The Study Of Nei Cheng Yun Ku In Ming Dynasty

Nei Cheng Yun Ku (called Nei Ku in short) in Ming Dynasty is a valuable issue for researching. Through studying this subject, it is easy to understand the politics, economics, and the relationship between the emperor's authority and the eunuchs. However, it has not been gained enough concerns for a long time. Truly, Nei Ku, as the emperor's private storehouse was rarely recorded clear statistics in official archives. Nevertheless, after reading and referencing quantities of historical books and documents, it can be organized into a complete system which helps us comprehend the Ming dynasty. Chronologically, this dissertation is devised into seven chapters to explain Nei Ku and its related matters.The first chapter introduces the establishment. Ming Taizu was the first emperor of Ming dynasty and it was who founded Nei Ku and then formulated the rules and the functions. Once when Ming Taizu read the Song Book, he criticized Song Taizong(976---997AD) who established the Song Nei Ku of which negative effects should not be underestimated: saving personal wealth for descendants but damaging the national profit. And for this reason Ming Taizu declared he should take this lesson, avoid making the same mistake and do everything for the state. However, it is ironic that Ming Taizu reneged what he said. This contradiction can be explained from both of Ming Taizu's personality and the autocratic politics. Also, in this way we can recognize the nature of Nei Ku entirely.The second chapter clarifies the management, the relationship between Nei Ku and the national system. Nei Ku was a part of emperor's private wealth, so the eunuchs were entitled handling the accounts; on the other hand, the ministers were deprived the rights of participation and supervision. Furthermore, emperors since in the middle of Ming dynasty were not only squandering the Nei Ku silver, but also embezzling the national treasure at the same time.The third chapter summarizes the chief sources of Nei Ku, which mainly included two: one was fixed, the other was provisional. The fixed one comprised "golden——flower" silver, the national treasure and taxes. The provisional one consisted of confiscation and the regional treasures. Apart from this, some tributes were also taken into Nei Ku. However, the frequency and the quantity of this part were not high. Both of the fixed and the provisional incomes were increasing along with the enhancement of emperor's greed. As a result, harmful effects of impeding for the economic development and damaging for standard of people's living should not be underestimated.The forth chapter generalizes the expenditure of Nei Ku. The expenditure divided into two: the national expenditure which involved rewards, praises, and disaster relief; and the emperors' private squandering. However, when it was in the mid-and-late Ming dynasty, compared with the early period, the expenditure had been changed greatly: the private uses expanded drastically, and the public uses nearly disappeared.The fifth chapter elaborates the denouements of the Nei Ku silver in late Ming. Fist, according to the historical materials, it is convinced that the Nei Ku in Chong Zhen period stored large amount of silvers; meanwhile the national storehouse was empty. In this way, the argument of whether it was indeed existing huge quantities of silvers in Chong Zhen period has been obvious. Emperor Chong Zhen held huge personal wealth. For the finial owner of these silvers, this dissertation disagrees with this opinion: the silver belonged to Li Zicheng. After analyzing the historical documents, it is surmised logically that those quantities of silvers should be belonged to Qing dynasty.The sixth chapter studies the effect and consequence of Nei Ku. Nei Ku was companying with Ming dynasty which lasted nearly three centuries. In this sense, Nei Ku was not only being a private storehouse, but also a special institution. One use of Nei Ku in Ming dynasty was exerting as a national bank; however, the most uses were negative: disturbing the normal financial order, impeding the further development of economics, promoting the vicious people while demoting the honest ones, and aggravating the eunuchs' interfering the political affairs. Finally, the domination of Ming dynasty was falling.The conclusion section reviews the cause, development and the termination of Nei Ku. It can be summarized that Nei Ku reflected the social un-balance of the emperor policy, which also blocked the Chinese economic development historically.