EVERYDAY LIFE · SHANG TO QING
Stories
Small questions open a window onto a different world.
Feeding the Soil in Early China: Weeds, Deep Ploughing and Burnt Ground
Early Chinese farmers worked fertility by observation and timing: cut weeds left to rot, soil adjusted against its condition, five ploughings and deep tillage — not yet a manure regime.
Where the Lanterns Came From: Craft and Trade in Song China
A Song lantern began as a craft: the 'boneless' lantern used a silk bag packed with millet as its mould. Suzhou, Fuzhou and Xin'an ranked the trade, and every city had a lantern market.
How a Ming City Ran: The Ward Headman's Night Round
A Ming city ran on curfews, ward headmen, state-built shopfronts and a scale checked every three days, not on a city government with a budget.
Who Put Out the Fires in Song China?
In Song China firefighting was a standing military duty: five soldiers to every three hundred paces, brick watchtowers, and flags and lamps that told the whole city where the fire was.