Agriculture and pasturage

Tu originally engaged in pasturage, mainly because they were the descendants of Mongolian. Later Tu engaged in both agriculture and pasturage. At least in early Mining Dynasty, Tu got to know how to farm. In Ming Dynasty, Tu habiting regions were separated into 16 parts. The prefects of parts became the landlord owning most of the land. After Revolution of 1911, Tu got rid of the ruling of feudalism but fell into the hands of warlords who oppressed and robbed much more seriously. The tools and farming techniques were same as those of Han. Landlords and rich farmers who accounted for less than 10% of the population occupied more than 30% of the land and farmers who were 90% of the population only had 60% of the land. The main agricultural products were wheat, highland barley and potato. Tu were good at brewing. The wine made from barley is very famous. After the founding of People’s Republic of China, economy in Tu region had fast development and much improvement on mechanization of farming. Now there are more than 10 enterprises of concrete, chemical fertilizer, farming machine, pesticide, food processing, brewery, paper making, etc.

Commerce

Before 1949, founding of People’s Republic of China, Tu people only had some handicraft workshops in township. In countryside, some farmers acted as smiths and carpenters when there was no farmwork. After 1949, Tu people had fast development of commerce. They began to raise stocks and sold them. The wine they made from barley sold very well. And many state owned mine plants and light industry factories were founded.