The Reform Of Salt Policy And The Political Situation During The Initial Period Of Republic Of China

From the perspective of political history, this thesis mainly analyzes the motivation and resistance of the salt reform, as well as the causes of its failure in the early of Republic of China. It aims to introduce the reform of salt policy as well as the social feature of that period.The thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter one introduces the motivation of the reform. From the very beginning, different interest groups had divergent objectives of the reform, which doomed the reform to be one full of the repeated contest between them. Chapter two centers on the reform of salt policy under the external force. Since the signing of the Loan in 1913, the imperialists had interfered in the reform as creditor nations, which was fiercely opposed by the nationalists. There exists such contradiction as organization structure and salt tax between imperialists and nationalists. Chapter three analyzes salt tax, transportation and marketing system, as well as the conflicts among interest groups. Because of the objection and resistance of the vested interests, especially salt merchants, the effect of the reform was diverted from the original intention, without substantial progress. Chapter four mainly talks about the competition between central and local power on salt tax. From the Loan in 1913 to the secondary revolution and then to Honxian Monarchy, centralism was first enhanced but then weakened. Following this process, the contest for the salt tax among different interest groups developed accordingly. Since Honxian Monarchy, the central power has been greatly weakened. Warlords in various places withheld salt tax to enlarge their power, which indicates that the attempts to centralize salt tax were in vain.The reform of salt policy turns out to be a double track process: progress accompanied with standstill; new followed with old. The basic reason is that the reform is restrained in the course of China's modernization. The unique epoch determined that the reform was difficult to be fulfilled, and the modernization of Chinese salt policy was advanced with the repeated combat of various powers and in continual phases. It was a reform with difficulties and hardships.