Research On Yaren In Ancient Chinese Land Exchange

Yaren, also called agent, has been long in China. Yaren is emerged with the development of exchange relationship. When commodity exchanges increased, intermediary is needed to harmonize the price between buyer and seller. In such instance, professional Yaren come into being. Thereafter, with the development of social economy and strengthen of centralization of land tenure, functions of Yaren has greatly increased. They took an active part in all the parts of trade. Land pawnbroker began in Tang dynasty. After that, Song dynasty did not limit combination of land any longer. As a result, land exchanges had high frequency. Taxes from the land exchange became one of the richest incomes to country. Meanwhile, Yaren played a important role in the land exchange.The first section of this paper introduces the functions and effects of Yaren in the land exchange. Different Yarens have different roles in the trade. Sometimes, buyers and sellers are familiar. They decided the main parts of the trade and have one or two intermediates to sign in the contract. In this instance, the function of Yaren is to identify the deal. Sometimes, the two parts did not know each other before the deal, and Yaren introduce one to the other. Here the main function of Yaren is to introduce the trade and pass the price from one part to the other. Yaren has participated into the trade and has main effects on the negotiation of prices, became the full function agent.First of all, before the land transaction, Yaren has the responsibilities to check up the proprietary of land and validity of the pledge. Before the agency, seller should deliver the contract to Yaren and show Yaren they own the property. When Yaren accepts the entrustment, they should check four aspects. First, the whether the property has been repeated pledged. Second, whether this property belongs to others. Third, whether it is the daughter or son of the owner who sell the land without the permission of their parents. Fourth, whether the sellers have the ownership or heirdom of the property. Yaren, as the intermediate, should take responsibilities if the trade is illegal.Secondary, Yaren has the responsibilities of negotiating prices and searching for buyers. After identifying the ownership and validity of the property, Yaren should give advice on the reference prices and search for buyers according to certain customers. Appraise the price of the property is one of the most important functions of Yaren. The role of Yaren is to advance the success of the deal. Therefore, when Yaren appraise the property, they negotiate with the two parties and try to procure the success on the spot. When Yaren searches for the buyer, they should follow certain procedures. If the quoted price is similar, the priority belongs to relatives and neighbors. If they have no intentions to buy the land, Yaren can ask the price of others. If Yaren obey the customers which protected by law, they would be punished together with the sellers. However, the land trade is a kind of economical activities, and it still follows the demands of market.Third, Yaren has the responsibilities to participate in signing the contract. Since Dongjin Dynasty, government paid attention to the integrity and standard of contract, in order to guarantee the validity of contract and increase taxes. Yaren has the duty to make contract and main contents includes the name of the owner, position of the land, size of the land and the exact extension of the land, name of the buyer, prices, guaranty of seller for the ownership and legality of the contract, time of the contract, two parties of the contract, name of the Yaren and witness to the contract. After the setting up of the contract, they should pay taxes to government.It can be seen from the above functions, Yaren has played an important role in the exchange of land properties. They are witness of the deal, negotiator of prices, and promoter to the deal. They are very important to the success of the deal.The second part of this paper introduces the negative effects of Ya...