Research On Grain Questions In The Tang Dynasty

As basis of the national economy and the people's livelihood, grain played an important role in the Tang Dynasty's prosperity and decline. If the grain problem solved well, the country would flourish and people live in peace, and it's military would be strong enough to rule the minorities. Otherwise, the country's economy would decline and the army's morale would be shaken and as well as the common people. The Tang Dynasty's grain problem includes the grain economic thoughts, the grain production, the grain circulation, the grain consumption and the utilization of the grain policy, etc. As the ideological superstructure, grain economic thoughts had decisive influence to the grain policy which decide the condition of grain production and circulation. Because of the special status that the grain had, studing the grain problem would be a breakthrough in understanding the history of the Tang Dynasty. This dissertation falls into five chapters.The first chapter makes an analysis about thoughts of grain policy in the Tang Dynasty. The people in Tang Dynasty, especially the emperor and the officials not only inherited the views of the importance of grain but also developed them. As the policy makers and executors, their grain economic thoughts could transform into actual productive forces well. Thus, it is important for us to study the Tang Dynasty's grain economic thoughts to understand its economic system and policy. They all realized the importance of grain. They knew that grain was the source of the people's life, the price of grain was the basic price of all other goods and the grain policy was the important policy of the State. The grain was not only the most basic substantial goods of the people but also the important strategic resources and the macroeconomical adjustment resources as well as the reserve resources for emergency. And because the food security were closely related to the State security, the government must take all sorts of measures to resume and develop grain production, to guarrantee the people's and the country's grain reserves, and thus control the price and circulation of the grain. Obviously, in the earlier period of the Tang Dynasty, the emperor and officials devoted themselves to thinking highly of the grain production and cherishing the financial resources of the people. And these became some policies such as the Equally-divided Land System, the Tax-Labor-Substitution System and the Granary System, which emphasized the development and safeguard. In the later peroid of the Tang Dynasty, the emperor and officials became to pay their attention to heavy taxes and exploiting the people. And these became some policies such as the Tow-tax System, the Three-Devide Tribute and Taxes System and the Public Relief-grain became taxes, which emphasized convergence and assignment. The difference of their thoughts affected their economic policy and then influenced the national fortune. We should not take it for granted.The second chapter illustrates the conditions of the Tang Dynasty's grain production. During the process of grain production, the government did not always stand on commen people's opposite side. It would not only provide safeguard system for grain production but also promote its development through organizing production, building irrigation works, innovating technology and guiding field management when the government use its power correctly. Whether a country or a place could develop normally and its people could live happily was greatly related to the emperor or its provincial governor and their policy because of the authority in the ancient China. That was why the people lived in ancient China had strong desire of "wise king" and "upright officials". By large, the grain production developed well during the earlier period of the Tang dynasty. It is to say that the Equally-divided Land System made combination of the workforce and land. And the Tax-Labor-Substitution System provided safeguard system for grain production. These brought more land under cultivation, and the population grew fast. The great increase of grain output laid solid social basis for the Tang dynasty's prosperity. In the later peroid of the Tang dynasty, the grain production were badly destroyed. As the chaos and regional separatism mainly occered in the north China, the economy that in the south area developed fast. In addition, the regional separatism in the north area controlled the grain which made the central government had to rely on the south area seriously. But we could find that the grain production center does not moved obviously if we analysize the trend of population migration carefully. We may draw a conclusion that the south area had also become a major grain producing area as well as the north area had been. During the process of grain production, lots of waste land and forest and lakes were developed into farm land which to some extent destroyed the environment and brought negative effects.Chanpter three is about the grain circulation in Tang Dynasty. This chapter includes three sections. They are grain reserve, grain transportation, and grain transaction. First, there was a perfect granary system to provide grain for the State. The granary in Tang Dynasty was built scientifically, distributed reasonably and managed strictly. The granary was a link between grain production and its consumption. The functions of every granary were differents and overlapped. The granary played a significant role in adjusting the market supply and demand for grain. So was it to the State. Second, there was a wholesome transportation system in the Tang Dynasty. On one hand, there were lots of clear terms about the transportation by land and water. On the other hand, there were many officials who devoted themselves to reform the transport