The Research On The Anti-money Ideas In The Western Han Dynasty

Monetization is the product of the commodity economy to a certain degree, and anti-money ideas are the outcome of monetization to a certain degree. Anti-money ideas exist in the ancient Chinese which have a considerable extent. Academic research on anti-money ideas is so weak that there are no monographs and articles. Research for anti-money ideas in a certain period is almost blank, and there are only some relevant monographs and articles on the part of anti-money ideas.Anti-money ideas are a variety of ideas against money. A modern point of view, they are backward ideology, an overreaction to socio-economic environment and the product of the commodity economy to a certain degree. Currency problems of the Western Han Dynasty reflected in two aspects which contain anti-money idea. Monetary system problems often directly produce currency ideas, which give theoretical guidance and provide solutions to actual currency monetary system. Western Han Dynasty monetary thought often developed from the actual currency or other social problems, which seek countermeasures for actual problems.Western Han Dynasty mainly uses two currencies: copper and gold. People who have anti-money ideas oppose copper coin and gold. The former is a kind of metal coin and the latter is a weighing currency.With the negative effects of Western Han Dynasty monetization, the performance of anti-money ideas is increasingly intense and presenting a process of progressive development.From the evolution of anti-money ideas,it has three progressive levels: First, infancy. It negates the value of money in theory, that is, Lu Jia, Jia Shan's "money uselessness theory". They thought "money is useless things." Second, the developing period, it belittles the role of money in theory and practice, that is, Chao Cuo's "belittling money theory". He thought "Therefore, the wise Emperor should attach importance to agriculture and belittle the money." Third, the maturity, it requires abolition of money, cancels the commodity economy, and backs to the original economy, that is, Gong Yu's "anti-money theory." He thought"our government should abolish casting coin officials and agencies, no longer cast coins, ban commercial business and pay and reward with corn and cloth". But emperor Hanyuan did not accept the offer for various reasons. Through the study of history, the influence of the anti-money ideas of the Western Han Dynasty mainly has the following three aspects. First of all, they affect the decision-making of government to a certain degree. Second, they have a great impact to people's understanding of money, such as viewing money from the perspective of food and clothing. This made the ancient Chinese's understanding of money into the status of standstill. Finally, they strengthened the role of agriculture because the anti-money ideas and agricultural dominance have internal consistency. Generally, they consolidated the feudal regime, because they maintain the same economic base - small-peasant economy. In addition, they hindered the process of ancient china's Monetization, and caused the relative stagnation of economic development. Comparing with agriculture, industry and commerce play a much larger role to economical development.Overall, the impacts of the Western Han Dynasty anti-money ideas are almost negative, so they are actually a kind of undesirable and backward ideas.