History is always full of mystery, although many things have passed hundreds of thousands of years, but many things that happen in the process are always favored and studied by many history lovers because of the lack of information and doubts.
During the Ming Dynasty, the last regime in the history of feudalism in the mainland, the Han Chinese, the traditional feudal etiquette system was gradually and almost perfected after thousands of years of standardization and strengthening.
At the same time, the mainland society has also integrated a large number of new elements of production and life with exchanges with other neighboring countries. Many people assert that the commercially developed Ming Dynasty could have developed into a capitalist society, but it was only under a series of yin and yang errors that it developed into the continuous intensification of feudal etiquette.
Some people say that this statement is true, but some people say that it is just the paranoia of "ming fans". To argue whether this is the case, it is still necessary to analyze whether Daming has this "ability".
The last Han Emperor - the Ming Dynasty
The Chinese nation has lasted for thousands of years and is one of the only four ancient civilizations in the world today. In the course of the development of the mainland through vicissitudes, it has roughly experienced five important stages of primitive era, Stone Age, slave society, feudal society, and modern society. Among them, feudal society, as an important stage in the formation and perfection of traditional customs on the mainland, occupies an important position in the development process of the entire Chinese nation.
Feudal society began with Qin Shi Huang's unification of China and ended with the fall of the Qing Dynasty, spanning nearly two thousand years. In this process, although a few dynasties were ruled by ethnic minorities, the vast majority were ruled by Han Chinese people.
Among them, the Ming Dynasty ruled for nearly three hundred years, and because it was in the late stage of feudal society, it had a very strict and complete feudal ritual system. At the same time, with the development and convenience of transportation and the enlightenment of ideas, the interaction between regions of the world has also become close.
Does capitalism have potential?
During the Ming Dynasty, especially during the Wanli Period, the reform system presided over by the chancellor Zhang Juzheng was in full swing. At the same time, the laxity of the management of its ruling departments has also led to the continuous prosperity of many private traders.
After a careful examination of its historical stages, many people believe that if the Ming Dynasty had not perished in the later period, it would have been entirely possible to develop into a capitalist society.
Such a view made many ordinary people with traditional knowledge of history very interested, and for a time, the discussion on the Internet about whether the Ming Dynasty society had the potential to develop into a capitalist society was heated. Some people believe that the smooth implementation of the Reform System of the Ming Dynasty and the prosperity of the economic development of the small people in the city are all precursors to the coming of capitalism;
Another part of the masses believes that although the commercial economy of the Ming Dynasty developed strongly, the feudal small-scale peasant economy on the mainland for thousands of years is still deeply rooted and difficult to shake at a time, so the embryonic of capitalism is indeed a thing, but it is difficult to develop and form a climate.
Everything is a foregone conclusion
The various theories expound their own words and reasons, so how should we judge the potential of capitalist development during the Ming Dynasty? In fact, as long as we analyze the social situation of the Ming Dynasty at that time, we will find that the budding of capitalism in the Ming Dynasty is a fact, but under the confinement of various feudal rituals, it is a fool's dream to want to develop into a capitalist society like western European countries.
There are three reasons for this judgment. First, China's feudal society has always insisted on a self-sufficient small-scale peasant economy. The so-called small-scale peasant economy, that is, the production and living conditions that we are familiar with as "male cultivators and female weavers", can be self-sufficient for their own living needs, and there is no frequent commercial transaction. The core of capitalism, however, is the large-scale and high-speed flow of commerce.
As we all know, Europe is the starting point for the development and maturity of capitalist countries, because the bourgeoisie accumulates a large number of means of production through commodity trade for commodity production, acquires a large number of workers through unequal wage relations, and the large-scale consumer market that appears under the capitalist economic system, thus constituting a circular track for capitalists to circulate commodities.
However, the small-scale peasant economy that has been operating in the mainland for a long time has determined that many ordinary people can obtain basic necessities for survival through their own hard work without commodity exchange.
Therefore, even if the phenomenon of barter is found from time to time in life, it is often difficult to form a scale, which causes capitalism, which was only in its embryonic state during the Ming Dynasty, to lack the soil for its own full development, thus making capitalist society emerge and unable to grow and grow.
Second, the commodity economy of the Ming Dynasty society was indeed more developed than that of the previous feudal dynasties. In many paintings and literature, the relative prosperity of his commercial trade has been depicted. This phenomenon has thus become a powerful argument used by many holders of the view that the Ming Dynasty was expected to develop a capitalist society.
What they failed to notice, however, was that in the fourteenth year of the Ming Dynasty, that is, in 1586 AD, the Wanli Emperor rarely went to the dynasty due to the slackness of the Wanli Emperor, and thus caused a large number of vacancies in the relevant official positions, as well as the slackness of the duties of local officials. In this environment, the people's private commercial trade for the sake of profit has gradually shown a prosperous scene. Over time, what we call the embryonic state of capitalism emerged.
However, the main reason for this scene is that the ruling class is neglectful of management, but the system that has always been in operation in its society is still a strict and closed feudal system. Therefore, as long as the relevant management departments are strictly rectified, the private commercial trade activities that were originally in a prosperous state will be quickly curbed.
Third, the key to the realization of capitalism in Europe was not only the vigorous development of commercial trade, but also its vigorous resistance against the feudal aristocracy. However, during the Ming Dynasty on the mainland, even if many large and small reform systems were implemented, they always followed the conservative rules from top to bottom, and it was difficult to touch the vital interests of the aristocratic class, let alone completely overthrow them.
At the same time, for thousands of years on the mainland, merchants have always been in a lowly position that is not recognized by society, and the vast majority of the people are proud of their merits and are ashamed of being traders.
In addition, even though there were many small traders and peddlers in the society at that time, there were very few merchants with their own armed ranks, so it was difficult to cause a rise to resist the seizure of power, and as long as the imperial court suppressed it slightly, it would collapse like a frightened ant colony.
All this is enough to prove that although a large number of commercial groups appeared in the Ming Dynasty society, a living environment was formed in the city. However, for the development of capitalist society, it still shows a negative state of insufficient motivation and relatively poor growth soil, and it is difficult to truly grow the capitalist economy and form a corresponding social system, so although the Ming Dynasty has some capitalist "potential", it does not have sufficient environmental conditions, so the Ming Dynasty cannot develop capitalism.