Accumulation and Intergenerational Inheritance of Commercial Capital of Huizhou Merchants in the Ming Dynasty—Centered on the Wanli Revenue and Expenditure Silver Volume
The commercial operation of the Wu Wenkui family in the Ming Dynasty lasted for more than 230 years.The Wanli Revenue and Expenditure Silver Book is a precious"family-business type"account book that remains of his family.It revealed the process of capital flow between father and son within the family through prescribed capital allocation,capital returns,and multiple subsidies,and thus completed the accumulation and intergenerational inheritance of family commercial capital.Capital allocation and multi subsidies were the foundation of intergenerational inheritance,and capital allocation and capital gains were the main factors for the capital growth of the philosophers.The shoe silver related to marriage,the elder brother silver and grandson silver related to ranking,as well as the division of property and multiple subsidies,were commonly present in the intergenerational inheritance of Huizhou merchant capital;However,it was rare to see age related capital and Yuanli silver.This reflected the generality and particularity of Wu Wenkui family's accumulation and inheritance of commercial capital.The intergenerational capital accumulation method exhibited deep institutional design characteristics.Firstly,a stable binary capital structure composed of father and son and unidirectional capital flow.Secondly,one efficient system of division of labor and cooperation among family members.The third is to prevent the dispersion of household commercial capital,which will affect the sustainable operation of the"separation of property and non-separation of business"capital analysis system.These systems aim to ensure the continuity of family business and the family itself for generations.
Wanli Revenue and Expenditure Silver VolumeCapital AccumulationIntergenerational InheritanceHuizhou MerchantsWu Wenkui Family
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