Ancient China

I just finished reading a translation of Annals of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian. Annals covers the history of the Qin dynasty, the revolt against the Qin, founding of the Han dynasty that followed, and includes much of the early years of the Han dynasty. Written about 100 BC, it covers the period from about 350 BC to the author's immediate past.

In my translation, the last chapter is titled The Money Makers. The chapter is a short account of some of the ways of earning money in ancient China. More generally, it lays out Sima Qian's understanding of the motivations that drove what was, to him, the contemporary economy.

Some of the historian's remarks jumped off the page at me, and I thought I'd share them:

"... when it comes to those impoverished men with aged parents and wives and children too weak or young to help them out... who must depend upon the gifts and contributions of the community for their food and clothing and are unable to provide for themselves--if men such as these, reduced to such straits, still fail to feel any shame or embarrassment, then they hardly deserve to be called human." You have to wonder what Sima Qian would make of the modern idea of entitlements. No need to feel shame over not being able to feed your kids. You're entitled to food stamps.

Or this:
"Therefore, when men have no wealth at all, they live by their brawn; when they have a little, they struggle to get ahead by their brains; and when they already have plenty of money, they look for an opportunity for a good investment. This is in general the way things work."

Or this:
"As for the ordinary lot of tax-paying commoners, if they are confronted by someone whose wealth is ten times their own, they will behave with humility; if by someone whose wealth is 100 times their own, they will cringe with fear; if by someone whose wealth is 1,000 times their own, they will undertake to work for him; and if by someone whose wealth is 10,000 times their own they will become his servants. This is the principle of things."

With very little modification, these statements would accurately describe economic life in today's capitalist societies. What is amazing about this is that Sima Qian was writing around 100 BC, over 2000 years ago.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. And people wonder why I'm a conservative.