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Did China a good market in ancient time
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tommy View Drop Down
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Posts: 545 		  Quote tommy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Did China a good market in ancient time
    Posted: 28-Nov-2006 at 08:05
In ancient time, many emperors discourage trade. Was it because of some pratical reasons.This meant although China was big, many of her people ,mainly peasants, were very poor, the buying power was weak, so spending could be a good habit, ot the country would collaspe.Do you think so?
leung
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tommy View Drop Down
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Posts: 545 		  Quote tommy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28-Nov-2006 at 11:25
Sorry not did,but was, and spending could not be a good habit.
leung
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Posts: 580 		  Quote Siege Tower Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28-Nov-2006 at 16:43
no, this only applies to certain isolated region, most of the urban or close to city population enjoyed very good living style. this also dependents on which specific time you are talking about, traditionally, the Chinese government encourages farming, farmer pays less taxes, on the other hand, government discourages small handcraft business, because the popular thought throughout Chinese history was that business owners/traders are inferior jobs.

Edited by Siege Tower - 28-Nov-2006 at 16:47


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Posts: 474 		  Quote snowybeagle Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28-Nov-2006 at 19:00
Trade was seldom actually discouraged in ancient China.
 
But the significance of merchants were oft understated in historical accounts.
 
There were, at various times, restrictions to prevent citizens from trading with foreigners, but most of the time, these restrictions were ignored and traders simply bribed the border guards as well as officials in the Court.
 
Reasons for restrictions varied. Sometimes it was due to official hostilities and the Court was more intent on preventing espionage rather than trade itself.
 
Sometimes there were restrictions due to nature of goods, such as state monopoly on iron and salt, as well as preventing merchants from selling weapon-grade iron to rival powers.
 
Ming Dynasty's restrictions were due to certain amount of xenophobia of the officials in the Imperial Court - many Japanese and European maritime traders were blamed for piracies, which a certain number of them were actually responsible for.
 
Apart from traditional low status accorded to merchants, officials also viewed them as hard-to-control group of people who had disproportionate amount of wealth compared to their numbers. Wealth was a source of power, and most officials, with little knowledge of commerce, found themselves unable to control merchants the way they controlled peasants.
 
Unlike peasants, merchants' wealth was not tied to the land, nor to particular cities. The market forces are very fluid and dynamic, and with little understanding of the market economy, officials were oft outsmarted by merchants whose quick minds enabled them to get round restrictions and tariffs, moving their wealth from one place to another quickly and leave the officials in the dust.
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Posts: 580 		  Quote Siege Tower Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29-Nov-2006 at 04:28
you are totally right, could this be the cause of the Wocou crisis during mid- ming dynasty


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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04-Dec-2006 at 20:15
no!
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pekau View Drop Down
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Posts: 3335 		  Quote pekau Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30-Dec-2006 at 21:14
Trade was discouraged between the enemies... but this was true to many other nations... including the medieval Europeans. Within the nation or between the allied nations, the trades and commercials prospered? No?

And many Chinese were poor... but there were also a lot of people who were living a decent condition. Understand that Chinese population, at that time, dwarfed many other civilizations... so huge poverty is China is, suffices to say, slightly exaggerate at that time.
     
   
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