If you want to say which dynasty in ancient China had the most developed transportation, it is undoubtedly the Yuan Dynasty. Due to the vast territory of the Yuan Dynasty, the overland Silk Road, the Grassland Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road were all smooth, and the scope of land and sea trade exceeded that of the Han and Tang Dynasties. In China, the Yuan Dynasty carried out large-scale transportation construction, such as excavating canals and building post roads, forming a national transportation network, the largest in history. The transportation construction of the Yuan Dynasty not only consolidated the unified country, but also promoted economic and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.
First, the station - the Yuan Dynasty nerve and blood network
The Yuan Dynasty was the most vast dynasty in ancient China. The territory of the Yuan Dynasty encompassed almost the entire East Asian continent, exceeding 14 million square kilometers. Such a vast territory requires a very convenient transportation network to connect the various places. Especially in the grassland area, where the land is sparsely populated and there is no fixed place to live, it is not very convenient for business trips and messengers to communicate. Therefore, the construction of the post road became the founding plan of the Yuan Dynasty.
As early as the time of Genghis Khan, it had begun to build post roads from the grasslands to the Western Regions, Central Asia, Liaodong and other places. During the Wokoutai period, the kings were ordered to build post stations in various fiefdoms, open post roads, and form a communication express route connecting Europe and Asia. Since then, the construction of post roads has become an imperial tradition, and even the vassal states that are subordinate to the Mongols have to build roads connecting the central government in the country.
Northwest Station of the Yuan Dynasty
After the Yuan Dynasty destroyed the Song Dynasty, the post system was extended to the Southern Song Dynasty, and a nationwide transportation network was formally formed. According to statistics, during the Yuan Dynasty, the total number of post stations in the country exceeded 1500, distributed in the Han Dynasty, the Heilongjiang River Basin of the Mongolian Plateau, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and the Western Regions. For example, in the northeast region, north to Nuergancheng (Heilongjiang estuary), south to Goryeo Kaesong, set up 135 stations, with more than 6500 horses, more than 2600 stagecoaches, 5259 stagecoaches, and 3000 stagecoach dogs. In the Yuan Dynasty, there were land stations on land, water stations by the river, sea stations by the sea, and "dog stations" in the frozen areas around Heilongjiang. Because "the Yuan has the world, the thin sea and the sea, and the people are all within the reach, all of them are passed on, so that the caravans come and go, such as in the country."
Later, the four khanates split, but the station was not interrupted. At that time, Eurasia formed three large overland passages. The Yuan Dynasty had frequent contacts with the West via post roads. One is from Shangdu to Eastern Europe, known as the "Steppe Silk Road"; the second is the traditional Silk Road, which reaches Central Asia from the Hexi Corridor; the third is the road leading to the upper reaches of the Yenisei River, the Ob River, and the Irtysh River.
The main purpose of the Yuan Dynasty's construction of post stations was to facilitate the communication of troops, emissaries, and officials, so its political function was very strong. At the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, all stations were set up throughout the country to manage the national post stations, which were later reorganized into the Tongzheng Yuan. Under the Tongzheng Yuan, three branches were set up, namely Dadu, Shangdu, and Jiangnan, which managed the transportation of the desert, the Central Plains, and the south respectively. Each station has a special station household responsible for management, according to Chen Gaohua's estimate, the total number of station households in the country is more than 300,000. During the Yuan Dynasty, the burden on station households was still relatively heavy overall.
The Yuan Dynasty's post system, which closely linked the entire East Asian region, was conducive to consolidating the rule of the Yuan Dynasty. Through the post station, the Yuan Dynasty's army was able to quickly reach all parts of the country to carry out conquest and suppress the uprising; at the same time, the country's taxes and tributes were also continuously transported to Dadu through the post road. At the same time, the station opened up the traffic between the East and the West, making the economic and cultural exchanges between the East and the West more frequent, many Chinese inventions were introduced to the West, and some Arab technology, mathematical knowledge, and astronomical knowledge were also introduced to China, which promoted China's scientific and technological culture to a new peak.
