This kind? It sprouted in the Han Dynasty and began in the Southern Dynasties. It became a common practice in the Tang and Five Dynasties, established in the Song Dynasty and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties? With the development of agricultural and handicraft commodity production, the formation of regional division of labor, the development of urban economy, the emergence of professional towns, the emergence of regional merchant groups, the monetization of silver and other factors, the financial industry with property as collateral or pledge in the Ming and Qing Dynasties became a hot spot for landlords, wealthy businessmen, officials and gentry, and even officials and royalty to invest and profit.
The origin of pawnbroking
Pawnbroking is one of the oldest industries in human beings, the originator of modern financial industry and the predecessor of mortgage banks. China is also one of the earliest countries in the world where pawnbroking activities and pawnbroking industry were formed.
The pawnbroking industry in China developed slowly from its appearance to the Ming Dynasty, because temples were the main pawnbroking industry in this period. Temple pawn itself has a certain charity, although it can also get some benefits through pawn, but its fundamental purpose is not to make profits, but to carry forward Buddhism and benefit the world. The property of Buddhist temples mainly comes from the reward of the imperial court, the charity of bureaucrats and nobles, and various tax-free preferential treatments for monks and nuns by the government, and its property has certain stability.
The main purpose of Buddhism is to teach people to be charitable, do more good deeds and help the poor, so the temple itself is not for profit. Rulers of past dynasties also hoped that the people under their rule could live and work in peace and contentment, and fully affirmed the temple pawn, which was helpful for rulers to stabilize social stability. We also commend and encourage some big monasteries that have opened their doors to charity, and at the same time crack down on individual monasteries' profit-making behavior in the name of betrayal, so that Buddhist monasteries have become the mainstream of pawn in a long historical stage. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, there were a few private pawn shops, but they were suppressed by the rulers, and they were basically in a state of decentralized operation and at a low level of development.