Central Plains Trade Routes Of The Qing Dynasty And The Development Of Commodity Economy

In the early period of 2004, the CPC Central Committee and the State Department proposed the strategy of the "Rise of the Central Area". Situated at the Central Plains, Henan province undertakes important mission, which made the economy of the Eastern Area and Western Area complemented and the economy of Southern Area and Northern Area communicated .Therefore Henan province occupies the key position in the "Rise of the Central Area".As the strengthen of economic region cooperation, and the accleration of the intergration procedure of the Central Plains regional economy , it gives Henan province an opportunity to develop its economy ,cities and towns , and traffic etc. Researching the business contacts in Ming and Qing Dynasties ,which are involved the Henan province with other provinces, as well as within the Henan province, it can offer the history proof and references to the economy development in current Henan province.In Qing Dynasty , the water and land traffic conditions in the Central Plains was convenient. According to the book "Tian Xia Shui Lu Li Cheng " written by Huang Bian in Ming Dynasty, and the book "Tian Xia Lu Cheng Tu Yin "written by Zhan Yi Zi in Qing Dynasty , at that times, a water and land traffic network whose center was Kaifeng emerged, which could lead to every important cities nearby. Moreover , the main traffic roads that connected the Southern and Northern ,Eastern and Western often went through the Central Plains . Therefore, a lot of businessmen went to the Central Plains so that it offered a good opportunity to the economy development of the Central Plains.This paper uses the development of business roads in the Central Plains to analyze how it affected the economy of the Central Plains in Qing Dynasty. Firstly, the basic conditions of the business roads before the Qing Dynasty should be introduced briefly . Secondly, the paper described main roads of the Central Plains in Qing Dynasty specificlly. The development of the Central Plains took advantage of the Yilu which connected with many places .Through it ,people who left Kaifeng could reach every places within Henan province, and it stretched to the exterior areas. The water road used the river navigation way, those river included Jialuhe , Shayinghe, river in the Nanyang Basin, Weihe and so on.Because those river connected with Haihe,Huanghe and Yangz River, therefore the Central Plains connected with those developed areas closely. Thirdly, the paper described the relation between the Central Plains and towns in Qing Dynasty. In Qing Dynasty , the development conditions of Henan towns was better than those past conditions. Because of the excellent traffic conditions and lots of trade between Henan province and other provinces, it not only promoted the quick development of Kaifeng ,Luoyang, but also resulted in the development of many middle and small towns that situated at the traffic lines.For example, Zhuxianzhen was the "Four famous towns" in China. Moreover, those developed towns such as Zhoujiakou, Sheqi and Daokou, also were benefited from the convenient traffic. Finally, the paper analyses the business roads how to affected the trade economy industry. Owing to the excellent business roads and bad commodity thoughts of Henan province, many businessmen who were from other provinces went to Henan province to do business. They not only brought special products which came from their areas, but also shipped the special products of Henan province to other places. Their activities resulted in local people raised their income, stimulated the commodity thoughts , and promoted the development of some economy industries, which had the characteristic of Henan province. There were some cases, such as the planting industry, handicraft industry and mining industry that developed well.