route and ensure the grain supply. Some of them succeeded such as Pei Yaoqing and LiuYan, and some of them failed such as Yang Wulian who ignored the reality and hurt the people. The transportation procedure was, firstly brought the grain together, and then transport them to anywhere needed. The transportation staff included not only the common people but also some professionals hired by the government. The deadline of the transportation was formulated strictly and flexibly. The way of transportation included water route and land route, and the Canal played a significant role in the Tang Dynasty's grain transportation. The grain was not only transported between neighbourhood but also throughout the country in the Tang Dynasty. In a word, The grain transportation meant much to the Tang empire. Third, the grain transaction in the Tang Dynasty included the governmental transaction and nongovernmental transaction. The governmental transaction played a fairly important role in the Tang Dynasty. The nongovernmental grain transaction was active too. Almost all huge grain transaction were grasped by the government though its grain policy was free. The management of the governmental grain transaction was controled derectly by the government first, and then parts by the middle men. The nongovernmental grain transaction developed promptly. For example, the trader included rich barons and retailers, and also included traders and shop keepers. The enterprise notion included not only play tricks on customer but also fare play. And some businessmen in the Tang Dynasty even used advertisement for their merchandise. The governmental grain transaction meant much to the army provisions, and meant much to control the grain price and contain the market order in the Tang Dynasty. The nongovernmental grain transaction was also important to the people's life. Otherwise, the common people's market behavior was not as same as the merchants'. As a result, the market-oriented economy in ancient China looked like prosperous but an illusion, looked like owned enough person but lacked of support from people. Thus, the market-oriented economy in ancient China could not grow up to be an independent and strong economy form. And because of this, new power who could change the society could not be born. So, the ancient society seemed to fall into a circulation that when it was about to change but did not. This made the social stagnation like a destiny of the ancient China.Chapter four illustrates the grain distribution and consumption in the Tang Dynasty. The grain controlled by government mainly supplied to the imperial household food, rice as salary for officials, working food and relief requirement and the army requirement. These views were discussed deeply by the predecessors. About consumption, the grain processing would be introduced first. The flour milling industry developed quickly in the Tang Dynasty. For example, there were many watermills belonged to the government and private persons all over the country. In addition, food-processing and liquor-making developed well too. Someone such as the imperial household, the officials and the army played an important role in grain consumption. Grain incomes was used to calculate the officials'and common people's grain consumption to illustrate their living standards. The conclusion is that the common people's living conditions was well when they lived in the prosperous period of Tang Dynasty. However, almost all common people fell in poverty after the Anshi war. The conclusion is, as a whole, the peasent was highly valued by the government, but as individual, their life were very tough.The fifth chapter illustrated the utilization of the grain policy and its success and failure. The government took grain as an important tool for governing the country. There were four effects left. First, it was a way to realize macro-economic regulation through gathering or launching grain. Second, it was a way to realize the social stability through famine relief. Third, it was a way to increase the State financial income. Fourth, it was the strategic materials to safeguard the State security. There were three characteristics of the Tang Dynasty's grain policy. First, in the policy, the food security was considered as same important as the State security. Second, in the management, the grain was controlled strictly. Third, in the utilization, the grain operation was regarded as one method for governing the country. However, the grain policy was not perfect and more problems occurred in its practising. For instance, the government always adopted a policy as "emphasizing agriculture but restraining commerce". Although its purpose was to develop the agriculture, it also restricted the peasents'freedom of movement. And then, the market-oriented economy in ancient China was restrained seriously. As a result, the government had to rely on the peasents'supply more severely. This policy is the very reason that caused the peasents'poverty. As the grain price was controlled stictly, the peasents could not earn much profits from market but always suffered loss. Just as someone said, when the grain price rise the peasents would be hurt, when the grain price drop the peasents would be hurt too. As for relief, sometimes the peasents could not gain any tangible benefits, and sometimes even suffered the officials' extortion. In any case, through studing the problems about grain in the Tang Dynasty we could learn that we should pay enough attention to the grain problems like the Tang Dynasty had done. And we should accept its experiences and lessons too. On one hand, we should perfect the legal system like the Tang Dynasty. On the other hand, we should learn what the developed country have done. We should intensify the subsidies for grain production to safeguard the food security of our country.