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The Grain Tribute System of the Ch'ing Dynasty

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Harold C. Hinton
Harold C. Hinton
Affiliation:
Georgetown University
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Extract

Until the middle of the nineteenth century, when internal disorder and the impact of Western influences began to work striking changes in the structure of Chinese governmental finance, the revenue of the Ch'ing dynasty may be divided into five main categories. The first and most important was the land tax, which was imposed on most agricultural land throughout the empire and provided the major portion of the funds with which the routine administrative operations of both the central and provincial governments were financed. The second, far smaller in amount than the first, was the grain tribute, which was imposed like the land tax on agricultural land but was levied only in certain areas and was devoted normally to the feeding of the official population of Peking, including the metropolitan garrison, the court, and the metropolitan bureaucracy. The third was the governmental monopoly of the production and distribution of salt. The fourth and fifth categories were respectively the regular (or “native”) customs and certain miscellaneous indirect taxes.

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Articles
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The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , May 1952 , pp. 339 - 354
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1952

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References

1 Morse, Hosea B., The Trade and Administration of China (3rd ed., Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh, 1921), 97–119Google Scholar.

2 Hinton, Harold C., The Grain Tribute System of China, 1845–1911: an Aspect of the Decline of the Ch'ing Dynasty (doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, 1950)Google Scholar.

3 Hsün, Tung, Chiang-pei yün-ch'eng (Water Routes in the Region North of the Yangtze) (40 ch., 1867), 1: 1–2Google Scholar, translated in Ch'ao-ting, Chi, Key Economic Areas in Chinese History as Revealed in the Development of Public Works for Water-Control (London: G. Allen and Unwin, 1936), 5–6Google Scholar. Tung's figure for the garrison is approximately correct: cf. The North-China Herald (hereafter NCH), May 28, 1853. His other figures, however, appear too high. The census of 1910 gave the total population of Peking as 805,110 (Rockhill, William W., “The 1910 Census of the Population of China,” TP, 2nd series, 13 (1912), 122–123)Google Scholar (for a similar figure see “Population of Peking,” NCH, June 17, 1887), and it seems doubtful whether much over half of the total could have been official personnel dependent on the grain tribute.

4 Ch'ien-lung Hui-tien, 18; Morse, 62.

5 Ch'ien-lung Hui-tien, 18:4a–b; Williams, Edward T., “Taxation in China,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 26.3 (May 1912), 506CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Parker, Edward H., “The Military Organization of China Prior to 1842, as Described by Wei Yüan,” Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (hereafter JNCBRAS), 22 (1887), 9–10Google Scholar.

6 Wade, Thomas F., “The Army of the Chinese Empire,” The Chinese Repository (hereafter CR), 20 (1851), 414–415Google Scholar. Huang, Han-liang, The Land Tax in China (New York: Columbia University Press, 1918), 92Google Scholar, gives 3,300,000 piculs for the eighteenth century. On the tribute picul see Hung-chang, Li, Ch'in-ting Ta-Ch'ing hui-tien shih-li (Cases and Regulations Pertaining to the Ta-Ch'ing hui-tien) (1886) (hereafter HTSL), 212:5b–6aGoogle Scholar; Morse, 191–192.

7 Ibid., 62; Huang, 92.

8 On the question of the heavy tax burden borne by Kiangsu and Chekiang, and the reasons for it, see Nai, Hsia, “T'ai-p'ing T'ien-kuo ch'ien-hou ch'ang-chiang ko-sheng chih t'ien-fu wen-t'i” (The Land Tax of the Yangtze Provinces Before and After the Taiping Rebellion), The Tsing Hua Journal, 10.2 (Apr. 1935), 414–415, 419–420Google Scholar.

9 Chi, 113–124; Gandar, Rev. D., Le Canal Impérial (Shanghai: Variétés sinologiques No. 4, 1894), 15Google Scholar.

10 Ibid., 21–22; Chi, 139–141.

11 Takeo, Hoshi, “Minsho no Sōun ni tsuite” (Concerning Water Transportation in the Early Ming Period), Shigakuzasshi, 68.5 (1937), 557–610Google Scholar; 68.6, 720–768 (summarized in English by Edwin O. Reischauer in HJAS, 3.2 (July 1938), 183–185).

12 Ibid.; Gandar, 26; Erh-hsün, Chao ed., Ch'ing Shih Kao (Draft History of the Ch'ing Dynasty), 2nd ed., 1928, (hereafter CSK), 129:18aGoogle Scholar.

