Before the establishment of the Jin Dynasty, did the Jurchens have any currency? In recent years, the academic community has made remarkable achievements in the study of the monetary system of the Jin Dynasty. However, with the deepening of the study of Jin history, especially the excavation of a large number of new archaeological materials at home and abroad, we feel that the "no currency on the eve of the founding of the Jin Dynasty" that our predecessors talked about is still in the original exchange state of "no city well corridor" and "no money in the city, with the convenience of things", and whether the Jurchens began to use "old money of the Liao song dynasty" after "occupying the Liao and Song regions" is completely correct, and there are many doubts.
First, the Jurchens began to settle down, and agricultural production gradually developed
Money is a historical economic category that arises in commodity exchange and develops with the development of commodity exchange. The monetary economy of any society corresponds to the level of development of production and the degree of development of commodity exchange at that time.
The use of money by the Jurchens in commodity exchange activities is, first of all, the inevitable result of the socio-economic development of the Jurchens. Not entirely because the Jin Dynasty destroyed the Liao and Northern Song Dynasties, because they obtained a large number of Liao and Song coins, they jumped from the original "barter" to a monetary economy using the old Money of the Liao and Song Dynasties. Like other ethnic groups, the Jurchens have undergone a long-term historical development process in the emergence and use of money.
As we all know, the Jurchens are one of the ancient ethnic groups in the northeast region. In different historical periods, it has been recorded in history with the names of Sushen, Rulou, Beji, and Jurchen. Since the Zhou Dynasty, that is, there has been a tributary relationship with the Central Plains Dynasty, and by the time of the establishment of the Jin Dynasty, the interaction with the Central Plains Dynasty has a history of nearly 2,000 years. This ancient nation has gone through many vicissitudes and has historically been attached to the minority regimes in the northeast regions such as Goryeo, Bohai, and Khitan. In 926, after the Khitan destroyed the Bohai Sea, the Jurchens moved from the "east coast of the sea" to the south with the westward migration of the Bohai remnants, and entered the sea homeland, that is, between the so-called White Mountains and Black Water. Due to the influence of advanced agricultural cultures such as Han, Bohai, and Goryeo, the Jurchens began to settle down, and agricultural production gradually developed.
Second, the development of agricultural production of the Jurchen people began to have some surplus agricultural products
Around the middle of the 10th century, the daughter-in-law Zhen guanyanbu who moved to the "end of the servant dry water" in the era of her ancestor Hanpu, some "diligent cultivators became extremely rich".
At the end of the 10th century and the beginning of the 11th century, under the leadership of its four generations zu Suike, the Wanyanbu moved west to Haigu and pressed the banks of the Hushui River (present-day Ashe River). Slow can teach people to burn charcoal and smelt iron, cut wood for utensils, make boats and boats, cultivate the art of farming, plant grain, build houses, and end the previous nomadic life of migration and uncertainty.
At the same time, other tribes of The Birth Daughters also settled down. For example, in the "History of Jin", there are the Wucai Dabu of The Lazy Water (now the Hailang River, a tributary of the Mudanjiang River), and the Usaza Department of lailiushui (present-day Lalin River), which indicates that they no longer migrate infrequently and live by water and grass. On the eve of the establishment of the Jin Dynasty, from the coast of the "East China Sea" to the White Mountains and Black Water of the Songnen Plain, there were many villages and village organizations of the Jurchens, leaving the remnants of their hard work everywhere.
As a result of the use of iron, agricultural production has developed further. Agriculture and animal husbandry are listed as two major economic sectors and are highly valued by tribal leaders. Empress Zhaosu, the wife of Jingzu Bird Gu Nai, showed a scene of agricultural busyness in "the month of farming, depending on the cultivation of the class, riding on a horse in the distance, and a staff nearby, encouraging those who are diligent in doing things, and encouraging those who leave early in the morning".
Ah Kuan da brother Hui with his own yard garden. Ah Kuan Ta once saw a fire in his field garden in a dream, "The grass is burned and cannot be extinguished." At the ceremony of Ah Kuan's title of emperor, Ah Li and Zong Yun offered nine pieces of cultivation tools, wishing the monarch "not to forget the difficulties of harvesting". It fully proves the important position of agricultural production in the Jurchen social economy. The development of agricultural production began to have some surplus agricultural products, which were mainly manifested in the Jurchens' "brewing rice for wine", "drinking alcohol", "drinking heavily", and "drinking without counting".
