Some scholars have noticed that the complexity of China, especially the complexity at the economic level, has gone beyond the simple concept, so they turned to poor research on historical materials and wrote monographs, but they only showed a little concern about the theoretical issues concerned by the participants in previous social history debates. At the same time, the discovery and systematic arrangement of new historical materials such as military archives further promoted the research upsurge in academic circles; The golden age of social and economic history research in China began to appear.
In this change of study style, all Han students are the most brilliant historians in their research achievements. His main contributions to the study of Chinese economic history are as follows: (1) the initial research of all Han students focused on the Tang and Song Dynasties; The book Empire and Canal in Tang and Song Dynasties analyzes the relationship between the rise and fall of Tang and Song Dynasties and the Grand Canal, which connects the economic center of the south with the military and political center of the north.
His other great contribution is to discuss the commercial development in the Tang and Song Dynasties and the urbanization process of Hangzhou, Bianliang, Yangzhou and Guangzhou, paying special attention to the possible influence of traffic and international trade on urban development. As for the study of the history of monetary economy and the history of price changes, his long article "Medieval Natural Economy" published in the tenth volume of 1942 Institute of Historical Language is still the most important work to study the complicated phenomenon of China's monetary evolution from Wei Jin to the middle Tang Dynasty. From the middle of the Ming Dynasty to about 400 years ago, China's monetary system can be said to be the copper-silver standard.
All Chinese students paid special attention to the money supply, so as to understand the development of the monetary system, and published a series of important papers such as Sino-Philippine Trade in the next season. The historical study of Chinese prices is difficult to carry out due to the lack of historical materials and the disunity between the monetary system and weights and measures in the past, but all Chinese students have made considerable achievements. Having a general understanding of the price changes around 1000 years before the Republic of China, all Han students contributed. He made great efforts to study the price history of the Qing Dynasty. Only through his in-depth discussion on price, currency and domestic and foreign trade can we have a more complete understanding of the evolution of the entire economic system in the Qing Dynasty.
His other major research topic is the modern industrial construction in China, or an extensive investigation of industrialization, or an in-depth case study of some key enterprises, regions and problems. Among the research achievements, works about Hanyang Iron Works, Hanyeping Company, Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau and China's industrialization before the Sino-Japanese War are representative works. His research work over the past decades has pointed out many important topics that can be extended and expanded, leaving enough tracks for subsequent research to follow up; The most notable examples are American Silver and Ming and Qing Economies and Food Price and Rice Market and Trade in Qing Dynasty, which have recently become prominent scholars in the field of economic history. All this is based on the works of all Han students. All Chinese students have just entered the College of History and Language, that is, they study English diligently in order to expand their research tools. Inspired by hildebrand's theory of economic history by stages, he thought that "from the end of the second century to the middle of the eighth century, natural economy played a dominant role in China society" and wrote the article "Natural Economy in the Middle Ages". He quoted the theory of Marx's Das Kapital, explaining that the rise and fall of business is closely related to the progress and degradation of currency use. When the exchange is only to get the consumer goods you need, and the demand for money is not great, the transaction process is C (your remaining goods) -M (money) -C (the goods you need); On the other hand, when transactions are frequent and professional businessmen replace former consumers, the demand for money increases greatly, and the transaction process is transformed into M (money [own capital ])-C (goods) -M (money [including profits]). After the end of the Han Dynasty, due to the influence of the war, commerce declined, and the use of money declined accordingly.
1944 10 was promoted by the director of the institute of sociology of academia sinica and director Tao, and all Chinese students were sent to Harvard, Columbia and Chicago universities in the United States to study. He learned new ideas and methods from foreign economic historians and established contacts with western economic historians.
When studying China's modern industrialization, all Han students, influenced by Usher and Nef, applied the theory of industrial location, and from the transportation cost of coal, explained that coal resources had a great influence on industrial location, thus tracing back to the crux of the failure of industrialization in China.
1955 After revisiting Harvard University, Quan Hansheng began to explore the economic exchanges and interactions between the East and the West in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, especially focusing on the impact of the inflow of silver from America on China's financial and economic life. He found that from the end of 17 to the end of 18, grain prices and prices showed a long-term upward trend, which was closely related to the large amount of silver imported by the United States at that time. The representative work of this study, The Relationship between American Silver and18th Century China Price Revolution, was obviously inspired by EarlJ. Hamilton, a professor of economic history at the University of Chicago, published the book 150 1- 1650 The Price Revolution of American Silver and Spain in 1934 by Harvard University Press.
All Han students listed various historical materials, referred to IryingFisher's theory of money quantity (according to Fisher equation PT=MV, which was not listed in all Han students' articles), and combined with the analysis of fine needles and dense lines, found that the massive export of American silver had a worldwide impact on prices, even in distant China. It must be pointed out that in the above research, all Chinese students are realistic, not preconceived, and choose materials according to existing models.
The research results of all Han students are not completely consistent in academic circles. For example, in view of the natural economy in the Middle Ages, in the article "The Use and Problems of Coins in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties" (Historical Records 14[ 1949]), He Ziquan thinks that the situation in the two regions is very different during this period. The north retreated to the natural economic situation because of repeated wars and defeats; Because a large number of immigrants moved to the south to develop, and gradually prospered, the monetary economy became the dominant position (according to the opinions of several critics of hildebrand, such as Henri Lippirene, J.H. clapham and Norman Nangle, the opinions of hildebrand were revised. He believes that although the historical stages of human economic development cannot be completely divided, only one economic form can account for a large proportion in the same period; Although the power of coins in the Southern Dynasties was strong, it could not replace the status of natural economy.