13 CSK, 129:1a.

14 Tsai-ling, ed., Ch'in-ting hu-pu ts'ao-yün ch'üan-shu (Board of Revenue Compendium on Grain Transport) (1886) (hereafter HPTYCS), 9:1aGoogle Scholar.

15 Hummel, Arthur W. ed., Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (1644–1912) (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1943–1944), 1: 161Google Scholar.

16 Ibid., 1:328–329; Chi, 143–146; Gandar, 16, 33–40.

17 Ibid., 16, 33–42; CSK, 129:1a, 18a–20b: CSK, 134: 10b–11b; Hummel, 1:281–282, 574; ibid., 2:710; Ch'i-shan ed., Chiang-su hai-yün ch'üan-an (Compendium on Sea Transport from Kiangsu) (12 ch., 1826); P'an Shih-en ed., Ch'inting hu-pu ts'ao-yün ch'üan-shu (Board of Revenue Compendium on Grain Transport) (92 ch., 1844), 90–91.

18 CSK, 129:20b; Hummel, 2:710; HTSL, 194:10b.

19 CR, 11 (1842), 474–475; CR, 12 (1843), 276–277.

20 CSK, 129:20b; HTSL, 199: 23a–b; Edkins, Joseph, The Revenue and Taxation of the Chinese Empire (Shanghai: Presbyterian Mission Press, 1903), 145–146Google Scholar; Parker, Edward H., “The Financial Capacity of China,” JNCBRAS, 30 (1895–1896), 95–96Google Scholar; Hsia, 421.

21 Gandar, 21–22; Chao-ching, Cheng, Chung-kuo shui-li shih (A History of Water Conservancy in China) (Changsha: Commercial Press, 1939), maps between 238–239Google Scholar.

22 Ibid.; Gandar, 17–19, 46=47; Rev. Tschepe, A., “Das Chinesische Holland in Mittelchina. Eine geographisch-geschichtliche Studie,” Mitteilungen des Seminars für Orientalische Sprachen, 12 (1909), Part I, 157–198Google Scholar.

23 [Williams, S. Wells], “Course and topography of the Hwang ho or Yellow river,” CR, 19 (1850), 507–508Google Scholar; Carles, W. R., “The Grand Canal of China,” JNCBRAS, 31 (1896–1897), 106Google Scholar.

24 Elias, Ney, “Notes on a Portion of the Old Bed of the Yellow River and the Water Supply of the Grand Canal,” JNCBRAS, 4 (1867), 80–86Google Scholar.

25 Morse, 343; Gandar, 75.

26 Ibid.. 55; CR, 1 (1832–1833), 38–39.

27 Gandar, 25; Brunnert, H. S. and Hagelstrom, V. V., Present Day Political Organization of China, revised by Kolessoff, N. Th., tr., by Beltchenko, A. and Moran, E. E. (Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh, 1912), 337, 399–400Google Scholar; The North-China Herald, Translation of the Peking Gazette (hereafter NCHPG), 1884, 11Google Scholar; Wade, 367–368; Rev. Hoang, P., Mélanges sur l'administration (Shanghai: Variétés sinologiques No. 21, 1902), 46Google Scholar; “Supply of the Capital,” The North-China Herald, Sept. 24, 1859.

28 Gandar, plate facing 12, 16–17, 54–55.

29 Morse, 107.

30 Based mainly on HPTYCS, 1. See detailed table of quotas in Hinton, 15–16.

31 Playfair, G. M. H., “The Grain Transport System of China,” The China Review, 3.6 (May-June, 1875), 356–359Google Scholar; HPTYCS, 9.

32 Rev. Hoang, P., De legali dominio practicae notiones (Shanghai: Catholic Mission Press, 1882), 33Google Scholar; Yü-fu, Hsi ed., Huang-ch'ao cheng-tien lei-tsuan (Classified Compendium on the Government and Statutes of the Ch'ing Dynasty) (1903) (hereafter HCCTLT), 50:19a–20aGoogle Scholar; HTSL, 207: I6a–17a, 18a–19b; Hsia, 410–416.

33 Morse, 108–110.

34 HPTYCS, 1: 1a–5a.

35 Donner, Ray E., “A Chinese Government Business in Troubled Times: Chekiang's Rice Tribute 1864–67,” (1949: MS, Committee on International and Regional Studies, Harvard University), 4Google Scholar.

36 Hoang, Notiones, 23–33. Responsibility for translation from the Latin is mine. One mou equals approximately 3/20 acre.

