Text/Wu Gou

Since ancient times, natural disasters have occurred frequently in China. In order to cope with natural disasters and prevent the victims from being displaced, as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty BC, a systematic disaster relief system was formed, called famine relief, which consisted of twelve policies: distributing welfare and collecting taxes; Probation; Relax; Class; Go to several places; Li Lili; Kill the funeral; After all; Polygamy; Attract ghosts and gods; Wipe out thieves.

During the Song Dynasty from 1 1 to13rd century, frequent climate change caused more intensive natural disasters because it happened to span two warm periods with a cold period in the middle. During the three hundred years of the Song Dynasty, there were more than 600 recorded floods, of which Zhejiang flood 130 was the most serious place. Therefore, the famine policy in Song Dynasty was more complete, and China's first famine policy book was born in Southern Song Dynasty.

1000 years ago, there was no public media, no internet and no Weibo, and the spread of famine information was very slow. Modern people can call for help on the Weibo in case of flood, but the ancients can't. What should I do? The government encourages people to sue disasters, and legislates that if local governments prevent people from suing disasters, they will be prosecuted. In order to prevent local officials from concealing the disaster, the Song people also suggested that the court could not investigate local officials who exaggerated the disaster; Those who cover up the famine will take responsibility.

After verifying the disaster, the government must immediately start the famine policy. Disaster relief in Song Dynasty is a systematic project. The first is the first relief, including relief, that is, providing food and daily necessities to the victims free of charge, mainly for those who live in extreme poverty and the sick and disabled. Relief is to start grain reserves and sell them to the society at a price lower than the market price; Relief loans, that is, interest-free or low-interest loans to the affected people to help them tide over the difficulties and resume production; Military relief, in the Song Dynasty, was combined with the conscription system. Every time there is a famine, people are sent to recruit displaced hungry people to join the army, which not only sympathizes with their coastal deaths, but also prevents them from stealing.

The recovery of production and order after the disaster is a long process. After the first relief, it entered the second stage of famine relief, including relying on the cabinet, that is, suspending taxes on the affected people. This year, the US tax revenue will be suspended and merged into next year; Exemption from service means exempting the victim from service obligations; Exemption, the taxes levied by the victims and the loans owed to the government are simply exempted. The tax rate in Song Dynasty was high, but the social relief provided by the state was also the most complete, which smacked of a left-wing country. In the Song Dynasty, taxes were often exempted. Song people said that the Song Dynasty established the country with benevolence, and it was particularly important for the previous generation to pay rent, especially after ZTE. Floods and droughts, thieves, fugitives, county kiosks and money valleys were all wiped out by imperial edicts, and there were no books in any era. Temper justice with mercy means to give a lighter punishment to some minor crimes committed by the victim because of hunger and urgency, such as stealing food and expressing dissatisfaction. Stop playing, the official stop entertainment activities, such as the spring of the first year of Huang You in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the flood in Song Renzong, Hebei Province, stop playing. When the famine is severe, the emperor will punish himself by writing to show his political responsibility.

These disaster relief policy combinations are basically within the scope of traditional famine relief. The modern disaster relief mode in Song Dynasty was manifested in the rise of market logic, and the government consciously used market mechanism to help the victims. Among them are Fan Zhongyan and Zhao Bian, famous ministers of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Fan Zhongyan's practice quickly attracted the attention of the regulatory system. The Taoist supervisor in western Zhejiang impeached Hangzhou for not caring about famine relief, neglecting his duty, engaging in public and private activities, and harming people's rights. Hu Yajie, a rich girl in Beijing. Fan Zhongyan was very relaxed. The court sent someone to investigate and found that Fan Zhongyan wanted to make more money to benefit the poor. From today's point of view, the actions of Gong Fan and the United States coincide with Keynes's. The theory is to stimulate the economy by expanding investment and encouraging consumption, thus benefiting people's livelihood. At that time, people in Hangzhou's trade, food, industry, technology, labor and other industries were addicted to public and private sectors, and tens of thousands of people were carefree every day. All this is because Fan Zhongyan's Keynesian economic stimulus policy has prevented countless people from losing their jobs and becoming refugees. At that time, there were only Zhejiang and Zhejiang in Hangzhou, and the people did not migrate. Shen Kuo praised, this is the beauty of teachers.

Twenty years later, eight years after Xining, there was another famine on the Zhejiang-Jiangxi road. Rice is expensive, and hungry people confront each other. In order to stabilize the grain price, the state government set up a grain reward in Qulu, prohibiting people from raising the price of rice. Although the price of rice is controlled, there are not many rice sold in the market. At that time, Zhao Bian, who was a satrap in Yuezhou, did the opposite. Someone posted a notice announcing that the government would not suppress food prices, and people with surplus grain could sell as much as they wanted, although the price could be raised. As a result, rice merchants everywhere saw that it was profitable and shipped rice to Yuezhou in succession. Soon, the commodity grain supply in Yuezhou was sufficient, and the price of rice also fell.

Feng Menglong recorded this story in Meng Xi in the Ming Dynasty. Feng Menglong commented after finishing his story: Many things are very cheap, but one thing is very expensive. It is a genius to ask for more without being cheap. Feng Menglong satirized the American government's behavior of prohibiting people from raising rice prices, which is a common situation for officials. From today's perspective, Zhao Bian's genius lies in his belief that the invisible hand of the market coincides with Adam Smith's economic liberalism, rather than superstitious about the visible and tangible foot of government power.

Of course, Zhao bian's disaster relief method can achieve immediate results, and it should also be attributed to the relatively developed commodity grain market network in Song Dynasty. Twenty-five years ago, Fan Zhongyan skillfully used his invisible hand when he was in Hangzhou for disaster relief. At that time, the price of rice in Hangzhou rose to 120 per barrel, and Fan Zhongyan posted a notice saying that he would buy grain at 180 per barrel. Businessmen will rush to the first place sooner or later for fear that the latter will come. Rice is converging and the price is falling. However, other state governments were forced to curb rice prices. They wanted to save the people, but they didn't. I don't know that the price of rice outside the four countries is very different. Yau secretly raised the price to buy local rice and moved it to other states, which aggravated the shortage.

Zhao Tuo adopted Fan Zhongyan's Keynesian Vietnamese disaster relief policy. He hired 4 100 people to work for 38,000 workers, including their commission and money, twice as much as Xiaomi. Whether relying on the free market mechanism to allocate disaster relief resources or using Keynesian means to stimulate the economy, this policy of balancing resources achieved good results at that time. When I think about it today, I have to admire the wisdom of the ancients.