When the commodity economy appeared in China society remains to be discussed, but in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, its development was still limited. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, due to the use of ironware and the promotion of Niu Geng, social productive forces have been greatly developed. On this basis, the market continues to expand and exchanges are unprecedented; Metal currency is popular; Businessmen and commercial capital developed rapidly. Commodity economy ushered in the first development peak in history. After Qin entered the Western Han Dynasty, the commodity economy has always maintained a strong development momentum. At that time, the wealthy merchants in Dajia were not only famous for their bamboo and silk, but also influenced the local political situation, which reflected the omnipresence of commodity economy.
The development of commodity economy has seriously shaken the feudal rule. By the time of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, the rulers had fully implemented the policy of controlling and intervening in commerce, and the commodity economy was hit hard, and the development momentum came to an abrupt end. The fundamental reason for the success of Emperor Wudi's policy was that the foundation of commodity economy at that time was still relatively fragile. Salt and iron are commodities, which in itself illustrates this point. At the same time, the policy system of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty was complete, which completely controlled the development of commodity economy from production to circulation. In addition, the person appointed by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty is also an important factor. From the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, continuous wars made the commodity economy lose a good development environment. With the rapid decline of commodity economy, there has been an abnormal situation in which physical currency replaces metal currency. Until the Tang and Song Dynasties, with another great development of social productive forces, the urban market system collapsed and the grass market rose. The circulation of money has been continuously improved, and the earliest paper money in the world has appeared; Businessmen and merchant capital have risen again. Commodity economy has entered the second peak of development. During this period, tea rapidly developed into a commodity comparable to salt and iron, herbivores spread all over the country, and overseas trade replaced traditional land trade, and so on. There are indications that compared with the first peak, the commodity economy at this time has a broader foundation and a higher level of development.
In Yuan Dynasty, the developed commodity economy in Tang and Song Dynasties was affected by the invasion of Mongolia and Yuan Dynasty, and its development was once in a downturn. In the Ming Dynasty, the commodity economy not only quickly recovered to the level of the Tang and Song Dynasties, but also reached a new height, forming the third development peak. At this time, the exchange was further expanded, the market was integrated at a higher level, and the strength of businessmen and commercial capital reached a new level, forming a business gang. The development level of commodity economy reached the highest point of China feudal society.
Second, the development of commodity economy in China feudal society was greatly influenced by political forces.
We know that China has formed a unified feudal centralization of authority for a long time. The formation of great unification wiped out the original feudal regime and unified the country's monetary system, weights and measures and writing, which was conducive to the development of commodity economy. Historical records? "The Biography of Huo Zhi" said: "Han Xing, the sea as a whole, Liang Kai Liang Guan, Chishanze banned, because the wealthy businessman dajia circulated in the world, what he traded could not get what he wanted." It is about the promotion of commodity economy by unification. On the other hand, the formation of unified feudal centralization enabled the rulers to use the powerful political power of centralization to interfere with the development of commodity economy, which had a negative impact on it.
Throughout the feudal period, the intervention of unified centralization on commodity economy was extremely prominent. It mainly intervenes in commodity economy through the system of emphasizing agriculture, restraining commerce and prohibiting monopoly. The so-called "emphasizing agriculture and restraining business" is to limit the number of businessmen by adopting policies and measures to belittle and suppress their political and social status. Its purpose is to prevent a large number of farmers from abandoning agriculture for business and protect the priority position of agriculture. Since Shang Yang, Han Fei and others put forward the idea of attaching importance to agriculture and restraining commerce in the Warring States Period, some vassal states and Qin and Han Dynasties introduced a series of policies and measures to embarrass businessmen. For example, businessmen are forbidden to wear silk clothes, ride horses, be officials and guard the border. Then, from these policies and measures, a kind of concept consciousness of restraining business and neglecting business is derived. Attaching importance to agriculture and restraining business has formed an organic whole from policy to ideology and penetrated into all aspects of society, which has become a deep-rooted basic national policy. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, with the development of commodity economy, attaching importance to agriculture and restraining commerce suffered a certain impact, but it was not completely shaken. Even in the Ming and Qing dynasties, attaching importance to agriculture and restraining business was still introduced from time to time. The Ming and Qing Dynasties also reiterated the old rule that businessmen should not wear silk clothes to be officials. The implementation of attaching importance to agriculture and restraining business inhibited the development of the merchant class. For example, in the Song Dynasty, in Chengdu, Fanjia, previous generations were poor. If they didn't become officials, they sold Bailong pills, but once they became officials, they stopped selling them. "The Guo family in the north of the city also sells black beans and is unwilling to make profits for ordinary merchants or goods." (Note: Lu You: Notes on the Old Learning Hall, Volume 9. There are many similar examples. This is not conducive to the development of commodity economy.
