| Abstract |
Setting against the background of the Tang-Song transformation, this paper is intended to explore the influence of the rule of the conquest dynasties on China’s early modernization process, with particular emphasis on the appearance of unbalanced developments in the south and the north. We first compare the economic, social and cultural developments in the Jurchen ruled north with those in the Chinese ruled south in the 12th and 13th centuries. And then we examine the results of integration of both regions after the Mongols had conquered the whole country. As our results show, the rule of the conquest dynasties, indeed, had negative impact on China’s economic and social developments in the early modern period. The economic and demographic reversal in the north and the enhanced gap between the south and the north were the results of conquest rule. Socially, the Jurchen and Mongol rules brought many medieval elements back into the northern Chinese society and thus made the two regional societies quite different. Culturally, the literati culture of north China under the Jurchen rule was much closer to the Tang tradition than that of the south. The integration made under the Mongol-Yuan rule reduced but did not eliminate the economic, social and cultural disparities between the north and the south. All in all, the discontinuities between the Tang-Song and Ming-Qing transformations, to a significant extent, can be attributed to the intervention of the rule of conquest dynasties. |
