Rice Trade
The rice trade in the Qin dynasty was massive, stretching across the empire and involving deep interplay between the Qin state and a commercialized economy. The state bought up rice from provinces with rich harvests and transported it to provinces with low harvests to keep prices down. The state also bought up rice to keep in grain reserves in case of emergencies, spread throughout the empire. There were networks where rice-rich provinces along the Yangtze River would transport their rice to provinces with drier climates. Rice was transported both through the river networks and by sea between coastal provinces. However, at some points, coastal trade was restricted due to fear of piracy and smuggling. The state gave merchants tax exemptions to transport rice to famine-struck areas during crises. Overall, the state and merchants both used shipping, mainly through the rivers and the Grand Canal, to move rice from the provinces that produced it to the less fertile parts of the country in what were parallel and interconnected systems. This meant that rice grown in Zhejiang, such as in our paddy, would likely find its way across the empire before being eaten. This trade prevented localized famines throughout the empire, though it was not always successful. These systems began breaking down later in the Qin dynasty, and so more local famines took place around the era we are looking at in the late 19th to early 20th centuries. (Hao, Danyang, and Jingyun 2021)
Fertilizer Economy
Although the presence of alluvial soil grants our region’s family less of a dependence on traditional fertilizer, acquiring supplemental fertilizers was normal practice. During the production of bean-curd (or tofu), there was a considerable amount of waste left behind, and due to leguminous plants’ efficacy as a green manure, this waste was compacted into dry wheels (known as oil cakes) and sold to farmers for use as fertilizer (Bray 1984). In use, the wheels are pounded into a powder and applied to the soil. Due to the beans’ high fertility efficiency, one cake could fertilize an entire mu of rice. (Bray 1984, 289-318)