In ancient China, the definition of small-scale water transportation refers to a form of transporting food crops by water. With the development of history, the definition of water transport is constantly expanding. The products transported are not limited to grain crops, but also tea, edible salt and other products. Water transport has a long time. From the Spring and Autumn Period, it experienced the Western Han Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty. Water transport developed steadily, its network extended in all directions, its system management was constantly improved, and its mode was constantly improved.
1, grain transportation and grain crop transportation
In ancient society, transportation tools were simple, transportation standards were extreme, and transportation costs were expensive. Therefore, the long-distance trafficking of foreign businessmen is generally dominated by products with light weight and high price. For a long time, businessmen engaged in foreign trafficking have followed an established law: "Thousands of miles don't sell firewood, and Wan Li doesn't sell plums". Daily necessities such as grain crops are usually sold only in the country of origin and surrounding areas.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, due to the continuous development of agricultural science and technology, agriculture made great progress, and the output of rice was greatly improved, which was also the material condition for Fu Jiayuan to sell grain at a distance. In addition, due to the unique climatic conditions in the Jianghuai area, it has further become a domestic commodity grain base, which not only brings a large amount of grain to North Korea, but also brings sufficient food sources to the rich. Therefore, long-distance trafficking of food crops from other places has become the hottest business for these rich people.
If there are only a large number of grain crops and there is no relatively developed grain transportation industry, it is difficult for wealthy Jia people to transport grain crops to other markets for sale. With the development trend of grain transportation industry, this dilemma has been got rid of, making the old rule of "Wan Li doesn't sell things" popular for hundreds of years a thing of the past, and people flocked to the long journey of selling grain. The rich Jia is allowed to sell grain to Tokyo, Japan, which is a long-distance trafficking thousands of miles away.
2. Water transportation and tea transportation
After the middle and late Tang dynasty, the technology of growing tea was gradually improved, and more and more camellia oleifera were planted artificially. The common people's drinking of tea gradually flourished, because the key to the spread of tea was concentrated in the south. "Southerners like to drink, but northerners didn't drink much at first." Later, the drinking of tea gradually moved northward. In the Northern Song Dynasty, the development trend of tea reached its peak, and the wind of drinking tea was more extensive, even to the extent of being summarized by oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, and tea became all levels of social development.
Tea was very popular in Song Dynasty, and even became China tea, which was closely related to water transportation. Considering that tea is the key crop at the southern end of Jiangzhun, mainly led by Hunan, Zhejiang, Fujian, Sichuan and other official roads, it is necessary to have a professional mode of transportation to transport this kind of tea to the northern market, and the convenient transportation and relatively developed water transportation industry in Song Dynasty brought great convenience and preconditions for the commercial transportation of tea to the north.
A large number of tea leaves are continuously sent to the northern region, northwest and other places by water transport, which has activated the commodity trading market. Because tea is rich in income, especially when it is transported to the northwest, the income can usually reach many times, so Fu Jia can't put it down. Regardless of the advantages of water transportation, they broke through the geographical restrictions and expanded this regional crop into a national product, greatly improving the social and economic ties between the north and the south.
3, food transportation and other materials supply and shipment
The coal transportation of commodity grain and tea is closely related to water transportation, and the shipment of other materials is also inseparable from the prosperous water transportation industry. For example, Tokyo's products, such as gold, silver, incense, rhinoceros and department stores in Guangnan, are all shipped from the south. There are leather goods and miscellaneous things shipped from Jiangnan, Jinghu and Zhejiang. The key to the southwest is the fine cotton cloth in Yizhou, Sichuan; Some heavy objects, such as salaries, charcoal and horse materials, are mainly transported from South Street. The delivery of this kind of materials not only meets the requirements of Beijing police, but also promotes the excitement of commercial services in Tokyo.
Water transport has promoted economic development.
The developed water transport industry in the Northern Song Dynasty not only brought an extremely convenient way for product transportation, expanded the scope of commodity circulation and improved the social and economic ties between the North and the South, but also became a major symbol of the rapid development of market economy with the recovery and prosperity of a large number of commercial service cities. Generally speaking, the grain transportation industry in the Northern Song Dynasty stimulated the rapid development of the market economy, created the necessary conditions for the sustained prosperity of the market economy, and became one of the driving forces for the growth and development of the market economy.