China's Ancient Thinkers' Views on Fairness and Efficiency

Meng Xiangzhong Xinbaohai

(Fudan University School of Economics, Shanghai 200433)

Equality and efficiency are the characteristics of a harmonious society. Fairness and efficiency are not only concerned by contemporary scholars, but also discussed by ancient thinkers in China in specific fields. In this paper, the thoughts of ancient thinkers in China about fairness and efficiency are preliminarily analyzed and sorted out, aiming at enriching the research on fairness and efficiency and making contributions to the construction of today's harmonious society.

Keywords: Confucius famine relief property rights equality and efficiency

First of all, preface

Equality and efficiency are the characteristics of a harmonious society. It can be said that an equal and efficient society must be a harmonious society. At present, the discussion in the theoretical circle gives people an illusion, as if the issue of equality and efficiency is a concern of contemporary scholars, and the research on this issue originated from western scholars. In fact, ancient thinkers in China also made a simple discussion on these issues in specific fields. This problem is not a new social problem since modern times, but a major development problem faced by human society for a long time.

But there are a few points to be made here.

First, we are not repeating a common mistake that academic research started with a formula in the past: that is, all the problems discussed by modern and western scholars have long been unknown to our sages, and we have to find out the basis and source in our yellowed old papers for fear of losing academic patents. In fact, this research method has greatly limited our academic vision and hindered the progress of science for a long time. The less complicated arrogance is, the better.

Second, as academic research, we must treat the achievements of ancient thinkers in China seriously and realistically. This is not only a purely academic research problem, but also a requirement to solve the major problems facing today's social development. In order to integrate the wisdom of ancient and modern China and foreign countries and build a harmonious socialist society.

Thirdly, the center of this paper is to sort out and comment on the main viewpoints of China's classical thinkers, aiming at deepening the understanding of these issues at the academic level. Of course, due to the author's academic level and literature scope, this analysis is not comprehensive. But as long as it can arouse everyone's attention to this issue, it is our goal, and there is no other luxury.

Second, ancient thinkers' understanding of equality, efficiency and their relationship.

China was a hierarchical society in ancient times, and the concept of equality was relatively lacking. A passage "Jun Jun, minister, father, son." The discussion has influenced the development of China for more than two thousand years, lacking the idea that all people are created equal in modern society. Xunzi once said: "There are grades and ages, and the rich and the poor are both called". This not only disagrees with the idea that everyone is equal, but also marks the distribution of wealth in a hierarchical way. At the same time, people's consumption is also graded, warning people to consume according to grades. "Make the rich enough to show their expensive but not arrogant, and the poor enough to keep in good health and not worry, so as to balance their children and grandchildren", otherwise, "if you want to be ambitious, you will have to fight for chaos". No excessive poverty will lead to loss. In this way, ancient thinkers not only did not talk about equality, but also linked the hierarchy between personnel with social politics.

Ancient thinkers in China attached great importance to social equity while emphasizing the concept of hierarchy. However, their concept of fairness can be summarized as the concept of average distribution of social wealth, and equality is fully understood as average. At the same time, the average distribution of social wealth is regarded as a condition for maintaining social order and social stability. The concept of average, which originated in ancient times, gradually evolved into absolute egalitarianism, which became an important part of China's traditional culture and the banner of previous peasant uprisings. Historically, Wang Xianzhi, the leader of the peasant uprising army in the late Tang Dynasty, claimed to be an ordinary general. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Yao Uprising Army directly played the slogan of "equal wealth". By the time of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the idea of "equal wealth" had developed to the extreme, completely becoming a fantasy of China. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Heavenly Eyes further put forward the absolute average idea that "there are fields to plow together, food to eat together, clothes to wear together, money to earn together, everywhere is uneven, and no one is hungry". This thought has had a considerable negative impact on the development of China society, making people always pay attention to the results, and never see the modern concept of equality based on individual behavior.

