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Germinating in the Spring and Autumn Warring States, after several dynasties and generations, why the Chinese pawnbroking industry flourished in the Ming Dynasty

author:Ru Lin Traveler

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China is an ancient civilization with a history of 5,000 years of Chinese history, which has accumulated deep accumulation in the "perilous life" of history, and has spawned all things politically, economically and culturally.

Among them, pawns are a major economic creation in China.

Pawn plays an economic role in a lending relationship, similar to today's credit cards, the difference is that credit cards are to pay back money, pawns are a means of exchanging money for money.

Pawn, sprouted in the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, and then went through several dynasties and generations to come to the Ming Dynasty, the last dynasty in China ruled by the Han Chinese.

Germinating in the Spring and Autumn Warring States, after several dynasties and generations, why the Chinese pawnbroking industry flourished in the Ming Dynasty

In these more than a thousand years of time and space, compared with the economy, the Ming Dynasty is inferior to the Song Dynasty, compared with politics, it is inherited from the Tang Dynasty, and compared with culture, it is floating on the surface but cannot go deep, and finally creates a literary prison that shocks history.

However, it was such a dynasty with shortcomings everywhere, but it was the peak of the development of the pawn business.

"Relieve worries, pawn into gold": pawns are new opportunities distributed in time in the Ming Dynasty

The book "History of China's Pawn System" once said:

"Due to the development of usury since the Spring and Autumn and Warring States, movable property mortgage lending has become quite common in the Han Dynasty, and although there has been progress during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there has been no essential change."

It can be seen that the mainland pawn industry already existed during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.

Germinating in the Spring and Autumn Warring States, after several dynasties and generations, why the Chinese pawnbroking industry flourished in the Ming Dynasty

However, during the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, due to frequent wars, pawns were not only money, but also pledges by people, as recorded in "Zuo Chuan - Ten Years of Lamentation":

"Take the prince Gu Cao deserves, and then stop."

In order to realize some of their political ambitions, or to leave a breather in front of the great powers, the princely states of the time often offered to exchange the sons of the two countries as a guarantee, which at the time was called "hostage-taking." ”

It is also inspired by this that Lu Buwei and other politicians have introduced this pledge to the economy, and they have constantly relied on their own authority and the interests of the country as their own capital, "exchanging goods for money" from others, making economic investments and opening up their own business territory.

These were all selfish, so the pawnbroking industry of this period was basically called usury.

Germinating in the Spring and Autumn Warring States, after several dynasties and generations, why the Chinese pawnbroking industry flourished in the Ming Dynasty

Based on this, Fan Wenlan said:

"The pawnshop industry in later generations began with the Buddhist temple of the Southern Dynasty."

This is because during the Southern Dynasty, because the emperor advocated Buddhism, coupled with the trauma brought to the people by the successive wars in the Eastern Han Dynasty, everyone began to turn to Buddhism, hoping that the gods and Buddhas would bless themselves.

Under this top-down national admiration, the temple soon became the richest place everywhere due to the exuberant incense smell.

Buddha loves the world, sees the tragic images of the people, freezes to death on the road, starves to death, temples take the initiative to take out money, and let people "exchange things for money" at a lower interest. ”

Based on the difference in human nature, most later generations used the Southern and Northern Dynasties as the rise of the pawn business.

Germinating in the Spring and Autumn Warring States, after several dynasties and generations, why the Chinese pawnbroking industry flourished in the Ming Dynasty

Most of the subsequent dynasties also continued the pawn law of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, but the official pawn industry and the private pawn industry developed in the temple pawn industry, and the nature changed from charity to profit.

However, by the time of the Ming Dynasty, the pawnbroking industry underwent earth-shaking changes, and there were innovations in many forms.

The first is the combination of the pawnbroking industry and the industrial and commercial industry.

Previously, due to the financing brought by the pawnbroking industry, in addition to some poor families taking advantage of this transition to life, some merchants with poor funds also began to borrow circulating funds in the second time.

Germinating in the Spring and Autumn Warring States, after several dynasties and generations, why the Chinese pawnbroking industry flourished in the Ming Dynasty

During the Ming Dynasty, some merchants with a keen sense of smell suddenly felt that this was a big business opportunity when planning investment, so they crossed the line and opened a pawnshop while doing business.

At the same time, after accumulating a certain amount of funds, some pawnbrokers see the full pawnbroking industry in the market and know that relying on this is not a long-term plan.

So they also devoted themselves to industrial and commercial operations, such as Mao Jin, who owned several quality warehouses in the late Ming Dynasty, and switched to running a printing factory, spreading his business to all parts of the country.

