Social security record

Social security is an important foundation for the stable development of every country's society, and the proper application of a country's social security policy will directly affect the country's development prospects. In ancient China, the social security policy was also highly valued by the rulers, especially in the Ming Dynasty. Due to the increase of the elderly population, the social security policy directly affects the survival interests of this group. In the social security policy of Ming Dynasty, famine relief and social relief measures are two very important aspects, which embody the core concept of social security policy of Ming Dynasty.

Disaster relief and poverty alleviation measures are complete, and the relief measures system for famine relief in Ming Dynasty is perfect.

Compared with other dynasties, the famine relief measures in Ming Dynasty were very complete, which not only reflected the attention of the rulers in this respect, but also reflected the completeness of the social security policy system in Ming Dynasty.

Disaster relief and poverty alleviation play a huge role in disasters, and the government's disaster relief measures are the most critical point to reflect whether the government's disaster relief and poverty alleviation measures are complete. Especially in the Hongwu period, natural disasters occurred frequently, and the policies formulated at that time became an important part of the social security policy in the Ming Dynasty. At that time, relief measures included bracelet exemption and T-shirt sales. Among the most commonly used disaster relief measures in the Ming Dynasty, these two are the core two.

In fact, bracelet tax exemption means that bracelet is exempt from land tax. When the disaster comes, agriculture is actually the most seriously damaged, so the measure of exempting bracelet land tax not only relieves the pressure on farmers, but also helps to restore agricultural production. Selling T-shirts, including rice relief and money relief, were the two most direct disaster relief measures at that time, which belonged to the government's free subsidy to the people. From the above analysis, it can be seen that the relief measures at the time of disaster directly reflect the quality of the social security policy of the Ming government.

Ming dynasty people

"People who are prepared before the disaster", disaster prevention measures before the disaster show enthusiasm. In addition to disaster relief, it is also necessary to prevent in advance, which can reflect the enthusiasm and initiative of social security policies. Among the disaster prevention measures in the Ming Dynasty, the most effective and core one was actually the establishment of a relatively complete storage system at that time. The storage system is not unique to the Ming Dynasty, but has formed a relatively complete system in the Ming Dynasty after a long period of historical development. Among them, a brand-new reserve system was established in Ming Taizu period. In the long ancient history, only the Ming Dynasty formed such a reserve system. The storage system is a storage system integrating disaster relief and loan.

It is recorded in the History of Ming Dynasty that the lending regulations at that time were: "If you are hungry for one stone, you will receive two stones and five buckets of rice and return it to the government."

Judging from the use function of the storage warehouse, it has been distinguished from other storage systems, and its dual functions also reflect the development characteristics of the Ming Dynasty society.

the aged

Pension and poverty alleviation coexist, and the traditional social security policy in Ming Dynasty covers a wide range of people.

Protecting the vulnerable groups is also an important part of the social security policy in Ming Dynasty, especially the old, the weak and the sick. Their living conditions directly reflected whether the social security in Ming Dynasty was in place.

Taking care of life, improving status and giving political preferential treatment The development and perfection of the pension policy in Ming Dynasty can be divided into three parts: taking care of the lives of the elderly, improving their social status and giving preferential treatment at the political level. Taking care of the elderly in life is actually to ensure the survival of the elderly. This part is mainly reflected in exempting the old people and their relatives from corvee, which can guarantee the family's old-age care; Take material rewards and relief measures, mainly for poor families and lonely elderly people; Preferential treatment in criminal law and so on.

In order to improve the social status of the elderly, the main measure at that time was to hold a drinking ceremony in the countryside and promulgate the imperial edict of the lifelong pension system. Preferential treatment for politics is actually preferential treatment for elderly scholars.

The Story of Allusions records Ming Taizu's attention to the aged scholars: "Although the elders in ancient times did not engage in politics, they had much experience, extensive knowledge, human feelings, physics and talent in asking for the desert."

As far as the above policies are concerned, the pension policy in Ming Dynasty took care of the life, social status and career path of the elderly, and basically ensured the survival and development of the elderly group.

children

The establishment of nursing homes in the Ming Dynasty played an important role in helping the poor and caring for the disadvantaged groups. For other vulnerable groups, the Ming government also set up social institutions such as nursing homes to ensure their basic survival needs. At that time, the main function of nursing homes was recorded in Dian Hui of Zhou Dynasty: "At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was ordered to set up nursing homes in the world to deal with the lonely, poor and disabled."

