| The salt administration is a governmental agency that manages the salt industry.Since the implementation of the monopoly of salt and iron industries from Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty,the salt administration has never been absent from China's political landscape.In the 20~thh century,China's salt administration experienced the collapse of an autocratic empire,the manipulation of imperialism,the sacking of feudal warlords,the destruction of the Anti-Japanese War,and the power struggle between the Kuomintang(KMT)and the Communist Party of China(CPC).Finally,the CPC,which obtained the regime,still retained a place for the salt administration,allowing it survive until now.This fully proved the resilience of salt administration in Chinese political system.In December 1949,after the CPC took over the salt area of southwest of China,the Chuankang Salt Administration in Zigong was divided into four parts as Eastern Sichuan,Western Sichuan,Southern Sichuan,and Northern Sichuan according to occupied regions,and these four salt administrations were all affiliated to the Southwest Salt Administration in Chongqing.Among them,the South Sichuan Salt Administration established in Zigong,which administered the most important salt production bases with four major salt field named as Ziliujing,Gongjing,Qianwei,and Leshan.However,the inherent power structure of the salt field in southern Sichuan was broken by CPC.Workers'power rose rapidly,while businessmen's power shrank significantly,which leads to the great compromised of the authority of the South Sichuan Salt Administration.In the early years of the People's Republic of China,the operation of salt field in southern Sichuan was not promising:rogue criminals looted salt boats in the roads;unemployed workers took over private well and stoves with the instigation of labor unions;salt merchants were full of doubts about the CPC's salt industry policy;and the weakened salt administration had difficulties to maintain its power in the salt field.What measures would the salt administration take to confront these difficulties and rebuild its authority in the salt field?What influence would the institutional design of the new regime have on salt agencies?How does the salt administration respond to the institutional changes in the salt field?These problems have become the key to reconstruct salt authority for the South Sichuan Salt Administration.The survival of the organization is crucial to the South Sichuan Salt Administration in the early days of the People's Republic of China.The salt administration re-adjusted its organizational goals in accordance with the dramatic changes in the institutional environment.First,the administration paid the excess salt tax to repay their superiors.Second,the administration squeeze out the private salt dealers from the market by state-owned salt companies.At the same time,the administration obtained the brine distribution pipelines in the salt field via public-private joint management,and then controlled the well operators and stove operators.In addition,in the process of nationalization,the administration utilized the favorable factors such as the worker's hosted,the farmer association's retirement,and the bank's debt collection to take over the private wells,extending the power to the salt production field.Finally,the salt administration exerted pressure on the unions and ultimately gained the control of the workers.At the end,while rebuilding its authority in the salt field,the South Sichuan Salt Administration had a profound effect on the PRC's salt industry system by shaping the new regime's salt administration policy. |
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