Ming Dynasty, The North China Plain Region Agricultural Test

To investigate the agricultural level in Huabei economic region during Ming dynasty, the author analyses the geographic circumstance of the region and its historical heritage firstly. The peasants in this region must deal with three problems-the flood, irrigation and the salt soil. In history, the agriculture in the region was one of the most advanced, but declined during Jin and Yuan periods.The state of agriculture in Huabei during Ming is presented or estimated in such aspects as population and quantity of farmland, the agricultural productivity, and agricultural technology. The author believe that new development in agricultural technology was introduced to Huabei economic region and the mode of agricultural production began to transform from extensive fanning to intensive fanning in the late Ming dynasty. These changes were connected with the developed regions, especially Jiangnan (or Yangzi Delta). The government and some elites served important role in the development.Lastly, the author researches the merchandising of agricultural production in Huabei economic region. It can be obtained that the cotton, crop, and other agricultural production were rather merchandised. This made the plant distribution fine, made the labor more expert, and at the end raised the product efficiency. The merchandising of agricultural production became the chief power to promote the agricultural technology in Huabei economic region. However, it must been emphasized that these changes are just the beginning of a course, in the most of Ming period the agriculture in Huabei economic region is in recovery and extensive farming.