Shanxi Merchants In Chang Lu Salt Area In Ming And Qing Dynasties

Shanxi merchants were an important social and economic force in China and one of their business activities was salt industry during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.Because of the importance of salt industry to taxation and public consumption,the autocratic monarchy government attached great importance to it.The evolution of salt law was a policy adjustment made by the autocratic monarchy government for the development of salt industry.Along with the development of salt industry,salt merchants also rise and fall,and the rise and fall of Shanxi merchants in Chang Lu Salt Area reflects the development of Chang Lu Salt Industry.As the main body of Chang Lu salt merchants,Shanxi merchants had considerable commercial scale in Chang Lu Salt Area,and always maintained a "mutually beneficial cooperation" relationship with the autocratic monarchy government in order to rely on the power of capital.This paper is divided into three chapters.The first chapter mainly demonstrates the evolution of salt law in Ming and Qing Dynasties and the development of Shanxi merchants in Chang Lu Salt Area.The implementation of Kaizhong Law in the early Ming Dynasty made Shanxi businessmen enter Chang Lu Salt Area,and after the Wanli period of the Ming dynasty,Shanxi merchants developed into a privileged and monopolized business group in Chang Lu Salt Area because of the operation of the Gang Salt System.The second chapter mainly discusses the management situation of Shanxi merchants in Chang Lu Salt Area.It's about the capital source,management pattern,characteristics,profit situation and profit flow of salt industry.The third chapter mainly demonstrates the reasons for the decline of Shanxi merchants in Chang Lu Salt Area.Since the late Qianlong period,with various forces taking a share of the salt profits,the phenomenon of "cheap silver and cheap money" and "rising prices" in the economic field had reduced the profit space,as well as the impact of salt smuggling and natural disasters,the Shanxi merchants in Chang Lu Salt Area have gradually declined.Generally speaking,Shanxi merchants in Chang Lu Salt Area monopolized salt production through the privileges granted by the autocratic monarchy government and made huge profits.In order to safeguard their privileged status,the Shanxi merchants in Chang Lu Salt Area kept approaching the autocratic monarchy government and allowed it to share the profits of salt industry.However,because the government exploited too much and regulated too strictly,it eventually came to an end.