The Social And Economical Function Of Jin Merchant's Guild Hall In Ming And Qing Dynasties

Jin Merchant was one of the domestic important businesses in Ming and Qing Dynasties .As a result of its strength abundant, the widespread active area, the long active time, Jin Merchant occupied the head of Chinese business society. Jin Merchant took monopolizing the North trade as its own duty, took linking up the mid-west trade relation as guide. In the extensive areas from south to north in motherland, Jin merchant tenaciously developed trading path toward the whole country by its management style which are vigorous and to be the world number one. But these powerful trade dramas were supported and promoted by the guild hall. So the guild hall had played the vital role in Jin Merchant history. However, the academic circles did few research on guild hall, especially got involves few into the research of guild hall's function. Therefore, this article attempts to analyze the Jin Merchant guild hall's social and economical function in Ming and Qing Dynasties which base on the broad social background, except to explore the guild hall's strong character and status in Ming and Qing Dynasty's economic development process.In Ming and Qing Dynasties time, Jin Merchant's guild hall was complicated and proliferated various industries and commerce's cities, became the important symbol of Jin Merchant's influence development. Therefore, Ming and Qing Dynasties could be called the "guild hall time".Chapter one is the introduction part, firstly review and elaborate the contemporary researches and based on this put forward the thesis's researching purpose and significance, and then introduce this thesis's researching angle and structure. Chapter two summarizes four major characteristics of the Jin Merchant's guild hall, for example namely the strong trade, the obvious region, broad in scale and strong power of business society, which taking Beijing, Henan, Guihua three places as the center, through introduction quantity statistics and distribution survey. Chapter three and chapter four are the core of the whole thesis, intensively discussing the social and the economical function of Jin Merchant's guild hall. The relation link of Jin Merchant's guild hall was the fellow villager relates, and took its local gods as the gods prop. Thus, from late Ming Dynasty Jin Merchant's guild hall explicitly had the social function "the association friendship among towns people day by day", "repay god graciousness", "the honest magnanimous act" and so on. Jin Merchant's guild hall displayed the function which government authorities were not able to own in social development and flowing population management. The guild hall became the powerful link of Jin Merchant, which caused that Jin Merchant formed a small society to live in or foreign place, prominently had displayed the characteristic "big guild hall, small society". In addition, the intense commercialism of Jin Merchant's guild hall had decided its formidable economical function. Confronting the massive improper competes existed in the traditional market development process in Ming and Qing dynasties, Jin Merchant spontaneously formed and implemented guild hall. Through a series of principles and economic thoughts which based on traditional culture, Jin merchant strengthened the internal unity, maintained the market order, expanded the power of business society.Chapter five further proves the characteristic of the Jin Merchant's guild hall and its function, which use comparison method, contrast Jin Merchant's guild hall with Hui Merchant's the guild hall and the Europe's guild hall.The end of the thesis is conclusion part. Jin Merchant's guild hall took the regional local relations as the foundation, this organization was the concrete manifestation of the prosperity of commercial economy in feudal society, which was also the reason of why our commodity economy development incapable to breakthrough feudalism. The guild hall was usually combined with the feudalism faith, each guild hall organization is not only where the industrialists and businessmen held meeting to discuss official business, but also industrialists and businessmen offered sacrifices to gods.The guild hall strictly restricted laymen. The phenomenon which divides the sphere of power by narrow localism had demonstrated the intense exclusiveness and separatist regime of guild hall.The guild hall conducted helping the week and the poor, preserving one's health, courting death and other social welfare safeguard actions. These actions account for large proportion, sometimes even had surpassed its first function. Moreover, along with entire social environment vicissitude, the guild hall's original function was unable to implement, finally moved towards the dead end.