Second, the construction of canals in the Yuan Dynasty: the economies of the North and the South were communicated
The excavation of canals has always been a project that has been highly valued in ancient China. However, during the Song and Jin dynasties, due to the diversion of the Yellow River and the confrontation between the north and the south, the canal was abandoned and gradually silted up. After the Yuan Dynasty destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty, China, which had been divided for 300 years, was reunited again, providing conditions for the excavation of the North-South Canal. At the same time, the Capital and Dadu of the Yuan Dynasty needed the supply of materials from Jiangnan, and the excavation of the canal became inevitable.
Sui and Tang Dynasty Grand Canal
Initially, Jiangnan materials entered the Huai River from the Yangtze River, then into the Yellow River, and then turned to land transportation after reaching Fengqiu, and after 180 miles, they entered the Yuhe River from Qimen to enter Dadu. In this way, the pressure in the land transport area is very large, the labor force is also frequent, and the people are overwhelmed. To this end, Caosi proposed to open a canal from the Qin River to the Yuhe River, but because of the low-lying terrain here, it was easy to form waterlogging and did not succeed.
In 1280, the Yuan Dynasty began to choose to excavate the Jiaolai Canal. Connecting Bohai Bay and the Yellow Sea, the Jiaolai Canal is the first canal in China to connect different seas. In 1283, the canal was excavated, with a total length of 200 kilometers, which took three years and the number of people involved in the excavation was 30,000. However, the safety of the canal was a problem, and as part of the river along the canal was carved out of the mountain, the canal was threatened with falling rocks and soon silted up. In 1284, the Yuan Dynasty decided to abandon the Jiaolai Canal.
After that, the Yuan Dynasty decided to open the passage of the Grand Canal and began to excavate the Huitong River. It will connect the two major river systems from North to Tongzhou and south to Jeju, connecting the haihe river and the yellow river. In 1289, the construction of the Huitong River began, with a total length of 250 miles, 31 gates and 31 gates, and 2.5 million laborers. In 1291, Kublai Khan heeded Guo Shoujing's advice and used 2.8 million manpower to open the Tonghui River from Dadu to Tongzhou. As a result, the north-south canal corridor was formed.
Compared with the Sui and Tang Dynasties Grand Canal, the Yuan Dynasty Grand Canal reduced the north-south channel by 900 kilometers, basically forming the route of today's Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, and its historical contribution is very large. Unlike the Sui Emperor, Kublai Khan's excavation of the canal did not trigger a nationwide uprising, which is noteworthy. After the opening of the canal, economic exchanges between the north and the south became more frequent, which promoted the prosperity of the cities along the coast. According to statistics, the grain transported from the canal to Dadu at the end of the Yuan Dynasty was as high as 5 million stones. The current northern metropolis of Tianjin rose to prominence during the Yuan Dynasty, when it was called "Haijin".
However, the amount of water in the rivers in Hebei is limited, and the transportation capacity of the canal is also severely limited. In order to completely open up the north-south water traffic, the Yuan Dynasty decided to build shipping. In 1282, Kublai Khan adopted Boyan's suggestion to open a sea route from Jiangnan to the Bohai Sea, and set up 20,000 households to manage shipping. Since then, shipping has become the main mode of transportation between the north and the south, and inland water transport has taken a back seat. After that, the Yuan Dynasty formed a pattern of large ships taking the sea and small boats taking the canal. Initially there were more than 900 ships, which later increased to more than 1,800. The Yuan Dynasty also set up navigation markers on the coast, which was the first time in history. The rise of maritime transport has also led to the rise of a number of cities, such as Zhangjiagang, whose name is derived from Zhang Xuan, who manages shipping here.
