Abstract: Social and economic development necessarily leads to changes in the way of life and an increase in levels of consumption. Extravagance does not necessarily bring about an economic advance, because the key to the question is whether or not public wealth is put to productive purposes. Restricted by the feudal system, most public wealth flows into the realm of consumption during the reigns of the Kangxi, Yongzheng,and Qianlong reigns strangling primitive accumulation.