On the other hand, by reading the classics, we find that ancient thinkers in China not only paid attention to social equality, but also made a classic analysis of the relationship between equality and efficiency. These thoughts have had a long-term impact on China's economic and social development. Of course, the ancient thinkers' understanding of the relationship between equality and efficiency now seems relatively simple and simple.

Confucius once said: the rulers who govern the country are not worried about poverty but inequality, not scarcity, but instability If wealth is evenly distributed, there will be no poverty; If there is peace in the territory, there will be no shortage of people; When the territory is at peace, there is no danger of return. "Qiu also heard that there are state-owned people who don't suffer from inequality. There is no poverty, no poverty, and no peace. " ①

At the same time, we also noticed that Confucius particularly emphasized the role of fairness in social stability and put forward the view that social fairness would make people happy. "Forgiveness is the virtue of all, faith is the responsibility of the people, and sensitivity is the merit, and the public said." Of course, what Confucius said about fairness can only be understood as fairness. What is the connotation of fairness cannot be defined by the concept of equality in the modern sense. But at that time, it was very valuable to put forward that fairness was the basis of social stability and people's happiness.

In the traditional culture of China, people put forward the idea of average distribution, and at the same time, there also appeared the idea of linking distribution with production and linking average with efficiency. For example, the author of Guanzi put forward the ideas of "distributing troops evenly" ④ and "distributing goods with it" ⑤. Give farmers factors of production, let them get more average land, and implement the land rent system, thus mobilizing farmers' enthusiasm and improving production efficiency. Xunzi put forward "the distinction between propriety and righteousness", which made desire and things "at loggerheads", and "dividing" was to distribute certain means of production-land to farmers. The result of "division" is "multiple forces", and the enthusiasm of farmers is mobilized. "Strong is strong, and strong is better than things." More products can be produced, so that the supply of consumer goods and people's desires need to be "at loggerheads". Dong Zhongshu put forward the distribution idea of "the house of collecting money", saying that "if you don't compete with the people for profits, the rights can be divided equally and the people can be satisfied", which has already included the bud that efficiency will be improved as long as a little fair distribution is added. Sima Qian's thought of "the way to the rich and the poor cannot be taken away", on the other hand, emphasizes "from each according to his ability, from each according to his own ability, in his proper place", and 9 also contains the seeds of equality and efficiency.

Some ancient thinkers also put forward the idea of restricting and sharing farmland equally with strong egalitarianism, so that farmers can keep part of their land and improve their enthusiasm for production, thus alleviating the pressure of the gap between the rich and the poor in society. It has also been proposed to regulate the distribution of wealth by lightly taxing books. "Financial management often puts raising people first." Bai Juyi once said in the Tang Dynasty: "If the mountains are scattered below, people will become rich easily; If the interests are confined to the upper level, people will work hard and be poor. " Bai Juyi's thought is to pay attention to the relationship between superiors and subordinates when collecting taxes. With the benefits below, the people are rich and comfortable, and their enthusiasm and production efficiency are high. This kind of thought is very close to today's thought of storing wealth for the people and enriching the people and the country.

It can be seen that China's classical thinkers have long linked equality with production efficiency, trying to "distribute interests equally" and "distribute interests downwards" as much as possible, that is, distribute wealth equally, so as to alleviate income disparity and improve efficiency. Although these thoughts are not the cultural mainstream of the long-term development of China society, they have little influence and weak voice. But when we explore the development history of fairness and efficiency, it is a treasure that cannot be ignored.

Third, the concept of equality and efficiency embodied in the thought of protecting the rich and saving the famine.

The thought of efficiency and fairness has many forms in the history of China's ancient thoughts. Combining the main problems of the times and society, the ideas of efficiency and fairness change alternately, each with its own characteristics. The thought of protecting wealth and saving the famine is the embodiment of this feature, which deserves people's deep thinking.

