The reason why the ancient merchant gang did not develop and grow

The concept of "Shang Gang" also appeared in China after the Ming Dynasty, first the Shanxi Jin merchants, then the Anhui Hui merchants, and the thirteen merchants in Guangzhou, and several families controlled important economic lifelines. At that time, these merchants had as much wealth as the state would collect in a year.

However, neither the Jin merchants, the Hui merchants, nor the Thirteen Merchant Merchants, their names have ever appeared in the Chinese history books. Because all the wealth they have acquired is given to them. For example, the Jin merchants relied on salt to make money, controlled the salt, and then issued a contract responsibility letter to some private families, and these families could operate the salt industry, and they would become the richest man in China in a few years.

But as soon as the state takes back the privileges, the house of the richest man is gone. Similarly, the Thirteen Banks relied on foreign trade to start their business, and the Chinese had to do ** with foreigners, and the Qing ** stipulated that they could only trade in Guangzhou, and designated a special area, and the family that obtained permission to enter this area to do business became the richest people in China.

But why are there so few century-old enterprises in China? In fact, many industries, such as making money banks, cloth shoes, and pharmacies, can become a century-old enterprise as long as they develop steadily in one region. At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, according to the calculations of many scholars, China's cotton textile capacity at that time, in terms of output and production technology, surpassed that of Britain at that time, but why did China not produce capitalism like Britain at that time?

The main reason is that the wealth acquisition of the Chinese merchant class is not through technological progress, but through transactions with the best. Therefore, there is no way for China to have an independent merchant class and an entrepreneurial class, and all the wealth cannot be developed through scientific and technological innovation in industry and commerce.

Reasons for emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business:

Agricultural production was the foundation of the country, coupled with the low productivity at that time.

Qin, Shang Dynasty reform of the law first advocated the policy of "heavy agriculture and suppression of business", the people are divided into four levels, that is, the so-called scholars, farmers, industry, and merchants "four people", scholars are the most expensive, agriculture is second, industry and commerce are second, this kind of thinking has been used by all dynasties, the feudal dynasties, especially the newly established dynasties, have emphasized the importance of agriculture, emphasizing "agriculture-oriented", and deeply rooted in the people's thoughts.

All subsequent rulers inherited the policy of pro-agriculture and suppression of commerce, with the aim of protecting agricultural production and the small-scale peasant economy, ensuring the conscription of service and rent, and consolidating feudal rule.

In the final analysis, the adoption of such measures by successive dynasties is determined by their economic foundation. The basis of the economy of the feudal state was a self-sufficient natural economy, and the main sector of this economy was agriculture. Agriculture was the decisive sector of production in ancient times, and the state of agricultural production was directly related to the rise and fall of the country.

The fundamental reason lies in China's special economic and geographical conditions. Unlike Europe, which faces the sea, China is a large landlocked country with a vast territory and fertile land, and it is relatively easy to obtain daily necessities through agriculture. In ancient times, China was geographically isolated and poorly known to the outside world due to its relatively backward technology, and its abundant land and resources prevented its ancestors from engaging in commercial activities.

<>Of course, if this is the only point in ancient China, it will be meaningless, after all, after the Han and Tang dynasties, China has established relations with many foreign countries, and the people of Chinese will not fail to see the money that these countries have earned through **. In fact, there were many merchants engaged in commercial activities during the Shang Dynasty, which is also the origin of the name "merchant". In ancient times, the conditions for scientific and technological production were limited, because "urgently needed" food has always been extremely precious.

Money has changed again and again. There are iron coins, copper coins, silver coins, and tin coins, which are units. Shoichi 900 stone rice per year, from sake 50 stone rice per year.

This level of wages has also become a mockery of the "low wages of the Ming Dynasty" in history. But really? According to the records of the Ming Dynasty, the grain yield per mu in the Ming Dynasty increased by nearly 50% compared with that in the Song Dynasty.

The highest yield of rice per mu is 3 to 4 st, and the average is about 2 st. After taking into account the cost of seeds and fertilizers, etc., how many acres of land is needed for "50 cubic meters per year"? In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the "salary level" of Jiupin officials was at least equivalent to the net income of small and medium-sized landlord families in Jiangnan for a year.

