock

printing first appeared in China around 600, probably inspired by the much older use of bronze

or stone seals to make impressions on clay and silk, and the practice of taking inked rubbings of
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inscribed texts from bronze and stone reliefs. The process for block printing on paper was

perfected by the end of Tang dynasty.” This means wood blocking was inspired by writing in

clay or other substances. In the Sung dynasty movable type printing was invented. This impacted

China because it would have been very hard to keep re-writing important long texts all the time.

Would blocking also played an important part of spreading information across China.

Technological development in Medieval China made life easier because they made shortcuts.

In the Tang and Sung dynasties, there were Commercial developments. According to

Columbia University's Asia for Educators “Farmers in Song China did not aim at

self-sufficiency. They had found that producing for the market made possible a better life.

Farmers sold their surpluses in nearby markets and bought charcoal, tea, oil, and wine. Some of

the products on sale in the city depicted in the scroll would have come from nearby farms, but

others came from far away. In many places, farmers specialized in commercial crops, such as

sugar, oranges, cotton, silk, and tea.” Farmers had a big part of commercial developments

because they grew commercial crops to help the merchants. This impacted China because

merchants can sell these items or trade for goods to help china. Commercial developments were

important for merchants because they made money from it.

There were Agricultural, Technological, and Commercial developments during the Tang

and Sung periods. Agriculture in Medieval China had a big change when tea came. Everyone

drank it. Agriculture was not all that developed. Technological developments included printing.

Merchants in Medieval China sold Sugar, Oranges, cotton, silk, and tea. These were the different

developments in Medieval China.

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Works Cited

Muscato, Christopher. “Agriculture, Technology & Commerce in Tang & Sung China”.

Study.com.​http://study.com/academy/lesson/agriculture-technology-commerce-in-tang-su

ng-china.html

“Song Dynasty (960-1279) Economics and Agriculture”. Factsanddetails.com, November, 2016.

​http://factsanddetails.com/china/cat2/4sub9/entry-5472.html

"The Invention of Woodblock Printing in the Tang (618–906) and Song (960–1279) Dynasties”

Education.asianart.org​http://education.asianart.org/explore-resources/background-inform

ation/invention-woodblock-printing-tang-618%E2%80%93906-and-song-960%E2%80%93127