The second is the emergence of pawn gangs, ancient China paid attention to blood clan relations, no matter what it was doing, it was a small group, and the pawn industry in the Ming Dynasty was no exception.

With the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, due to the ruler's abandonment of control over the folk pawnbroker, pawn spread throughout the country overnight.

Germinating in the Spring and Autumn Warring States, after several dynasties and generations, why the Chinese pawnbroking industry flourished in the Ming Dynasty

In order to keep the fertile water from flowing into the fields of outsiders, each has established pawn gangs to support each other and curb foreign pawnbrokers, among which the most famous pawn gang in the Ming Dynasty is the Anhui Pawn Gang, which relies on unique business methods to spread business throughout the country.

Finally, there is the innovation of pawn terminology, pawnshops have made people know as soon as they hear that this is the place to mortgage things.

But people have self-esteem, especially some merchants who have fallen into disgrace on the outside, and cold students who are cold and hard to read.

In this regard, pawnshops during the Ming Dynasty also developed a hidden name, dian shop, although there is a certain difference in tone from the store.

But it seems to give the illusion that I am not going to borrow money, but to do business, protecting the pawnbroker's self-esteem.

Germinating in the Spring and Autumn Warring States, after several dynasties and generations, why the Chinese pawnbroking industry flourished in the Ming Dynasty

From the innovation points of these pawn undertakings in the Ming Dynasty, it is not difficult to see that the Ming Dynasty is a dynasty with a strong economic and humanistic atmosphere.

Through thousands of years, pawns flourished in the Ming Dynasty

The origin of the pawn innovation point of the Ming Dynasty is, in the final analysis, the vigorous development of the pawn industry in the Ming Dynasty, which has given it rich nourishment soil for free development.

And this cultivation comes from the Ming Dynasty's understanding of "learning from history", focusing on economic development, ideological transformation, and the promotion of the trinity, so that the pawn industry took off in the Ming Dynasty.

1. Take the ancient mirror, know the Xing, and sow the pawn industry in the Ming Dynasty's political cleansing means

The Old Book of Tang Wei Zhengbian records:

"With copper as a mirror, you can be dressed: with ancient as a mirror, you can know the prosperous; With a human mirror, you can see the gains and losses."

It can be known that the historical past is the "good words" of our growth, and knowing one of them can be avoided, but the core is to listen to the admonition of history.

Germinating in the Spring and Autumn Warring States, after several dynasties and generations, why the Chinese pawnbroking industry flourished in the Ming Dynasty

The Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang was a man who knew how to find wisdom in governing the country from history, and Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming Dynasty as a cloth cloth.

He knew better than anyone that the core of the demise of the Yuan Dynasty was the corruption of officials and the wanton oppression of the people, especially the desire to steal state property and lend usury to the people.

In addition, he lived in the temple for a period of time, and knew that the light of the Buddha that once shone on all living beings had long become the color of money, and the demise of the Tang Dynasty was also related to the rise of temple power.

Germinating in the Spring and Autumn Warring States, after several dynasties and generations, why the Chinese pawnbroking industry flourished in the Ming Dynasty

In order to make the country's politics clear, to prevent the emergence of corrupt officials, and to weaken the power of monasteries.

Zhu Yuanzhang ordered monasteries that officials were not allowed to establish a pawnbroking industry, and that it be included in the Great Ming Law to punish violators with rods or lives.

This move made the pawnbroking industry no longer monopolized by officials and temples, and private capital poured in.

2. The prosperity and development of the commodity economy pushed back to the opening of the pawnbroking industry in the Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty was a dynasty that sprouted the capitalist economy on the mainland, and in its increasingly prosperous economic development, both agriculture and handicrafts far surpassed the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

According to the "History of Ming", because of the development of the economy in the Ming Dynasty, special towns appeared, and the streets were lined with shops, and in some places there were as many as 30 households in the sugar industry alone.

It also relies on the continuous development of the double silk road of sea and land, the continuous improvement of the shipbuilding industry, and the establishment of diplomatic relations with overseas countries such as North Korea, so that the foreign, domestic and foreign economies have reached a state of overflow.

Germinating in the Spring and Autumn Warring States, after several dynasties and generations, why the Chinese pawnbroking industry flourished in the Ming Dynasty

The expansion of the economic market makes everyone want to intervene and share a piece of the cake, but the development of the economy has caused the lack of money circulation at this time.

Merchants who need start-up capital or invest funds in other industries have gone to pawnshops to borrow money, indirectly spawning merchants with spare funds in their hands to start a pawnbroking industry.