In the mainstream culture of China history, wealth and evil often go hand in hand, and there has been a lack of property right system culture to protect wealth, which makes the development of China society stand still, and the development of modern society lags far behind that of western society. The thought of preserving wealth that occasionally flashed in China's ancient thoughts reflected the requirements for efficiency and developing productive forces. However, when the polarized social tension caused by the improvement of efficiency reaches a certain limit, we need to pay attention to social equality represented by the idea of saving the famine in order to stabilize and ease the contradiction.

China ancient society was a traditional agricultural society, and land was the most important means of production. The social pursuit of equality is directly reflected in the land possession and distribution system. Mencius advocated "controlling people's wealth" and put forward the theory of constant wealth and the theory of reaching beyond. Before Qin and Han dynasties, the well-field system was generally the most ideal system. Since the Western Han Dynasty, the idea of restraining merger has emerged, and Chao Cuo first raised the issue of merger of businessmen. "The law is invalid, the people are not happy, and the rich and the poor are uneven." People think that the inequality between the rich and the poor stems from the merger of businessmen. Dong Zhongshu, Wang Mang, Lu Zhi, Li Gou, Ouyang Xiu and Su Xun all pointed out the merger of landlords. Wang Anshi should not only curb the merger of landlords, but also curb the merger of businessmen.

Although ancient thinkers argued endlessly about whether the well-field system really existed in China's history, today, it seems that the inefficiency of the land system was inevitable before Shang Yang's political reform in Qin Dynasty. We assume that this inefficiency is caused by the pursuit of excessive equality in the well site system. Shang Yang abolished the well-field system of Qin State to meet people's demand for private land. However, the private ownership of land will inevitably lead to land merger and polarization, which will affect social stability, and then make the landlord class thinkers put forward the idea of limiting cultivated land and restoring well-field system. These two ideas fluctuate alternately with the changes of major social contradictions, but China's traditional economic thought emphasizes the fair side, that is, the equal distribution of land. On the one hand, in the social environment where the social production structure is single and farmers lack employment opportunities outside agriculture, the average distribution of means of production is a last resort for rulers to maintain social stability. On the other hand, agriculture, as an absolutely dominant industrial sector, is the main source of government revenue. In order to maintain the operation of the government and facilitate tax collection, the government also tends to adopt the policy of evenly distributing land and increase government revenue on the basis of trying to increase the total agricultural output. It is the goal of the current government to evenly distribute land and kill two birds with one stone. After seizing power, all the new dynasties adopted the reform of sharing land equally. In fact, the change of dynasty in ancient China was a reshuffle of social wealth, which realized a social unrest of robbing the rich and helping the poor, and lacked the wealth accumulation effect symbiotic with private ownership, which led to a long-term low-level equilibrium trap in China society. The feudal dynasty was also in a cycle of ups and downs with the average degree of land distribution. This also determines that in order to maintain social stability, the system that tends to distribute evenly is the mainstream of thought and policy. Only a few thinkers have vaguely noticed the role of private ownership in improving efficiency, promoting productivity development and social stability, and then put forward the idea of protecting the rich. Han Fei was the first thinker who put forward the idea of protecting wealth. He resolutely opposes "collecting money from the rich and giving it to the poor", because the reason for the gap between the rich and the poor is that "the extravagant and lazy are the poor, and the thrifty are the rich", which is the result of people's own choice, resulting in uneven distribution results, which can not be interfered by human beings and impairs the social progress brought about by efficiency.

Liu Zongyuan of the Tang Dynasty put forward that "the rich and the poor cannot be destroyed. However, it cannot be fortunate to serve in the next office. " The social reality of openly accepting exploitation actually measures the social utility of efficiency and equality, and adopts the overall value of taking the lesser of two evils. Li Gou in Song Dynasty hoped to solve the problem of farmers' land, and at the same time took farmers' cultivation of landlords' land as one of the effective measures to solve the land problem. He advocated that landlords should reclaim land through economic slavery, and the more the better. He said that the rich are hardworking, thrifty and law-abiding: "The fields can be cultivated, the mulberry can be silkworm, and the goods are available. The reader is rich, knowledgeable, diligent, working day and night, tackling difficulties and eating lightly, and obeying orders. " He also said that the rich "may have outstanding intelligence, and their financial use is enough to make people" can help the country solve difficulties and oppose the "vicious and arrogant" policy. This shows that his thought has not surpassed the level that the landlord class thinkers can reach. Of course, he is far-sighted to pay so much attention to farmers' land problems, and his theory has exposed the profound contradiction between landlords and farmers in feudal society to some extent.

