| This paper, divided into four parts, aims at discussing the changes ofChina's market management policies in Tang and Song Dynasty.The first part discusses the changes of the market management policies from theaspects of the market managers and the salesmen. It explains the policies about thesetting, responsibility and selection of the government officials for the marketmanagement in Tang and Song Dynasty as well as those about the management of thesalesmen. In the records of that, the historical data about Tang Dynasty is much moredetailed and systematic. In this period, except the right of "making steelyard", all therights belonged to three departments until the time when Shen Zong introduced reformsthe "Tai Fu" Temple gained the authority again. For the selection of the market officials,there was a relatively strict policy. Except cared about the family background, the nativecouldn't be the official of his hometown, which was to limit the delinquent conduct ofthe market managers, however, its effect was not significant. The policy of"tradesmen'spermanent residence booklets" during this period gradually collapsed and the "tradeguild" system was adopted. In this system, the relationship between the government andthe salesmen was changed from the simply managing and managed to making use ofeach other. By the analysis and the comparison between the phenomenon of "theofficials becoming the salesmen" and "the salesmen becoming the officials" and thecorresponding laws and the policies of the country, we can find that the related policiesof this period changed a lot. The phenomenon of"the officials becoming the salesmen",which was completely forbidden originally, was tacitly consented and developed to theextent of tax-free by the governors. While, the phenomenon of "the salesmen becomingthe officials", which was originally forbidden in the early Tang Dynasty, was allowed inSong Dynasty for their richness.Part two shows the policies of the administration management related to "market".During this period, both the setting right of the market and the mill system havechanged. In the early Tang Dynasty, the government gave the strict control to the settingright of the market. The setting and the abolishment of the "market" completely depended on the will of the government. In the middle period, the country graduallyloosened this control and admitted the markets formed spontaneously among the peopleand sent the officials to give the management. And then in the North Song Dynasty, thecountry even took a laissez-faire attitude to these markets. After the middle period of theTang Dynasty, the mill and market system began to disintegrate and the system oforderly opening and closing market was gradually abolished. From the middle period ofTang Dynasty to the Five Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, the residential quarters andthe business district were mixed and a great deal of morning and night markets appeared.At the beginning, the governors forbade this phenomenon. But as the development ofthe business, until the Song Dynasty, it was allowed by the law.The third part mainly focuses on the policies of how to maintain the trade order ofthe market. As for the management of the commodity prices in the market, TangDynasty mainly depended on the officials to fix the prices and in Song Dynasty, theofficials, the leader and the salesmen of the market fixed the prices together. In theaspect of the adjusting the prices, in the early period of the Tang Dynasty, it dependedon the administrative order and applied the power of absorbing the goods and materialsof the government to adjust the prices, but in this process there were many malpractices.While, in Song Dynasty, more flexible policies were adopted. Expect the traditionalones, the government adopted the many policies to speed up the circulation of thecommodity, such as publishing the paper money, ensuring the trade route unblocked,reducing or remitting the trade tax, etc. In the aspect of managing the weight andmeasures, Tang and Song had not any differences. As for maintaining the trade order ofthe market, both the similarity and differences existed in these two dynasties. Thepolicies of Song Dynasty paid more attention to protecting the salesmen's interest andguaranteeing the quality of the commodity. Besides these policies, the emperor gaveorder in person to take it seriously. The law of contract in Song Dynasty was muchbetter than that in Tang Dynasty. There was a new phenomenon appearing in this period,that is, the monopolizing of the guild. The government carried out the special law tostrike it, however, because of the inherent disadvantages of the feudal system, thisbehavior of the government was not very effective.The fourth part analyzes the social and economic elements that caused the changesof the market system during these two periods. This paper holds that these changes arecaused by many jointly elements, such as the development the society and the economy, the enlargement of the market, the expanding of salesmen's power, the changing thepeople's ideology and so on. After the middle period of the Tang Dynasty, financeproblem puzzled the government, thus in order to pursue the commercial interest itreadjusted the market polices. Besides, there were many other elements affecting thesechanges, such as the problem from the Liao and Western Xia regime, the power of thecentral government and so on.The last part is the conclusion which refers to the development the marketmanagement system. During this period, the country only depended on the officials ofdifferent levels and the guilds to govern the market. At the same time, they applied notonly the traditional administrative order ways but also the economic means to adjust andintervene the market, for example, adopting the policies of reducing or remitting thetrade tax and giving no limit to the price to adjust the prices. In the management andcontrol of the market, there was also appearing a loosening tendency—relaxing thecontrol to the setting right of the market and reducing the interference of thegovernment to the market. |
