Research On The Development Of Kai Feng During The Ming And Qing Dynasties

KaiFeng is one of the famous ancient capitals in Chinese history, it played an important role in Chinese feudal society. As capital of Henan province, Kai Feng was the political , economic,transport and cultural centre of Henan during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It developed on many new respects, such as construction, economy, commerce and culture, so the Ming and Qing times was an important period in the history of KaiFeng. Either Chinese feduel society or Kai Feng appeared different development features in different periods during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The development of KaiFeng mainly consists of six periods, experienced the history process from restoration to prosperous and from prosperous to decline. With the development of agriculture and handicraft, the industry and commerce of KaiFeng appeared prosperous during the middle and late period in the Ming dynasty and middle period in Qing dynasty. There was multitudinous population in KaiFeng. The city had good transport facilities. There was not only many kinds of stores, some markets and temple fair, but also a large number of street pedlar. More over, some commercial guild hall emerged during the middle and late period in the Qing dynasty in Kai Feng. These factors constituted prosperous of the industry and commerce of KaiFeng. A large numbers of literati and artist emerged during this period, they left over rich and generous literatures and art works, which show the prosperous of cultural of KaiFeng. In addition the development of economy pushed forward the development of the traditional opera and Quyi(folk art forms including ballad singing, story telling, comic dialogues, clapper talk, etc). So the cultural living of residents of KaiFeng appeared rich and colorful features. The activities of religion and sacrifice reflected the mentality of residents of KaiFeng in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which reflected a extensive and profound influence of religion and sacrifice on the secular living.In brief, the research on the development of KaiFeng in the Ming and Qing dynasties is not only helpful to our clear and objective understanding the society features of KaiFeng in the Ming and Qing dynasties but also revealing the tendency and character of the development of KaiFeng.