The Song Dynasty β of China was a period of Chinese history marked by commercial expansion, economic prosperity, and revolutionary new economic concepts. Private trade grew and a market economy began to link the coastal provinces with the interior. The enormous population growth rate from increased agricultural cultivation in the 10th to 11th centuries doubled China's overall population, which rose above million people compared to the earlier Tang , with some 50 million people.
Beyond domestic profits made in China, merchants engaged in overseas trade by investing money in trading vessels that docked at foreign ports as far away as East Africa.
The world's first development of the banknote , or printed paper moand marketed goods, the Song government imposed monopolies in order to boost revenues and secure resources that were vital to the empire's security, such as steel, iron, and chemical components for gunpowder. A Song era junk ship, 13th century; Chinese ships of the Song period featured hulls with watertight compartments. During the Song Dynasty, the merchant class became more sophisticated, well-respected and organized than in earlier periods of China.
Their accumulated wealth often rivaled that of the scholar-officials who administered the affairs of government. In the large cities, merchants were organized into guilds according to the type of product sold; they periodically set prices and arranged sales from wholesalers to shop owners. When the government requisitioned goods or assessed taxes, it dealt with the guild heads.
Although large government run industries and large privately-owned enterprises dominated the market system of urban China during the Song period, there was a plethora of small private businesses and entrepreneurs throughout the large suburbs and rural areas that thrived off the economic boom of the period.
