The rulers of the Ming and Qing dynasties adhered to the policy of suppressing business, which was m

Emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce was the most basic economic guiding ideology of China's feudal dynasties, which advocated attaching importance to agriculture, taking agriculture as the foundation, and restricting the development of industry and commerce. From the incentives for ploughing and warfare stipulated in the Shang Dynasty Reform Law, to the heavy agricultural measures of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, until the adjustment of the recovery economy in the early Qing Dynasty, they are all the embodiment of the policy of heavy agriculture and suppressing business.

1. The reasons for the emergence of the policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business.

It is by no means accidental that the policy of valuing agriculture and suppressing commerce is by no means accidental with the feudal system, and what kind of economic policy a country or regime implements is, in the final analysis, determined by its economic foundation and the interests of the ruling class. The economic basis of China's feudal society is a self-sufficient natural economy, for people to own land can extract huge wealth, and land rent income is relatively stable, is the best means to make a fortune; At the same time, as far as the feudal country is concerned, the development of agriculture can enable the people to live and work in peace and contentment, the people can prosper, and the granary of the state treasury will be full, so that there will be no food shortage and turmoil at home, and there will be no worries about intrusion outside. As a result, successive rulers regarded the development of agriculture as the "foundation of the country" and suppressed commerce (and sometimes handicrafts) as the "last industry".

At the same time, in the eyes of the feudal emperors, on the one hand, the private industrial and commercial owners exploited the peasants through commodity exchange and usury, and on the other hand, the rich profits of commercial activities attracted a considerable number of peasants to "abandon their roots and move towards the end", thus greatly weakening the ruling foundation of the dynasty.

In addition, the latest research believes that the emergence of the policy of "valuing agriculture and suppressing business" is not only due to economic or material reasons, but also to cultural reasons, that is, the influence of the concept of "valuing righteousness over profit".

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

In ancient times, the policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing 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.

1.Set up a lot of checkpoints and impose heavy taxes on goods.

2 There was a rule in the Ming Dynasty that said: "The loom shall not exceed 100 sheets." "The development of handicraft workshops was strictly restricted, and this ban was abolished in the Kangxi Dynasty.

3 Rewarding agriculture and mulberry is actually a disguised obstacle to the development of industry and commerce.

4.The maritime ban policy restricts Chinese people from going to sea**.

5 Through the oracles and other propagation of the idea of valuing agriculture and suppressing commerce, such as Yongzheng's edict, it is said: "Agriculture is the foundation, and merchants are the end." ”

The main thing was to impose heavy taxes on merchants.

1.Heavy taxes were levied on merchants.

2.Downgrading the status of a merchant.

3.The descendants of merchants shall not be officials.

4.Implement a maritime ban policy.

1.Heavy taxes were levied on merchants.

2.Downgrading the status of a merchant.

3.The descendants of merchants shall not be officials.

Legal Analysis: Heavy Agriculture: Reward and Judgment to Encourage Farming and Weaving, Light Punishment and Meager Endowment, Recuperate, Adjust Policies, and Build Water Conservancy.

Suppression of business: Implement a monopoly system, impose additional commercial taxes on private businesses, and belittle and strictly restrict the activities of merchants.

Legal basis: Agricultural Law of the People's Republic of China

Article 2: "Agriculture" as used in this Law refers to industries such as cropping, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery, including pre-production, production, and post-production services directly related to them.

"Agricultural production and operation organizations" as used in this Law refers to rural collective economic organizations that are in need of poverty, farmers' professional cooperative economic organizations, agricultural enterprises, and other organizations engaged in agricultural production and operation.

Article 3 The State shall put agriculture in the first place in the development of the national economy.

The basic objectives of agricultural and rural economic development are: to establish a rural economic system that meets the requirements of developing the socialist market economy, to continuously emancipate and develop the rural productive forces, to improve the overall quality and efficiency of agriculture, to ensure the quality of agricultural products, to meet the needs of national economic development and population growth and improvement of living standards, to improve peasants' incomes and living standards, to promote the transfer of surplus rural labor to non-agricultural industries and towns, to narrow the differences between urban and rural areas and between regions, and to build a prosperous, democratic, and democratic country. The new civilized socialist countryside will gradually realize the modernization of agriculture and rural areas.

There has been loosening. The Ming Dynasty was mainly closed to the outside world. In terms of commerce, the Ming and Qing dynasties saw the emergence of capitalism, which also supported the development of commerce in the case of agriculture.

So-called"Emphasis on agriculture and suppression of business"It is to limit the number of businessmen by adopting policies and measures that belittle and suppress the political and social status of businessmen. The aim is to prevent a large number of peasants from abandoning agriculture and to engage in business, and to protect the priority development status of agriculture. Since the Warring States Shang Dynasty, Han Fei and others put forward the ideological proposition of valuing agriculture and suppressing commerce, some vassal states and the subsequent Qin and Han dynasties introduced a series of policies and measures to humiliate merchants.

For example, it is forbidden for merchants to wear silk clothes, to prohibit merchants from riding horses, to prohibit merchants from serving eunuchs, and to send merchants to guard the border. Later, from these policies and measures, a kind of concept and consciousness of suppressing business and ignoring business was derived. Valuing agriculture and suppressing business has formed an organic whole from policies to ideas to concepts, penetrated into all aspects of society, and has become a deep-rooted basic national policy.

In the Tang and Song dynasties, with the development of the commodity economy, the heavy agriculture and suppression of commerce were affected to a certain extent, but they were not completely shaken fundamentally. Even in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business was still introduced from time to time. Both the Ming and Qing dynasties also reiterated the old rule that merchants were not allowed to wear silk clothes and were not allowed to be eunuchs.

