A Research On The Donation And Repayment Of Salt Merchants In Lianghuai In Qing Dynasty

Salt merchants in Lianghuai have always been a hot topic in the history of salt industry research,but there are few achievements on the research object of donation and repayment in Lianghuai.This paper attempts to analyze the historical data and the existing research results of the donation and repayment in Lianghuai,and explore the relationship between the donation and repayment of the salt merchants in Lianghuai and the finance of Qing Dynasty.The first chapter mainly discusses the reasons why the salt merchants in the Qing Dynasty were keen on donating and repaying.This paper discusses the economic,political and cultural reasons why salt merchants in the Qing Dynasty were willing to donate and repayment from three aspects: their business activities,their relationship with the autocratic regime and their unique psychological thoughts.This paper argues that the salt merchants in Lianghuai have accumulated huge wealth because of the salt system,and they must maintain the relationship with the imperial power and the salt officials because of the salt system.In addition,there are willing to be officials in the Lianghuai area of the folk customs,eager for fame.In this case,donation and repayment a special way to improve social status,attracted the attention of the salt merchants in Lianghuai.The second chapter mainly discusses the donation and repayment general situation of the salt merchants in Lianghuai.This chapter analyzes the origin of the donation and repayment of salt merchants in Lianghuai,makes simple statistics and sorting,and divides it into five categories: military requisites,river workers,disaster relief,public preparation and other returns.t is found that the donation and repayment of the salt merchants in Lianghuai have the characteristics of the general merchant leading the donation,huge amount of donation,high frequency of donation,a large proportion of military and public return,and part of the return was not fully accepted by the rulers of Qing Dynasty.At the same time,the way and nature of the donation and repayment of the salt merchants in Lianghuai also changed.In the face of the salt merchants in Lianghuai,the rulers of the Qing dynasty gave political rewards represented by "discussion" and "job titles",and adopted the economic methods such as deferment,exemption and increase in weight to help the salt merchants to make profits.The third chapter mainly discusses the relationship between the donation and repayment of the salt merchants in Lianghuai and the finance of Qing Dynasty,which is discussed in three parts: public service,quartermaster service and river workers service.The salt merchants in Lianghuai provided a lot of financial support for Qianlong’s southern tour,and part of the money of the interior government came from the money of the salt merchants in Lianghuai.The military requisites of the salt merchants in Lianghuai greatly supplemented the military expenditure of the Qing Dynasty.River services,relief services and other services supplemented the Yanguan finance.