Development Discussion Of Iron Mine Exploitation And Smelting Iron Industry Of Shanxi Province In Song, Yuan, Ming And Qing Dynasty

Shanxi was an important province of north China which largely produced iron in Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing dynasty. There were a lot of places to exploit iron ore, and exploitation scale was increasing. The technique of smelting iron was generally improved and pig iron outputs increased. All kinds of handworked ironworks not only satisfied the production and living requirement of this province, but also were sold to other provinces, even abroad. Smelting iron industry became an important handicraft industry of this province, which directly promoted the economical development of Shanxi. However, because of the distribution imbalance of mineral resources, and smelting iron industry also was restricted by feudality, so the development of smelting iron industry was imbalanced. Since recent era, the input of western ironwork shocked the development of handicraft making iron industry. On the other hand, it promoted to exploit and smelt iron mine by using machine and established foundation for modern iron mine industry.