City town (English name) shì zhèn

Japanese: 市鎮 - しちん（英語表記）shì zhèn

Since the Song Dynasty in China, this has been the name of the market center in rural areas. It is also called a town or city. Although Chinese society lost its self-sufficiency early on, it was not until the Six Dynasties that settlements began to appear in rural areas, and the government established and controlled officially recognized markets in prefectures, which did not hinder important distribution. Since the Six Dynasties, settlement in the countryside has progressed and the rural economy has developed, with unofficial markets appearing as nodes. During the commercial revolution during the Tang-Song transition period, towns called towns appeared frequently for the first time, and the government officially recognized most of the towns for financial reasons, and by the middle of the Song Dynasty, there were 1,815 towns under 1,135 prefectures.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

中国の宋代以後，農村の市場中心地の称。鎮市ともいう。中国社会は早くから自給性を失っていたものの，地方農村部に集落が目立つようになるのは六朝以後であり，政府が県城に公認の市（いち）を設け統制することで重要な流通は支障をきたさなかったようである。六朝以来，地方への入植が進んで農村経済が興起し，結節点として草市（そうし）(非公認の市)が登場した。唐宋変革期の商業革命の下で，はじめて鎮と呼ぶ町が多発し，政府は財政の便宜上鎮の大半を公認し，宋の半ばで1135県下に1815鎮があった。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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