Primary Source
This Primary Source is a document written by Chao Cuo and compiled by Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom and published by Columbia University.
This source is useful because it provides in depth translated information from respected people of the period. This information is reliable and confirms other sources.
This document discusses the management of agriculture and rural economy of Ancient China, and the inter relationship of the social classes and its effects on the rural economy.
Chao Cuo discusses the relationship between the farmers and the merchants and outlines how the merchants were not honoured in ancient Chinese Society. The Han Emperor Wen called upon his officials to devise systems of economic management that would raise productivity and increase the government’s ability to extract and store surplus grain from the rural economy. Chao Cuo, a high-ranking official, offered the suggestions in 178 BC. Emperor Wen approved of these suggestions and put them into practice, with remarkably successful results.