Monopoly prohibition system is another important policy for feudal rulers to intervene in the development of commodity economy. Many people often classify it as a policy of emphasizing agriculture and restraining business, which is wrong. The purpose of monopoly prohibition system is that the state competes with businessmen for profits through government-run commerce; It is the result of the government acting as a big businessman, which is essentially different from emphasizing agriculture and restraining business. This policy originated from Guan Zhong's Guan Shan Hai in the Spring and Autumn Period. By the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty appointed Sang Hongyang and others, and successively introduced policies and measures such as salt and iron official camp and compensation for damages, which developed the monopoly prohibition system to a new stage and was followed by feudal dynasties in previous dynasties. Rulers of past dynasties monopolized most of the goods in the market and seized high monopoly profits. If the policy of emphasizing agriculture and restraining business is to suppress the development of commodity economy by suppressing businessmen, then the prohibition of business system is to control the production, transportation and sales of bulk commodities through the government and bring the development of commodity economy into its permitted scope and track.
However, although the two policies have different starting points and different purposes, their effects are the same, which have extremely adverse effects on the development of commodity economy. These two policies were adopted at the same time, so that the development of commodity economy was always under the control of feudal government.
Thirdly, the development of commodity economy in China feudal society showed multi-level and diversity.
China is a vast country, and its remarkable feature is the unbalanced economic development in different regions. Among them, due to the high and low starting point of commodity economy development in various regions and ethnic groups, the development speed is fast and slow, and the development of commodity economy is multi-level and diversified.
This multi-level performance in many aspects, mainly the differences between economically developed areas and underdeveloped areas; The difference between the mainland and the frontier; Differences between urban and rural areas; The difference between Han nationality and ethnic minorities; Wait a minute. As far as the development of commodity economy in the mainland is concerned, the development level of commodity economy is quite different in the north and south of the Central Plains. As for cities and rural areas, during the Tang and Song Dynasties, some big cities had undergone market revolution and were in a relatively developed state, but many rural commodity economies were still in a natural economy. The difference between the mainland and the frontier, the Han nationality and the ethnic minorities is even greater.
There is a saying in the currency history of the Tang Dynasty that money and silk can go together. In fact, apart from copper coins and silks, physical money is still circulating in Sichuan and parts of Lingnan. The actual situation is more complicated than "both money and silk". As far as copper coins and silks are concerned, copper coins are metal coins with high forms, which represent the high development level of commodity economy; Silk is only a kind of physical currency with a low form, which represents the development of commodity economy at a low level. However, it is these two different forms of money that have existed for a long time and circulated for hundreds of years in the same era and society. This reflects that China's social commodity economy is developed at both high and low levels. This multi-faceted existence constituted the diversified development of commodity economy in China feudal society.
The development of commodity economy in feudal society in China has the characteristics of multi-level and diversity, which should be taken as the basic idea to correctly evaluate the development level of commodity economy in China. For a long time, there are great differences in the evaluation of the development level of commodity economy, whether from the whole historical period or from a certain dynasty. Some people draw the conclusion that the development level of commodity economy is very high according to some materials, while others cite a lot of evidence that commodity economy is not very developed. In fact, when discussing this issue, many people only pay attention to one aspect, and it is inevitable to generalize. In view of the multi-level and diversity of the development of commodity economy, when evaluating the development level of commodity economy, it is necessary to analyze specific problems in order to get a correct understanding.
Fourthly, in China feudal society, commodity economy played a revolutionary and decisive role in social change and turning point.
Marx once pointed out: "commerce has more or less disintegrated the existing various production organizations that mainly produce and use value in different forms."
A general conclusion after that. In other words, as long as there is the development of commodity economy in all countries and regions of the world, it will have a certain disintegration effect on the original social structure. But judging from the development of feudal society in China, this influence is more obvious and profound.