Third, the opening up of ocean transportation routes
After the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, it launched a large-scale war against Southeast Asia and Japan, although most of them ended in failure, but it opened up ocean transportation and broadened the horizons of the Chinese people. The so-called "Emperor Yuan mixed with one voice teaching, no far away, the vastness of the area, the ancient unheard of." Overseas islands are not worried about thousands of countries, and they do not cling to Yu Gongchen to cultivate civil offices, ladder mountains and navigation, and to connect with each other. China's reciprocating traders are in a special exotic land, such as the Eastern and Western States."
After the Yuan Dynasty destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty, it inherited the trade system of the Southern Song Dynasty and set up municipal shipping departments in coastal cities such as Quanzhou, Shanghai, Weipu, Wenzhou, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, and Qingyuan to manage overseas trade. During the Yuan Dynasty's war against Southeast Asia, the "sea ban" was often introduced, that is, non-governmental foreign exchanges were prohibited. However, when the war ended, the sea ban was stopped, and "the tributes of the countries of the South China Sea were endless." Due to the prosperity of overseas trade, Quanzhou at that time developed into the world's largest port.
At that time, when merchants went to sea to trade, the government needed to extract one-tenth of the goods as a "drawing point" and pay another thirty-tenth of the commercial tax. If the merchant deliberately conceals the goods, then the goods are at risk of confiscation. In foreign trade, the government can also provide ships to trade with countries in the Western Ocean, and the government extracts 70% of them. This model is similar to that of Portugal and Spain in the later Age of Discovery, which is an economic behavior in which the state actively participates in overseas trade and shares. At that time, the navigator Yang Shu was mainly engaged in official trade, traveling between the Ilkhanate and China.
Quanzhou of the Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty was not only a land hegemon, but also a maritime power. According to records, there were more than 20 countries that paid tribute to the Yuan Dynasty, and the entire South China Sea to the Indian Ocean was basically controlled by the Yuan Dynasty. The Moroccan traveler Ibn Battus wrote in Guri, India, "All the trade in that country is in the hands of Chinese ships." Due to the convenience of transportation, a large number of Chinese began to immigrate to Southeast Asia, and Srivijaya in the Strait of Malacca became a base for Chinese settlement, where they later established the Liang Sriwijaya Dynasty.
Moroccan traveler Ibn
The Yuan Dynasty also produced many navigators, the most famous of which was Wang Dayuan. Wang Dayuan, engaged in civil navigation trade, Nanchang people. In 1330, he set out from Quanzhou for the first voyage, passing through the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean, and reaching the Mediterranean Sea and Morocco, which lasted for 5 years. In 1337, he set out again from Quanzhou to all parts of the Indian Ocean, sailing as far as the Mozambique Strait and Australia. He sailed a larger area than the later Zheng He, involving 220 regions and countries. After returning to China, Wang Dayuan wrote "Island Yi Zhiluo", which attracted the attention of Western navigators and was translated into many languages, but unfortunately the book was lost in the Ming Dynasty. He himself is also known as "Marco Polo of the East".
The maritime trade of the Yuan Dynasty was very large, and it was necessary to import more than 200 kinds of products from abroad, such as blue and white porcelain, tea, iron, and medicinal materials. With the prosperity of trade, Chinese culture also spread a lot overseas, for example, Cheng Zhu Lixue was introduced to Japan on a large scale during the Yuan Dynasty, which had a great influence on Japan. A large number of Chinese went to Nanyang and began the transformation of Southeast Asian culture from Indianization to Sinicization. At the same time, many foreign cultures were also introduced to China, for example, Gansi was an Arab, who participated in the revision of the Classics of the Classics, bringing Arab mathematical works, craftsmanship, architectural styles, etc.
In short, the transportation of the Yuan Dynasty can be described as fully developed. The so-called heroes of the times, precisely because of the convenience of transportation, this era has produced many travelers who traveled to the East and the West, such as Marco Polo, Ibn, Wang Dayuan and Yang Shu, etc. This era of the Yuan Dynasty was the era when the West yearned for the East. Westerners recognized the prosperity of the East and began to seek routes to the East. This is also one of the driving forces for the opening up of new shipping routes.