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Economic Tang poems include:
1. Economics in Tang poems - "The Charcoal Seller" and "The Song of the Silkworm Woman"
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"The Song of the Silkworm Woman" by Zhang Yu, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, is a famous chapter in Tang poetry that expresses sympathy for the poor. This classic poem describes the sad mood of a silkworm farmer who has just returned from the market: Those who are covered with silk and satin are either rich or noble, but the silkworm farmer is probably very good if he has a body covered with burlap. The gap between rich and poor is so wide that those who experience it cannot enjoy the fruits of their own labor. The tillers have no food and the weavers have no clothes. This is probably the most common sentiment among the poor in the world.
It is almost enough to read Tang poetry up to this level. But economists will analyze further to see whether the value judgment conveyed by this poem is consistent with economic principles. It is obviously very normal for women to not be able to wear silk clothes. This "affordability" is her comparative advantage and the motivation for her to continue to improve her life.
The silkworm woman cannot wear silk clothes, not because she "cannot afford it" but because she "does not want to wear it". A silkworm woman can wear silk herself, but she will lose food and other opportunities to improve her life. Silkworm women take the silk to the market and sell it in exchange for other daily products, which is obviously much more cost-effective. The market is essentially a social division of labor. People in various industries do not consume their own products, but exchange for new products through market exchange, which will improve the interests of the entire society. The silkworm woman should feel lucky when she sees those people wearing robes: it is their consumption that makes production necessary, and she will continue to have opportunities for improvement. The interests of the rich were not harmed, because they paid the price and got Ling Luo. The transaction benefits both parties.
Accordingly, in a society where there is buying and selling, no one is harmed, so where does poverty come from?
There have always been people in human society who rely on violence and fraud to obtain wealth. It is these people who have caused the stagnation of human society. These people generally appear as the state, bureaucrats, bandits, and scammers. They do not obtain wealth through free exchange like ordinary people, but without exception rely on violence - both state violence and private violence. This kind of robbery-style "exchange" deprives producers of their accumulation, undermines their confidence, and sends a wrong message: getting something for nothing is better than honest labor. Especially in ancient society, the privileged class systematically deprived the people, and society continued a vicious cycle of "violence-counter-violence-violence".
Free trade hurts no one because it improves everyone involved. The silkworm woman's life is very bad, not because those who wear silk and satin buy her products, but because of high taxes, forced service, and bureaucratic bullying. Maybe the bureaucrats did not oppress her, but oppressed the farmers. In fact, the silkworm woman's interests were also harmed. Farmers and handicraftsmen have gone bankrupt, and the number of people who can afford to buy silk will be greatly reduced. The silkworm woman's products will have to be sold at very low prices for a long time, and she will also pay high costs to purchase other products. One aspect of the social division of labor was destroyed, and her interests were indirectly damaged. In the corner of the market, the interests of partners are closely related.
After analyzing this point, we can say that "The Song of the Silkworm Woman" may have conveyed wrong values, making people mistakenly believe that the poverty of the Silkworm Woman is entirely the fault of the rich. In comparison, many poems in Chinese history appear to be more intelligent. In the Book of Songs, "big rats and big rats have no food for me", Confucius' "tyranny is more fierce than tigers", Du Fu's "army chariots", Liu Zongyuan's "snake catcher theory" all see the root of a series of disasters ——Rife state tyranny. Zhang Yu, the author of "The Song of the Silkworm Woman", ignores the difference between the market and violence and simply laments the "dichotomy between rich and poor", showing a wide range of perspectives.