Salt Profits And Salt Capital Flows In The Golden Age Of Qing Dynasty

Salt revenue had always been taken an important role in the Qing dynasty,especially that it has provided a strong support for economic recovery in early Qingdynasty and even for the prosperity of economy during the golden age of Qingdynasty.From the short recovery period of salt industry till mid-Qianlong reign, under thestable society and incorruptible governance of officers, the imperial government tookpacifying policy to salt merchants such as tax reduction and tax free, which made saltmerchants accumulate abundant capital in a short term and boosted salt industry intothe most prosperous period, so that the imperial government and merchants made alarge amount of profits in this period. Then starting from the mid-Qianlong reign,because of frequent objectionable practices in salt industry and more unnecessaryexpenditures, the imperial government constantly increased salt tax in order to satisfyits own fiscal expenses; The officials governing salt industry at all levels began toheavily collect tax from salt merchants, so that less and less profit could be gainedfrom salt industry; Along with intensified phenomenon of “silver appreciation andcopper cash depreciation”, the profits from salt industry and even the capital of saltmerchants were shrunk, that made salt merchants suffer a heavy blow evendeclination.The Qing dynasty continued to implement monopoly system of Ming dynasty,the nature of which was official marketing, which meant that the production,transportation and sales of salt were monopolized by the imperial government. Thetax payment as well as the production, transportation and sales of salt were done bysalt merchants under the supervision of the imperial government. The price of salt andthe salt tax regulation were made by the imperial government, the merchants were notallowed to set or raise prices without authorization, and the merchants shouldcompleted the entire system of salt industry within the framework of the country.Therefore, the profits gained by salt merchants depended on salt price, tax and rate ofprofite regulated by the country, while the salt tax and profits also depended on the businesses made by merchants, so there was a contradiction between the country andsalt merchants. on the one hand, the imperial government needed a stable saltmerchant group to complete the salt system and ensure salt revenue; on the other hand,the imperial government suppressed the development of merchants under restrainingcommerce policy and levied heavy taxes from merchants. Drove by profits, saltmerchants would certainly turn the pressure from the government to civilians in thecourse of salt sales, which caused people could not afford for salt and also madeillegal salt come into market to share profits. Official salt sales were stagnated, andsalt tax was then reduced. However, during officialdom of mid-Qing period, in orderto compensate for revenue and expand salt incomes, the imperial government startedto increase salt tax, which thus intensified class contradictions and made saltmerchants’ capital declined, forcing the government to reform salt polices during thereign of Dao Guang.