The history of customs duties reflects the development of the Qing fiscal system, especially in its transition from a rather traditional to a more modern economy. Mainly based on Qing archives, this book, the first research monograph on this subject in the English language, not only gives a brief introduction of each customs post’s transformation over time, but also provides the complete statistical data of each of these post over the Qing dynasty.
Contributors are: Bas van Leeuwen, Bozhong Li, Maaten Duijvendak, Martin Uebele, Peter Foldvari, Yi Xu.
NI Yuping, Ph.D (2003), Peking University, is professor of History Department, Tsinghua University, China. He has published monographs and many articles on China’s financial history.
Foreword ... ix
Bozhong LI Foreword ... xiv
Maarten DUIJVENDAK Emperors of the Qing Dynasty ... xvii
List of Maps, Figures and Tables ... xviii
List of Abbreviations ... xxiii
List of Chinese Terms ... xxiv
About the Guan (Customs Offfijice) ... xxvi
Introduction ... 1
1 Research Approach ... 5
1.1 Previous Research ... 5
1.2 Data Sources ... 7
2 The System of Customs Duties under the Qing Dynasty ... 11
2.1 The System of Customs Duties in Traditional China ... 11
2.2 The
Changguan System of the Qing ... 14
2.3 Policy Adjustments ... 17
2.4 Rate of Taxation and Surtaxes ... 23
2.5
Yangguan ... 31
7 Customs Duties and the Economy ... 128
7.1
Changguan and
Yangguan ... 128
7.2
Huguan and
Gongguan ... 138
7.3 Influence of Population Growth and Inflation ... 152
8 Conclusion ... 167
Postscript ... 171
Appendix A – Customs Revenues Collected at
Changguan, 1723–1910 ... 173
Appendix B – Customs Revenue Data for Yuhei Guan, 1723–1911 ... 211
Appendix C – Customs Revenues Collected at
Yangguan, 1844–1910 ... 212
References ... 220
Index ... 227
All interested in the history of the Qing dynasty of China, especially those who pay close attention to the Qing’s financial history.