中央帝国的财政密码

密码三部曲 #1

by 郭建龙

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书名:中央帝国的哲学密码
简介:《中央帝国的财政密码》作者重磅新作。中央帝国的哲学可以看作思想格式化与反格式化的历史。读懂了中央帝国的政治哲学，就把握了中央帝国统治的思想根基。俞敏洪/葛剑雄/林达/余世存/刘苏里/陈志武等盛赞推荐
作者:郭建龙
出版社:鹭江出版社
出版时间:2018年09月
装订方式:精装
分类:哲学/宗教|哲学|世界哲学图书|文化|传统文化|其他

Genres: History, China, Politics, Nonfiction, Economics

412 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2024

Reviews

[Barack Liu · Rating 5 out of 5]

140-The fiscal code of the Central Empire-Jianlong Guo-Economy-2017
Barack
2017/10/0 8
2020/0 6 / 01


-The economic base determines the superstructure.

"The Fiscal Code of the Central Empire" was first published in China in 2017. Economic books. The book is divided into three parts, using the three social and financial reconstructions in Chinese history as the criteria for dividing stages. The first part focuses on the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Southern Dynasties, using the state-owned system established by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the financial monopoly of Emperor Wu and Wang Mang of the Han Dynasty, and the land and household registration system during the Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties as clues to interpret the fiscal phenomenon during this period; The reform of state ownership of land in the Northern Wei Dynasty began with the huge chaos caused by the state ownership of land in the Tang Dynasty, and ended with a great collapse caused by the financial reform in the Song Dynasty. The third part began with the experimental fiscal policy of the Yuan Dynasty government, followed by the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The conservative finance of the period ended with the efforts and inertia of the modernization of finance in the late Qing Dynasty.

Guo Jianlong, date of birth is unknown. He once worked in IT companies as a technology company, once worked as a reporter for "21st Century Business Herald", and traveled to 17 countries in Africa. Currently an independent writer. Representative works: "Siege of Bianjing", "The Financial Code of the Central Empire", "Across the Middle East for a Century", etc.

Part of the catalog
1. Exploring a centralized empire
1.1. Qin Dynasty: The Birth of the Central Empire
1.2. Han Dynasty: The Emperor’s Financial Deadlock
1.3. Financial experiment of a visionary
2. A prosperous empire with out-of-control finances
2.1. Tang Dezong: The Emotional Elegy of the Stingy Emperor
2.2. The Agrarian Revolution over a thousand years ago
2.3. Tang Dynasty: The simplest finance, the most complicated problem
3. The most perfect centralized machine
3.1. Yuan Dynasty: Financial Crisis in Greater Mongolia
3.2. Ming Dynasty: The most tightly centralized dynasty
3.3. Qing Dynasty: Struggling between tradition and modernity

" Since 1978, China has entered a period of intensive reforms. From the reform and opening up policy of the second generation of leaders such as Deng Xiaoping, to the reform of finances, taxes and state-owned enterprises by the third generation of leaders such as Jiang Zemin, to the new reform of Guisi by the fifth generation of leaders. With the development of reforms, China’s economy and society have also ushered in rapid progress, which has led to our prosperity and stability today. However, all reforms have never been able to touch the three bottom lines of China’s economy, this is: state-owned enterprises Not to give up, not to touch the public land system, and the financial system represented by the government's control of the right to issue money. "

"In ancient and modern times, at home and abroad, for a centralized government, there are only two things that it is most concerned about: first, how to establish a complex bureaucratic system to control society; second, how to extract sufficient financial resources from the private economy Income to feed this bureaucratic system. Whether it is a state-owned enterprise, a public land system, or monopoly currency issuance, it is a means for the government to raise finances. When formal taxes are not enough to feed the huge bureaucracy, the government will find a way Open up these new methods to earn income. Therefore, the so-called three foundations are actually the three major means of collecting money. "

Just as the most important primary task of an organism is to ensure its own survival, the primary task of a regime is also to ensure its own regime’s survival. Politics and economics are never separated. There is no economic basis, not political existence go on. Without political protection, the economy cannot develop safely .

" China is a precocious country. Centralization was invented more than two thousand years ago. Before this system was invented, it was almost impossible for humans to establish a unified country within a territory of millions of square kilometers. Because of transportation and With the limitations of technology, rulers cannot make people thousands of miles away bow their heads. "

In this historical stage of feudal society, China is probably one of the top empires in human history. In addition to the favorable geographical conditions we have, our institutional strengths also is an important reason for our success one . Two thousand years to the sense of superiority , but also allows us to enter the industrial civilization in the past do not want to abandon the system. And become more and more backward. If we want to rise again in industrial civilization , then we must evolve a system that adapts to the times.