In fact, we can also see that the main service targets of nursing homes include orphans, the poor, the disabled and other vulnerable groups. Of course, for the adoption of these vulnerable groups, it is necessary to set some conditions, including people's age, relatives, political status and so on. These conditions are also set to ensure the rational use of resources and promote the management of nursing homes. The management regulations of nursing homes involve many details, which actually reflect the completeness of social security policies in the Ming Dynasty.

For example, "Ming Shi" records the standard of nursing homes and nursing homes in Hongwu for five years: "Give rice three buckets a month, pay 30 pounds, and distribute a cloth in winter and summer. Give two-thirds a sip. "

Taking different management measures for different groups of people is also a meticulous embodiment of social security measures at that time.

the aged

The social security policy in Ming Dynasty not only promoted social stability, but also promoted economic growth.

Social security policies undoubtedly serve social stability, so all social security policies play an important role in social progress.

The policy of taking care of all social groups has stabilized people's mood and promoted social stability. The social security policy in Ming Dynasty involves a wide range of groups, so caring for the vulnerable groups can calm people's emotions and play a positive role in promoting social stability. Among the famine relief measures, the most effective one is to appease the refugees. The occurrence of natural and man-made disasters has caused a large number of people to lose their property and homes. Therefore, it is urgent for the government to give some appeasement measures to refugees.

Among the social security measures in the Ming Dynasty, there were many measures to appease refugees, including core policies such as relief and bracelet-free, as well as measures such as borrowing money to establish industries, restore homes and store warehouses as soon as possible. All these measures reduced the number of refugees in the whole Ming society, rescued the people from the quagmire and played a very important historical role in social stability.

In the Ming Dynasty, relief measures such as work instead of relief saved the people and promoted social and economic development. The policy of "work for relief" adopted by the Ming government not only promoted the construction of social infrastructure, but also promoted the development of social economy. Including building water conservancy projects and attaching importance to agriculture, are conducive to economic development and progress. Especially in the Ming Dynasty, the government organized refugees to reclaim land, which not only promoted the recovery of agricultural production, but also increased national tax revenue and promoted social and economic development.

refugee

Rational use of floating population labor force to serve social and economic development is also an important role brought by the social security policy in Ming Dynasty. As a result, the scene of "people face each other, rice beds compete with each other downstream" recorded in A Record of Ming Xianzong later appeared.

The government governance is weak, and the social security policy has not been implemented, which has certain drawbacks.

Of course, while the social security policy in Ming Dynasty played a great role, there were also some loopholes and drawbacks in management.

Political corruption and official corruption were serious, which undermined the operation of social security policy in Ming Dynasty. Because of political corruption, it has brought serious official corruption, and its negative effects are directly reflected in social security and other aspects. As far as the development of Ming dynasty is concerned, many social security measures at that time could not play their due role because of official corruption. For example, measures such as rice relief and money relief at that time could not be implemented because of official corruption.

The situation recorded in the History of Ming Dynasty, that is, "the words of the father and the old man are not what they used to be, officials taste them, and the court gives them T-shirts, but there are many hungry people and little money and food ... If you want to add to the crime, you can say whatever you want" is the most true portrayal of the failure to implement the social security policy at that time

Ming dynasty officials

The policy of providing for the aged is centered on the official groups and fails to take care of the interests of all social strata. It is precisely because of the corruption of officials that the pension policy of the Ming Dynasty began to tilt towards the official group, focusing on the official group, but failed to realize the original intention of the social security policy that took care of the interests of all sectors of society. The initial policy of providing for the aged in Ming Dynasty was to take different measures to manage the elderly over 60 years old and different groups of officials and people.

However, in the practical application of these measures, due to the lack of government enforcement, the pension policy pays more attention to the interests of retired bureaucrats than ordinary people, which reflects a certain class gap and makes the social security policy synonymous with "injustice".

abstract

In the social security policy of the Ming Dynasty, the two core aspects of famine relief and social relief were very complete. In the process of dealing with famine relief, there are different management measures before and after the disaster; In terms of social relief, there are different systems for different vulnerable groups, which reflects the advanced nature of social security policies in Ming Dynasty.

Due to the advanced social security policy, the social stability and economic development of the Ming Dynasty also depended on it and made further development. However, in the relatively complete social security policy of the Ming Dynasty, there were also some disadvantages such as official corruption and policy inclination, which also reflected the problems and disadvantages of the Ming society.

References:

1. Chronology of Ming Dynasty

2. General Social History of China in Ming Dynasty.

3. The economic history of medieval feudal society