The emergence of pawnshop behavior: The earliest written record of pawn in China is the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, which describes that during the Yellow Scarf Uprising in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Yu, the prime minister of Gan Ling, was ordered to attack Youzhou, and there was a conflict with the Ministry of Gongsun Zan. "Danger by Ben reward, pawn Okoyi, Zan several copy away". Liu Yu had intended to pledge the prize money to foreign countries, but Gongsun Zan looted it. This is the earliest time that the word "pawn" was used together in history, and it was recorded as a social and economic activity. It shows that pawn emerged in China at the latest in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and China is one of the earliest countries where pawn shops emerged, with a history of 18 years.
The emergence of pawn institutions: Pawnshops or pawn shops emerged in China during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. It is recorded in the biography of the Southern History of Zhenfa that Song Jiangling ordered Zhenbin, the grandson of Zhenfa (the Southern Song Dynasty), "to taste a bunch of money from Changsha Temple in Zhangzhou, and then redeem it, and get five or two gold in it, wrapped in a towel. Binde, return it to the temple library. " The temple library mentioned here refers to the specialized pawnshop operated by the temple. It is also recorded in the Book of Southern Qi: "Yuan Qiu, if you pay a thousand dollars, you will ask the temple to redeem Yuan Bai Shao for sitting on the mattress, making fur and tassels, and also redeem Yuan Jie, the rhinoceros guide and Yuan Chang's ox." In a word, Buddhist temples run pawn or specialized pawn institutions, which originated in the Southern Dynasties at the latest in China and has a history of 1,5 years.
The appearance of foreign pawn shops is generally believed to be in the early Middle Ages in Europe. For example, from the 1th century to the 11th century, many Jews living in exile in various parts of Europe did this for a living. According to historical records, Jews all over western Europe have become pawnbrokers, lending money and taking interest on the condition of goods pledge.
the formation of pawn industry: Mr. Fan Wenlan, a famous historian in China, once pointed out that with the rise and popularization of pawn business activities in Buddhist temples in the Southern Dynasties, a pawn industry specialized in lending by material was gradually formed. However, the pawnbroking industry in the Southern and Northern Dynasties was still in its infancy, and it was an important part of the temple economy. It was not until the Tang Dynasty that the pawnbroking industry in China really jumped out of the narrow circle that was exclusively operated by Buddhist temples and became a very popular and flourishing ancient financial industry in the whole society. In foreign countries, the formation of pawn shops was also in the Middle Ages. The Jewish people set up pawn shops, which made the pawnbroking industry rise day by day and made Europe one of the birthplaces of the pawnbroking industry in the world.
The above historical facts tell us that China pawnshops originated in the Southern Dynasties at the latest, and the earliest operators were Buddhist monks, but there was no name of pawnshop or pawnshop at that time, which was generally called temple library. As for the establishment of foreign pawn shops, according to the existing historical records, it should be later than China, but it originated in the early Middle Ages in Europe at the latest. This is the most basic knowledge and conclusion of experts and scholars from all over the world.
[ Edit this paragraph] The concept of pawnshop
Pawnshops, also known as pawn shops, are informal marginal financial institutions that specialize in issuing pledged loans, and are market intermediary organizations that mainly lend money and sell goods.
because it has existed in the history of major countries in the world, the languages of different nationalities are expressed by fixed vocabulary. The English name of pawnshop is pawnshop; French is Mont-de "Piete; German is Leihhaus；; Italian is montedepiete; Japanese is a house of quality.
