"circulation" generally includes two meanings:

First, it refers to the circulation of materials, that is, the circulation in the broadest sense, such as the flow of water, air, blood, people, products, funds or money, and so on. This meaning of "general circulation" corresponds to too many completely different disciplines, so that it is impossible to use the concept of circulation in a unified semantics, and then it is impossible to carry out scientific academic research, which is of no academic significance.

the second meaning of "general circulation" refers to the circulation of all production factors or production results, including the circulation of tangible things as well as the circulation of people and services. The circulation of this meaning is equivalent to the capital circulation defined by Marx. However, because people, money, things and services have too many characteristics, it is not only difficult to abstract their characteristics, but also impossible to establish a theoretical framework with unified concepts and strict logic, which also disrupts the existing relatively reasonable discipline system and academic division of labor. Therefore, the circulation of this meaning is generally meaningless to scientific academic research.

Related concepts of circulation:

1. Commodity circulation. Commodity circulation refers to the transfer process of commodities from production to consumption. This is an explanation that is basically recognized by academic circles. Of course, commodity circulation also includes two meanings: business flow and logistics, that is, the transfer of ownership of commodities and the physical transfer of commodities.

2. Exchange. On the relationship between circulation and exchange, Marx had a classic exposition, that is, "circulation itself is only a certain element of exchange, or it is also an exchange as a whole" [2]. In other words, circulation is not the same as exchange, but only part of the exchange. This is because exchange includes both the exchange of labor and the exchange of labor results.

the exchange of labor is conducted through command and order within the organization, which belongs to production activities, not circulation. The exchange of labor results also has two forms, one is product exchange and the other is commodity exchange. Product exchange is also carried out through command and order within the organization, and its purpose is to better produce a product with the same * * *, which is also a production behavior in essence. In Marx's view, product exchange does not belong to circulation. On the contrary, only commodity exchange has the nature of circulation. Obviously, what Marx said here refers to the circulation of goods, and it also refers to the circulation of commodity ownership, that is, business flow.

3. trading. In general, people understand transactions as "buying and selling", that is, market transactions. Therefore, transaction is synonymous with commodity exchange.

4. Trade. Trade refers to the "resale" of goods, including domestic trade and international trade. Domestic trade refers to "resale" within a country, while international trade refers to "resale" between countries or countries. The so-called "resale" refers to the act of reselling the purchased goods to the buyer without going through the manufacturing process. Therefore, the purchase behavior of producers for producing goods, or the sale of goods they produce to buyers, and the purchase or sale behavior of consumers for personal consumption are not trade. Obviously, circulation includes trade, but trade is not the whole of circulation.

5. Business or trade. Business can be divided into broad sense and narrow sense. Business in a broad sense refers to all profit-oriented undertakings, that is, "business" in English; In a narrow sense, business refers to a profitable enterprise specializing in "resale" (commodity exchange) activities, which is also commonly referred to as trading industry, including domestic trade and international trade. Domestic trade is usually also called domestic commerce, including wholesale and retail. People are used to calling domestic trade business to distinguish it from international trade or import and export trade.

from the perspective of the whole society, the transfer (circulation) of goods or products from the production field to the consumption field is not entirely completed by businessmen or traders, or it is not entirely completed by specialized circulation institutions (commercial or trade departments). Among them, individuals as consumers and manufacturers as producers also engage in a large number of circulation activities. Therefore, the concept of commerce or trade industry cannot cover all the connotations of circulation.

6. Marketing. Although the connotation and extension of marketing concept and its application field have evolved and expanded many times, in terms of its basic meaning, marketing in modern sense still refers to the micro-organization that starts from discovering and even creating market demand, and finally completes the transfer of goods or services from production to consumption through products, prices, channels, promotions and various activities related to customers and the environment.

It can be seen that the marketing concept includes not only circulation behaviors such as pricing, channel selection and promotion, but also activities such as discovering and even creating market demand, creativity and design of goods or services, and interaction with customers and the environment. But as far as its essence is concerned, it still refers to the transfer of goods or services from production to consumption by micro-organizations, that is, the circulation of micro-organizations. At the same time, as far as the object of marketing is concerned, it includes not only tangible goods but also intangible services.

7. distribution. There is a word "Distribution" in English, which is translated into "circulation" in Japanese and "distribution" in Chinese.

this paper holds that circulation and distribution are both the same and different. The similarity is that both refer to the flow process of goods or products; The difference is that the former is the flow process of goods or products from the perspective of the whole society or macro sense, while the latter is the flow process of goods or products from the perspective of enterprises, especially manufacturers. In other words, circulation is a concept with macro significance, while distribution is a concept with micro significance. The same is the transfer of goods from the production field to the consumption field, which is a distribution problem for manufacturers; For the whole society, it is a circulation problem.