Ping-zhun Shu, or the treatise of Equalizing Agronomical Matters, is quite useful for historians to understand the ancient China's economical life. Sima Qian, the author of the Records of the Great Historian, commented on the economical policies that the ancient emperors pursued. The officials who were in charge of the agriculture, called Da-Si-Nong, collected the commodities all over the country. When the prices rose highly, they would sell them. On the contrary, if the prices were low, they would purchase them. Therefore, the rich merchants could not earn huge profit from trading and they had to return to do farming. The government held down the development of commerce and trade by the policy of "Ping-zhun".

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