Sima Guang put forward the theory of protecting wealth when he opposed the young crops law in the Northern Song Dynasty. The reason why the rich and the poor are born: "The reason why the husband and the people are rich and poor is different from their ignorance because of their talents." He also beautified the relationship between the rich exploiting the poor with usury as "mutual contribution to save lives".

Ye Shi: "Enriching the people is for the emperor and the people, and it is also for use. Although they are self-reliant, they are also hardworking. " This reflects a new trend of the progressive thinkers of the landlord class in dealing with the policy of restraining mergers after Wang Anshi's political reform.

The theoretical feature of Wang Fuzhi's thought of protecting the rich is to position the social status of the rich at the height of the social development decider. "The country does not enrich the people, and the people are not enough to colonize", "It is the duty of the country to enrich the people", and the government should "punish greed and help the people" to benefit the overall development of society.

Generally speaking, the ancients' thought of protecting the rich is mainly demonstrated from the causes of the rich and the poor, the role of the rich in social stability and the social function of helping the poor. In fact, from the perspective of the relationship between thrift and luxury consumption, it is demonstrated that the luxury consumption of the rich is helpful to increase the employment of the poor, which can also be regarded as a reason why society should protect the rich.

The idea of famine relief in ancient times means that when there is famine in society, governments at all levels should implement policies to help the victims, which is called famine relief for short. The thought of famine relief accords with China's traditional thought, and requires the rulers to be kind and pursue social equality in order to maintain social stability. The thought of famine relief formed the thinkers' unremitting pursuit of equality and became a part of the mainstream thought of pursuing equality in the ancient tradition of China.

The thought of famine relief was first put forward in Zhou Li, which stipulated Huang Zheng's specific measures and initiated the thought of famine relief.

"pipe? Light and heavy Ding proposed "eliminating diseases through poverty". The "relief" here generally refers to the free relief provided by the state and the rich to the poor, sometimes including paid relief loans, which expands the means of famine relief, expands the subject of famine relief from the state to the individual, and develops from simple government behavior to common behavior of the government and the people, which is conducive to improving the efficiency of famine relief. Here, we still have to distinguish between government and private. The government's famine relief is based on the requirements of the government's function of providing public goods, and emphasizes the moral responsibility of the rulers. Relief is free. Private assistance can gain certain economic benefits, but it does not make long-term private assistance feel morally guilty, which is a new change in the pursuit of equality. However, this effective means has not been brought into the mainstream by the mainstream thought of famine relief.

In the Tang Dynasty, Ada made an in-depth discussion on the efficiency of famine relief. Ada opposes relying solely on relief to save famine. He believes that relief has two shortcomings: first, if the number of people who are relieved is small, only a limited number of people can be saved; If the quantity is large, it will cause a shortage of national use, and the result will be an increase in the burden on the people. Second, giving will cause people's luck and officials' malpractice. As a result, the strong get more and the weak get less. First, he knew the disaster situation as early as possible and decided the tax reduction and loan targets according to the country's financial capacity. "The people are not happy, and it's no use crying over spilt milk." The second is to use the constant method. When there is a famine, what is lacking is food. The state can sell food and buy other groceries in disaster areas, transport them to other places for sale or keep them for the government's own use. The second measure of famine relief in Ada not only emphasizes the improvement of famine relief efficiency through market means, but also emphasizes the sustainability of national famine relief capacity. The pursuit of social equality includes developing production and improving the efficiency of famine relief. The idea of improving the efficiency of famine relief through market means is rare among rulers in past dynasties.

