In the researches on pre-modern Chinese history, its economic development has been overemphasized until quite recently, although the economic revolution in the medieval China did not continue for such a long time; the Chinese economy fell into a decline in the fourteenth century and there were indications of this decline already in the Southern Song period. In this paper, I analyze the economic stagnation in the Zhedong seaport cities and the deterioration of forest environments in this area.
A large population growth because of the migration from north China and an excessive increase of shipbuilding which was carried out against Chin (金) empire caused not only a severe lack of woods for fuels and ships but also a grave forest destruction, especially in the Liangzhe-lu (両浙路). The shortage of ships affected the maritime transportation. The forest destruction made the sand to flow from the bare hills in the downstream and the seaports. Moreover, it caused the flood to increase in occurrence in the Southern Song period.