Causes and characteristics of the disintegration of China's natural economy.

Before the Opium War, China was still a complete feudal society. At that time, due to the development of the commodity and money economy, there were already factors destroying the natural economy, and the disintegration of the natural economy had already occurred. However, the disintegration of the natural economy at that time was only a partial disintegration, which did not become a major economic phenomenon and did not have a far-reaching impact on the development of China's society and economy. At that time, the natural economy was still absolutely dominant. The large-scale and rapid disintegration of China's natural economy began after the Opium War. Before the Sino-Japanese War, the natural economy had already been initially disintegrated. After the Sino-Japanese War, the natural economy and further disintegration, disintegration of the scope of expansion, disintegration speed, disintegration of the degree of increase. The main reasons are:

First, the invasion of capitalism is the most direct and important reason for the disintegration of China's natural economy. After the Opium War, foreign capitalist countries, with a series of political and economic privileges, frantically dumped commodities and plundered raw materials in China, involving China in the world capitalist market, and gradually disintegrating China's self-sufficient natural economy.

Secondly, the expanding domestic market was the precondition for the disintegration of the natural economy. After the Opium War, China's commodity economy developed as never before, and commercial circulation became more active than ever. The expansion of the domestic market, especially the increasing proportion of handicrafts and agricultural products in circulation, constantly induced the purpose of agricultural production from the natural economy to the transformation of the commodity economy.

Thirdly, the emergence and development of capitalist machine industry in the country also dealt a certain blow to the natural economy.

Fourth, the increase of people's commodity consciousness, the change of the concepts of agriculture, commerce and righteousness, and the development of shipping, railroads and other transportation services to strengthen the link between urban and rural economies, etc., are also factors that contributed to the disintegration of the natural economy.

Fifth, the scattered individual handicraft production based on manual labor, the low level of technology, the small scale of production, the division of labor and collaboration is not developed, the development of production, cost reduction, quality improvement, are subject to fundamental limitations, ultimately unable to withstand the powerful attack of the capitalist machine mass production. This was the internal root cause of the disintegration of China's natural economy. Although the sprout of capitalism had already appeared in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the natural economy had been the main form of economy in China's feudal society, i.e.: on the eve of the Opium War, the natural economy of self-sufficiency still dominated in China.

Sixth, the emergence of the bud of capitalist relations of production is the historical reason for the disintegration of the natural economy. The development of the commodity economy within the Chinese feudal society during the Ming and Qing dynasties had already nurtured the germ of capitalist relations of production, and this new economic form slowly eroded the body of the feudal economy, and if there had been no invasion of foreign capitalism, China would have slowly developed into a capitalist society. In modern times, with the invasion of western capitalism and the continuous development of national capital, it was gradually impacted and gradually disintegrated.

Features

Chinese national capitalism had Chinese characteristics from the time of its emergence. It emerged in the semi-colonial and semi-feudal society of modern China under the double oppression of its own feudal forces and foreign capitalism, and the process of its development was arduous, and Chinese national capitalism did not become the basic mode of China's social economy. However, the emergence of Chinese national capitalism marked a change in the economic structure of Chinese society and provided the economic and class basis for subsequent social reforms in China.

(1) In terms of the emergence of enterprises, Chinese national capitalism took a unique path. Instead of moving from workshop handicrafts to machine mass production, it was founded on the premise that the invasion of the great powers accelerated the disintegration of the natural economy and directly imported machinery and technology from foreign countries. Therefore it did not grow up gradually on the basis of the sprout of capitalism produced by the feudal society of China.

(2) In terms of the structure of the industrial sector, China's national industry was basically light industry, of which the textile industry was the main one. China's national industry lacked a strong economic foundation, and could not produce machines itself, so it could only start with light industry, which had less investment, quicker turnover and more profit. The industrial structure was not rational and did not form a complete industrial system.

(3) From the point of view of the regional distribution of industry, the development of China's national capital was extremely unbalanced, mainly concentrated in the big coastal cities. The reason for this is that these cities were mostly strongholds for the powers to promote commodities and plunder raw materials, and the natural economy was disintegrated earlier, while these areas were convenient for the use of foreign technology, the introduction of machinery, and the use of cheap labor.

(4) Enterprises operated by national capital were small in scale, scattered in operation, backward in technology and equipment, and low in labor productivity. This situation makes the products of national industries costly and uncompetitive in the market. It developed by increasing the exploitation of workers and seeking to maximize surplus value.

(5) The national capitalist economy was inextricably linked with the feudal forces. A considerable part of the national capitalists were formerly bureaucrats and landlords, and their capital was transformed from the land rent. Some national capitalists also used the profits from the operation of industry and commerce to go to the countryside to buy land, and had the dual identity of capitalists and landlords.