11 Tools of Economic Activity in Early Imperial China

Abstract

This chapter considers major sets of tools in the form of structural and physical institutions that shaped the economic activities of various actor groups that have been discussed in chapter six. Many of these tools are intertwined with the power of state institutions, even though they also relied on other supporting factors to varying degrees. In any case, their socioeconomic effects typically went far beyond the functions primarily associated with them. The fiscal regime of the early imperial state is one obvious example. With its thorough organizational capacity, it strongly affected people’s economic behavior and broader socioeconomic structures through the ways in which revenues were collected and redistributed. Among others, changes in fiscal policies were also strongly tied to monetization processes, in the sense that they both reacted to and furthered the latter by increasing the share of monetary extraction. The effects of increased monetization, however, went far beyond the interests of state actors by substantially facilitating economic transactions in which a wide range of social groups participated. Law is another tool that is deeply connected to state authority. Under a relatively standardized judicial system, early imperial law bore a strong potential for reducing uncertainties and negotiation costs, especially with regard to property claims. Reduction of negotiation costs across larger spaces can further be associated with certain spheres of standardization, e.g., of weights and measures. Additionally, the relatively standard use of the Chinese language and particularly the script, as well as the wide spread of sumptuary patterns, both of which were supported by administrative structures and state-promoted mobility of officials and common people, created further conditions for increased connectivity and for the use of mass production techniques. Increased connectivity and the mobility of goods in particular further depended heavily on the network of physical infrastructure. In the form of both natural and artificial waterways as well as both preexisting and newly established overland routes, the early imperial network may have been more efficient than had previously been assumed with regard to travel speeds and its suitability for long-distance transport. Finally, this chapter will consider certain examples of technological devel-