" The popular opinion after 1949 referred to the history of the Great Unification period collectively as the feudal era. However, most serious scholars have pointed out the mistakes in this division. After the Great Unification, a centralized regime was formed, and the central government sent bureaucracies to conduct the whole country. Control. This kind of political structure is by no means a European-style "feudal system." The Zhou dynasty before the Qin and Han dynasties was in line with feudal characteristics. However, in popular opinions, it is nondescript to call this period the slave age. "

Feudalism intention is to "seal the founding of the state" , that is, the monarch or royal land rewarded meritorious, allowing them to build their own in this land dominated nations . Strictly speaking , it refers to the government form based on the enfeoffment system . But we usually use the word often used is its extended sense , to refer to some kind of old , backward social system.

In fact, "Historical Records" in there relevant records, Qin Shi Huang unified the world of the state system after been considered, officials suggested that followed the traditional method, take the Zhou Dynasty feudal system, in order to make the emperor's relatives were able to work together to protect the court . But this view was rejected by Prime Minister Li Si. Reese believes , Zhou was the result of princes disputes, is derived from the feudal system. Because as the princes reproduced independently , the relationship between their offspring became weaker and weaker. Although the first princes may be brothers, their offspring did not have any feelings between them, so they attacked each other.

Li Si suggested that the Qin Dynasty should continue to follow the prefecture system adopted during Shang Yang's reform. So that the county leaders no longer have independence , and become a puppet of the central government directly appointed. In the end, Qin Shihuang adopted Li Si 's opinion. This means that we have been in 200 BC out of the feudal system , to more than European countries as early as 1000 years. We can clearly see in "Don Quijote" and other works that the earls are independent, have their own independent castles and a team of knights loyal to them.

In fact, slave society and feudal society have two different meanings. Slave society refers to the existence of a large number of slaves who have no freedom in life. For example, Russia did not abolish serfdom until 1868. China after the end of the Spring and Autumn, in after entering the Qin Dynasty, slavery gradually disappeared. Although we have a lot of people until the Qing Dynasty servant, but the servant mostly voluntary to be sold to a wealthy family himself. If they have wealth in the future, they can still redeem themselves and become free men. This is the West and Russia to take the division by way of social class , to create a slave class is completely different.

I think , China has been able to get out early from the slave society to a part of the reason may be because the Emperor deposed one hundred Only Confucianism . Because in Confucianism , there is not much room for slavery . This makes it difficult for slavery to find a moral justification.

" The first cycle of the era of centralized power in China began in the Qin and Han Dynasties, and ended in the Southern Dynasties. The institutional basis of this cycle is: the bureaucratic system is dominated by centralized power, but there is still a certain vassal system; economically, private ownership of land and finance Taxation was initially based on land tax, and gradually opened up new sources of financial resources such as state-owned enterprises, financial monopolies, and even the sale of government officials for the emperor to spend. "

" The second cycle of the era of centralization of power began in the Northern Wei Dynasty and ended in the Southern Song Dynasty. The institutional characteristics of this cycle are relatively complete centralization and imperial examination systems, the use of land public ownership in the economy, and the implementation of more complex rent modulations in taxation. A fiscal revenue system operated by government agencies. Public ownership of land appeared in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and went through the Western Wei, Northern Zhou and Sui Dynasty, and at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, a public ownership system characterized by government distribution and recycling of land was formed. However, the public ownership of land in the Tang Dynasty soon followed It failed because people were happy to allocate land from the government, but when someone died, his children and grandchildren were unwilling to give the land back to the government, but concealed it without reporting it, and secretly inherited it. As the population increased However, the amount of land available for distribution by the government was decreasing, and the land was de facto privatized. The collapse of the public ownership of land in the Tang Dynasty also directly affected taxation. Because a large amount of land was concealed, the government’s fiscal revenue could not be reported. Satisfied. The Tang Dynasty also implemented a complex tax system-rent modulation. The government must count land, population, and households at the same time. This tax system has exceeded the government's statistical capacity at the time, and on the contrary caused a huge financial burden. "

" The third cycle of China's centralization era sprouted from the Liao and Jin Dynasties, and continued to develop in the Yuan Dynasty. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, a stable model was formed. The characteristics of this cycle are: the land system returned to private ownership, and the bureaucratic system was established. It established a centralized power model with unlimited control, and relied on blocking people’s curiosity to form great stability. This cycle is fiscally conservative, with land taxes as the mainstay, and gradually abandoning the unstable banknote system and returning A more primitive monetary system, but this fiscal system is simple enough to last for a long time. If there is only one country in the world, the terrible stability of this system may make us stay in the third cycle forever, although economically absolutely There will be no breakthrough development, but the people’s lives are not bad. It was only in the late Qing Dynasty, with the arrival of overseas influences, that China’s finances began to modernize and had the opportunity to break through the shackles of agricultural society. "

Whether it is an individual, a business or a country. If it wants to accomplish something, the first thing to consider is whether it is economically feasible. This is actually a very basic point of view in current economics , namely cost awareness. If we analyze the problem or make a decision, we do not first consider the economic costs, but only focus on the benefits that can be obtained. Then, in the actual implementation process of this decision , it is very likely that it will encounter unexpected obstacles .