Don't complain about the low price, ancient food was too expensive.

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The unique geographical environment has created China's ancient river civilization, and the relative closure of the geographical location makes the country's commercial activities unable to obtain considerable benefits, and encouraging commercial activities will inevitably lose a large number of yeoman farmers and affect agricultural production.

This was done to limit the development of merchants, and the rulers wanted to improve their status in this way, and also wanted to avoid collusion between merchants and magnates.

In the general direction, the ancients believed that businessmen valued profit over righteousness, and once the country was in trouble, their first thought was to run away with their own property and would not coexist with the country, so businessmen were unreliable, so their social status was low. In addition, businessmen often monopolize goods by controlling certain channels, taking advantage of the opportunity to raise prices, and achieve the purpose of profiteering, which makes the status of businessmen decline in everyone's minds.

In ancient times, there was a saying called "local agriculture and commerce", and the word "business" was ranked last, which also means that merchants were not valued in ancient times, and "heavy agriculture and suppression of business" was the basic national policy of China's feudal dynasty.

Because in ancient times, the production efficiency was still relatively low, and there was not so much surplus product, and the merchant's contribution to the whole society was not great. That's why society as a whole looks down on businessmen.

China has always been an agrarian society in ancient times, and the country's main economy is the grain cultivated by farmers, and businessmen are not treated well by people because of their "opportunistic" behavior. But is this really the case, and is it true that businessmen are not treated well because they are "opportunistic"? Judging from the current situation, it is obvious that it is not, and businessmen are also a group of decent men and gentlemen who pay attention to credibility.

In fact, the reason why merchants were not welcomed in ancient times was mainly because the imperial court did not support it, because it would affect the rule! Knowing this, we can know what would have been the result if the ancient times had managed and developed commerce

If commerce was vigorously developed in ancient times, then the rule of the imperial court must have been unstable, and what kind of ability did merchants need? Good faith? Treacherous?

No, a necessary ability is to be able to use the brain, and if you can't use your brain, you will only suffer losses in business, and losing means losing money, which means you can't afford to eat, and it means death. But using one's brain also means that this person's mind is active, and "thinking alive" is a point that emperors of all dynasties have been afraid of.

Many people know that in fact, the life of the people in ancient times could be better, but the ruler court just did not allow it, that is, to let the people be in a state of semi-food and clothing. In this state, people have to work non-stop every day, otherwise being lazy for one day means starving for three days. And the reason why the imperial court wants to make the people hungry is because once people are full, their minds will be active, and they will start to think of some strange things, which is very detrimental to the stability of the imperial court's rule.

Therefore, we can understand that if commerce was vigorously developed in ancient times, then it did not matter that there were more businessmen in the whole world, but that the important thing was that there were more people in the whole world who used their brains. It is the nature of people to pursue profits, people work for food and clothing to chase the interests of the stomach, businessmen make money to chase the interests of a better life, once people begin to use their brains from food and clothing, to life, then it will inevitably continue to rise - such as power.

Therefore, if commerce was vigorously developed in ancient times, it would inevitably lead to the rule of the imperial court becoming very unstable.

The result will be failure, because in ancient times, the common people had no spare money on hand, their consumption power was not strong, and their business could not develop, even if they made great efforts to develop, they would waste resources in vain.

Then China will definitely be stronger now. In ancient times, agriculture was heavy and merchants were suppressed, merchants had almost no social status, and their children were also suppressed. Therefore, if there is no policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business, China may have developed better.

In ancient China, the idea of valuing agriculture and suppressing commerce was very serious. Because the ruling class in China's feudal society is very strong. They themselves were representatives of the big landowners.

What they need is for the people to work on their land. If commerce is extremely prosperous, they will lose their rule. Therefore, it is unlikely that a highly developed business was formed in ancient China.

If anything, it may be that China will enter a capitalist society early.

