The main economic policies of the Qin Dynasty are:

1. Unified currency

Qin Shihuang abolished the currencies of various countries with different shapes and sizes during the Warring States Period, and replaced them with Gold is used as the upper currency, with yi (twenty taels) as the unit; the old copper coins with round square holes made in the Qin Dynasty are used as the lower currency. The inscription is half a tael, which is as heavy as its inscription. ?

2. Unify weights and measures

Qin Shihuang used the weights and measures standard developed by Shang Yang to unify the weights and measures across the country. Today, the power of the Qin Dynasty is engraved with the edict issued by Qin Shihuang in the 26th year of his reign (211 BC) to unify weights and measures. This kind of weight has been unearthed a lot and is widely distributed. It has also been found outside the Great Wall. It can be seen that the unification of weights and measures is serious and effective. Qin Shihuang also used laws to stipulate the allowable limits of errors in weights and scales.

He stipulated that six feet was a step and 240 steps was an acre. However, the system of two hundred and forty steps per mu was actually only practiced in the old Qin and possibly the old Zhao territory. In many areas in the east, the system of one hundred steps per mu was still used until the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. The unification of writing, currency, weights and measures, and the cultivation of Chi Dao provided convenient conditions for the development of economy and culture, and promoted the development of a unified country.

The Qin Dynasty unified currency, weights and measures, writing, and tracks, which had a great influence on later generations.

3. Land system

After Shang Yang’s reform, taxes were paid per mu, and the economic system of Qin State was fully transformed into a "farming war". That is to say, we attach great importance to agricultural production and foreign wars, support foreign wars with agricultural production, and grant land with military merit. At the same time, agricultural production is specifically guided by national laws and regulations. However, similar systems do not seem to have achieved significant results after unifying the country.

Qin Shihuang sent the head of Guizhou to Shitian and officially recognized the private ownership of land nationwide. With this order, the landlord class could not only legally occupy land, but also annex farmers' land by various means. Peasants whose land was annexed had to cultivate the land of wealthy people under the harsh conditions of "paying 15% of the tax". ?

4. Household registration system

As early as the tenth year of Qin Xiangong (375 BC), the Qin State established the "household registration system" for the purpose of "reporting adultery" system. ?[78]?Later Shang Yang stipulated that both men and women must be listed in the household registration after birth and removed from the household registration after death; if they also "made the people miserable", they would be jailed together if they were guilty. The Qin Code stipulates that migrants should visit officials to transfer their household registration, which is called "registration change." During the reign of the Qin Dynasty, the household registration system became more complete.

In the 16th year of the Qin Dynasty (231 BC), men were ordered to declare their age, which was called "Book Year". According to the Yunmeng Qin bamboo slips, the Qin Dynasty's fifteenth male year (another estimate is seventeenth) contains the household registration for the public corvee, which is called "Fu Ji". The year of the book and the book of Fu are the basis for the country to recruit and recruit military personnel.

In the 31st year of Qin Shihuang (216 BC), he "made the head of Guizhou seize the land", that is, he ordered the people to declare the land themselves. Land is recorded in the household registration, which provides the main basis for the state to collect and issue rents and taxes. Household registration includes age, land and other contents, so the household registration system far exceeds the need to "report adultery" and has become a fundamental system for the country to rule the people. The Qin Dynasty established twenty-level nobles to reward military achievements.

The state grants land and houses to people according to their title, and those with high titles can also receive food and other privileges (see title system). The title is recorded in the household registration, so the household registration is also a certificate of people's identity.

Qin's social organization was quite strict. Shang Yang's reform established the "Shiwu Lianzhi System" which prohibited fathers and sons from living in the same room. All citizens with two men who were more than laborers had to live separately. Households were compiled independently, and military organizations were organized at the same time. Organize the officials and people of the whole country into five families and ten families. They are not allowed to move without authorization. They supervise each other and report to each other. If they don't expose, the ten families will sit together.

This stringent law firmly binds farmers to the land, and the state directly controls the country's labor force and ensures tax revenue. After unification, the Qin State promoted this to the whole country. Similar Baojia system and household registration system were still adopted by the authorities until the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China.

5. Emphasis on agriculture and suppression of business

Since the "Shang Yang Reform", the Qin Dynasty has strictly restricted the development of commerce. The main measures are: charging high market rents in the market; Major road checkpoints charge high tariffs; merchants are registered as businessmen (similar to industrial and commercial registration); if merchants go bankrupt, they will be incorporated into state hard labor. After these measures were implemented, the expected profits of merchants were much lower than those of farmers, so free merchants died out on their own.

6. State-run salt and iron industries

The main basic industries of the Qin Dynasty were the mining and selling of salt and iron. The Qin Dynasty ordered private merchants not to engage in such industries, and they were all run by state administrative bureaucrats. , responsible for the mining and sales of salt and iron across the country.

After Qin unified China, the above system was extended to the whole country. There are still widespread traces of these systems in China, or some mechanisms are still functioning. For example, the similar Baojia system was still used by the authorities until the monarchy of the Republic of China. The household registration system is still the basic population registration system of the People's Republic of China.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Qin Dynasty