Study On Tea Tax In Sichuan In Qing Dynasty

Because of its unique geographical location,Sichuan is rich in tea,and the west of Sichuan is mostly bordered by ethnic minority areas,so the border trade is developed.Sichuan tea tax revenue has become an important part of the feudal dynasty,so Sichuan tea tax has always been the focus of the dynasties,especially the Qing Dynasty.From the study of tea tax in Sichuan,it can be concluded that the rise of tea trade in Sichuan promoted the stability of geopolitics to a certain extent.The study of Sichuan tea tax in Qing Dynasty is mainly based on the local chronicles of Sichuan Province.Among them,"Southern archives" is the most complete and systematic county-level regime archives of Qing Dynasty.It records the official documents,Civil Pleadings and contracts in and out of Nanbu County,which can directly reflect the collection process of Sichuan tea tax and provide the historical basis for the study of tea tax system.Sichuan tea tax in Qing Dynasty is very representative.Although there is no direct article describing the collection mechanism of Sichuan tea tax in the archives,the production,transportation and marketing of Sichuan tea can be reflected through the patchwork of various cases.In this paper,the changes of tax categories,tea tax rate and tea introduction of Sichuan tea over the years are quantified.In the late Qing Dynasty,the war continued,and the tea tax collection in Sichuan was in a state of fatigue,corruption and profiteering.As a result,the people were in dire need of livelihood.Therefore,the reform of the tea tax system is imperative.During the Guangxu period,the government reformed the tea tax collection organization,boldly tried the official tea business,and set up the official tea shop.The purpose was to firmly control the sales of tea and the collection of tea tax in the hands of the government,so as to achieve the purpose of increasing taxes and eliminating private tea.However,although the Qing government’s intention of eliminating malpractice and cleaning up the source is good,it still can’t stand the heavy burden.The political turmoil has seriously affected the effective implementation of the tea tax policy reform.The development of Sichuan tea has gone downhill,which also makes the contradiction in the process of tea tax collection intensified.