Research On The Division Of Small And Medium-sized Jin Merchants

Separation is a way of inheriting family property based on "houses" or "shares",fundamentally damaging the original "cohabitation and co wealth" relationship of the family.During the Spring and Autumn period,the family division system centered on dispersed inheritance emerged from the patriarchal system and remained the main form of family inheritance for over two thousand years,until the gradual disappearance of socialist transformation.Starting from the middle of the Ming Dynasty,regional commercial gangs were formed one after another,and the number of merchant families increased.In the process of family development,it was inevitable that there was a phenomenon of family division.At this time,families needed to sign a family division agreement to clear their property and avoid future disputes.Shanxi merchants,as one of the important groups of merchants from the Ming and Qing dynasties to the Republic of China,were no exception.Based on the investigation of Shanxi merchants’ family separation letters,this article takes the establishment of family separation letters as a symbol and divides the process of family separation into the prelude to family separation,the implementation of family separation,and the impact of family separation.In the prelude to separation,the motivation for separation is the theme.There are many factors that affect family separation,and merchant characteristics are one of them.The main subject of family division seen in the family division letter is small and mediumsized businessmen in Shanxi.They are both agricultural and commercial,but their main business is commercial management;Conduct remote operations centered around the North China region;Sole proprietors and co shareholders are both involved in the operation.The types of family separation in Shanxi include natural separation,conflict separation,and impact separation,with merchants mainly relying on natural separation.There are two factors that influence the natural division of families due to the characteristics of merchants: firstly,commercial capital promotes the expansion of family population,and secondly,remote and personal management promotes the formation of discrete families.The ’free ride’ reinforces the impact of these two factors on family separation.In addition,the Donghuo system imposes unlimited liability on merchants,and business damage or bankruptcy can affect family property,leading to a disruption in family separation.In the implementation of family separation,this article explains the distribution of property in the practice of family separation from two dimensions: the type of family property and the participants.The main types of household property include real estate,farmland,land and foundation,shops,investment silver,silver stocks and personal stocks,cash,debt,production tools,and daily necessities.Small and medium-sized businessmen in Shanxi adopt a clear attitude towards property distribution,forming a recognition of the relationship between public and private family property.The main way for matrilineal families to participate in family property distribution is through support,and support and marriage and funeral are internalized norms that have been formed for a long time in a differentiated pattern.In addition,in the practice of family separation,the eldest son needs to bear the responsibility of debt repayment and adoption.The recognition of the public private relationship of family property,the standardization of incense continuation,and the family organization of "cohabitation and shared wealth" jointly constitute the separation system of Shanxi merchants.There are two aspects of the impact of separation.One is that families that naturally separate are more likely to tend to cooperate after separation to maintain the operation of the original family business.The other is that separation has a greater impact on the business capital accumulation accumulation of small and medium-sized merchant families,a smaller impact on the business capital accumulation accumulation of large merchants,and separation has a smaller impact on joint stock firms.