During the time of the Shizu Impeachment, there were already places for drinking, "restaurants". Being able to use grain to make wine and drink alcohol has reached the level of "liquor is not counted", indicating that there is already a considerable surplus of agricultural products, and it is unimaginable that if you can't even eat enough food, you will use grain to make wine. When Yingge was a taishi (1094-1103), a Goryeo doctor who had returned from the end of the Yenbu, because he reported to the king that Jurchen was "better in the army, and the valley was rich in the valley", the king of Goryeo decided to send envoys to establish diplomatic relations with Jurchen.
Third, the development of livestock harvesting and handicraft industry has promoted the development of social division of labor and exchange
The development of agricultural production of the Jurchens has created conditions for the development of livestock harvesting and handicraft industry, and promoted the development of social division of labor and exchange.
After the 10th century, high animal husbandry production remained an important economic sector of Jurchen society and occupied a particularly important position in its economic life. Jurchens raise pigs, cattle, sheep, and are better at raising horses.
Jurchens raise pigs and have a long history. Book of the Later Han Dynasty: Lou Lou "good to raise a pig". The Old Book of Tang also records that the rich people of Blackwater raised as many as hundreds of pigs. The Jurchens raise white pigs, eat their flesh, and clothe their skins. When Emperor Taizong of Jin begged for money, he stipulated that the Jurchens in Shangjing (in present-day Acheng, Heilongjiang Province) pay tribute to 20,000 pigs to the Dynasty every year, and this rule was not exempted until the twenty-fifth year of Jin Shizong's reign (1185).
Jurchens also raise sheep, and in the cold winter months, women especially like to wear a lambskin hat.
Cattle are indispensable domestic animals for Jurchen cultivation. The jurchen form of land distribution and occupation is the bull head land, also known as the cattle tax land. That is, according to the number of cattle cultivated and the number of people, land and taxes are divided. This is enough to illustrate the status of cattle in the socio-economic life of the Jurchen people. finish.
Horse breeding is a major part of Jurchen's pastoral production. The Jurchen region is rich in famous horses. Ma and Jurchen social and political and economic life is very close. The horse was a symbol of the wealth of the Jurchens, a major tribute to the Liao Dynasty, and a major commodity for trade with the Song Dynasty. The number of Jurchen horses raised by the Jurchens is very considerable. In the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Shengzong of Liao (986), a Khitan nobleman rebelled against the Jurchens. "More than 100,000 people were born and more than 200,000 horses were obtained." Every year, more than 10,000 horses were paid to the Liao Dynasty. Horses were not only the main tribute and bulk of the exchange trade, but also valuable gifts and physical currency. Horses serve as compensation and marriage expenses for the Jurchens; they are the beloved objects and funerary goods of the Jurchens. Ma, like Jin, was the main form of currency in the pre-Jurchen society established by the Jin Dynasty.
From the 10th to the beginning of the 12th century, due to the development of agriculture and animal husbandry in jurchen society, the rapid development of handicraft industry was promoted. The Jurchens could not only burn charcoal to make iron, make boats and carts, and "make rice into wine", but also spin yarn and weave fabrics, make armor, and appeared craftsmen who controlled iron and forged. For example, the water temperature of Apasi is Wuchun, that is, "fake iron is the industry." Due to his age, the staff bears the burden of his clan to return. Where the ancestors are, they are self-sufficient in their own industry." Ubutun in Kagubu also used wrought iron. It was once sold by A ninety years after it was made. It can be seen that the families of Wuchun and Wubutun are all craftsmen of iron production. They have been separated from agriculture and animal husbandry. At the same time, the weaving industry of the Jurchen society also developed. Daikin Kokushi? According to the Chuxing Terroir, Jurchen "Has no silkworms in the soil, but more weaving." Nobility is distinguished by the thickness of the cloth." The weaving industry has become one of the important handicraft categories.
The above historical facts show that from the 10th to the beginning of the 12th century, due to the socio-economic development of the Jurchens, agriculture, harvesting, and handicrafts were separated, and each became an independent economic sector, thus laying an economic foundation for the development of exchange and the use of money.