In The Song Dynasty On The City Of Ships System

The ShiBo system of ancient China refers to the management system of the carrying trade by the government. It came into being in Tang Dynasty, developed and was perfectly improved in Song Dynasty.The focus of this thesis is the ShiBo system in Song Dynasty, which contains three parts, i.e.: the organizations, the civil service systems and the management of ShiBo. The ShiBo system in Song Dynasty was initiated in Year Four of KaiBao, the mark of which was the founding of the ShiBo Department in Guangzhou. The three major organizations of ShiBo were the ShiBo Department of Guangzhou province, the ShiBo Department of Liangzhe Province and the ShiBo Department of Fujian Province. However, their development was not balanced and was different territorially. The development, the decline and the fall of Guangnan ShiBo Department was almost in accordance with those of Song Dynasty; Liangzhe ShiBo Department rapidly waned in power in the early period of Southern Song; whereas Fujian ShiBo Department gradually came into being in the early and middle period of Southern Song, and finally developed into the ShiBo organization which was equally important with Guangnan ShiBo Department.The senior officer of ShiBo Department was called ShiBoShi in the early period of Northern Song, which was concurrently the local ZhiZhou; and was altered into TiJuShiBo in Year Three of YuanFeng, which was concurrently the ZhuangYunShi. At the beginning of Chongning, the full-time TiJuShiBo was set up by the royal government, which, therefore, became the main form of the commanding officer in the late Northern Song and Southern Song. The alteration of the forms of office reflected the facts that ShiBo Department was more significant and the status of TiJuShiBo was gradually enhanced. It also mirrored the flourishing tendency of overseas trade in Song Dynasty and the increasing emphasis on the ShiBo trade from the imperial government.A set of nation-wide management system of ShiBo with lasting effect was never established in Song Dynasty. The ShiBo Department all over the nation usually formulated some temporary and local disciplines according to their own condition; even some special systems established by the royal government, such as ShiBoChouJie, were changed quite often. The above facts made great impact on the carrying trade then.In conclusion, as the result of the times, ShiBo system in Song Dynasty once played an important role in history. The author expects to acquire a relatively comprehensive recognition on it through the research.