国家粮价平准 / State Grain Price Stabilization

Definition

State grain price stabilization / 国家粮价平准 is the governance logic of using public procurement, storage, and release of staple grain to reduce harmful price swings for both producers and consumers.

Current Synthesis

Hanji 456-1 introduces the concept through 耿寿昌 and the 长平仓制度. The source’s core insight is symmetric: grain that is too cheap harms farmers, while grain that is too expensive harms ordinary people. A state granary can therefore buy into abundance and release into scarcity, tying livelihood protection to physical reserve management.

Key Claims

• Staple-food governance must consider both sides of price movement: cheap grain can injure producers, dear grain can injure consumers.
• Public storage makes price stabilization more than a price decree; the state needs physical grain to buy, hold, and release.
• Procurement geography matters because nearer purchases can lower transport labor and supply friction.
• The policy is partly fiscal and partly social: it manages official supply, famine risk, farmer income, and consumer access together.

Evidence

Producer and consumer protection:

• Hanji 456-1 says repeated harvests produce low grain prices and weak farmer returns.
• Hanji 456-1 explains the granary as avoiding both cheap-grain harm to farmers and expensive-grain harm to the people.

Reserve mechanism:

• Hanji 456-1 says Geng Shouchang proposes buying when grain is cheap and selling when grain is dear.
• Hanji 456-1 says the system also supports official needs, popular food supply, and famine preparation.

Logistics:

• Hanji 456-1 says Geng’s regional procurement plan would reduce long-distance transport labor from east of Hangu Pass by more than half.

Counterevidence & Qualifications

This concept is currently sourced only to Hanji 456-1. It does not yet cover later ever-normal granaries, equalization offices, local implementation failures, fiscal strain, storage losses, or corruption risks. The page records a governance logic, not proof that every historical implementation worked as intended.

What Changed

• Created the state grain price stabilization concept from Hanji 456-1’s Changping granary explanation.

Related Concepts

• 长平仓制度 / Changping Granary System - specific Western Han institution used as the current source case.
• Price-Signal Resource Steering / 价格信号调控物流 - broader price-guided allocation concept that helps describe timed buying and selling.
• Commodity Price Exposure - contrast concept for unbuffered price volatility.