d to merchants who transported it
into the industrial centre of the time, the Yangtze valley, and who
re-exported cotton cloth to the north. Raw cotton, loosened by the
string of the bow (a method which was known since Sung), could now in
the north also be used for quilts and padded winter garments.

5 _Commercial and industrial developments_

Intensivation and modernization of agriculture led to strong population
increases especially in the Yangtze valley from Sung time on. Thus, in
this area commerce and industry also developed most quickly.
Urbanization was greatest here. Nanking, the new Ming capital, grew
tremendously because of the presence of the court and administration,
and even when later the capital was moved, Nanking continued to remain
the cultural capital of China. The urban population needed textiles and
food. From Ming time on, fashions changed quickly as soon as government
regulations which determined colour and material of the dress of each
social class were relaxed or as soon as they could be circumvented by
bribery or ingenious devices. Now, only factories could produce the
amounts which the consumers wanted. We hear of many men who started out
with one loom and later ended up with over forty looms, employing many
weavers. Shanghai began to emerge as a centre of cotton cloth
production. A system of middle-men developed who bought raw cotton and
raw silk from the producers and sold it to factories.

Consumption in the Yangtze cities raised the value of the land around
the cities. The small farmers who were squeezed out, migrated to the
south. Absentee landlords in cities relied partly on migratory, seasonal
labour supplied by small farmers from Chekiang who came to the Yangtze
area after they had finished their own harvest. More and more,
vegetables and mulberries or cotton were planted in the vicinity of the
cities. As rice prices went up quickly a large organization of rice
merchants grew up. They ran large ships up to Hankow where they bought
rice which was brought down from Hunan in river boats by smaller
merchants. The small merchants again made contracts with the local
gentry who bought as much rice from the producers as they could and sold
it to these grain merchants. Thus, local grain prices went up and we
hear of cases where the local population attacked the grain boats in
order to prevent the depletion of local markets.

Next to these grain merchants, the above-mentioned salt merchants