Although the words used in different countries are different, the definition of pawnshop is basically the same. Encyclopedia americana pointed out that pawnshops are "institutions that lend money to pledge personal property". And adopt the popular practice in Europe and America, define pawn shops as pawnbrokers, and think that "pawnbrokers are engaged in lending business with personal property as pledge? "。 Another example is the Washington State Pawn Law, which states: "Pawnbroker refers to any person who is engaged in lending business with personal property as collateral, deposit or selling personal property as collateral, or buying and selling personal property as collateral. "The Indiana Pawn Act provides that;" Pawnbroker refers to any individual, partnership, organization or company that provides loans with a deposit or personal property as a pledge, or with the sale of personal property as a guarantee for repayment. "
The descriptions of pawn shops in Britain are similar. Article 6 of the Pawning Commercial Law of 1872 stipulates that a pawnbroker refers to a person who has a shop to buy and sell goods or chattels, or to issue loans with goods or chattels as collateral. "This shop is a pawnshop" refers to the pawnbroker's residence and warehouse or other places for business or transactions. Canada copied the definition of pawnshop in British pawn law more than 1 years ago from the British system, Article 2 of the Colombian Pawning Commercial Law of 1996, and the concept is not bad at all.
in France, pawn shops belong to one of the six types of credit institutions authorized by the government, and their official name is "municipal credit bank". Article 18 of the French Banking Law of 1984 stipulates: "Approved credit institutions include banks, mutual aid or cooperative banks, savings and thrift institutions, municipal credit banks, finance companies and special financial institutions. "This shows that pawn shops in France are non-bank financial institutions engaged in some banking business.
Pawnshops in Germany and Italy are not government financial institutions, but members of the private financial industry. The original "German Federal Credit Law" stipulated that pawn shops are "pawnbroker enterprises that provide loans according to dynamic output". The Italian Civil Code points out that pawnshops are "institutions authorized to operate the pawnshop industry". In Australia, the New South Wales Pawnbrokers and Second-hand Goods Commercial Act of 1997 also stipulates: "Pawnshops are pawnbrokers with outstanding characteristics and second-hand goods traders. "
[ Edit this paragraph] The evolution of pawn history
According to the comprehensive historical data, the historical development of China pawn industry can be roughly divided into three main stages, namely, the Tang and Song Dynasties to the middle of Ming Dynasty, the middle of Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty, and the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China to the founding of New China. Each stage has its own distinctive characteristics of the times.
1. Pawning from the Tang and Song Dynasties to the early Ming Dynasty
Pawning was once confined to the temple economy since it came into being in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. However, since the Tang Dynasty, according to the status of the proprietor and the source of funds, there have been many types of pawn shops, that is, in addition to monk-run, there are also private and government-run pawn shops. Among them, the private sector is the involvement of landlords and businessmen, while the government-run sector has two types: bureaucratic self-support and government investment, thus breaking the single pawn mode of the temple treasury and the pawn dominating the whole country.
the Tang dynasty's national strength was strong, the industrial and commercial development was accelerated, and the demand for money was rapidly expanding, all of which created favorable conditions for the stubborn rise of the private pawnbroking industry. One of the characteristics of private pawn shops in the Tang Dynasty is that the capital is extremely low and the current period is extremely short. Generally, such pawnbrokers are run by landlords or businessmen.
compared with the operators of private pawn shops who are short of capital, royalty and high officials are quite different. For example, Princess Taiping, who had been rampant in the Tang Dynasty for decades, relied on the power of her father Tang Gaozong and her mother Wu Zetian, not only extorted money, but also "the countryside was everywhere in the vicinity"; And keen on the benefits of doing business, "the city is easy to make artifacts, and Wu, Shu and Lingnan are all made, which belong to the road" and "Huo Zhi is a river sword." "With this rich capital, she opened a quality library at home, and its scale and strength can be imagined. This is a typical example of the earliest transfer of bureaucratic capital to the financial industry.
the Tang government also dabbled in pawning, that is, the so-called public and private treasury simultaneously, which also spread to five dynasties and ten countries.
There were also official pawnshops in the Song Dynasty. In the Northern Song Dynasty, the government's quality warehouse was called "Arriving at the warehouse for exemption", and later it was renamed as Arriving at the warehouse and Arriving at the warehouse. In the second year of Emperor Huizong's Chongning (113), an imperial edict was also issued, requiring government-run pawn shops to set up more market towns, because these places are "gathering in Jingyi" and belong to "vendors' meeting places", with sufficient tourists and prosperous business.
