Ancient Non-governmental Trade Dynasty

The ancient non-governmental Sino-Japanese trade is an important component of the Sino-Japanese friendship, and it has played an important role in the two countries' economic exchange. However, there has not been sufficient research in this aspect so far in the academic circles, not to say any systematic work. This paper is supposed to give a brief account about the development of the ancient Non-governmental Sino-Japanese trade, its historical characteristic and the major influence from the viewpoint of materialism.The well-established ancient non-governmental Sino-Japanese trade can be roughly divided into three stages. The initial stage (3rd century B.C. — 6th century) included chance and inconsistent exchanges which are performed by the way of simple barter. Still they become the origin of non-governmental Sino-Japanese trade, which laid a solid foundation for later generations. The second stage, also called developing stage lasted from 9th century to 14th century. In this period there were plenty of merchant ships coming and going, which constituted an important link of cultural exchanges in the era of no diplomatic relations between the two nations, and hence helped to establish a prosperous foundation for the two countries' non-governmental trade in the periods of Ming and Qing; The third stage extended from 1520s to the mid of 19th century, which was a period of the great prosperity and a turn to decline. The development of 300 years' non-governmental Sino-Japanese trade experienced a rather complicated time. It was initially the dogged smuggle trade that grew up from the adverse circumstance of banning on maritime trade and exchange with foreign countries, followed by a circuitous trade and intermediary trade thereafter. Finally a prosperous situation of free trade with foreign countries appeared, and it is an indication of the immense vitality of non-governmental trade. However, not long afterwards, the trade between the two countries declined because of the Japanese4government's restriction on trade.history reveals three characteristics. To begin with, from trade carrier, it went through a process from immigrants to businessmen and then to groups of businessmen. Furthermore, from the flow of the trade, it had gone through a process from one-way trade to that of bilateral. From the Pre-Qin period to Northern Song Dynasty, Chinese merchant ships went sent to Japan, which belonged to one-way trade. From Southern Song Dynasty, the Japanese merchant ships came to China more and more frequently, and thus China and Japan's two-way trade got to boom. In addition, from the developing trend of the trade, we can see that non-governmental trades the development in different stages was very uneven, and it had gone through a rather winding course. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the development of the non-governmental trade advanced by leaps and bounds. A relative low tide appeared in Yuan Dynasty, and from the mid and later part of Ming to 1684 of Qing Dynasty, the trade was carried on in the forms of smuggling. From 1684 to 1715, Sino-Japanese trade reached its prosperity, and came to the highest level in history.Ancient non-governmental Sino-Japanese trade had exerted an important influence on the two countries. First of all, it became an accelerator which promoted the two countries' economic development. The exchange of technology led to the development of the two countries' productivity. The exchanges of metal and metal money stimulated the development of the monetary economy of two countries. The tax revenue of trade became important sources of fiscal revenues of these two countries. On the other hand, the enlargement of trade improved the industries concerning silk, porcelain, and printing. Meanwhile, it brought about the rapid development of urban commerce. Secondly, it enriched the material and cultural life of the two peoples, and formed the link of cultural exchange. The abundant Silk Road had met the material demand of the people in the two countries. The unique glamour of the books had enriched people of two countries' spiritual life, and had promoted the cultural exchanges of the two countries. Above all, the trade had built the bridge to link up official contacts between the...