37 HPTYCS, 2, 7:3b; Huang, 93–94; HTSL, 194.

38 Morse, 169, 172, 173.

39 Donner, 5; CSK, 129:1b.

40 Ibid.. 129:1b; Donner, 4–5.

41 Hsia, 424.

42 These advantages and disadvantages, as well as others, are summarized in CSK, 129: 1a, 18b; “The Tsaotai of Tsingkiangpu,” NCH, June 29, 1894.

43 Shao-kwan, Ch'en, The System of Taxation in China in the Tsing Dynasty (New York: Columbia University Press, 1914), 37Google Scholar.

44 Brunnert and Hagelstrom, 119–120.

45 Gandar, 25; Hoang, Mélanges, 45–46; Brunnert and Hagelstrom, 413–414, 417–418.

46 “Tsaotai of Tsingkiangpu;” Brunnert and Hagelstrom, 413–414; NCHPG, 1880, 205; Hoang, Mélanges, 45–46.

47 CSK, 129:11b; Ch'en, 38n.; NCH, May 28, 1853; HTSL, 202: 1a–2a; Gandar, 43. For a table of junks and boatmen see Hinton, 22.

48 HPTYCS, 20; Gandar, 43, 47; Wade, 371. For eyewitness descriptions of the grain junks see [Walter H. Medhurst], A Glance at the Interior of China Obtained During a Journey Through the Silk and Green Tea Districts, Taken in 1845 (Shanghai: n.p., n.d.), 57–58; Ellis, Sir Henry, Journal of the Proceedings of the Late Embassy to China (London: J. Murray, 1817), 105–106; NCH, Apr. 17, 1852Google Scholar.

49 Playfair, 360–361; Medhurst, 191; HCCTLT, 53: 1a–b.

50 Playfair, 355; NCH, May 28, 1853; HTSL, 205: 1a–10b; HPTYCS, 35; Hoang, Notiones, 29–30.

51 Ch'en, 38n.; “Grain Supply of Peking,” NCH, July 31, 1858.

52 Shou-yung, Chang ed., Huang-ch'ao chang-ku hui-pien (Classified Compilation of Historical Records of the Ch'ing Dynasty) (1902)Google Scholar, Section on Internal Affairs, 17: 1b.

53 Playfair, 360; Medhurst, 185.

54 HPTYCS, 17; Playfair, 355.

55 HPTYCS, 13:2a–b; CSK, 129:11a.

56 NCH, Nov. 30, 1850, PG of Sept. 28–29.

57 HPTYCS, 44:1a.

58 HPTYCS, 44:1a.

59 HTSL, 203.

60 See Hinton, 40–150, passim.

61 HPTYCS, 58:16a; “Grain Supply of Peking;” Wade, 371.

62 Playfair, 361–363; Wade, 371.

63 Playfair, 363; HCCTLT, 54:1a.

64 Playfair, 355–356; NCHPG, 1872–1899, passim.

65 Brunnert and Hagelstrom, 119–120, 196–197; NCHPG, 1896, 79–80; HPTYCS, 51:1a; Huang, 110–111.

66 HPTYCS, 65:1a.

67 See HPTYCS, 68–71.

68 These censors were known by various titles (see Brunnert and Hagelstrom, 78–79; HPTYCS, 67:39b; HCCTLT, 48:4a–b), of which some were no longer in use by the mid-nineteenth century (see NCH, Dec. 28, 1850, PG of Oct. 16–17; CSK, 129:10a).

69 NCH, Nov. 16, 1850, PG of Sept. 18–19; HPTYCS, 66:17a–25b.

70 HCCTLT, 50:18a–19a.

71 NCH, Nov. 30, 1850, PG of Sept. 28–29; HCCTLT, 53:8a; NCHPG, 1879, 143–145.

72 HPTYCS, 67:21b, 77:11a; HTSL, 209:1a ff.

73 Edkins, 144; HPTYCS, 67: 1a–24a.

74 Arlington, Lewis C. and Lewisohn, William, In Search of Old Peking (Peiping: Henri Vetch, 1935), 227–228Google Scholar.

75 HPTYCS, 52:20b–21a; NCHPG, 1891, 50, 55–57; Parker, “Financial Capacity,” 96–97.

76 Edkins, 149; HCCTLT, 55:9b–11a. Feng drew the figure of Tls. 18 per picul from an estimate made by Liu Ch'üan-chih during the Chia-ch'ing period (1796–1820).