Describe the Economic structure of China
In China, as in West Asia, Africa, or Europe, most people spent most of their time in farming for the last ten thousand years. In northern China, people mostly cultivated wheat, while in southern China it is mostly rice. But there was also a lot of trade in China, and between China and the West. Some of the traders went south to India, and some went along the northern Silk Road through Turkestan and Uzbekistan to the Persian Empire. Mainly people shipped silk to the West, and imported gold. People first used cowrie shells as money in China as early as 1800 B.C., under the Shang Dynasty. Then people used metal imitations of cowrie shells, and then metal strings of beads called cash. We don't know whether the idea to make coins with writing on them, guaranteed by the government, came from Western Asia or not, but there were definitely bronze coins in China by the 400's B.C. during the Chou Dynasty.