Because China has been a big agricultural country since the beginning, and the emphasis on agriculture and the suppression of commerce is the product of the feudal self-sufficient economy, it is not that it looks down on businessmen, but that in such a social environment, it is better to engage in business than to engage in agriculture. Emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce is one of the most basic economic ideas of the ancient Chinese feudal dynasty, and the core content is to attach importance to agriculture, take agriculture as the foundation, and inhibit the development of commerceComprehensive national strength

1. Emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce is a feudal natural economy.

The product of this policy of heavy agriculture and suppression of commerce is the product of the feudal natural economy, and the feudal system.

There is a high level of closeness and connection. This is feudal society.

The inevitable policy, because in ancient times, our country has always been a large agricultural country, everyone is accustomed to a self-sufficient economy, and there is not too much thought to think about the problem of exchange with others. Successive rulers of all dynasties have regarded the development of agriculture as the foundation of the state, and the suppression of commerce as the last business.

2. Ancient China.

The second reason why the closed environment cannot promote the healthy development of commerce is that the Chinese have lived in a unique environment of a closed continent since ancient times. Chinese nation.

of our ancestors have lived in the Yellow River valley since ancient times.

Yangtze River Basin. 6,000 years ago, our ancestors had already moved away from the hunter-gatherer economy and entered the primitive agricultural life based on the plantation economy. At that time, transportation was not developed, they worked and multiplied in their own territory, and they did not get any news from the outside.

Until the Opium War of 1840, the Chinese really knew very little about the outside world.

3. The Manifestation of Heavy Agriculture and Suppression of Business The main manifestations of heavy agriculture and suppression of business include two aspects: the first is that the ruler has repeatedly emphasized that the state should focus on agriculture and should not focus on industry and commerce. Second, the rulers will promote the small-scale peasant economy of the natural economy.

Everyone also realized that they had to rely on the sky for food and their own labor for food. The main tax revenues and finances of the state also depend on agriculture and the exploitation of peasants.

Dear readers, do you understand?

Ancient Chinese feudal society attached great importance to the development of agriculture, because it was generally believed that the people were food-oriented, most people made a living from farming, and food could fill the treasury. The development of commerce affected the development of agriculture and oppressed the common people, so it inhibited the development of commerce.

Because it was an agrarian society at that time, it was necessary for people to carry out agricultural activities and prevent the decline of agricultural productivity.

In ancient times, merchants were looked down upon because the people lived on food, and merchants could not farm. In ancient times, more attention was paid to agricultural production, which belonged to a self-sufficient natural economy, and was not interested in merchants.

2. Performance and evaluation of the policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business.

In ancient times, the policy of heavy agriculture and suppression of commerce was mainly manifested in:

1. The rulers repeatedly emphasized that agriculture was the primary industry and commerce was the last industry;

2. On the land issue, we should adopt a policy of curbing mergers and acquisitions, prevent a large number of peasants from going bankrupt, and stabilize the foundation of agricultural production;

3. Strengthen household registration management and restrict population movements;

Fourth, restricting businessmen and commercial activities in many ways: restricting the political rights of businessmen, blocking the road to official careers, and not allowing their descendants to become officials; using the tax system to punish businessmen; Adopt official management of important industries, and businessmen are not allowed to get involved; Restrictions on businessmen in their daily lives, discriminatory rules on how they dress, how to build houses, how to ride cars, and so on.

Comment: In the early days of feudal society, the policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce played a positive role in the development of agriculture and social economy, and in the consolidation of the power of the emerging landlord class. For example, the Shang Dynasty reformed the law, implemented the policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce, and encouraged the development of agricultural production, which promoted the continuous growth of Qin's economic strength and laid the material foundation for the later unification of the six kingdoms by Qin Shi Huang.

However, the policy of "valuing agriculture and suppressing business" also led to the continuous annexation of land by the landlords and bureaucrats, resulting in a high degree of land concentration, bankrupt and exiled the peasants, which affected the development of agricultural production, intensified class contradictions, and caused peasant uprisings to break out continuously. The landlord bureaucracy was also further corrupted by the frenzied annexation of land. By the Ming and Qing dynasties, the budding capitalism had already emerged in China, but the ruling class still adhered to the policy of "valuing agriculture and suppressing business" and implemented a series of measures that were not conducive to the development of capitalism.

These practices have violated the objective law of economic development, led to the backwardness of the country, and caused it to lose its initial positive role.