Hedi

Hedi was an economic policy of the imperial China. It was the state purchase of food supplies from farmers. As a means to control the price of grains and foods, it is an early example of Government procurement. The policy was adopted in the year of 488 by Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei as a counter measure of drought. The state purchases food supplies and stock them. When drought attacks, the stocked foods were sold in order to prevent famine. Later, the purchased foods were also used as rations for the frontier force of Northern Wei dynasty. The policy had always kept the price of state purchased foods higher than the market price of these foods. However, during the reign of Emperor Dezong of Tang, the imperial court purchased foods with a price that was lower than the market price. Chancellor Lu Zhi critically pointed out that, when purchasing food with such low price, the government was turning the policy of Hedi into a type of tax which aggravated the burden of tax payers(since they had to "sell" their harvests with a price that would never benefit them). During the Mongol invasion of Song dynasty, the Song army had to constantly engage the Mongols. The cost of war was extremely high, and the imperial court began to forcibly purchase food supplies from farmers. The official price by then was considerably lower than the market price. Government officials also acknowledged the fact that the policy had become pure robbery. Since the forced purchase of harvests did not compensate sellers, the policy discouraged the development of agriculture. Jia Sidao sought to abolish the Song hedi policy, but Jia was ultimately assassinated by the Song court.