3. The change of the thinking of heavy peasants and suppressing commerce in the Ming Dynasty, all classes have poured into the pawn industry

In ancient China, because of the influence of Confucianism, people attached great importance to the concept of superiority and inferiority, in which commerce was regarded as the last class in the social class, and they believed that the smell of copper tainted their literati and aristocratic atmosphere.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang insisted on emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce, but after seeing the sufficient treasury brought about by economic development, he knew that the existence of commerce was a major means of strengthening the regime.

Therefore, he gradually advocated the idea that agriculture and commerce should be equally valued, treating farmers, industry and commerce equally, believing that "if you abide by the four industries, the people will be safe." "It creates a relaxed political environment for the start of the pawnbroking industry.

It can be said that the development of the pawnbroking industry in the Ming Dynasty is a historical inevitability, and the political environment of the Ming Dynasty is different from other dynasties, which has built a free growth economic market.

Germinating in the Spring and Autumn Warring States, after several dynasties and generations, why the Chinese pawnbroking industry flourished in the Ming Dynasty

The social deficit brought about by the pawnbroking industry in the Ming Dynasty

The development of everything has two sides, and the pawn industry in the Ming Dynasty was no exception.

However, denying the rise of the pawnbroking industry in the Ming Dynasty alleviated the crisis of life of poor families to a certain extent.

It also brought a steady stream of financial assistance to the development of the commodity economy of the Ming Dynasty, and to a certain extent, rescued the national economic depression in the early Ming Dynasty.

Germinating in the Spring and Autumn Warring States, after several dynasties and generations, why the Chinese pawnbroking industry flourished in the Ming Dynasty

However, ancient capital has always been based on "cannibalism", and when the profits of the pawn industry are getting bigger and bigger, all kinds of social bad images continue to appear.

The first is the loss of human nature, which cannot withstand the test in any era.

With the development of the pawnbroking industry, some "gamblers" continued to appear in the Ming Dynasty for various reasons to bury their houses and all their belongings in the pawnshop.

Therefore, in order to prevent some people from harming their wives and daughters, the Ming Dynasty stipulated in the "Great Ming Law and Household Law" that anyone who pawned his wife and daughter was sentenced to a cane and confiscated all money.

Germinating in the Spring and Autumn Warring States, after several dynasties and generations, why the Chinese pawnbroking industry flourished in the Ming Dynasty

However, the merchant only wanted to make money, and the "gambler" had lost everything, so a business that opened a pawn, and one quietly sold his wife and daughter, and these sold women were lucky enough to be concubines to the merchant and became customers.

The second is the doubling of oppression of the people by the powerful households.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang strictly enforced the law, officials were not allowed to open a pawn industry.

But seeing that private merchants are making more and more money in the pawnbroking industry, some powerful and powerful families simply do not take Zhu Yuanzhang's words to heart.

They instructed their subordinates, or distant relatives, to secretly open a pawnbroking industry for themselves, and because the market was too large, they increased the interest on pawns, if only for one day, they would also be calculated according to January, in order to make huge profits, such as Wanli Shihuguangdu Prosecutor's Right Deputy Capital Yushi Qin Yao, who opened more than ten pawnshops in his home, and the profit of one alone was 20,000 or 30,000 gold per month.

Germinating in the Spring and Autumn Warring States, after several dynasties and generations, why the Chinese pawnbroking industry flourished in the Ming Dynasty

There are also some powerful people who use their identities or buy them at low prices, or exchange fake for real when others come to redeem them, and their families are destroyed.

Finally, the development of the pawnbroking industry in the Ming Dynasty arose from the good living environment brought by politics.

When it grows one day, it becomes a weapon for the exploitative people of the powerful house, and it becomes the mountain that weighs on the people.

It naturally endangered the rule of the Ming Dynasty, so that in the late Ming Dynasty, corrupt officials emerged one after another, and the people complained.

Epilogue:

Throughout Ming history, the pawnbroking industry was both a promoter of Ming progress and a "culprit" responsible for the corruption of the Ming regime.

In this way, in daily life, we can learn from the pawnbroking industry of the Ming Dynasty, do anything, "learn from history", but also pay attention to avoiding new crises.

At the same time, the pawnbroking industry, as an economic means that has existed in the mainland since the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, has its own historical wisdom.

When we study history today, we should not miss the important aspect of pawns in the economy.

In addition, when we promote Chinese culture, we can loudly tell the international community that China is one of the first countries in the world to establish a pawnbroking business.

Bibliography:

History of Ming

"Hou Hanshu Liu Yu Biography",

"The Great Ming Law, the Law of the Household"

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