Buddhist Monasteries And Four Money-Raising Institutions In Chinese History

Bibliographic Data

ID23211747
AuthorsLien-Sheng Yang (corresponding author)
Year2008
Pages387-398
Publication date2008-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueKey Papers on Chinese Economic History Up to 1949 (Key Papers on China) (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/ej.9781905246526.i-676.116
OpenAlexW919281940
ISBN9781905246526
LanguageEN
Citations received8

In Chinese history, there are four money-raising institutions which either originated in or had close connections with Buddhist temples and monasteries. These four are pawnshop, mutual financing association, auction sale, and the sale of lottery tickets. Since the earliest references to the four money-raising institutions invariably link them to the Buddhist organization, we may tentatively assume their monasterial origin. Sale by auction in medieval monasteries is the only case in which the Indian influence is fairly certain. The other three institutions may have been a Chinese innovation, because the general concepts and practices of money lending, mutual help, and lot drawing were undoubtedly familiar to the Chinese prior to the introduction of Buddhism. The remarkable point is that Buddhist monasteries and their communal wealth apparently have provided favorable conditions for the growth of financial institutions and thus exerted considerable influence on the social and economic life of the secular world. Keywords: auction sale; Buddhist temples; Chinese history; Chinese innovation; economic life; money-raising institutions; mutual financing association; pawnshop

Ancient history · Archaeology · Buddhism · Raising (metalworking) · Chinese history and philosophy · Engineering · History · Mechanical Engineering

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