By the Yuan Dynasty, the pawnbroking industry in China not only had a prosperous appearance, but also a mature system, with many unprecedented bright spots.
The Yuan Dynasty achieved unprecedented national unity and laid the foundation for further economic development. The Grand Canal was dredged again, and the dredged Grand Canal directly went from Hangzhou to Dadu. It opened up shipping, starting from Liujiagang at the mouth of the Yangtze River, passing through the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea to the court of the Yuan Dynasty, setting up post stations all over the country, and the overland Silk Road across Europe and Asia also prospered again. All these promoted the continued development of commerce in Yuan Dynasty, and naturally brought the prosperity of pawnbroking industry. Pawnshops in the Yuan Dynasty basically used the names of the previous generation, which were called Lending Library and Qianku, and from this they derived Lending Library, Guanghui Library and Zhoujiku. The activities of "quality bank" in monasteries in Yuan Dynasty were very active. In the Collection of Vernacular Monuments in Yuan Dynasty, it is said that there were more than 40 temple pawn shops at that time.
In Yuan Zhang Dian, the Book of Rites and Buddhist Rules was also recorded: at that time, monks all over the country had a lot of wealth, so they set up private property to open pawn shops. In addition, according to records, the money lent by the King's Temple of Great Protection amounted to 260,000 ingots.
At the end of Yuan Dynasty, the number of pawnshops run by monks dropped sharply and gradually withdrew from the historical stage. Due to the vigorous development of economy, a large number of businessmen have joined the ranks of pawn shops, so private pawn shops have flourished and gradually become the main force in operating pawn shops.
In the field of private pawn shops, most of the nobles and businessmen in the Yuan Dynasty were keen on operating the pawn shop industry, and the emperor often regarded pawn shops as a reward for temples and princes. During this period, Uighurs were quite active in the business activities of pawn shops.
After Wokuotai attacked the State of Jin, a group of western businessmen went to the Central Plains to do business. These people are mainly Uighurs, and one of their specialties is that they often lend money in the form of pawn shops. They call it "lamb welfare". It means: the main lent is like a ewe. After giving birth to a lamb, the lamb grows into a new ewe, and so on.
During the Wokuotai period, many ministers wrote to ask for relief to the people. Wokuotai adopted these opinions and ordered all poor civilians who borrowed money to be compensated by the government, and the interest was only paid until it was equal to the principal.
According to the records of the official pawnshop in the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan of Yuan Shizu used 5000 pieces of paper money as capital to set up a public pawn, which was called "Guanghui Treasury" to lend money and charge interest. This shows that the government-run pawn institutions were also very developed in the Yuan Dynasty, and the court continued to support the development of the government-run pawn industry.
The names of official pawnshops are all very good. In addition to the above-mentioned "Brilliant Library", there is also a "Zhou Ji Library", whose commercial purpose is relatively pure, and its interest rate is very low, and it specializes in taking care of the poor.
In view of the prosperity of pawnbroking, the court of Yuan Dynasty promulgated some legal norms. These laws and regulations generally follow the principle of customary governance.
At that time, pawn shops in different places had different regulations on the decoding period, and sometimes stores would use the unknown period to seek illegitimate interests. Decoding is to send the goods to the pawnshop for mortgage and exchange money.
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