中国合会起源之考辨

Investigation on Origination of Rotating Savings and Credit Association in China

合会是一种古老的民间信用互助形式,在我国有着悠久的历史,然而合会究竟起源于何时至今尚无定论。关于合会的起源,民间有庞公创始说、竹林七贤遗传说、青苗法演变说,学者认为起源于唐宋或隋朝等。从目前有据可考的史料记载看,我国合会雏形于汉代,成型于唐代,初步发展于宋代。

Rotating Savings and Credit Association（abbreviated as ROSCA） is a kind of old non-governmental mutual-aid credit form with a long history in our country.However,there is no conclusion on the time of ROSCA origination.There are popular legends on origination of ROSCA such as the origination story of Panggong,heredity story of seven talents of bamboo groves,evolution story of Qingmiao law.The scholars usually hold the opinions that ROSCA originated in Tang Dynasty,Song Dynasty and Sui dynasty.According to the historical records of textual research,ROSCA in our country occurred in embryonic form in Han dynasty,took shape in Tang dynasty and saw elementary development in Song dynasty.Rotating Savings and Credit Association（abbreviated as ROSCA） is a kind of old non-governmental mutual-aid credit form with a long history in our country.However,there is no conclusion on the time of ROSCA origination.There are popular legends on origination of ROSCA such as the origination story of Panggong,heredity story of seven talents of bamboo groves,evolution story of Qingmiao law.The scholars usually hold the opinions that ROSCA originated in Tang Dynasty,Song Dynasty and Sui dynasty.According to the historical records of textual research,ROSCA in our country occurred in embryonic form in Han dynasty,took shape in Tang dynasty and saw elementary development in Song dynasty.