《大宋繁华》 读书笔记

Reading Notes on “The Prosperity of the Great Song Dynasty”

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北宋繁华的真相

The Truth About the Prosperity of the Northern Song Dynasty

人口突破

Population Breakthrough

• 北宋人口过亿，这是历史上第一次
• The population of the Northern Song Dynasty exceeded 100 million, which was the first time in history

农业生产

Agricultural Production

粮食产量

Grain Yield

• 宋朝期间粮食亩产有 381市斤
• The grain yield per mu during the Song Dynasty was 381 jin
  • 这大约是现在种植的 1/3 左右，是一个很不错的数字
  • This is about 1/3 of current yields, which is a very good figure
  • 亩产的增加让宋朝政府可以从农民那里征收到更多的粮食
  • The increase in yield per mu allowed the Song government to collect more grain from farmers

可耕种面积

Arable Land Area

• 文中提及宋朝可耕种面积为 25.95 亿亩
• The text mentions that the arable land area in the Song Dynasty was 2.595 billion mu
  • 超过了当代中国的 18 亿亩的红线
  • This exceeded the red line of 1.8 billion mu in contemporary China
  • 似乎是一个不大可能的数字
  • This seems to be an unlikely figure

财政收入

Fiscal Revenue

• 北宋的财政总收入大幅度提高
• The total fiscal revenue of the Northern Song Dynasty increased significantly
  • 原因：
  • Reasons:
    1. 人口增多
    2. Population increase
    3. 粮食亩产增加
    4. Increase in grain yield per mu
  • 重要变化：
  • Important change:
    • 宋朝中期（宋英宗时期），财政收入的货币占比达到了 51.6% 的水平
    • In the middle of the Song Dynasty (during Emperor Yingzong’s reign), the proportion of monetary income in fiscal revenue reached 51.6%

宋朝的制度特点

Institutional Characteristics of the Song Dynasty

官员收入

Official Income

• 宋代官员的收入是唐朝官员的数十倍
• The income of Song Dynasty officials was dozens of times that of Tang Dynasty officials

制度设计

Institutional Design

• 宋代的制度设计是”富养统治基础，以优待来赎买忠诚”
• The Song Dynasty’s institutional design was “to enrich the ruling foundation and buy loyalty with preferential treatment”

军队招募

Military Recruitment

• 宋代的制度核心是把游民招进军队，这样导致宋朝没有判民
• The core of the Song Dynasty’s system was to recruit vagrants into the army, resulting in no convicted civilians in the Song Dynasty

科举制度

Imperial Examination System

• 宋朝大幅度提高了科举的比例
• The Song Dynasty significantly increased the proportion of imperial examinations

官僚管理

Bureaucratic Management

• 两宋政权不对官僚体系施以严刑峻法
• The Song regimes did not impose harsh laws on the bureaucratic system

财政分配

Fiscal Allocation

• 北宋财政的 5/6 用来养军队，剩下的财政用来供养皇室和官僚集团
• Five-sixths of the Northern Song’s fiscal revenue was used to maintain the army, with the remainder used to support the royal family and bureaucratic groups

结论

Conclusion

富养统治基础造就的结果，便是所谓的两宋的”繁华” The result of enriching the ruling foundation was the so-called “prosperity” of the two Song dynasties

个人感想：从这个角度来说，尽管两宋有很大的财政支出，但是从现在的经济学角度来说，可能宋朝因为这种财政制度导致的实际宋朝的 GDP 是很高的。 Personal thoughts: From this perspective, although the two Song dynasties had large fiscal expenditures, from the current economic point of view, it is possible that the actual GDP of the Song Dynasty was very high due to this fiscal system.

作者认为，宋朝是一种汲取型的繁华，不是发展性的繁华。 The author believes that the Song Dynasty’s prosperity was extractive, not developmental.

人口史的脉络：从秦汉到隋唐

The Timeline of Population History: From Qin-Han to Sui-Tang

• 北宋以前，大致中国的人口总数最高就是6000万。
• Before the Northern Song Dynasty, the total population of China was at most about 60 million.
• 作者认为，在宋以前，限制人口的一个最主要发展因素是人头税。
• The author believes that before the Song Dynasty, one of the main factors limiting population growth was the poll tax.
• 在唐德宗年间，两税法开始实行，土地税取代了人丁税。
• During the reign of Emperor Dezong of Tang, the Two-Tax System was implemented, replacing the poll tax with a land tax.
• 作者认为，人丁税比例的越来越低，导致在清朝中国人口进入到4亿。
• The author believes that the decreasing proportion of poll tax led to China’s population reaching 400 million during the Qing Dynasty.

综合而言，这本书写的不是很好。不够生动，但是好在比较全面。我想这个里面提到了一个根本的矛盾，是从秦之后就开始发生的，就是从秦之后，中国就没有私有土地，所谓”普天之下，莫非王土”，作者认为这是一个基本的矛盾。

Overall, this book is not very well written. It’s not vivid enough, but it is comprehensive. I think it mentions a fundamental contradiction that began after the Qin Dynasty, which is that after Qin, China no longer had private land ownership. The saying “All land under heaven belongs to the king” reflects this, and the author considers this a basic contradiction.

但是我觉得作者没有提到马尔萨斯陷阱。也没有从 GDP 的角度去分析仔细分析整个宋朝的基础。无论如何，如果在古代社会，人均 GDP 不能超过马尔萨斯陷阱的话，人口的增加就是一个显著的进步。因为总的 GDP 是伴随人口增加的。虽然这种增加是线性的，是不能突破马尔萨斯陷阱的，但是谁又能突破马尔萨斯陷阱呢。

However, I feel that the author didn’t mention the Malthusian trap. Nor did they analyze the foundation of the entire Song Dynasty from a GDP perspective. In any case, if in ancient societies per capita GDP couldn’t exceed the Malthusian trap, population growth would be a significant progress. This is because total GDP increases with population. Although this increase is linear and cannot break through the Malthusian trap, who could break through the Malthusian trap anyway?

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