A Study Of The Influence Of Guangdong's Salt Industry Upon The Local Society In Qing Dynasty

On the basis of the development of the salt industry in the previous dynasties, the salt industry in Qing dynasty gained great progress. In the view of the social history, this paper mainly studied the relationship between the salt industry of Guangdong and the local society in Qing dynasty.The salt industry in the Yue district consists of the official salt industry and the private salt industry. The official salt industry experienced three phases: the prophase, the metaphase and the anaphase. The salt in Guangdong at Qing dynasty was distributed through two salt selling channels: the Sheng River and the Chao Bridge. The salt was eventually sold in seven provinces. The system of the salt law included integrating the local private salt into the general commercial program. The private salt mainly came from the leavings of the salt men. The private salt prevailed wildly, and the quantity of it was tremendous. The smuggling of salt was very active in Guangdong in Qing dynasty. Generally speaking, the salt in the Yue district at the time had characteristics like gaming great progress, drifting from the official control to the free trade market, regional character,private salt prevailing more vigorously than in other districts, etc.The paper first studied the relationship between the salt industry and the local government affairs. The salt revenue was the important constituent part of the local financial revenue. It was used to pay the official salaries, the military expenditure, the fare of suppressing smuggling, to counteract the debt of the stake, and to carry out the river construction, etc.In the Qing history, when the salt merchants gained the rich capital, they often redounded upon the society by the way of donation. Their donation was used to develop colleges and science, to maintain the social order, etc. At the same time, the salt merchants became the representatives of the local society to engage in the management of their lineage and local commonwealth causes.The salt smuggling was much more prevailing in Guangdong than in other districts. The paper described and exposed the composition and characteristics of the men who participated in the salt smuggling as well as the salt smuggling's traits to show the complicated relationship between the central government and the local society, the officials and the traders, the officials and the people, the traders and the people, and the officials and the robbers. The paper further discussed the characteristics of the region and the influence of the salt smuggling on the people's life, their commodity economy and the social order and local finance.As an important salt district, the salt of Guangdong was sold not only to the local places, but also...