However, the most prominent feature of pawn shops in Song Dynasty is the change of pawn goods and the revival of monk-run and pawn shops.
although the history of the Jin dynasty is short, its pawn development is quite distinctive. One is to set up a wide range of government-run pawn shops. According to Jin Shi, in the 13th year of Dading, Jin Shizong (1163), the government set up ambassadors and assistants in Zhongdu, Nanjing, Dongping and Zhending. In the twenty-eighth year of Dading (1188), there was a new Liuquan Service in the "Jingfu Jiedu State, with twenty-eight brothers". The purpose of setting up these state-run pawn shops is to reduce the harm caused by the high interest charged by private pawn shops, but in fact, it is to "help officials pay the fees" and let the state monopolize the rights and interests of pawn financing for the broad masses of the people. The second is to promulgate pawn laws and regulations. In the 13th year of Dading, the government also issued a regulation on state-run pawn shops: "Every pawn is evaluated directly by the ambassador and the deputy, with seven points for Xu Dian and one point for monthly profit. Those who are not as good as January are counted by the day. After the second anniversary, if it is not redeemed for more than a month, it will be sold off the shelf. When posting, specify the name of the physical object, the name and color of the object, the gold and silver, and the date, month, day, year and so on. If the deceased is lost, the redemption date will be paid to others, and the official capital will be examined, and the interest will be paid, and the compensation will be paid at the new price. I still entrust a member of the Ministry of Transport, Mr. Zuo Ermu, with the ability to read Chinese characters. If there is any violation, I will investigate and deal with it, and report it to my boss every month. "
In the 2th year of Zhiyuan in Yuan Shizu (1293), a public pawn was set up with 5 ingots of banknotes as capital, which was called" Guanghui Treasury "to lend money and collect interest. This is one of the historical materials of the official pawnshop in Yuan Dynasty disclosed in the History of Yuan Dynasty.
2. Pawn from the middle of Ming Dynasty to the early of Qing Dynasty
At the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, the number of pawn shops run by monks decreased sharply, and gradually withdrew from the historical stage, and private pawn shops were mainly replaced. Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, pawn shops have made remarkable development and changes in terms of quantity, capital, types and business, which can be called a watershed in the history of China's pawn industry. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the commercial pawnbrokers among private pawnbrokers were the most prosperous, which constituted a new feature of the pawnbroker industry in this period. < P > That is, merchants invested in pawnbrokers and became a major force in the pawnbroker industry.
Being a businessman in Ming Dynasty also had a strong regional professional color, among which Huizhou was the most famous. In terms of distribution, its tentacles spread all over the country. "A Record of Ming Shenzong" says: "Huizhou merchants have been able to make a success and spread all over Jiangbei. "In the south of the Yangtze River, Changzhou House" is rich in capital and fruits, and most of them are Huizhou merchants "; Pinghu county, Zhejiang province, "Xin' an rich people, with capital and power, occupy dozens of them." "On the financial backing, its strength is among the best. "A Brief Introduction to the North in the Ming Dynasty" said: Wang Ji, a Huizhou merchant in Beijing, "has millions of family assets and dozens of shops. "The Huizhou merchants in Jiangyin County, Jiangsu Province are rich in wealth," and eighteen shops were opened. Wang Yanjia, the Huizhou merchant in the novel "Gossip in the Bean Shed", not only has hundreds of thousands of capital, but also "there are more than a hundred guys". On the management method, its flexibility is superior. Take the interest rate setting as an example. According to Records of Trivia in Jinling, there are always 5 pawn shops in Nanjing. Fujian has a small amount of capital, and gains three points and four points, while Huizhou has a large amount of capital, and gains only one point, two points and three points. ..... People dislike Fujian the most, and there is nothing they can do. It can be seen that it is difficult for Fujian pawnshops to compete with Huizhou pawnshops by insisting on high interest rates.
after entering the Qing dynasty, the pawnbroking industry began to form a tripartite confrontation between the people, the officials and the emperors. This is a phenomenon that has not existed in China feudal society since the emergence of pawn. People's pawn, that is, the so-called private pawnshop funded and operated by landlords and businessmen; Official pawn and imperial pawn are both state-run pawn shops, but there are great differences between them.
