An Analysis Of The Expending Public Finance Thoughts Of Guanzi

Guanzi is an important work in the pre-Qin Dynasty. The economic thoughts among it, especially public finance thoughts, are very abundant. The expending thought is an important part of the public financial thoughts in Guanzi. So, it is indispensable to study the expending thoughts in the research of public financial thoughts in Guanzi. But hitherto, the research of pre-scholars is fairly limited, and it is necessary to make more intensive research on this aspect. So, the author of this article chooses this topic, and tries to make more detailed and intensive investigation. The first part of this article is preface, mainly introduced the written time of Guanzi, the identity of its author, and the researching condition of former scholars. Nowadays, the available edition of Guanzi was edited by Liuxiang in Han Dynasty. It was not written by Guanzhong. Actually, it was not written at one period by one author. Most of the scholars think the author of Guanzi is the person lived in Qi state, and most of its sections and chapters were written in the warring state period except the piece of Qingzhong. I agree with this point. As for the content of Guanzi, I think it has conserved the history of Guanzhong, and the thoughts of other people, who were contemporary with Guanzhong. They elaborated their own viewpoints in the name of Guanzhong. Generally speaking. The contents of this book mainly reflected the thoughts of Zhanguo's Period, and partly reflected the thoughts of Spring and Autumn Period. Guanzi attaches importance to collect wealth very much. It also pays attention to the expending public finance. But from the researching condition of former scholars we can see that, the existed researching outcomes are usually about one or two aspect, and the discussion is not overall. So I think it is necessary to research it further. So, based on the outcome of other scholars, and the theory of Marxism, this article tried to make further research on the expending thoughts reflected in Guanzi. The second part of the thesis expounds the main contents of Guanzi'expending thoughts. First of all, is the thought of "collecting wealth to troops", that is to say, the nation tries its best to guarantee the material supply of the troops. It provide the troops with abundant food and weapons rewarded the officers and the soldiers who have had a great achievement, employed the military spies etc. The purpose of these activities is to strengthen the military force of the nation, and to conquer the world. Secondly, is the thought of "enormous wealth used in diplomacy". Guanzi advocates that a successful nation should treat the neighboring states with wealth, bribe the ministers of other country who is hostile to his monarch, offer the monarch of other countries with beauties and good horses to wear down his will. The purpose of these activities is to enhance the political status the nation and to cripple the enemy. Thirdly, is the thought of "attracting talents with wealth". Guanzi holds the opinion that a nation should not hesitate the wealth to attract the talented person. Not only should recruit the sagacious talents and heroes who can run a country, but also should value the good manufacturers and skilled people who can enrich the country. Forth is the thought of "bestowing according to one's contribution". Guanzi claims to give rewards to the people, minister, officers and men according to their contribution. The purpose of this measure is, on the one hand, it helps to run, strengthen and richen a country; on the other hand, it is also a technique to rule the people effectively. Fifth is the thought of "favoring poor people with wealth"in social welfare. Itincludes many miserable people of the society, such as the old, child, orphan, disabled men, widow and widower, sick men, poor, families suffered from poverty, and families without offspring. The purpose is to ensure the stability of the nation, recruit the talent of world, encourage the weaken people and implement the education. Six is the thought of "advocating thrift and getting rid of extravagance"in the aspect of ruler's consumption. Guanzi thinks the ruler should practice strict economy and forbid the extravagant thoughts and behaviors in daily life. And proposes the standard of consumption for them. With the analysis of these six aspects, we can see that Guanzi doesn't encourage stingy in the aspects of military, diplomacy, recruiting talent, rewarding and favoring poor people. But it advocates thrifty in the aspect of ruler's private consumption. It is to ensure the expending in the other aspects and to achieve the purpose of enriching, strengthening, stabilizing the nation. The third part of the thesis analyses the principle of expending public finance in Guanzi. "Use with restraint"is the first principle. It always runs through the aspects of expending public finance thoughts. At the limitary expenditure aspect, on the one hand, Guanzi attaches great importance to the troops'construction, and advocates to ensure the supply of the troops; On the other hand, Guanzi thinks that the war can make people tired, waste the resources, and endanger the position of the nation and the monarch. So it needs to calculate properly in making use of the military expenses, and don't launch the war rashly. On the granting rewards, Guanzi accounts the amount of rewards should be limited and change with different situation. On the ruler personal consumption aspect, Guanzi thinks that the ruler can't spend without restraint. He should consume restrainedly, stressing a kind of "measure"and "limit". "Give it for take"is the other principle. It...