Meantime, tea production developed greatly in Wu area. There were more varieties of precious tea leaves. In the Tang Dynasty, tea leaves produced in Sichuan prevailed, but tea leaves produced in the South of the Yangtze River replaced the place of the Sichuan tea leaves in the Song Dynasty. Top quality tea produced in Yangxian in Changzhou prefecture was used as a tribute to the imperial court . In the “Changzhou Prefecture Annals: Products section”, published in the reign of Guangxu , there was a poem that said,” Because the Emperor needed Yangxian tea , all other herbs dare not bloom first ,” describing the high place enjoyed by Yangxian tea in the Song Dynasty . the tea leaves produced at the Dongting Hills in Wu country of Suzhou Prefecture was also used as a tribute to the imperial court .
　

　　In the Song Dynasty the Tai Lake valley was known for its sugarcane produce. It was noted, “ Central Wu abounds in sugarcanes”. There were many kinds of sugarcanes, whose superiority or inferiority depended upon their sugar conten .
    Tangerines produced in the Tai Lake valley were already famed in the Tang Dynasty and were used as a tribute to the imperial court . It was noted in the “Wu Prefecture Annals” written by Fan Chengda , that there were many orange orchards in Suzhou . The best tangerines were found in Wenzhou , Suzhou and Taizhou . The tangerine saplings produced in the Dongting Hills, “were often carried in boats to Suzhou, Huzhou and Xiuzhou to be grown there. The tangerines grown in Huzhou were considered superior”, because the favorable natural conditions there made the matured tangerines very tender and sweet, popular far and near .

　　In 1271 Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty with its capital in Dadu ( modern Beijing ) and proceeded to unite the whole country . After subjugating the Wu area, he attached considerable importance to the resumption and development of production in the area. He enacted a decree to encourage the development of agriculture, in which it was stated. “People is the foundation of the country. Food and clothes are the foundation of the people. Farming and mulberry planting are the foundation of food and clothing”. The economy in the Wu area recovered quickly, experiencing an economic rejuvenation. The wide spread silkworm breeding and mulberry and cotton planting brought about abundant supplies of raw materials for handicraft and speeded up the silk and cotton textile industries in the area . Then emerged Huang Daopo, a textile expert, who promoted the cotton textile industry in her hometown by renovating and inventing new textile tools. The spinning wheel she renovated was the most advanced spinning tool in the world in her time. 　
　　During the Ming-Qing Dynasties, resulting from the development of commercial products, a rudimentary capitalist production relationship appeared in certain handicrafts in this area. Checked often by the feudalist forces, this capitalist production relationship could only develop very arduously and slowly. Yet, it meant knelling for the medieval society and the dawning of the modern society.