Merchants in Song Dynasty can be said to be the dynasty with the largest variety and quantity of industries and the most developed business mind in history. The prosperity after Sui and Tang Dynasties reached a peak.
The production technology level of traditional industries is very high, while emerging industries have emerged, with more and more material and social wealth, and the idea of mercenary is also rising. Commerce has entered a new historical development peak. It is said that the Tang Dynasty was prosperous, and the real Dasong was more prosperous than the Tang Dynasty.
The Song Dynasty broke the strict market system since the Tang Dynasty, and there was no limit to the operating time. With the high prosperity of small businesses, people from all walks of life have devoted themselves to private business and gradually formed a huge business group.
With the development of commodity economy and the opening of commercial environment in Song Dynasty, there was a trend of extravagance in Song Dynasty, people's attitude towards businessmen began to change, and people's interest concept also changed in this form. In addition to professional businessmen, the above ethos often attracts people to join the ranks of private owners, including officials who buy and sell privately, royalty, gentry, and more scholars, farmers, craftsmen and so on.
In the Song Dynasty, people plowed the fields only to solve the problem of food and clothing, and only by doing business could they make their hands rich in gold and silver. There are various merchants in the Shuihu market, such as teahouses, gold and silver jade processing shops, chain pharmacies and rice noodle shops. It reflects the diversity of business models at that time.
In the villages and towns of the Song Dynasty, small businesses peddled along the street can be seen everywhere. The number of such private businessmen is more and more widely distributed than those who run shops in cities. According to historical records, a cake shop has more than 50 pots and spoons. In the Song Dynasty, in addition to specialties and luxury goods, many necessities of life also became commodities circulating in the market.
For example, at that time, the rapid development of science and technology and water transportation had broken the restrictions thousands of miles away, which made more and more private businessmen start long-distance rice sales. Eat the mountain by the mountain, eat the sea by the sea. Fujian Road, with a small area and no arable land, has always been an importer of commodity grain. Most local farmers don't have to produce their own food. They use the mountainous terrain to develop the production of tea, fruit and other commodities.
The development of water transport in Song Dynasty promoted the transportation of long-distance goods, and the trade between merchants in the east, west, north and south was also frequent. In the Song Dynasty, more and more private businessmen showed farmers different examples of getting rich. Among them, the example of farmers getting rich by working part-time in private enterprises is an excellent example of other farmers giving up farming and becoming businessmen.
Farmers who can barely make ends meet after seeing their former companions running enterprises and working hard all day must follow suit. Not only ordinary people began to do business, but even officials in the government went into business and started business as officials and businessmen. Business has become a common phenomenon, from the phase of a country to the general administrative officials.
Official business began in the early Song Dynasty and deepened with the development of business. Basically, officials from the central government to local governments have done business. They sell food, cloth, wood and other things, set foot in the printing industry, and even directly intervene in the tea and salt controlled by the state. There is also a saying that officials are only engaged in business.
Even Zhu, the master of Neo-Confucianism, published books and sold them himself. As far as the return is concerned, the benefits of sole proprietorship are self-evident, and all the operating income belongs to oneself, which satisfies the selfish desires of officials to the greatest extent.
Businesses in all walks of life are inseparable from the development of light industry, which promotes and complements each other. Mining, foundry metallurgy, textile industry, porcelain industry, shipbuilding industry, paper industry and salt industry have all made great progress. The folk silk industry in Song Dynasty was the peak of ancient China.
Silk weaving workshops are large in scale and have quite high technical level. Every year, the amount of fiscal revenue is quite huge, with tens of millions of horses at every turn. There are many famous kiln factories such as Ru kiln, Guan kiln, Longquan kiln, Ding kiln, Jun kiln and Jingdezhen kiln, each of which is a boutique kiln.
Over the years, the cultural relics unearthed from official kilns in the Song Dynasty have the highest value. From this aspect, we can know how advanced and developed the kiln factory in Song Dynasty was at that time. There are official shipyards in many places, some of which are very large. In addition to official ships, the private shipbuilding industry has also developed, and its technology is even better than official ships.
One of the characteristics of shipbuilding in the Song Dynasty is that the ability to manufacture large ships has been significantly improved, with a wide variety, extremely high technological level and relatively mature manufacturing technology. In Song Dynasty, the variety of paper industry was comprehensive, the manufacturing technology was more mature, and the employees of government and private workshops were also growing.
Salt franchise income and salt tax income are important fiscal revenues of the Song government, and salt industry is highly valued. There are specialized workers specializing in salt industry everywhere, and the production technology of salt is more advanced, and the output is also great. With the further development of agriculture and handicrafts, the commercial scale in Song Dynasty was much larger than that in Tang Dynasty, and the commodity economy took on a new look, reaching its peak in feudal society, and many industries developed rapidly.
