| China have developed a unique salt administration system based on the long-term national salt control custom in history.Traditionally,salt administration appeared with features of various monopoly operations,and its institutions and institutional change is also an important research topic for most of academics.Meanwhile,the complexity of salt administration impressed historians so deeply that they have come up with a consensus called “salt muddle”.The salt history study made impressive progress on both research theoretical perspectives and methodology until now,but there remains the problem of imbalance on region and period in previous studies.Accordingly,my thesis will focus on the case of salt administration institutions and institutional change of Zhejiang and discuss institution reforms which was the instruments adopted by government for collecting gabelle and controlling salt.My study will emphasize to analysis the practices of national salt administration at local and micro level,to explore the interactions of different government departments,social organizations and individuals under executive power expansion.In historical narration of this thesis,salt administration was more an institutional context that participants pursue selfish benefits than mere bureaucratic administration.Since around 1800,for Liang-che salt division,traditional institutions have lost the capacity of interest balance.Qing court collected salt tax by an inefficient salt administrative system which various level governments were so confused on finance that unable to modern transformation.Salt merchants also have faced profit margins decline under the state fiscal expansion and economic depression.Salt peasants and most consumers were in poverty that drove them access to illegal salt market.And in addition,solar-evaporated technique and Taiping Rebellion accelerate the decay of salt administration in Liang-che,which contributed to more rampant illegal salt.After Taiping Rebellion,religion governor attempted to reform salt administration,but practical reform was mere nominal adjustment of traditional framework because that institution reform was limited by financial budget.Even after the end of Qing Empire,problems of salt administration left over by national crisis in early 1800 s seem to continue.During the period of Republic of China,with the rise of salt administration reform under regime change,salt reformers have put forward various projects to improve traditional institutions.However,because of salt merchants' opposition,transportation and sale system reform have failed at the beginning in Liang-che.The state has strengthened saltworks control to cut off source of illegal salt and safeguard gabelle,which initiated the process of executive power expansion to social grassroots.the process of executive power expansion continued sporadically in 1913-1937.Despite the general trend of executive power expansion has been strengthened,the state has never been able to control saltworks because of inefficient salt institution and opposition from other social forces.In early Republic of China,salt merchants invested on collecting salt into granary as agents of the government,local elites also acted as agents on salt peasants and salt fields registration.They were authorities in saltworks because basic salt administrative institutions exerted governance indirectly.During Nanjing Nationalist Government period,salt administrative institutions expanded again,and KMT government has paid more attention on saltworks control.But the process of state permeating and expanding into saltworks was resisted by salt peasants,agents and some government departments.Under the interaction of various forces and parts,the effect of saltworks control has been limited obviously.The significant change of salt administration appeared in the Anti-Japanese War time for Zhejiang.Granary merchants retreated from salt administrative structure under the impact of war and continuous business difficulties,the salt bureaus therewith replaced them as investor to collect salt into granary.The salt bureaus established direct economic relation with peasants by executing“official acquisition” which also strengthened state power infiltrate into saltworks.However,the official missons didn't replace granary merchants and local elites as one of authorities in saltworks' grassroots power structure.Even after the war,local elites have acted as actual authority in saltworks.KMT has made attempt to replace agents by official salt industry labor union,but this process failed finally in Zhejiang and it have caused chaos of saltworks' grassroots structure.Local elites absorbed official salt industry labor union and used it to strengthen their authority among salt peasants.In late Republic of China,with the deterioraton of economic situation,KMT government could only disconnect the economic relation with salt peasants when the public finance has been unable to provide living security.After 1949,controlling saltworks still was the chief measure of salt administration in Zhejiang.Faced with rampant illegal salt market,communist government continued to implement previous salt administration reform projects.But for the process of saltworks control,communist government's executive power expansion to saltworks have been hampered by the publics who kept their resistant attitude and opinion on the state.Local elites have been authority of saltworks until the eve of land reform movement.CPC would like to replace role of local elites in saltworks with party activists,but these activists haven't acted in accordance with national salt administrative policies when they were elected as rural cadres.Activists widely involved in salt smuggling or provided protection for other salt peasants,and they have gradually become new authority in saltworks.However,compared with previous periods of late Qing and Republic of China,they showed less strength and domination in saltworks than the communist government.The salt administration policies have been combined into other political movements,and its implementation was more radical than ever.Nevertheless,the state has not achieved all planned projects.In the conclusion,based on the analysis of salt administration change during 1800s-1950 s in Zhejiang,my study argues that the process of salt administrative institutions change is also the exploration course of state building.Salt administration have always run with features of various monopoly operations since 1800 s,but many changes have arisen in deep aspects of administration which are hard to find if historians focus only on routine monopoly appearance.The state have devoted to reestablish order of salt control system after late Qing to Chinese Communist Party.The fundamental solution of order reconstruction is controlling saltworks,and salt bureaus attempted three control patterns,merchant acquisition,coercive acquisition and official acquisition,that mean different paths of government penetrate into saltworks social grassroots.All forces have been involved in interaction and it also limited the expansion of state to control saltworks.As the case study of my thesis shows,in the history of modern China's state building.In our society,the mechanism of state control present as processes of multi-interaction,which means stable governance structure in China is the result of benefit exchange and balance rather than direct domination or binary confrontation. |
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