The Phases and Manifestations of Official-run Tea-horse Trade in the Ming Dynasty

In the early Ming Dynasty,in order to control the border region and strengthen the national defense through the tea and the horse,Taizu of Ming established,developed,prospered and maintained the unprecedented system of official-run tea-horse trade with regular but flexible modifications.This paper studies the phases of Ming official-run tea-horse trade to better understand both the existing problems and the achievements in different periods.