In the Song Dynasty, ancient Chinese night markets broke free from the constraints of nighttime curfews and, for the first time, gained official recognition, becoming a formal part of the market system. These markets were widely distributed across towns in north China, southeast China, Sichuan-Chongqing (Sichuan-Shaanxi) region, Jinghu region, and Fujian-Guangdong region. Song Dynasty night markets transcended traditional forms such as taverns, teahouses, singing halls, and brothels, which mainly extended daytime markets into the night. Instead, goulan and washe, market streets, and street vendors became prominent alongside traditional night market forms. This period marked the transformation of night markets from closed to open forms and from single-purpose to comprehensive types.Cultural and entertainment-oriented night markets evolved from secondary and amateur ones to main and specific businesses. The consumer base of night markets shifted from being relatively singular and aristocratic to diverse and commoner-oriented. This transformation created night market forms and scenes like those of the modern time, establishing the Song Dynasty as a crucial period in developing ancient Chinese night markets.

The “Southern Song development path” is the economic model formed during the flourishing development of industry and commerce civilization in the South of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River during the Southern Song Dynasty. It has three characteristics: “equal emphasis on agriculture and commerce,” “overseas trade,” and “Smithian Growth.” This economic model was formed with the support of several historical conditions, such as the strong industrial foundation, convenient transportation, remarkable technological progress, and rich human resource in that time. This model indicates that the operating mechanism of ancient China’s economy had undergone significant changes, especially from relying mainly on agriculture to both agriculture and handicrafts and commerce, since then, market mechanisms played an increasingly important role. It also shows the primary path and ideal direction of China’s economy in the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. Therefore, it is of great historic significance.

As important infrastructure, bridges are public resources that the government should provide. The view that the “government is in charge of bridges and roads” was clearly put forward in the Song Dynasty. In the practice of primary-level social governance in the Song Dynasty, however, local finances were generally tight under the impact of the trend of financial centralization. As a result, the construction funds for many public infrastructure projects, including bridges and roads, were mainly raised from the private sector. Especially in the southern water towns where there were many bridges, private wealth was the most important source of bridge construction funds. Private funds were incorporated into the construction funds mainly by three means: officials soliciting donations, monks collecting donations, and donations from wealthy families. It was with the integration and support of private wealth that the bridge construction in the southern water towns maintained a good development momentum for a long time in the Song Dynasty.

The population of the Song Dynasty increased on a larger scale than that of the previous dynasties, and the Song government reformed the imperial examination system. As a result, the size of participants in the imperial examination and educated populations expanded rapidly. The overall cultural level of the Song Dynasty had been greatly improved. Both the literati and the general public had specific reading skills. The demand for books was constantly increasing. With the popularization of woodblock printing, the Song people could meet the increasing social and cultural needs. Book consumption demand and book production tended to be coordinated. The first genuinely large-scale book publishing market was thus formed.

The fiscal planning system in the early Northern Song Dynasty was managed by the Three Bureaus. It was built on the system of the previous dynasty and came into being as a result of the centralism of financial power at the central government and the control over local governments in the early Song Dynasty. How the system worked and evolved was closely associated with the changes in the tax structure and management system in the transition from the Tang to the Song Dynasty. In the early Song Dynasty, the Three Bureaus made financial plans for prefecture- and county-level governments based on the financial records submitted by them and then allocated tax collections to fund public expenditures. However, the excessively centralized financial planning and auditing power of the Three Bureaus led to a huge backlog of financial records to be audited due to practical difficulties and its limited administrative capacity. This impaired the normal functioning of the fiscal planning system. The collection and allocation of taxes and other tribute resources became quantified during Emperor Zhenzong’s reign. The Three Bureaus no longer directly controlled over the fiscal planning and taxation activities of prefecture- and county-level governments. Instead, it specified the contributions made by circuit-level governments based on which fiscal resources were allocated. Moreover, the Tax Transport Bureaus gained more autonomy. The fiscal planning system functioned more efficiently and effectively, which significantly impacted the basic structure of government revenue and expenditure in the Song Dynasty.