From 'Black Gold' to 'Paper Routes': Resource Mapping and Trade Codes in Longyan Prefecture Chronicles
What if I told you that one of China’s most industrialized economies, four hundred years ago, was hidden deep in the mountains of western Fujian? Not today. Four hundred years ago. I was flipping through the Longyan State Chronicle when a string of numbers stopped me cold. 78 iron smelters. 32 coal seams. 4,500 paper-making troughs. 36,508 taels of silver in annual tax revenue. Those numbers would be impressive for an industrial city today. They all came from Ming and Qing dynasty Longyan — a county wedged between the Wuyi Mountains and the Boping Ridge. ...