Study On Grain Price Fluctuation And And Countermeasures In Zhili Province During Qing Dynasty

In ancient China,the country was established by agriculture,agriculture is the foundation of every dynasty.Although the Manchu was nomadic,but at the beginning of entering the Central Plains,it has established the national policy of.basing a nation's economy on agriculture,and to develop a series of agricultural policy based on the previous generation.The agricultural production is centered on grain,as the saying goes:the country people-oriented,Food.Grain is the foundation of managing state and state,with the higher level of economic development in the Qing Dynasty,the supply and demand of grain is restrained by the market obviously.The fluctuation of grain prices has a direct impact on the living conditions of the people.Therefore,the grain problems faced by the rulers of the Qing Dynasty are not just grain production,it is also how to use national power exert influence the grain prices through the market,to achieve the effective supply of grain in the whole society,so as to realize the China traditional political philosophy of "happy old life full,failyear from death" Zhili province is always around the national capital,it has the function of protecting the capital.To ensure the stability of grain supply and grain prices in Zhili province is about the rule of the Qing government and the stability of the society,it has important political and social significance.First of all,the article analyses the general situation of Zhili Province,the grain production and market development.We found that the central and southern part of Zhili Province is very suitable for agricultural production.Its temperate continental monsoon climate has obvious characteristics of precipitation and temperature.The administrative divisions have changed.The grain planting mainly concentrated in Central Hebei and South Hebei,the main varieties is of wheat,com,sorghum,beans,and American crops developed in the late Qing Dynasty.The food supply and demand situation is not optimistic,as a typical grain deficit areas in North China,the lives of the people are getting harder and harder,grain consumption also presents a trend of coarse grain.The main grain market of Zhili Province in the Qing Dynasty is divided into two categories.one kind is the big city that is gradually developing in the business trade,one is the regular market to the grass-roots level in rural areas,the two types of markets play a great role in the grain trade of Zhili Province.Secondly,we made a comprehensive use of two sets of grain price data to examined the temporal and spatial characteristics of grain prices in Zhili Province,during 1738 to 1911.The characteristics of time are mainly analyzed in four aspects:trend characteristics,seasona characteristicsl,irregular characteristics and cyclical characteristics.The results showed that the grain prices of Zhili Province.in the Qing Dynasty showed a rising trend.The concrete performance is the trend of "growth,decline and growth",each stage lasts for about 50 years,but in the short term,the fluctuation is larger.Different grain prices have different seasonal characteristics,the price of sorghum,millet,black beans and broomcorn millet is higher from April to July,the price of wheat is higher from January to April,the price of sorghum and black beans is lower from September to December,the price of millet and broomcorn millet is lower from October to January of the next year,the wheat price is lower from June to September.The irregular fluctuation degree of millet price is similar in the early and late Qing Dynasty,other grain prices are more intense in the early Qing Dynasty,the early fluctuation is dense and the time is short,the later fluctuation is scattered,but with long duration.Each grain price has a certain periodic characteristic,the average cycle is about 40-48 months,the price of wheat,millet,sorghum and broomcorn millet may exist a long period of 30 years,but the price of black bean has no obvious long cycle characteristics.The spatial characteristics are mainly analyzed by the average grain price of different prefectures and states in six periods.The results showed that the grain prices in the central Hebei region were always higher,the grain prices of Zhengding and Dingzhou were all higher in six periods,grain prices in Eastern Hebei and northern Hebei are always lower.The prices of various grain prices in the Xuanhua and Yongping are all high in six periods,according to the distance from the Central Hebei,South Hebei is from high price zone to low price zone.The degree of market integration in Zhili province gradually declined in the Qing Dynasty,and there were obvious regional characteristics.There is a higher degree of market integration,in the Southern Hebei and the Central Hebei,traffic conditions,geographical environment and government behavior,has an important influence on the grain market integration.Thirdly,taking the Beijing grass-roots public officials in Qing Dynasty as an example,we analyzed the main grain prices and the grain purchasing power of the grass-roots public officials from 1771 to 1911.The results showed that the grain prices in the Beijing region of the Qing Dynasty were on the rise,but the salary of the grass-roots public officials has not changed for a long time and the level is low.It reduces the purchasing power of food,it is difficult to maintain the needs of individual food and has no ability to support families.The contradiction between the rising price of grain and the low salary caused the increasingly fierce rent-seeking behavior,the social foundation of Qing government was shaken.Fourth,we have investigated the influence factors of grain price fluctuation from the aspects of climate and disaster,population and farmland,traffic conditions,price ratios,human rent-seeking,government behavior.The results show that the impact of climate on grain prices is long and complex,in the short term,the disaster will lead to a sudden reduction in grain production,so the price of grain is rising.The contradiction between population and land caused that the food supplyof Zhili Province depends more on external sources,the price of grain is rising by the influence of supply and demand.The influence of traffic conditions on grain price is mainly reflected in the transportation cost.The human rent-seeking of water transport policy and warehousing system led to corruption,it disrupts the normal food market.Government actions indirectly affect grain prices through the adjustment of grain planting structureFifth,through the analysis of government regulation policy and social coping style,we found that food price monitoring,the provincial food allocation,grain circulation policy,national storage policy and national famine system plays a dominant role in the regulation of grain prices.The Public granary and Popular Famine Relief rely on the local gentry and the rich,it is an important supplement to the content of government regulation,both of them play the role of the Communist Party of China in the fluctuation of grain prices,it formed the stabilization mechanism of the grain price of Zhili Province in the Qing Dynasty.In a word,the contradiction between the people and the land of Zhili Province in the Qing Dynasty is increasing,the land support ability decreased gradually,food security is seriously threatened,the lives of the people are getting harder and harder.For the Zhili Province,which is in the political center,it is very detrimental to social stability.The factors that lead to higher grain prices are complex and diverse,these factors contribute to the supply and demand of food or market factors,and then it affects the fluctuation of grain price.For this case,the state and the society respond positively,to keep grain prices stable and ensure the lives of the people.through government regulation and Popular Famine Relief,take the last as a lesson,Many ways of regulating grain price in the Qing Dynasty are worth learning from the present society.