A Study On The Problem Of Anti-smuggling In The Production And Marketing Of Salt In The Early And Middle Period Of Qing Dynasty(1644-1840)

The problem of salt is an important topic in the study of economic history.The problem of private salt in Qing Dynasty is very serious,in which the problem of anti-smuggling needs to be further studied.This paper is divided into five parts to explore the problem of anti-smuggling in salt production and marketing in the early and middle period of Qing Dynasty.The first part explores the reasons of anti-smuggling.Through the analysis of historical materials,it can be found that the Qing government attached importance to anti-smuggling because of the great harm of private salt.The private salt activities in the early and middle period of the Qing Dynasty mainly did harm in two aspects,one was the impact on the fee paid for a certificate to sell salt of the Qing government,and the other was a threat to the stability of the local society.The second part explores the issue of anti-smuggling funds.There are two main sources of anti-smuggling funds of the Qing government,one is official funding,the other is salt merchants’ donations,and the latter accounts for a larger proportion.Judging from these expenditures,the amount of anti-corruption money for senior officials is huge,while the food fees for low-level anti-smuggling personnel such as patrols are very low.In addition,in the early and middle period of the Qing Dynasty,there was a phenomenon that officials falsely reported the number of anti-smuggling personnel and ate empty pay.The third part explores the problem of anti-smuggling personnel.Theanti-smuggling personnel of the Qing government mainly included official soldiers and commercial patrols,and the head in a rural area also had a certain responsibility for anti-smuggling.These anti-smuggling personnel are mainly distributed in salt farm,district and department,the total number of personnel set up in district and department is more,but the anti-smuggling force of a district and department is relatively weak.On the whole,the scale of the anti-smuggling team of the Qing government showed a trend of expansion,but there were also layoffs due to the lack of anti-smuggling funds.The transportation equipment of anti-smuggling personnel includes small patrol boats on water and horses on land,while the weaponry is relatively simple,and the main firearm,the shotgun,is not only small in number,but also strictly restricted.The fourth part explores the trial of private salt case.There are some distinct characteristics in the judgment of private salt case in the early and middle period of Qing Dynasty.First of all,the legal status of official anti-smuggling personnel is different from that of commercial anti-smuggling personnel,which is mainly reflected in that when traffickers resist arrest,they will receive different judgments because of the different identities of anti-smuggling personnel,and vice versa.Secondly,the verdict was not entirely based on the provisions of the law,and the supreme rulers of the Qing Dynasty sometimes directly intervened in the judicial trial.Finally,the local officials of the Qing government had serious fraud,such as concealing the case,hastily closing the case,trying the case as a minor case,and so on.The fifth part explores the reasons for the poor effectiveness of anti-smuggling.There are roughly five factors that led to the Qing government’s inability to achieve good results in anti-smuggling: first,the competitiveness of official salt is not equal to private salt,second,the salt farm is out of control,third,the enthusiasm of anti-smuggling personnel is poor,fourth,there are regional discrimination and interest frictions,fifth,corruption of officials,sixth,mistake of appointment.There are deeper reasons behind these factors,for example,the poor competitiveness of official salt is mainly reflected in the high price,and the high price of official salt is closely related to the Salt Certificate System implemented by the Qing government.and the Qing government is unwilling to give up this rigid system,because the demarcation of salt has a long history,there are many conveniences for the Qing government.In a word,in the early and middle Period of Qing Dynasty,based on the the harm of private salt,the central government of the Qing Dynasty invested a lot ofanti-smuggling funds,organized a large-scale anti-smuggling team,and formulated severe legal provisions on the smuggling of salt.However,on the whole,due to the existence of more serious problems in anti-smuggling funds,anti-personnel personnel,and judgments on private salt cases,the anti-smuggling effect of the Qing government was not good.