Li Jian (phonetics), who is also?
Li Qian (李觏), courtesy name Taibo, was born in the second year (1009) of Emperor Zhenzong of Song's reign and died in the fourth year (1059) of Emperor Renzong of Song, a native of Jianchang Nancheng (present-day Nancheng County, Jiangxi Province) in the Northern Song Dynasty. The south city is on the side of the Xujiang River, and the world is called "Mr. Xujiang".
Li Qian was born poor, intelligent and studious, 5 years old to know the rhythm of sound, 10 years old to understand poetry, 20 years old to write article talent is far and famous, but keju career is not smooth, and later retired from home, immersed in learning. In 1043, he founded Xujiang Academy in his hometown. There were many students who studied in The Tang Dynasty, including Zeng Gong, one of the eight great masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties.
Li Qian was poor in life, frustrated politically, and basically lived at the bottom of his life, far from the officialdom. Therefore, he has a deeper understanding of the people's livelihood and suffering, and Li Qian is also an aspirant, he is a supporter of Fan Zhongyan's theory of "celebrating the calendar change", and at the same time, he also played the role of an ideological pioneer for "Wang Anshi's change of law", and wrote two monographs on economic issues, "Pingtu Book" and "Rich Country Policy". This was rare among ancient thinkers.
Non-profit is not born, and it is unspeakable
The "debate of righteousness and profit" began with the Confucian school opened by Kong Meng, and later dong Zhongshu, a great Confucian of the Western Han Dynasty, suggested that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "depose hundreds of families and respect Confucianism alone", and after the Song Dynasty, the debate between righteousness and profit evolved into a dispute between reason and desire. Song Ming's theoreticians even put forward the proposition of "preserving heaven and destroying human desires". In view of these, In view of the accumulated social shortcomings at that time, Li Qian opposed the Confucian traditional ideas of "valuing righteousness over profit" and "noble righteousness and low profit", advocated public interests, paid attention to the interests of the people, and put forward the concept of righteousness and profit, which is the value orientation of social and economic life.
Mencius said: Why should we know profit? In Li Qian's view, the desire for profit is natural and reasonable, and the non-profit is not born, and it is unspeakable. Desire for profit is the love of life, in line with human nature, why not say it? The key lies in "tempering the system" and conforming to the provisions of "etiquette", and he opposes extreme utilitarianism that harms public interests and private interests.
Therefore, Li Qian finally put forward the value of "both righteousness and profit, and the unification of righteousness with profit", which was seen by those corrupt officials and corrupt officials who "did not cultivate and did not silkworm, but benefited themselves" at that time, and those bureaucratic landlords who annexed land, took advantage of land, took advantage of it, and damaged public interests.
Labor creates value and wealth
It is certainly not possible to talk about it without reality, li Qi is different from the pedantic Confucians of his time, his research focuses on practical problems, and on this basis he talks about the way to prosperity. He attaches great importance to the development of production, "the first food, the world's affairs are not urgent." "Li Qianji* sent fan to participate in the political book," he adhered to the idea of agriculture, believing that "the king's law must be in the peasants, the urgency of food and clothing, and the great trouble of living people", "the way of the people and food is a great ,...... The origin of the kingdom of the funong people. “
Li Has a profound understanding of the sources of wealth and the interrelationship between labor and means of production. How is the material wealth of society produced? "If you don't know the labor of farming, you think that the field grows in its own valley; if you don't know the suffering of silkworms, you think that mulberry grows silk by itself." To put it more profoundly, the object of labor must be combined with the labor of man, and without labor, the object of labor such as land will not create wealth on its own. Isn't this a simple expression of "labor creates wealth" and "labor creates value"?
What is even more valuable is that Li Qian not only elaborated on the importance of laborers, but also studied the importance of production tools and labor cooperation in depth. When the laborer carries out productive labor, if he has the appropriate means of production, he will consume less labor and create more material wealth.
Plough staff
Agricultural society is inseparable from land, during the Northern Song Dynasty, land mergers and acquisitions prevailed, a large number of land was concentrated in the hands of large landlords and Hao clans, social class contradictions were sharpened, the poor had no place to stand, there was no land to cultivate, the rich enjoyed life, and it was impossible for them to cultivate themselves, which inevitably led to the end of "the fields are vast and the cultivators are few, their hard work must be coarse, and the land strength is not exhausted" The end of "Li Qianji * Rich National Policy". Li Qian put forward the strategy of "leveling the land," that is, to curb industry and commerce, to return those who abandoned peasants to the land, to "restrict people from occupying the land," to curb land annexation, to encourage the opening of land, and to increase the area of cultivation.
Strong use of this section with the concept of consumption
It is needless to say that it is necessary to strengthen the foundation and strengthen agricultural production, but in the understanding of "thriftiness", Li Qian believes that the thinkers of the past have not grasped the true meaning of this "thrifty use". How can we achieve "thrift"? Li Qian believes that "thrift" should follow three principles:
1, "thrift" must be close to "human feelings". Human feelings are the current social situation at that time, and also refer to the identity attributes of different classes of people. What should be enjoyed and to what extent should be saved should be consistent with the conditions of production at that time and with the status of the person.
2. "Saving" must conform to the "profit and loss" approach. What level a person should eat and wear should reach, can not be generalized, should be determined according to the specific situation. When there is surplus, it can be used to make a good fortune; when it is insufficient, it is advisable to be deep and self-effacing; "Li Qianji * Rich National Policy First", Li Qian is not blindly advocating frugality, he advocates the way of "profiting from loss to profit", mainly aimed at the rulers, requiring them to be "deep in self-interest" in their lives, and they cannot disregard the hardships and hardships of the working people and practice the wind of extravagance and pleasure, thus reducing the burden on the people.
3, a country "saves" to "the amount of national consumption in and out". That is to say, the amount of fiscal revenue is used to determine the financial expenditure.
"Where a gift is given, it is given a fee for one thing, and how much is spent on the law of the formula, and if so, the national security and wealth are not accidental." Since the income of the state can only be limited according to the regulations, the state's expenditure should be determined according to the amount of income, so that the state's financial revenue and expenditure can be fully utilized.
When discussing the issue of fiscal revenue and expenditure, Li Qian severely criticized those who were not among the "four peoples," such as monks, Taoists, witch doctors, buxiang, and advocates, and listed the harms of monasticism. Because in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, monks and monasteries continued to develop in large quantities, not only consuming a large amount of social resources, but also because many landless and bankrupt laborers, because of their lack of livelihood and avoidance of heavy taxes, there were millions of people who ran to attach themselves to the temple. It became a serious social problem at that time, so we can see that Li Qian's letting these redundant people return to farming is also to the point.
Unlike some Confucians who talk about sexual theory, Li Qian is really committed to the study of the application of the world, attaches importance to social and economic issues, and puts forward many unique ideas and propositions, which are worthy of further exploration and study by future generations.
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