The implementation of heavy agriculture and suppression of commerce inhibited the development of the merchant class. All these measures are not conducive to the development of the commodity economy.

The prohibition system is another important policy of feudal rulers to intervene in the development of the commodity economy, and many people often classify it as a policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce, which is wrong.

Analysis: The policy of "emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business" is an economic thought and policy that advocates attaching importance to agriculture and restricting the crackdown on industry and commerce in Chinese history. It was the inevitable product of a self-sufficient natural economy, the immediate purpose of which was to ensure servitude and the collection of rent, and the fundamental purpose was to consolidate feudal rule.

It began with the Shang Dynasty Reform during the Warring States Period. The rulers of the Ming and Qing dynasties followed the idea of "emphasizing the foundation and suppressing the end", Ming Taizu proposed "thick capital and suppressing the end", and Emperor Yongzheng proposed "industry and commerce are the end". The Ming and Qing dynasties inherited the traditional monopoly system; heavy taxation of private enterprises; There are many domestic checkpoints; The status of businessmen is low; Huge government-run handicraft industries were formed to suppress the development of private handicrafts.

After the Ming Dynasty, China formed the idea of "valuing agriculture and suppressing commerce", that is, advocating the priority development of agricultural economy and restricting the development of commerce. This kind of thinking has existed for a long time in Chinese history, especially in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, but the degree of implementation of specific policies is not the same, and there is a certain degree of looseness in the same period and region.

In the late Ming Dynasty, during the period of Mingshenzong, due to continuous wars and economic difficulties, the Qing Dynasty was able to expand through it; During the period from Zhu Yuanzhang to Chenghua in the middle of the period, he once again clarified the national policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business, and put some commercial funds into agricultural development and other undertakings, and the measures were similar to those of previous dynasties; After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the national policy of valuing agriculture and suppressing commerce began to loosen somewhat, and the increase in military expenditure and economic difficulties made the imperial court gradually recognize the importance of commerce to fiscal revenue, and began to maintain a certain degree of tolerance towards commerce. In terms of commerce, the middle and late Ming Dynasty gradually opened the sea ban, allowed the import of foreign goods, and exported porcelain, silk, tea, etc., and gradually expanded the scope of commerce, but foreign exchanges and foreign affairs were still relatively cautious, hindering the development of commerce. At the same time, the Ming Dynasty also established many towns to promote commercial activities.

In the Qing Dynasty, during the reign of Kang Yongqian, the Qing Dynasty gradually opened up the capitalist market, strengthened the formulation and implementation of commercial laws and regulations, and established many commercial institutions and facilities. At the same time, the Qing Dynasty has implemented a series of preferential policies, such as differential treatment in taxation, and gradually relaxed the control and restrictions on commerce to encourage business activities.

In general, there were fluctuations and changes in the degree of implementation of the policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Although the official restrictions on commercial development in the Ming Dynasty were more obvious, with the changes of the times and the needs of the state, the policy gradually eased Yanxiao. During the reign of Kang Yongqian, the Qing Dynasty implemented many policies conducive to commercial development, and remarkable achievements were made in commercial development during this period.

Summary. Tang Zhen, a civilian thinker in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, summed up China's social and economic conditions in this way during the forty-year prosperous era of Kangxi:

According to the research of Japanese scholars, the middle period of the Kangxi Dynasty was the period with the highest per capita GDP in the prosperous Kangqian era, and since then, under the pressure of population, China's per capita GDP has begun to decline all the way) Qingxing has been in existence for more than 50 years. Within the four seas, there is increasing poverty: agricultural empty, industrial empty, municipal empty, and official empty.

The grain is cheap and difficult to eat, the cloth is cheap and difficult to wear, the boat goes to the market and the goods are folded, and the officials go to the official and have no home, which is empty.

Money, so there is no also. The middle-class family, taste the moon without looking at a gold, do not see the money, there is no way. Therefore, the farmers are frozen, the department stores are dead, the harvest year is like a fierce one, and the good ones have no plans.

Walking in the city, the columns are brilliant, the crown is shy, and when they enter their homes, the court is extinguished without smoke, and the cold is curled up without Shen. The people of Wuzhong, many men and women are far away, the beauty of men is superior, and the evil are slaves. The beauty of the woman is the concubine, and the evil is the maid, all over the sea.

Qing ** attitude towards private business in different periods.

Tang Zhen, a civilian thinker in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, summarized China's social and economic conditions in the 40 years of Kangxi's heyday: (According to the research of Japanese scholars, the middle of the Kangxi Dynasty was the period with the highest per capita GDP in the prosperous era of Kang Yu Zhaoqian, and since then, under population pressure, China's per capita GDP has begun to decline all the way) Qingxing has been in the past 50 years. Within the four seas, poverty is increasing:

Agricultural air, industrial air, city air, and office space. The grain is cheap and difficult to eat, the cloth is cheap and difficult to wear, the boat goes to the market and the goods are folded, and the officials go to the official and have no home, which is empty. Money, so there is no also.

The middle-class family, taste the moon without looking at a gold, do not see the money, there is no way. Therefore, the farmers are frozen, the department stores are dead, the harvest year is like a fierce one, and the good ones have no plans. Walking in the city, the column is unbridled, the crown is shy and the key is dismantled, and the family is in the house, the court is extinguished without smoke, and the cold is curled up without Shen.

The people of Wuzhong, many men and women are far away, the beauty of men is superior, and the evil are slaves. The beauty of the woman is the concubine, and the evil is the maid, all over the sea.

Qing ** heavy agriculture and suppressed business.