Hai Rui's Moral Economy

Firstly,through the discussion Xu Jie Case,with the hope to understand Hai Rui's way of thinking.That was,what problem they faced and how they would think about this problem.To achieve this,it need to seek"the local sense",and to do the field work in the documents.Besides,we must distinguist between representation and practice during the research.Secondly,the word"Moral Economy"used in this paper was firstly brought forward by Edward Palmer Thompson in customes in common,then James G Scott improved this concept in the Moral Economy of the peasant:Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia.But he used this concept on"Ethics of Survival"level. This paper uses this concept from a more broad sense.It refers to"an idea about social justice,rights and obligations,reciprocity in any people's mind".The application of this concept is not limited to"the weak".Lastly,Xu Jie Case was commonly believed that result from the"Tou-xian"(the attachment of one's land to other powerful,mainly imperial,etates,which benefit de facto from many kinds of exemptions);in fact the deeper reason was due to the unequal profits distribution in the process of Yangtze Delta's land development.In short,this case is very complicated,and it is a hard case.The question Hai Rui faced was:what kind of wealth obtaining way is"reasonable"? In regard to this,he thought there must have some forms of"input",and then the wealth gained is"reasonable". This is Hai Rui's moral economy mean.As for this case,in Hai Rui's opinion,above two kinds wealth obtaining methods all are"reap without sowing",as a result that is"unreasonable",thus the judgment result is adverse to Xu Jie.And this case became a rule and played an important part in the future sentences.