THE PATTERN OF CITY LIFE

"Urbanization" is a very broad term, covering as it does developments which may take place at very different levels of society. In Sung times

perhaps the most novel and important aspect of urbanization for Chinese society as a whole was the growth of market centres

intermediate between the administrative centres of the prefectures and subprefectures on the one hand, and the villages on the other. These market towns, of diverse origin, made it possible for the economic isolation of the villages to be reduced, and allowed at

least the beginnings of a process of commercialization in agriculture. For most of the Chinese population they were the main marketplace,

44

providing for all kinds of social as well as economic exchange. Yet, while the economic integration of regions and empire remained very weak by modern standards,it would be a mistake to make too sharp a distinction between the "two quite distinctive hierarchical systems"

45

of (local) marketing and (national) administration. The commercial growth in local areas went along with the expansion of regional and national trade: the great trading cities of Ssu-ch'uan and the

south-east were thus part of a hierarchy of market centres which linked local societies in an empire-wide market, and which had at its apex the

46

political and commercial capital at K'ai-feng or Hang-chou.

Urbanization at this level had important repercussions for political and social life in the higher reaches of Sung society, and its

influence was felt throughout the emerging national economy. The place of a city like Hang-chou in this process involved a number of changes in the pattern of its own life.

Chief amongst these was the abandonment by the state of its policy of strict control over urban activity. Chinese cities under earlier dynasties had been seen primarily as administrative centres. Where they filled a commercial role - under T'ang not only the

capital but also a number of regional towns were important trading junctions - the conduct of business was subject to strict, detailed government rules. The most important of these were the regulations

J_

47

for the markets (shih rh ). Almost all administrative centres had officially established markets, some important regional centres had two, and in early T'ang the capitals had three. All business save very small retail sales was to be conducted in the market, under the supervision of the market director (shih-ling ij? ). This official - centrally appointed in the larger cities - controlled business hours by locking the gates between the evening and the morning drum and by

allowing trade to be carried on only during the afternoon. He policed a variety of regulations: inspecting weights and measures and currency; registering all merchants, shops and trade organizations

(hang \ -j- ); setting fair prices and checking quality. He was himself responsible for trying and sentencing offenders against the rules. Despite the enormous difference in scale between the markets in the capital and those in small subprefectural towns, the functions of the market director were meant to be the same. Physically segregated from

the rest of the city, in theory trade was subject to the constant surveillance of the state. However extensive the trade of a city

might be - and in Ch'ang-an the markets together covered something like three-quarters of a square mile - its effect on urban life as a whole was thus closely confined. By these means the long-standing hostility to commercial values was given concrete expression.

The market regulations were not the only way in which the state, under T'ang and earlier, restricted the free movement, contact and exchange often regarded almost as a defining characteristic of urbanism. In its planning T'ang Ch'ang-an was dominated by the palace, an expression of the prime value placed on the life of the elite and the extent to which the state controlled the life of the

48

city rather than allowing participation to its people. The

organization of the major cities in both space and time was regulated by government decree. The grid-iron plan of these cities divided them into walled wards (fang ) separated by main streets (chieh^^'J' ) • Access to each block was restricted to the main gates, except for high officials and aristocrats whose great houses could open onto the street. The gates of each ward were locked at the night drum signal and unlocked at the morning one. Between these times it was forbidden to leave the ward without authorization from the ward headman (fang-

jl£L ), who was responsible for keeping order in his own area. These regulations were policed in Ch'ang-an by the chin-wu guard ( ^ ^ ) >

a section of the Imperial guard, which acted as a police force for 49

the thoroughfares which linked the city's wards. The attempt to

communities - the fang had originally been called 11 - in the capitals was linked with a view of the common space of the city as an extension of the palace. Thoroughfare and market-place, in the provinces as well as the capitals, were used by permission of the authorities, and under their constant surveillance.

While there is no doubt that these regulations were enforced, it must always have been difficult to ensure their strict observance. By the eighth century, they were more and more often flouted, and by 853 when the government recalled the official seals of the market offices,"^ the market system, though still on the statute-book, could no longer be enforced. Officials and military officers were some of the most notable offenders against the laws. By Sung, the state had abandoned most of the policies aimed at control of urban life. The fang regulations seem not to have expired finally until the eleventh century, but even before this they were far less strict than the T'ang rules.

Certainly, by the end of northern Sung there was no evidence of the old restrictions. Neither curfew nor geographical controls curbed the exurbant development of commerce and entertainment, and the word fang itself came to be synonomous with hsiang referring simply to

52

streets or lanes. The restrictions on trade outside the market were progressively relaxed from late T'ang on, and there is no evidence of any attempt to call a halt to this process. Thus Sung cities stood In a completely different relationship to the state from that which

had obtained under the T ’ang. The assertion of the autonomy of commercial development meant the complete abandonment of the old rural model of urban life. The much enlarged population of southern Sung Hang-chou was free - if the money could be found - to carry on its activities when and where social or commercial convenience dictated. The city itself was governed as a unit, and to a large extent the division of authority was functional rather than

geographical.

The consequences of these changes for the social organization of the city were enormous. Many of these consequences have been

excellently treated by Jacques Gernet and the late Etienne Balazs, especially the emergence of an urban culture, with a multiplicity of entertainment centres, tea-houses, wine shops and so on. One might note also the proliferation of specialized t r a d e s , ^ the

5 4 increased provision of at least the most elementary schooling, the complexity of class division and the rudimentary organization of a labour m a r k e t , ^ the high value placed on being a good

neighbour“’ ^ - indeed a host of intriguing sociological topics which could repay systematic treatment. Since this is a study of

government institutions, however, I conclude this chapter by

analyzing the reaction of the state to the change in the conception of the value of urban property as a case study in the new commercial freedom.