Lending industry in the Song Dynasty: The lubricant-lending relationship between social stability and economic development has existed in ancient China, dating back to the late primitive society. As one of the important economic sectors, the development of the lending industry has run through all historical stages of traditional Chinese society. The Song Dynasty was an important period for the ancient political, economic and cultural development of the mainland. The total GDP of the Song Dynasty accounted for almost half of the world's total, more than ten times that of the Tang Dynasty. During this period, the lending industry also entered a period of unprecedented prosperity.
The lending industry in the Song Dynasty was mainly divided into two forms: official lending and private lending. Government-run loans mainly include inspection of the school treasury, municipal easy affairs and arrival offices. During the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi advocated the introduction of the famous "Young Seedlings Law", and since then the earliest government-run lending institutions on the mainland have appeared—the inspection treasury, the city easy affairs and the arrival treasury. Government-run lending and non-governmental lending complement each other and form a nationwide lending network, which plays an important role in maintaining social stability and maintaining agricultural development. The first is the inspection of the library.
In the second year of the reign of Emperor Xining of the Northern Song Dynasty, the imperial court reformed the old credit policy, implemented the Young Seedlings Law throughout the country, and covered the credit business to ethnic minorities and border areas for the first time. In the fourth year of Xining, Song Renzong established the Kaifeng Prefecture Inspection Library, which added the function of lending and collecting interest on the basis of the original functions such as the custody of inherent property and verification and registration.
The emergence of the inspection library can gather social idle funds and use them in large-scale infrastructure construction or market economy construction, which is of epoch-making significance for promoting the financing of social funds and accelerating economic development in the Song Dynasty. The second is the city change. In the fifth year of Xining, Bianjing was the first to implement the Municipal Easy Law. The government lent money to merchants on credit, large businessmen could borrow, while small and medium-sized merchants could only buy goods on credit and needed to use real estate certificates or gold and silver as collateral.
The city easy law is undoubtedly a great benefit to the vast merchant class, and can effectively promote the operation and circulation of market funds, so it has rapidly become popular in many important cities. During the Yuanfeng period, the restrictions on lending luxury goods were greatly relaxed, and large and small merchants had more options for lending. City Yiwu still played an important role in the commercial development of the Song Dynasty. Finally, there is the arrival of the house and the arrival of the library. Emperor Shenzong of Song added a place in Kaifeng Prefecture and placed it under the jurisdiction of the City Yisi.
The business scope of the arrival office quickly radiated to the whole country, and various local governments and logistics agencies set up arrival agencies, which could bring huge profits to the country every year, which was collectively known as "arrival warehouse" at that time. Arrivals and Arrivals became one of the important sources of war financing. When natural and man-made disasters occur, Daidangku often builds water conservancy and disaster relief, which provides a guarantee for the basic livelihood of the people and attracts a large number of private capital to participate.
In addition to official lending, private lending in the Song Dynasty also developed rapidly, mainly in the form of private pledges. In the late Song Dynasty, private lending had become quite common and gradually replaced the status of official lending. Private lending has become an indispensable part of smallholder production activities. The advantages of private pledge banks are higher interest rates, flexible forms, and reduced transaction costs for both borrowers and borrowers. However, private pledges are vulnerable to natural disasters and wars. The impact of the lending industry on the economy of the Song Dynasty was manifold.
First of all, the lending industry helped to ensure the continuation of small-scale peasant production and maintain the stability of the society of the Two Song Dynasties. In the face of natural disasters and wars, the lending industry can help to help farmers temporarily overcome the predicament of being unable to produce. Second, the lending industry has eased the contradictions among the border nationalities and borne a large amount of military expenditure. The imperial court was accustomed to suppressing unrest while providing relief to local residents to appease the people, and most of the money came from credit institutions at all levels.
In addition, the lending industry also helps the country to implement macro-control and promote the development of manual commerce. In general, the lending industry in the Two Song Dynasty played an important role in maintaining social stability and promoting economic development. Official lending and private lending complement each other and make positive contributions to the prosperity of the economy of the two Song Dynasties. The development of the lending industry has provided support for agricultural production, eased the contradictions of border ethnic groups, and promoted the development of manual commerce.
However, there are also problems with the lending industry, such as the emergence of usury and vulnerability in war-torn years. Therefore, in the process of developing the lending industry today, we should learn the lessons of the lending industry in the Song Dynasty and establish a sound regulatory system to ensure that the lending industry can play a positive role. In the context of the current economic development, the development of the lending industry is of great significance to promote economic growth, improve people's livelihood and promote social stability.
However, the lending industry also faces some challenges, such as usury, risk management and other issues. Therefore, while developing the lending industry, we should strengthen supervision to ensure the healthy and stable development of the lending industry. At the same time, the government should increase support for smallholder production, optimize lending services, and provide farmers with more financing opportunities. Only in this way can the lending industry become an accelerator of economic development and make a greater contribution to the prosperity of the country.
Finally, what do readers think about the development of the lending industry? How do you think the lending industry should develop in the current economic situation? Welcome to leave your valuable comments and suggestions to discuss the future development direction of the lending industry.