Study On Shanghai Yuanpu Saltworks After The Anti-Japanese War (1945-1949)

Salt is a necessity of human life.The production and consumption of salt are related to the fate of mankind.Since ancient times,salt tax has been one of the important sources of revenue for the Chinese government.Therefore,all previous regimes have attached great importance to the salt industry,and their systems and policies have been changing with the needs of reality.As an international metropolis,Shanghai’s economic pillar is the secondary and tertiary industries such as high-end manufacturing and finance,while the ratio of the primary industries such as agriculture is very small.However,in the past,salt industry was an important industry in Shanghai.Especially for the salt producing area-Fengxian District,salt industry has always been a major industry,second only to agriculture.However,since the Ming and Qing dynasties,the salt industry in Shanghai has been declining,and only Yuanpu saltworks remained in the middle and late period of the Republic of China.Especially during the Japanese invasion of China,the operation of the saltworks has almost stopped,and it has also suffered serious damage.With the victory of the Anti-Japanese War,Yuanpu saltworks also began to recover and rebuild.The reception of the property and salt fields,the construction of various field offices and the construction of salt warehouses are important work for the post-war reconstruction of Yuanpu saltworks.The purpose is to maintain the normal operation of the saltworks,the policy of returning salt to the warehouse after the war,and the control of salt production.After the war,the new General Administration of Salt Affairs was established.In order to facilitate the work of recovering the area,the Songjiang Branch was set aside from the salt administration bureaus of the Zhejiang regions in 1946 to establish a new Shanghai salt office,which put the salt affairs in Shanghai on the right track.After the war,the government of the Republic of China continued to promote the free transportation and marketing system of salt industry.Its core policy was "produce by citizen,civil transport by citizen,and sell by citizen," Yuan Pu saltworks also responded to its call.Salt merchants could come to the market to buy and sell salt freely as long as they followed the relevant procedures.However,there were still many problems in salt market sales.At the same time,the salt production method of Yuanpu saltworks is backward,and the cost of salt production is too high.Although its output is stable,it is still insignificant compared with the whole country,and it is facing the dilemma of cutting waste and changing production.The problem of untaxed salt has also been paid attention by the government.The problem of smuggling is an important part of the salt policy.After the war,the National Government increased its efforts to suppress smuggling,and the anti-smuggling institutions in Shanghai were also constantly adjusted.However,due to the chaos of the post-war situation and the collapse of the economy,the smuggling of salt in Yuanpu saltworks and Shanghai was still serious.The salt-producing workers are the basic units of salt production.For salt farms,the success of workers control is crucial.After the war,Yuan Pu saltworks adjusted the management of the workers and established a welfare system.However,the interests of the salt farms are contrary to those of the workers,and under the influence of political,economic and other factors,the life of the workers in Yuanpu saltworks is still difficult.To sum up,Yuanpu saltworks cooperated with the adjustment and innovation of the national government’s salt policy after the war and made great efforts in rebuilding local salt production.Through the study of the post-war salt farms,we can see the specific implementation of the post-war national government’s salt policy.