Since the 1950s, some western economic historians have wondered whether American gold and silver were related to the Spanish price revolution. They said that as a tool of historical analysis, Fisher's equation of monetary quantity theory is of little use; Long before a considerable amount of American precious metals arrived in Spain, local prices had risen rapidly; Monetary theory is not as convincing as "substantive reasons" in explaining historical phenomena, such as changes in supply and demand caused by population growth. (According to the article The Changing Trend of Rice Price in Jiangsu and Zhejiang before the Mid-Qing Dynasty, all Han students also mentioned: "In this century, the population of China has greatly increased ... land production has been greatly affected by the declining rate of marginal income, and the grain supply can't keep up with the growth of demand ... so the rice price has been rising. Secondly, equally important is the massive import of silver. " )
Professor Wang Yejian also pointed out that during the18th century, China enjoyed political stability, unprecedented development of domestic and foreign trade, and a substantial increase in production income. At that time, the long-term upward trend of prices was not simply the result of a large number of silver imports from America; Even from the perspective of money supply, it is also caused by the massive expansion of silver, copper coins and private tickets.
All Han students believe that the lack of capital is the main reason why China's industrialization could not take off before the war. Only according to the research of American scholar CarlRiskin, a considerable proportion of China's national production before the war was spent on unnecessary consumption; Therefore, the problem is not poverty, but the inability to transfer potential surplus to investment channels. All Han students are pioneers in the study of China's price history. It is very difficult to study Chinese prices before the 20th century. In addition to the above two articles on paper currency inflation in Song and Yuan Dynasties, he also wrote the following papers: Price Change in Tang Dynasty, Price Change in Northern Song Dynasty, Price Change in Early Southern Song Dynasty, Silver Purchasing Power Change and Its Causes between Song and Ming Dynasties, and Rice Price Change in Northern Ming Dynasty.
About three centuries in the Tang Dynasty, he found that there were three periods of price decline and four periods of price increase:
(1) Ten years after the founding of the People's Republic of China (6 18-627), agricultural products have been lost and the price is expensive.
(2) From the early years of Zhenguan to the first half of Gaozong's expectation (629-666), the government encouraged the production and improved coins. Tian He is rich and everything is cheap, which is an eternal emblem in the political history of Zhenguan.
(3) During the last century from the last emperor Gaozong to Xuanzong's accession to the throne, coins depreciated, floods and droughts occurred frequently, and prices rose, but the degree of increase was not drastic.
(4) During the Kaiyuan and Tianbao periods (7 13-755), the social economy was prosperous, everything was abundant, and things were cheap, which was a rare prosperity in history.
(5) The An Shi Rebellion in 755 AD ended this golden age of eternal farewell. In the next 30 years, due to the destruction of the war, the price soared unprecedentedly.
(6) From the Zhenyuan period of Dezong to the middle age of Xuanzong (785-859), the price dropped for a long time. This is because the government implements the tax reduction law, and people must pay taxes with money; At the same time, business is developed, and the demand for money is growing. On the other hand, the output of copper is insufficient, and the copper used in Buddhist temples and industries has increased greatly. The money supply in the market can't meet the demand, and it has evolved into a phenomenon of money shortage.
(7) In the last 40 or 50 years of the Tang Dynasty (860-907), there were years of wars, frequent famines, very scarce supplies and soaring prices again.
Similarly, all Han students outlined the price changes in the Northern Song Dynasty. He divided the price changes from 65438 to 060 in the Northern Song Dynasty into four periods:
The long-term price decline in the first period (960- 1022) is mainly caused by two factors: the price increase of agricultural products and the monetary tightening.
In the second period (1023- 1067), due to the influence of the Xixia War, the expenditure was huge, the fiscal revenue and expenditure were unbalanced, and prices rose.
In the third period (1068- 1 100), the price tends to be low. He believes that the main reason for the price drop at that time was that Wang Anshi implemented new laws such as tax increase and young crops, which greatly increased the demand for money.
The fourth period (1101-127) saw price increase. At this time, the government's money depreciated, and private casting became popular, so the value of money plummeted. When besieged by Jin people, traffic was blocked, which accelerated the trend of price leap.
Look at the amount of money cast in the Northern Song Dynasty. In the first phase, it was as low as 500,000 yuan per year, but as high as1800,000. In the second period, most of them will invest more than one million dollars every year. In the third phase, the casting capacity suddenly increased, with a minimum of about 2.9 million kroner/year and a maximum of over 5 million kroner. Of course, Wang Anshi's new law has greatly increased the demand for money, and at the same time, the money supply has also greatly expanded, so it is debatable whether prices tend to decline. Of course, it's also easy to understand. At that time, the price level was as high as when the king fought Xixia.
All Han students were the most diligent people in studying prices in Qing Dynasty. His contribution to the price history in this period is greater than his contribution to the price research in Tang and Song Dynasties. His works on prices in Qing Dynasty are as follows: rice price market and trade in the middle of Qing Dynasty (with Richard Dahe. Klaus),/kloc-the relationship between American silver and China's price revolution in the 8th century), the rice price in Yongzheng period of Qing Dynasty (combined with it), the changing trend of rice price in Jiangsu and Zhejiang before the middle of Qing Dynasty, and the price in Hejiang County of Sichuan in modern times. His research on food prices made great contributions to understanding the economy of Qing Dynasty.