Zhu also noticed the incompetence of the government in famine relief and attached importance to the role of folk ladies in famine relief. When Chong 'an County (now Wuyishan City, Fujian Province) opened Yao Village, it established a social warehouse with local officials and gentry. It turns out that Yicang is also called Shecang, but the Shecang founded by Zhu is different from Yicang. It is run by the people and located in the countryside. He believes that the establishment of social warehouses is an effective measure to save the famine and prevent chaos, positioning the pursuit of equality as the key factor of social stability, and paying more attention to giving play to the private forces to save the famine. However, there is a tendency to shift the obligation of famine relief to the people more and regard the rich people as a moral responsibility, which is not conducive to the sustainability of famine relief ability. Compared with "light and heavy", it is a step backwards. .

In Ming Dynasty, Liu's innovation in famine policy was manifested in dividing famine policy into two concepts: "preparing for famine" and "rescuing famine". Put famine preparedness above famine relief. The so-called famine relief means that the state increases grain reserves, including the systems of Changping and Yicang. Famine relief refers to temporary measures to relieve victims. He believes that preparing for famine is a national matter, and saving famine is a local policy. The essence of this theory is that the state should take famine relief as a routine system and make good preparations for famine relief, so as not to have no food when famine relief is needed, and only some officials who are more concerned about the sufferings of the people can temporarily plan famine relief. This is an innovation of famine relief system, which can effectively improve the efficiency of famine relief.

Generally speaking, China's ancient thought of famine relief was actually a fair measure to ensure social stability. Efficiency must be based on certain fairness, otherwise social unrest will lose efficiency.

Finally, ask a question; Why can't the efficiency brought by private ownership of land break the low-level equilibrium cycle in China? We think there are the following reasons. ：

First, low productivity, slow technological progress, lack of market support in social division of labor, and few non-agricultural employment opportunities have led to surplus agricultural labor, less agricultural surplus, and a slight increase in unfair distribution, which has led to a survival crisis for some people. Farmers who have lost their land have become refugees, and then refugees have become mobs. The low accumulation of social wealth limits the social bearing capacity of the polarization between the rich and the poor, and the efficiency of private ownership of land cannot be fully released. This actually shows that the society's pursuit of efficiency must be within the tolerance of society for unequal distribution.

Second, in order to meet the needs of taxation and food security, the rulers restricted the migration and mobility of farmers, which further worsened the ratio of people to land in rural areas. The policy above the middle peasants is actually an industrial discrimination policy formulated by the government, and it has also become a part of the national strategy, but the government strategy without market test and support will not succeed. The trap of low-level equilibrium in ancient China sounded the alarm for us. The government artificially restricted farmers' career choices and regional mobility, and cancelled farmers' dominant position in development. The lack of a social system environment to give full play to farmers' enthusiasm and initiative should be the main source of China's backwardness in modern times.

When talking about the geographical distribution of peasant uprisings, Xu Zhuoyun found that there was no necessary connection between unfair land distribution and peasant uprisings. Land annexation not only attaches importance to the high income of land, but also the peasant uprising is caused by the survival crisis of farmers, and the quality of farmers' living environment is determined by the distance from the market center. The land around the town has high income and serious land concentration, but farmers can make full use of the market to make up for the lack of agricultural income. Away from cities and towns, the land yield is low and the land is scattered, but away from the market, there is a lack of income sources other than agriculture. In the event of natural and man-made disasters, crop failure or failure, survival crisis will break out and peasant uprising will rise. Xu Zhuoyun believes that we should give full play to the role of market mechanism and create more guarantee mechanisms for farmers' production and life besides agriculture. He also pointed out that accelerating the current agricultural market-oriented reform and giving farmers more opportunities to participate in the market independently are the fundamental ways to solve the "three rural issues".