The Study Of The Monopoly System Of Tea In Ming Dynasty

The monopoly system of tea is one of the monopoly systems in ancient China and its function is to increase the revenues of the country.Since the government of De Zhong in Tang Dynasty levied on tea, the monopoly system of tea was established. In Song Dynasty, due to the small territory governed by the state and the great threat posed by the minorities living on the border to central government, the emperors of the Song Dynasty attached great importance to the monopoly system of tea. They applied it to consolidate the financial situation of the state. The laws and regulations of the administration of tea varied during the Song Dynasty. Generally speaking, the characteristics of the monopoly system of tea in the Song Dynasty are the cooperation and association between government and merchants in which the role of the merchants is bigger. The monopoly system of tea in Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasty followed the system of licensing on tea established in Song Dynasty.In Ming Dynasty, because the remaining military power of the ousted aristocrat of the toppled Yuan Dynasty posed great threats to the border security of the Ming government, Emperor ZhuYuanZhang attached greater importance to the development of the monopoly system of tea. First, the government of Ming Dynasty followed the system of licensing on tea established in Song Dynasty and applied the license to differentiate the licensed tea and unlicensed tea. The government gained profits through the levies on the licensee, which is similar in Tang and Song Dynasty. Besides the system of licensing on tea, the government of Ming Dynasty applied KaiZhong tea rules to encourage merchants to purchase and transport tea and to pilot the merchants to fulfill some specific tasks such as the supply of foods to the army stationed in the border area and to the people in the disaster–hit area. But seeking profit is the intrinsic nature of merchants, when they attained government license to purchase and transport tea, they often broke tea rules and bought more tea illegally so as to acquire illegal gains. Many rulers in Ming Dynasty paid much attention to the control of the illegal acts of merchants and they took some measures such as strengthening the merchant's reporting system, the examination of the capital of merchants, the registration of the name and address of merchants and the ways through which the tea was transported. In order to prevent merchants from fulfilling the reporting task with a false name, the government required the reporting merchants to make a reciprocal guarantee and take joint and several liabilities if any illegal acts occurred. But the measures were not so effective as expected. When the government officials became corrupt, the control of the unlicensed tea became loose.The monopoly system of tea in Ming Dynasty had multiple purposes. Its main object was not for the economic profit, but for the control of the minorities and made them succumb to the Ming government. The trade policy of tea-for-horse of the Ming government could not only curb the expansion of the military power of the minorities but also strengthen its own military power. In the early stage of Ming Dynasty, the Ming government issued license prescribing the number of tradable horses to the minorities. The tea-for-horse trade took place once every three years and the time for the trade was fixed. The successors of Emperor ZhuYuanZhang followed the tea-for-horse policy that played a very active role in safeguarding the border security in Ming Dynasty.Although the monopoly system of tea was one of the monopoly systems in ancient China and it obstructed the development of economic to some extent, we should realize that after Tang Dynasty established such system, the governments of different dynasties adopted such system because it was very important for the feudal economic. Levies on tea are a very important source of state revenues in ancient China. Because the climate has little impact on tea trees, levies on tea are a stable income for the government. They reduced the accumulation of the wealth of wealthy and powerful tea traders who were deemed to be a great threat to the security of the monarch by the rulers. The monopoly system of tea is widely adopted by rulers of feudal China. Its existence is reasonable. The system in Ming Dynasty follows that in Song and Yuan Dynasty and it is a guide for the same system in Qing Dynasty. It is an integral part of the development of such system in ancient China. It tries to balance the interest among the state, the businessmen and the public and provides a lot of experience from which we can draw lessons.This dissertation consists of five chapters: the first chapter is to review the development of the monopoly system of tea before Ming Dynasty so as to make the readers understand the history of the development of the monopoly system of tea; the second chapter is the description of the development of the tea industry in Ming Dynasty which included the production and consumption of tea, the administration regulations on tea planters and the role of tea traders in the monopoly system of tea; the third chapter tells the development of the monopoly system of tea in Ming Dynasty, including the reform, progress and the decline of such system; the fourth chapter deals with the tea-for- horse system which includes the change and the supervision of such system; the fifth chapter is the comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the monopoly system of tea in Ming Dynasty, including the analysis of the cause of the decline of such system and the influence of such system in Qing Dynasty. The conclusion of the dissertation is as follows: It is necessary for the rulers to set up the monopoly system of tea in ancient China, although it has some negative effect, it plays a very important role in the development of the feudal regime.