A Study On The Folk Debit And Credit From The Qing Dynasty To The Republic Of China In West Fujian Country

The folk debit and credit is the core of the traditional Chinese social economy.Thefolk debit and credit in the West Fujian country has a long history.From the QingDynasty to the Republic of China,the production of the folk debit and credit in the WestFujian country was not only the inevitable result of the West Fujian country commodityeconomy development,but also the inevitable result of the West Fujian country societyregularly to produce help in an emergency and allow temporary credit demand becauseof the influence of the farmer pauperization and other social factors.Therefore,theproduction of the folk debit and credit has its objective necessity.The folk debit andcredit in the West Fujian country has continuously been playing the vital role whichcannot be substituted.Under the private ownership,the people from the followingclasses,that is,landlords,merchants and the wealthy and so on grasp the massive socialresources (such as material objects and money).In order to make more profits,thesepeople often make full use of the social resources which they grasp to get high interestrate by lending money.Thus,high interest rate by lending money is produced,resultingin the long-term existence of unbalanced interest rate in interest rate system in the WestFujian country.Moreover,taking the materials and the fund security into consideration,these people guide and push the form development from lending without mortgage tothat with mortgage or pawn and so on.It is more and more advantageous for thesepeople in designing the system of lending money.But the traditional Chinese society isnot one that is purely based on antagonism.However the dynasty changes,the values ofcoexistence of social classes and harmonious relationship among people have beenpassed down.The township race under the domination of the values has direct,lastingand effective restriction to those people's impulse to make profit.Benefiting the directrestriction which is related to the township race,in villages of the West Fujian countrynot only the preferential benefit interest rate of lending money massively exists,but alsovarious forms of lending money embodying the cooperation and sympathy with eachother exist,such as no interest,low interest,ordinary lending money,lending moneywith mortgage and the organizations offering mutual economic assistance and so on.Ina word,the operation of the folk debit and credit in the West Fujian country isthroughout the result of the people's impulse from those classes seeking for profit andtheir impulse restricted by contradictory movement of different social strength.So theresearch into the folk debit and credit in villages of the West Fujian has an importantrealistic meaning.