Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty: His Life, Times, and Legacy

9. Economic Order

9 Economic Order A complex economic system was developed under Wendi to store and transport grain reserves, distribute land resources, collect taxes, levy corvée duty, and monitor the population. It worked relatively well throughout the first reign. The treasury coffer was full when Yangdi took over. Although Yangdi essentially did not overhaul his father’s economic system, the economy deteriorated on his watch, spelling the doom of the dynasty. What set Yangdi apart from his father in economic policy? What were the fatal steps that triggered the downward economic spiral? Why did Yangdi fail so miserably to reverse the situation? With these questions in mind, we will examine the Sui economic system—from inception to maturation, to its final collapse—and its legacy. Money, Weights, and Measures We begin with a brief introduction to various standard instruments for measuring the performance of the economy: coinage, units of weight, and mass and length measurements. Money The monetary system of the Sui was underdeveloped, in large part, because of the long-term impact of the collapse of the money economy following the fall of the Han dynasty. During the pre-495 period under the Northern Wei, for quite some time coinage was completely withdrawn from circulation. Even 173 though the minting of coins was resumed under Xiaowendi in 495, money only accounted for a miniscule part of the economy of the North. In the South, the monetary situation was much better. Still, commodities such as silk and cotton cloth, rather than coin money, were the preferred medium of business transactions.1 The situation persisted throughout the Sui when grain and textile instead of money were received as main government revenues. At the beginning of the Sui, lack of uniform standards was the most conspicuous problem of the monetary system. Three types of Northern Zhou coins—yongtong wanguo , wuxing dabu (large spade), and wuzhu —and coins of Northern Qi mintage were in circulation.2 Wendi then created his own standard currency, which, lettered with the characters wuzhu on its face, is referred to in history as the Sui wuzhu. This was followed by a series of edicts aimed at phasing out coinages of pre-Sui vintage. By 585, these efforts began to pay off and the monetary system was standardized. As the top Sui leader in the South, Yangdi was ordered by his father to set up five furnaces to manufacture coins in Yangzhou. Aware of the inadequate money supply in the South, he requested that furnaces be set up at copper mines in E Prefecture (with its seat in Wuchang, Hubei). At that time, Yangdi was familiar with the process of coin production, and understood its significance to the economy. But as emperor, he soon lost control of the government’s monopoly on mintage. As private minting became rampant, the weight of the coin deteriorated noticeably.The standard weight of 1,000 cash declined under Yangdi from 4 jin 2 liang (pre-607) or 2,756 grams,3 first to 2 jin (post607 ) or 445 grams, then to 1 jin (post-607) or 223 grams—less than one twelfth of the standard. Coins made of sheet iron, leather, and paper were in circulation.4 The deterioration of numismatic standards in weight and metal content is a telltale sign of a weakened economy and this was clearly the case in Yangdi’s reign. The debasement of coins that started in late-Sui times, compounded by the rise in commodity values, resulted in runaway inflation that continued well into Early Tang times.5 Weights and Measures Standardized weights and measures were essential for the formulation and implementation of land and tax statutes. On the basis of the system of the South, Wendi tripled the sizes of the capacity measure sheng and the weight measure jin to 594.4ml and 668.19g, respectively, while keeping the length measure chi unchanged at 29.51cm. Not long after accession, Yangdi announced sweeping changes to his father’s system in 607. The capacity and weight measures reverted to the pre174 Yangdi and His Empire Sui standards of the South and were reduced by two thirds to 198.1ml and 222.73g, respectively, while the length measure shrank to 23.55cm. It is not known how widely Yangdi’s new, shorter length measure was accepted. There is evidence that Wendi’s measure continued to be in private use. At any rate, the adoption of...