On The Granary System Of The Ming Dynasty

Grain storage has long been one of the major tasks of different rulers of different dynasties. This is due to the deficiency of circulation of grains resulting from the low productivity of agriculture, low grain output and backward transportation in ancient China. To store grain, one has to build a granary. That is why rulers of ancient China attached great importance to the building of granary. The Ming Dynasty is no exception. Ever since the founding of the Hong-wu reign, Emperor Tai-zhu ordered that a granary system be established. However, up to now, the study on the granary system of the Ming Dynasty has long escaped the attention of scholars. The meaning of the study on the granary system of the Ming Dynasty is twofold: 1, help us get a full picture of the social and economic life of the Ming Dynasty; 2, provide some lessons for the granary work of today. Thus it is chosen as the case in study.1.TYPES OF GRANARY. Generally speaking, there are two major types of granaries: the State Granary and the Local Granary. The former one can be further categorized into two types: the Reserve Granary which supplies the Army, the Officialdom and the Imperial Family; and Shuici Granary which is to be transported to the Capital from different parts of the country. During the Hong-wu reign, the State Granary is in Nanjing. Ever since the Yong-le reign, the State Granary mainly refers to Beijing Granary and Tongzhou Granary. Shuici Granary is located along the Grand Canal, such as Xuzhou, Huian, Linqing, Dezhou and Tianjing. The development of shuici Granary is closely knitted with the development of the Canal Transportation System. Local Granary includes Changping Granary or Preparatory Granary run by the government and she Granary or Yi Granary owned by the non-government sector. Besides, there are private granaries owned by the princely families. During the Hong-wu reign, the Emperor ordered that all the provinces, prefectures and counties should establish preparatory Granary. However, this policy has never been completely carried out. The most outstanding non-governmental Local Granary of the Ming Dynasty is the Jinong Granary established by Zhoushen in Shuzhou during the Xuan-dc reign. During the Chen-hua reign, the MingDynasty deemed that governments at all lever throughout the country should reserved grains according to the area of the village, which was 300 to 500 picul per li. During the Hong-zhi reign, this was changed to 1500 picul per li. This is no less than urging the grass root to achieve the impossible. After that, the standard underwent constant changes from time to time. During the Xuan-de reign, the Ming Dynasty has for a time handed the Military Granary over to the local governments. Another form of local granary is she Granary or Yi Granary, Which is actually established by the local people, especially the rich ones, ml 529, the Ming Dynasty decided that Yi Granary should be re-established locally, which again was aborted. The other type of local granary is princely Granary, which is actually the private granary of the princely families whose existence is related to the fate of its owners.2. FUNCTIONS OF GRANARY.The functions of the granary are various: (1)to supply the Army, the Officialdom and the Imperial Family; (2)to relieve famine; (3)to balance grain reserve; (4)to sully the shortage of grain at various levels through regulation.3. ABOLISHMENT OF THE GRANARY SYSTEM OF THE MING DYNASTY. The abolishment of the granary system starts from the local ones. During the Xuan-de reign, local officials reported that many granaries were reduced into disuse. During the Hong-zhi reign, the abolishment of the granary system spread to the military hub along the frontiers. Until the Zheng-de reign, Beijing Granary and Tongzhou Granary were also in a critical situation. Various factors contribute to the abolishment of the granary system with the decrease of tax revenue as its major one. In the final analysis, the abolishment of the granary system is a by-product of the deteriorating social confl...