Capitalist economic law In Europe, Columbus's discovery of the new continent, the discovery of the Americas, and the discovery of the East Indian Channel are the greatest and most important events recorded in human history. "—— Adam Smith. The discovery of the route between America and East India expanded exchanges, which led to a huge upsurge in the development of handicrafts and the entire production. The new products imported from there, especially the large amount of gold and silver invested in the circulation field (they fundamentally changed the relationship between the classes, and hit the feudal land ownership and workers heavily), the adventurous expedition, and the expansion of the colony, first of all, the market was likely to expand and the scale was expanding to the world market.
This is a new thing, which represents the general trend of China's social development and progress and is progressive; But it is sparse and weak in a few industries in a few regions; Since the natural economic system of China's feudal society itself lacked the necessary conditions to promote the development of capitalist production relations, Chinese capitalism germination The development was very slow, and the natural economy still played a dominant role, which lasted until the eve of the Opium War. 
The rudiments of capitalism in the Ming Dynasty The sprout of capitalism refers to a kind of production relationship, rather than one factory and one store, so it cannot be demonstrated with examples. It refers to a social relationship, not a relationship between individuals, so it cannot be viewed in isolation. This kind of production relationship came into being in the late feudal society when the social economy developed to certain conditions. Before that, like many things in the natural and social history, it would have some occasional and pre-existing phenomena, but it cannot be considered that the seeds of capitalism have emerged.
That is to say, when investigating the budding of capitalism, we must place the object of investigation in certain historical conditions to see if there is any soil and climate for capitalism in this place and industry. At the same time, the objects to be investigated must have a certain amount, and solitary syndrome cannot be trusted. Necessity exists in contingency, and sociality exists in individual things. Therefore, the germination of real capitalism is always multiple and can be observed repeatedly.
The rudiments of capitalism The germination of capitalism is a new production relationship within the feudal society, which has the vitality of new things. Once it comes into being, unless there are irresistible reasons, it will not die halfway, but will lead to a new mode of production. Therefore, the true sprout of capitalism should have continuity and guidance.
That is to say, when we examine the germination of capitalism, we want to explore its historical role. If it was just an episode, I would not spend so much effort to study it. Any economic phenomenon is a process. It will not happen suddenly or disappear suddenly. It must have its inheritance and development stages. If we look ahead and backward and are not satisfied with the facts, China's budding history of capitalism can only be written from the late Ming Dynasty, or the sixteenth century. Before that, there were some individual cases, such as the smelting of iron in Xuzhou Liguojian, and the silk weaving workshop in Xu Yikui's Weavers Pair, but none of them came later, which could not become the starting point of a new production relationship. The budding capitalism that we investigated in the late period lasted until the Opium War in the Qing Dynasty, and developed, which showed obvious stages. The budding capitalism in the early Qing Dynasty should also be explained after the Opium War to see their historical role; This will be discussed later.
Productivity is the prerequisite for the emergence of capitalism, which cannot be answered in one sentence. But in the final analysis, it is necessary to develop the social productive forces to a certain level. Especially agricultural productivity. "All the production of surplus value, and thus all the development of capital, are actually based on agricultural labor productivity according to the natural basis." (Capital, Vol. 3, p. 885)
Developed industry and commerce in the Ming Dynasty During the Ming and Qing dynasties, China's population and grain output increased by about five times. The increase of agricultural products is mainly due to the input of more labor force and the expansion of cultivated land area, which belongs to the change of quantity. Agricultural tools and farming techniques are basically at the level of the Song Dynasty. However, the spread of advanced regional farming methods to backward areas, the planting of rice wheat intercropping and double cropping rice, the introduction of high-yield varieties such as corn and sweet potato, and the significant development of cash crops have led to a certain regional division of labor, which also contributes to the improvement of labor productivity. In short, the development of agricultural productivity during this period was mainly to adapt to the expansion of the population, with little qualitative change. Therefore, it is not enough to break through the traditional economic structure of the combination of farming and weaving and small-scale farmers' management, nor to liberate agricultural management profits from feudal land rent. The root cause of this phenomenon is that the small-scale peasant economy based on a single family and small plots of land can only barely maintain the life of a family, and neither human resources nor land area can meet the conditions for expanded reproduction. Therefore, it cannot guarantee the stable output of surplus products, nor can it support the private market with sufficient consumption capacity. Since ancient times, China has been a unitary feudal monarchical centralized country, and the huge imperial organization is maintained by directly taxing the small peasant class throughout the country. At that time, there was no modern economic theory, and there was no scientific basis for the national tax calculation. It could only be simply apportioned to the whole country on an average basis. It had no macro-control function and had no positive effect on the social economy. Finance and taxation are mostly used for extravagance or feeding the army. Huge amounts of wealth cannot be returned to the normal economic circulation field, and the private economy cannot profit from it. Private wealth cannot be effectively guaranteed, and capital cannot be naturally accumulated. This is the fundamental reason for the slow development of China's capitalism.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, although the feudal constraints on tenancy and employment relations were relaxed, the seeds of capitalism in agriculture were extremely rare. As far as we can see, it is mainly in some cash crops, in new reclamation areas and among the rich shantymen that there are some hired workers. The people who helped farmers become rich once poured out, but they also constantly transformed into new landlords and old style rich farmers. I am afraid that the old style rich peasants and even the tenant rich peasants cannot be regarded as capitalism or just a small proprietorship economy.
The commodity economy that appeared in ancient China mostly existed as a supplement to the self-sufficient small-scale peasant economy. It cannot be considered that capitalism has sprouted because of the prosperity of the commodity economy at that time. Moreover, the rulers of all dynasties emphasized that Attach importance to agriculture and restrain business 。 
The rudiments of capitalism China's centralized monarchy is deeply rooted, and the emperor directly controls the land and population of the country; Although the feudal lords in Europe controlled the land, they lacked control over the citizen class, and the feudal relationship was relatively loose. The vast majority of self farming farmers in China make a living by their own production and are extremely poor, lacking both the desire for consumption and purchasing power, and the consumer market cannot be formed; Civilians in large European cities have no land to do business or handicrafts for a living. Buying daily commodities is a necessity of life, which is conducive to the formation of the market. The production of consumer goods in China is mainly aimed at high-level consumption. Silk, gold and silver processing, high-grade porcelain, etc. are basically luxury goods of the upper class, with a small market scope and limited space for capitalist development; Europe has a wide range of goods production and service objects. Cotton spinning, wool spinning, iron making, etc. are mostly the daily consumption of the masses. The market is large and stable, and the development of capitalism has sufficient stamina. China's domestic market is depressed, and businessmen generally lack capital and are unable to carry out foreign operations. The small-scale peasant economy relies on land and has no desire to open up on the sea. Specifically, it is closed to the outside world; The European market is active and the capital operation is smooth. The expansion of wealth must continue to expand consumption. At the same time, labor and resources are urgently needed. External expansion is imperative, which is manifested in organizing navigation to expand colonies.
The sprout of Chinese capitalism only appeared in individual departments in Jiangnan area, and did not go deep into the countryside; In the 16th century, capitalism sprouted and developed rapidly in Europe, and capitalist handicraft workshops became a common phenomenon.
The budding of Chinese capitalism has promoted the transformation of Chinese society, but has not. Capitalism in Europe has greatly promoted the development of productive forces, and the progress of science and technology and economy has further led to great changes in economic structure, class structure, ideology and values, triggered bourgeois revolution, and made Europe transition to capitalism.