"In the Han Dynasty, the cost of a war can reach dozens of times the salary of the central government officials. War can be described as a game that consumes a lot of money. The agricultural tax alone cannot cope with war expenses. For this reason, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty tried almost all possible financial sources. Selling government officials, issuing devalued currencies, and strengthening commercial taxes, but they were unable to meet the huge financial expenditure. In the end, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty needed to monopolize natural resources and establish state-owned enterprises. To this end, the Han Dynasty established a complex State ownership system."

I am personally an anti-warist. Once a war breaks out, the national wealth and private wealth that the country has spent decades in peacetime may not be saved in a few years . Of course , this situation occurs mainly in the evenly matched of large-scale full-scale war in , bullying style does not affect the national territory of the local campaign , overall national strength will affect the smaller .

[Hou · Rating 4 out of 5]

本书某种程度上可以作为《中国历代政治得失》《波峰与波谷》等名著的注解来读。这两本名著都高度概括地总结了一段时期的制度变革，而本书从财政经济角度做了更细致的分析。

例如北魏孝文帝改革从三点展开：班禄制、土地改革、三长制，但为何要同时推进这三项改革？本书的解释是，和平时期行政正规化需要对官员定阶给俸，养官依赖税收，收税需要土地确权，需要掌握户口，三项政策相互依赖，三项改革也必然同步推进。

又如，唐德宗改两税制，因为租庸调已经崩溃，为何崩溃？因为人户分离，央地抗衡，因为连年战事，因为藩镇林立。而当年玄宗为何广立藩镇，因为当时财政已经困难，中央无力供养边军，才允许藩镇自筹军费，并不断扩权。

[Renzh_gr · Rating 4 out of 5]

从财政的角度去看王朝兴衰，不错的角度

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

本书是阉割过的吧，从历史中吸取教训对现在以及未来的影响和发展的走向预测没有写，是一大遗憾。

[LaanSiBB]

Very interesting collections of historical facts, brilliant work.

[Hqwxyz · Rating 4 out of 5]

皇帝和官僚的利益是不一致的。当皇帝想通过养鱼延续帝国命运时，官僚系统会竭泽而渔。坐看历史循环。

[Cheng · Rating 5 out of 5]

一本通俗易懂的从财政角度看中国两千年王朝兴衰的书，作者比较有意思，是科大毕业的。寒假陆续看完的，即使第一遍看不是十分仔细，依旧很触动。第一次读这种维度的历史，对那些耳熟能详的历史人物一下子有了新的认识。限于本书主题，作者将王朝更替较多归因于财政因素。不知是否恰当。读这本书，确实能学到很多，读完却又觉得自己什么都不懂。多思考，多翻阅吧。对于现代中国的启示呢？如何认识当下的财政政策？

[Le · Rating 3 out of 5]

看完前言和引子就基本不用看后面的了……

[Alex Xu · Rating 4 out of 5]

哈哈哈哈，看了想笑。睡了！//大明朝，王阳明，厂卫。

[Yijia Chen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous. Finished in 2 hours.

[风花 · Rating 4 out of 5]

可以一读，作者是有本事的，概览可用，虽是休闲读物，读起来不累，仍能学到东西，在历史中发现帝国统治变与不变的密码。

[sjtuwalker · Rating 5 out of 5]

这应该是今年读完的最后一本书了，明年继续努力争取多读几本。

[Littlebasin · Rating 5 out of 5]

这种用一条线串起两千年历史的写法很有趣。作者找出的三个抓手——国有企业、土地公有和货币垄断也非常的准确。

[HuSharp · Rating 5 out of 5]

历史即此刻

[Joey Gao · Rating 5 out of 5]

从汉武到清末，在中国中央集权的政治制度下，社会经济制度的演变与统治阶级密切相关。归因下来，每个朝代的强弱兴衰都大致决定这个朝代的经济制度走向，当然这都是作为后来者我们的评价。

结合钱穆的《中国历代政治得失》一起对照看，会对中国历史的理解更加透彻。

[清 · Rating 5 out of 5]

非常棒，从财政视角写的历史。

[Funway Wang · Rating 3 out of 5]

行文通俗易懂，作者个人观点明确（自由市场主义）。以今观古，又借古讽今，嘿嘿。好大的胆子！（不过确实有很大的先立场再论据的嫌疑 😏）

[Sheldon · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those who have graduated from a Chinese high school, this book can provide valuable insights into the historical political transformations of each dynasty, shedding light on the underlying financial perspectives.
In the Chinese high school education system, most teachers focus on rote memorization rather than learning through logical understanding. While some exceptional teachers may employ innovative teaching methods, not all students are able to independently grasp the underlying concepts.
Certainly, it also has its limitations when it comes to political topics, but I believe you will have your own opinions.