Economy of the Song dynasty
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The economy of the Song dynasty has been characterized as the most prosperous in the world at the time. The dynasty moved away from the top-down command economy of the Tang dynasty and made extensive
A Northern Song coin (da guan tong bao 大觀通寶)
A water-powered grain mill from the Nong shu by Wang Zhen, Yuan dynasty
A Northern Song (960–1127) era painting of a water-powered mill for grain, along with river transport.
Song silk production facility
Economy of the Ming dynasty
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The economy of the Ming dynasty was the largest in the world at the time, with China's share of the world's gross domestic product estimated at 31%, and other estimates at 25% by 1500 and 29% by 1600.
A gold ingot excavated from the Dingling Mausoleum, the tomb of the Wanli Emperor (r. 1572–1620)
Detail of the painting The Unfortunates, by Zhou Chen, 1516
Rice terraces in Guangxi
Hand planting rice, Yunnan Province, 2007. Hand planting of pre-grown seedlings has been typical for rice cultivation for thousands of years.