In addition, in order to stabilize the border situation, the Song Dynasty also adopted a tax exemption system for the private trade of border generals, and the border taxes in previous dynasties were very heavy. This practice further stimulated the social and economic development of the Song Dynasty.
Before the Song Dynasty, private businessmen were despised by society, and it was shameful to be prostitutes for money. However, in the Song Dynasty, more and more people felt the temptation of money, inspired by the example of private businessmen getting rich.
When they see rich private businessmen, there are not only low-ranking refugees and poor farmers, but also noble bureaucrats and prominent nobles; When they saw that the despised groups in the past had lived a rich life, the traditional Confucian concept of valuing righteousness over profit was greatly challenged.
Private business led to the change of agricultural structure at that time, but the business activities of private business indirectly had a negative impact on the small-scale peasant economy, and farmers depended on the market and businessmen. In the Song Dynasty, more and more farmers began to selectively give up the production of some necessities and go to the market.
On the one hand, they need to sell their products in the market; On the other hand, they need to get necessities in the market. This transaction process shows that the small farmers who produced and consumed by themselves before the Song Dynasty could not avoid contact with the market.
In this way, the people have established a dependence relationship with private businessmen with the market as the connection point, saving the labor of producing some daily necessities. In Song Dynasty, the national finance was deeply troubled by war, lucky money and profligacy, and it was often in danger of living beyond its means.
It is for this reason that the rulers of the Song Dynasty paid more attention to commercial taxes and provided some preferential policies for private business operations. However, the money obtained through commercial taxation is far less than the self-operated profits. It is for this reason that the Song Dynasty introduced a series of tax systems to control the monopolistic behavior in the market and also hit the commodity profits of private businessmen.
Private businessmen evade taxes in the course of business operations, causing losses to the country. In order to avoid commercial tax, private businessmen in Song Dynasty often formed a community of interests with bureaucrats by bribery, so as to achieve the purpose of tax avoidance. Under the background that the Song Dynasty government used intensive tax fields to levy heavy taxes on ordinary people to increase fiscal revenue.
In the law enforcement environment where many tax collectors abuse power for personal gain and ignore the rights and interests of vendors, due to the lack of strict enforcement and effective supervision, these laws written on paper and posted in advance are undoubtedly difficult to achieve the expected results, and it is not enough to act on their own.
In this way, the interests of businessmen, especially the middle and lower class vendors, will inevitably be difficult to be guaranteed, and the healthy operation of the commercial market will also be hindered. The business tax collection network is interlocking at all levels, and the procedures are detailed to ensure that the fiscal and tax revenue belongs to the central government to the maximum extent. This is undoubtedly to strengthen centralized control, provide a strong legal guarantee for the national commercial tax collection, and increase the wealth of the national treasury.
As far as political stability and national security are concerned, in the Song Dynasty, when the commodity economy developed greatly, the unstable factors caused by private businessmen with wealth and a large population were also things that rulers had to worry about. Small businessmen who walk the streets in private enterprises make a living by selling goods, and there is no land to rely on as a source of life. Natural and man-made disasters often make them take risks.
Stealing or robbing, or rising up, this unstable group hovering on the edge of society is a serious threat to political stability. In addition, private businessmen operate things for profit, and when their trade scope involves borders or foreign countries, there is a danger of leaking secrets and hiding.
There is no problem for private businessmen to conduct normal trade with neighboring countries. However, when the relationship between the two countries is tense or businessmen smuggle, this kind of trade will do great harm to the country. If the national treasury is too small, it will definitely fail in the event of war.
War is actually money and food. The expanding influence of private businessmen in Song Dynasty has penetrated into every corner of society. The changes they brought to politics, economy and culture at that time directly interfered with the rule of the Song government.
If it is not controlled, mercenary businessmen will inevitably further expand this negative influence. Therefore, for the development of private enterprises, the rulers of the Song Dynasty will certainly not take a laissez-faire attitude. In the Song Dynasty, the government did not completely crack down on private businessmen, but properly controlled them. In the Song Dynasty, when the commodity economy developed greatly, the positive role of private businessmen became an undeniable fact for politicians at that time.
The government is well aware of the positive role of developing commodity economy in enriching the people and protecting the country. The government's intention to control private enterprises is clear, and the control means are diverse. It's just that market antitrust and monopoly have brought a lot of inconvenience to the development of private businesses.
The implementation of various government measures is intended for Wei Huaguo's rule, which is generally good, but it will hit the development of some private businesses in practice, which is inevitable, so it seems that the grassroots people who can become the prosperity and development of commodity economy in Song Dynasty are not so rich.
References:
Song Shi
Historical chronicle of song dynasty
Dream of Tokyo
Wen/Shi Fu