The Study Of Customary Fees In Kangxi Yongzheng And Qianlong Period

The customary fees are the bad practices in bureaucracy circle, which current research has identified and widely accepted. When concern on the customary fees. There are three areas need to pay attention: Firstly, they have broad and narrow senses. The broadly sense, which refers to a public official of the state through illegal means to get all of the revenue. In officials' papers and literates' books, corruption and customary fees were equal to each other. This situation is quite common. The narrow sense, which refers to the presenting and receiving some money and gifts between officials, These actions were adjusted in the reform of Emperor Yongzheng. Secondly, customary fees are not a static, after Yongzheng reform, some types of customary fees were Legitimated. Since then when officials and clerks get money beside the supplementary salary, which means generate new customary fees. Thirdly, Despite meltage fees were the major additional revenue to officials, people at that time often talk about meltage fees, additional tax and customary fees at the same times, in their opinions, the meltage fees were the business of the local magistrate, and not be equated with corruption. However, Contemporary people tend to be attributed meltage fees as the main content of customary fees.Under the background of Kangxi Yongzheng Qianlong Prosperity, the customary fees began proliferate at later Kangxi reign, then normalized and adjusted at Yongzheng and prophase of Qianlong reign, at last proliferated again at mid-later term of Qianlong reign. Through the whole process, the customary fees have close relationship with institution environment and social-economy environment. the institution environment consist of Fiscal institution, salary institution, punishment institution and law institution; the social-economy environment consist of officials' value, the change of customs, the trend of market price rise. Based on the study of customary fees in Kangxi Yongzheng and Qianlong reign, We will find a contradictory phenomenon, it was explicitly prohibited by law, but it existed objectively. Whether ancient or modern people have made this broad view. this article Reexamine the environment factors on the derive of customary fees, Using institutional environment concept and social-economy environment concept in institutional economics theory and finding the deep-seated reasons of customary fees' inevitable trend of existence and development. I hope to gain something useful from this article.