Why didn't there appear businessmen in Song and Yuan Dynasties?

Businessmen have existed throughout the ages, but their status is generally unpopular.

After the Shang and Zhou Dynasties destroyed the business, the descendants of Yin and Shang were displaced and forced to engage in the lowest-level business at that time. Because businessmen are good at doing business, they later became "businessmen". However, in feudal society, the status of businessmen was very low, and they were called "officials, farmers and businessmen". It was not until the middle and late Ming Dynasty that the commodity economy developed and the status of businessmen gradually improved.

The Yuan Dynasty was the only dynasty in the history of China that really attached importance to commerce. During the Yuan Dynasty, people's lives were very rich, foreign trade was prosperous, and culture was active and free.

Of course, the prosperity of the Yuan Dynasty inherited the prosperity of the Song Dynasty, but there are still differences. The taxes in Song Dynasty were very heavy, while those in Yuan Dynasty were very light. Pu Shougeng, a foreign trade official in the Song Dynasty, surrendered to the Yuan Dynasty, so that the foreign trade in the Song Dynasty was well undertaken by the Yuan Dynasty, and the foreign trade in the Song Dynasty was mainly completed by Pu Shougeng. Pu Shougeng was of Arab descent, but at the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, the Pu family was retaliated and the foreign trade was completely destroyed.

There are still differences between the Yuan Dynasty and the Mongolian Empire. The Mongol Empire was the first in the world militarily, while the Yuan Dynasty was the first in the world not only militarily, but also economically and culturally. In grouse's words, Beijing has become the world capital from the Korean Peninsula to the Danube River.

The territory of the Yuan Dynasty is "Yinshan Mountain in the north, quicksand in the west, Liaozuo in the east and sea in the south" (Geography of the Yuan Dynasty). The transportation between China and Europe, Central Asia and Southeast Asia is very convenient, and the exchanges between China and foreign countries are very active. China's printing, gunpowder, papermaking and compass were all introduced to Europe in the Yuan Dynasty. The opening of post stations all over the country and the waterway along the southeast coast has promoted the exchange of materials and culture between regions. The famous Huang Daopo introduced Hainan's cotton planting and spinning technology into Songjiang, which was related to the convenience of sea lanes.

The rulers of the Yuan Dynasty attached importance to commerce. The so-called "Yuan Fang Xiaoru's Preface to Taoism" is different from China's traditional policy of "emphasizing agriculture and restraining business" and "worshiping righteousness and benefiting the people". At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, businessmen were extremely active. Zhang Zhihan's "On Thieves" said: "Since the handover in the South, selling vagrant businessmen has benefited from thousands of dollars." The development of handicraft industry has also reached the best level in history. According to Xu yikuai's article "Weavers Pair", a certain scale of textile workshops appeared in Hangzhou at the end of Yuan Dynasty, and the helpers were free to enter and leave.

The development of industry and commerce has brought unprecedented prosperity to some original and emerging important cities. Most of them are not only the national political centers, but also one of the world-famous economic centers. The Travels of Marco Polo left an enviable description of the prosperity of the Yuan Dynasty. In addition, Zhuozhou, Calm, Datong, Bianliang, Jinan, Taiyuan and Pingyang in the north of the Central Plains and Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, Jiankang, Pingjiang and Hangzhou in the south are very active in economy. On the southeast coast, Shanghai, Zhapu, Qingyuan, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Quanzhou and Guangzhou are all trading ports for foreign trade. In Yuan Dynasty, the trade between China and foreign countries was extremely frequent. For example, Liujiagang in Kunshan is known as the "dock under the world", and Ma Yulin's poem "Send Zhao Ke to the sea and make him a city ship" vividly depicts the happy and busy scene on the dock when "foreigners berth".

In order to manage the prosperous domestic business and develop trade with Indian and Southeast Asia, a powerful chamber of commerce has been established in Guangzhou, a port in central China. These chambers of commerce can be compared with the guilds in Flanders and the technical associations in Florence, and even surpass them.

Many businessmen gathered here. They are very rich and run large-scale trade. No one can measure their wealth. I only know that trade owners (who are the heads of enterprises) and their wives don't directly engage in anything, but they live such a luxurious life that people will imagine that they are kings.

Ships returning from India are loaded with spices-pepper, ginger and cinnamon; Or sailboats carrying rice go down the Yangtze River or up the Grand Canal; Shops in Hangzhou or Quanzhou are full of precious commodities, including raw silk, brocade (thick silk fabric) and rusty brocade (silk fabric embroidered with gold or silver thread), as well as satin with special patterns or "Erythrina fabric".

The northern silk center is Kan Ballouk (in Beijing, thousands of carts loaded with raw silk come in every day and use them to make a lot of gold cloth and silk); Chengdu (Sichuan, Chengdu) produces thin silk and exports it to Central Asia. Anqing or Kaifeng (? ) and Suzhou (Jiangsu province) produce gold cloth; Yangzhou (Yangzhou, Jiangsu) is the largest rice market in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Numerous ships brought spices from India and East India to Hangzhou and silk products from Hangzhou to India and the Muslim world. Therefore, a large number of Arab immigrants and Persian and Christian businessmen live in Hangzhou. Finally, there are two big ports in Fujian Province: Fuzhou and Erythrina (Quanzhou). Businessmen in Fuzhou have hoarded a lot of ginger and galangal, and there are also considerable sugar markets and large jewelry trading markets in the city, all of which are shipped from the Indies.

It is unimaginable that all the ships from India are loaded with spices, precious stones and pearls and anchored in the Erythrina tree. All businessmen from Man Zi (referring to the south of China) gather here, which is the largest import center in China. It can be said that if there is a ship carrying pepper from the Indies to Alexandria, or any other port in the Christian world, then there will be more than 100 ships sailing for Erythrina.

China's merchant fleet carrying bundles of raw silk, colored silk, satin, thin silk and brocade regularly calls at Bordenham, Caira, Clone States and Ceylon, Gavilli; When I returned home, I brought pepper, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, fine cloth and cotton cloth from the Indian world, pearls from the Indian Ocean and diamonds from the Deccan Plateau.

According to Fan Wenlan's statement in A Brief History of China, Shang Yang's political reform adopted the practice of "emphasizing agriculture and restraining business", but the status of businessmen did not necessarily decline. Because the productive forces need to develop to realize a free economy, that is, to enter capitalism. Compared with feudal society, capitalism is progressive. Since it is progressive, the rulers will fight oppression.

Therefore, the idea of "valuing agriculture over commerce" is not a statement of a certain dynasty or a certain generation, but the main purpose of resisting the development of productive forces in China feudal society, and the most serious time is when the feudal society in China is the most developed.

The Ming and Qing dynasties were the most serious! Yong Zhengdi in Qing Dynasty divided the world into officials, farmers, workers and businessmen, which shows that Yongzheng attached great importance to farmers!