3. Pawnshops from the late Qing Dynasty to the early Ming Dynasty to the founding of New China
In modern times, due to the rise and development of banks, banks and banks, many pawnshops with outstanding reputation and strong financial resources began to engage in the business of exchanging and issuing credit currency, which, like accepting deposits, is more convenient and complicated than some government-run pawnshops in those years.
at the time of receipt, pawn shops sometimes paid the same amount of money or silver tickets issued by the bank of the pawnbroker, which could be exchanged at any time, instead of cash or silver, which was quite popular for a time. A pawnshop with good credit can list and circulate its money and bank notes, thus becoming a credit currency. During the period of the Republic of China, the Shanxi provincial government once granted some pawn shops the right to issue. After the devaluation of Jin banknotes in 193, 158 of the 51 pawn shops in Shanxi Province were allowed to issue pawn exchange vouchers with a total issuance amount of 1,346,247 yuan. At that time, it was generally stipulated that it should not exceed three times the capital of pawn shops. However, because the backstage boss of Min Sheng Dang in Xin County was Yan Xishan, Shanxi Province, although the capital was only 15, yuan, it issued exchange vouchers as high as 27, yuan. This is a typical example of pawnshops relying on official position to engage in financial speculation.
[ Edit this paragraph] The historical role of pawn
The historical role of pawn in the development of commodity economy is self-evident. This role can be reflected from the social functions of the old pawnshop.
1. Pawnshop is an important channel for currency circulation
Marxism believes that the movement that money constantly leaves the starting point and changes hands between different owners in the circulation field is called currency circulation. The process of currency circulation is a process in which money continuously serves the circulation of commodities as a means of circulation and payment. Money. Once it came out, it became a means of circulation, that is, it served as a medium for commodity exchange. With the continuous development of commodity economy, money has become a means of payment, such as farmers using money to pay land rent and debtors using money to pay interest. The frequent borrowing and lending activities of money in the early days of mankind led to the increasing role of the means of payment of money, which in turn promoted the development of money circulation. It was the development of currency circulation in feudal society that inevitably produced the only credit institution specializing in currency lending-pawnshop.
after the emergence of pawn shops, besides the original currency circulation channels, a new currency circulation channel has been formed, that is, a pawnshop-centered channel to complete the delivery and withdrawal of money. The operation of the earliest pawnshop, the temple storehouse, profoundly reflected this situation.
Since Buddhism was introduced to China in the early Eastern Han Dynasty, it has been highly respected by the ruling classes in all previous dynasties, and it has been widely spread and gradually spread throughout the country through the Three Kingdoms, the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Sui and Tang Dynasties. From emperors to civilians, they all believed in Buddhism and gave a lot of money to temples. For example, during the reign of Liang Wudi in the Southern Dynasties, he gave his life to be a slave with Tai Temple for three times, and every time, his ministers or officials collected 1 million yuan or 2 million yuan to redeem him. Bureaucratic tycoons are also competing to entrust their private savings to monks and nuns, or to lend money for interest. Ordinary people, on the other hand, think that the temple is sacred and inviolable, and dare not default on debts or steal temple property at all. In addition, the government also gives monks and nuns various preferential treatments, such as exemption from service and tax. All these make the temple property the most secure and rapid expansion, which can be called "ten treasures in the world and seven or eight treasures in the Buddha", creating favorable conditions for it to operate monetary loans.
The temple repository uses the huge capital in its hands to lend money on a large scale in society for profit. On the one hand, it meets the needs of the upper class of the ruling class, such as bureaucratic landlords, on the other hand, it also meets the needs of the lower class people in urban and rural areas, such as farmers and small businessmen. As a credit institution, the quality bank lends money to different types of pawnbrokers, so that money can flow from the quality bank to the society; After a certain period of turnover, the household will return these currencies to the treasury in the form of debt and interest, so that the currency will flow from society to the treasury again. It is this process that has formed