A Comparative Study Of The Economic Records Of Zhengde Minghuidian And Wanli Minghuidian

After the Han,Tang and Song dynasties,the Ming Dynasty was another peak of the social and economic development in ancient China.During this period,agriculture,commerce and handicraft industry have made great progress.Especially in the middle and later period,the development of these aspects has reached the peak of prosperity,and has made brilliant achievements.However,the Ming Dynasty was also a slow period of social and economic development in our country.Besides,the ancient society of our country began to decline as well in this period.It can be explained that the Ming Dynasty is a very contradictory period,which is both glorious and lonely.The social and economic changes in the middle and late Ming Dynasty were very fast.This period is not only different from other dynasties but also different from the early Ming Dynasty.Therefore,it is of great research value.Code of Great Ming Dynasty is an official compiling book,which records the ancient laws and regulations of the Ming Dynasty and has the nature of the administrative code.It provides the basis for the following generations to follow the decrees and regulations,and also complements the shortcomings of other historical records.It has given an account of most things which were not recorded by the Ming History,therefore an important document for the study of the history of the Ming dynasty.Code of Great Ming Dynasty was revised several times before and after.Nowadays,the popular editions are Wanli Huidian and Zhengde Huidian.Although most of the content recorded in these two editions will be the same,differences also definitely exist,which can just reflect the social and economic similarities and differences or changes between the early period and middle and late period of the Ming Dynasty.Through these changes,some achievements and problems in the social and economic development of the middle and late Ming Dynasty are extracted.From this point of view,in this present thesis,the similarities and differences between these two editions of Code of Great Ming Dynasty will be firstly compared.Then,through the study of these similarities and differences,we can discover the state of social and economic changes in the Ming Dynasty.Finally,the conclusion will bemade about the achievements and problems of the social economy in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.From the view of the overall structure,this thesis is mainly made up of five parts.The main contents are as follows:Part one is a brief introduction,which contains the reasons of selecting the topic,a review of the academic history,the source of information,the ideas and methods of the research,and the innovation of this thesis.Part two is about the basic situation of Zhengde Huidian and Wanli Huidian.Firstly,it demonstrates the compiling background of these two works.Secondly,it presents the catalog comparison between them.Part three presents the comparison of agricultural and animal husbandry in the economic part of Zhengde Huidian and Wanli Huidian.Agriculture and animal husbandry records of these two works will be compared from the land,residence,and land tax to horse industry.Part four is about the comparison of commerce in the economic part of Zhengde Huidian and Wanli Huidian.The comparison result of commercial records will be discussed from the aspects of market management,commercial tax management and salt policy management.Part five will present the achievements and problems of the social economy in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.Through the above comparisons,not only the economic achievements made in the mid Ming Dynasty but also the economic problems existing in this period will be revealed.