A Study On The Grain Transporting And The Related Burden In Jiangxi During The Qing Dynasty

For more rated grain and " San fan rebellion " , the wei-so soliders who were responsible for transporting duties in Jiangxi were relatively not enough. The range in which wei-so selected soliders were expanded gradually , and large quantities of steersmen , sailors got to the ranks for transporting for hire and were legalized. The ships for carrying grain were increased , and the military farms were closer linked with the transportation duties . The counties which had duty handing in grain in Jiangxi were out-of-the-way places more , and the ships were difficult to erter them deeper. So the grain were gathered in Nanchang waiting for further transporting, and then the ships for carring grain waded lake and passed river ,went up north. In general , Jiangxi bore heavier transporting burden, and wei-so disputed with each other for burden in various degree. Those who transported grain by water beard not the same because of their different roles:Wei-so soliders undertook double burdens to build ships and transporting grain ,and with the aggravating of the burden, they were unable to support it. Steersmen undertook heavy strength battle, but earned a little; so it was of common occurrence for them to extort the soliders and did a great deal of malfeasance. And the officers who were in charge of the transportation and the "Jianding" looked it as a way to plunder money. With the ingrained habits dying hard and the condition deteriorating in transportation, the way in which the ordinary peers who were involved in the transportation tackled it should be diversified day by day. Wei-so soliders disputed constantly in order to evade the transporting duties. The side of ships engaged in trade and smuggling for more incomes, even stole and selled the grain , or extorted property from the traders. The poor soliders mortgaged the open up wasteland and even got into the way to escape finally. By the latter stage of Qing Dynasty ,with grain transporting stopping , the functiont for transportation of wei-so was lost, and the soliders got free from it. The steersmen , sailors fell into the unemployment , and became a social problem , which made the local authorities worried.