As early as the "Book of Changes", the sages have regarded economic management and financial management as important links in "gathering people". Among the "Eight Policies" listed in "Shang Shu·Hong Fan Pian", "food" and "goods" are also placed first. "Food" and "goods" are "the foundation of people's livelihood". Only by "having enough food and goods" can "the country be prosperous and the people be prosperous, and education be achieved." This has always been the common sense of wise kings, wise ministers and wise men.

Jiang Shang of the Western Zhou Dynasty had "wealth" as the foundation of everything. "If you don't have wealth, you can't be benevolent, and if you don't give, you can't be close to relatives. If you neglect your relatives, you will be harmed, and if you lose them, you will lose." You must be rich".

Confucius believed: "If the people are enough, who is the ruler who is not enough? If the people are not enough, which ruler is enough?"

Xunzi said, "If the people below are poor, the people above will be poor, and if the people below are rich, the people above will be rich." , the view that only by "prospering both top and bottom" can we "enrich the country and the people".

Guanzi emphasized: "Any way to govern a country must first enrich the people. If the people are rich, it is easy to govern, and if the people are poor, it is difficult to govern... Therefore, if you govern a country, you will always be rich, but if you are in chaos, you will always be poor. This is how a country should be good. A person must first enrich the people and then govern them." "If you have a solid warehouse, you will know etiquette, and if you have enough food and clothing, you will know honor and disgrace."

Li Gou in the early Song Dynasty believed: "The real purpose of governing a country must be based on wealth. Building cities and palaces cannot be completed without wealth; humiliating chariots and horses cannot be accomplished without wealth; hundreds of officials and officials cannot be built without wealth. Raising; military conquests, nothing but wealth will be given... With propriety, government will be accomplished, with love, with power, with authority.

Qiu Jun, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, believed that the primary task of governing a country is to "nurture the people." The first principle of "nurturing the people" is that all facilities in the country should serve the center of economic development, so that the people can "live in peace and quiet." To live there, to do one's best, to have enough food for one's life, and to be rich enough for one's life."

In order to encourage businessmen to pay taxes, Wang Yuan of the Qing Dynasty proposed the method of conferring officials according to the tax amount. No matter what kind of businessman he was, as long as he paid 2,400 guans, he would be awarded the "Nine-grade Crown and Belt of a Deng Shilang". After 2,400 guans, he would be awarded Add one rank to the fifth rank to induce merchants to pay more taxes and increase fiscal revenue. Some thinkers during this period believed that the rich contributed to society, unified the interests of wealthy merchants with the interests of the feudal state, and proposed that "the interests of the powerful and right-wingers are also the interests of the country, so why bother taking them away". The famous thinker Wang Chuanshan exclaimed: "Those who enrich the people by doing business are responsible for the country's destiny." Gu Yanwu even regarded private ownership of property as the decisive factor in eliminating disputes and promoting production.

Mr. Sun Yat-sen, the great revolutionary forerunner, believed that China’s biggest problem is “poverty.” Because it is poor, the country is weak and has been bullied by foreign powers for a long time; only when the people become rich can the country prosper. The most fundamental way to enrich the people is to vigorously develop production. "To solve people's livelihood problems, we must develop capital and revitalize industry" is his famous saying.