Abstract: The rural studies of the Yanjing School of Chinese sociology explored a range of topics such as the financialization of land， handicrafts and finance， and the qianhui（loaning society）. In 1938-1942， Fei Xiaotong and Zhang Zhiyi， the main members of the Yanjing School， investigated the rural areas of Yunnan and observed the social collapse of the villages in the interior as a result of the national government’s financial policies. The paper argued that the rural finance research of the Yanjing School included at least four aspects：（1） Cash flow transfers in rural communities；（2） Capital accumulation in rural industry；（3） Rural commercial capital；（4） Land financial issues. As inflation worsened， the corresponding changes in these areas showed that the urban financial crisis had a serious siphoning effect on rural societies. The paper pointed out that the Yanjing School， aware of the contradiction between the embedded character of the Chinese countryside and the dis-embedded nature of the world economy， did not want to see a system of financial corruption around the sitters， nor did it want to follow the fully marketized financial pattern of Western Europe， but rather attempted to explore a way to protect the rural society. Echoing Fei Xiaotong’s“dual-track politics” of the same period， the financial research of the Yanjing School was also characterized by a dual-track system. They realized that the “two-track system” of the small peasant economy and the market economy had become the main contradiction， and that in order to solve this contradiction， the market economy could not be used as the single logic and the main basis. In the face of the rapid onslaught of the capitalist market system， the transformation of the countryside should be a relatively slow process that could not be achieved at the expense of the countryside. What the rural finance research of the Yanjing School can teach us today is that Chinese finance should be a unique form that integrates the defense of society and the promotion of macroeconomic development.

Key words: rural finance, inflation, Yanjing School, urban-rural economic relations