Urban Consumption In The Tang Dynasty Of Economic Research

Urban consumption is not only an important aspect of Tang's economy, but also positively reflects the development of urban economy in Tang Dynasty. In a certain period, the status of a country's urban economy is the most important factor in evaluating the economic development of that country. Thus, active urban consumption shows rapid development of economy in Tang Dynasty. The consumption of Tang's urban residents includes basic human needs such as clothes, food, living, transport and commodity etc. Spiritual consumption such as cultural entertainment and religious belief etc, education and officialdom by imperial examinations all closely relate to the market, which almost belong to a commercial process depending upon the market. The majority of the urban residents are merchants and their consumption level is of having ample food and clothing, which tell us that the average standard of living and consumption in Tang Dynasty are higher than that in the past. Both the different consumption level and residents from different class have different consumption structure. Overall, the increased consumption in cultural entertainment by percentage shows the dramatic improvement of Tang's consumption structure.The development of Tang's urban city has the following six characteristics. First, from the viewpoint of the process of development, the urban consumption in Early Tang Dynasty clearly demonstrates differences from that in Middle and Late Tang Dynasty, which is a periodic change Second, from the viewpoint of the region, Tang's urban consumption is still bolstered by several major cities in the country. However, the development of commercial market extends to some small cities since Middle Tang Dynasty. Moreover, the urban consumption of some cities in the north, in south of the lower reaches of the Changjiang River, and in southeast coast show their own unique features. Third, some luxury consumption and abnormal consumption such as whoredom become popular. Forth, consumption during festivals unconventionally booms. Fifth, Tang's citizens have special interests in imported goods. Sixth, feminine consumption is very prosperous due to Tang's open policy, which has never happened in the past.The active demand of Tang's urban consumption has great influences on Tang's economy. It stimulates agricultural commercial process in rural areas especially in the suburbs. It also helps handcraft industry to delicately divide the work and improve working techniques. Overall, the urban economy grows fast, the variety of products increased significantly and the circulation of commodity is faster than before. Although abnormal consumption has some negative impacts on the society, the merits of active urban consumption on Tang's economy are still assured and very important. Meanwhile, the impacts of Tang's urban consumption influence the country's political stability, cultural development and society ethos, etc. Tang Dynasty is considered as the turning point of urban consumption in China's ancient history. The result of Tang's urban consumption is the development of products commercial process, which establishes foundation for broaden market and further development of products commercial process since Song Dynasty. The changes in Tang's urban consumption are the sign of society transfer in Tang and Song Dynasty, at the same time, are important reasons of society transfer.