A Study Of Mint Copper Transportation System In Qing Period In Yunnan

Since the fourth year of Qianlong (1737) in Qing Period, most of the mints copper supply had been taken over by Yunnan, with the annual quota more than 10 million jin to Peking and provincial mints. However, all the copper mining areas were situated in mountainous regions that posed great challenges for transportation out of Yunnan, only via labour pack, horse or cattle pack, cart and ship.Diannan kuangchang tulüe滇南礦廠圖略(An Illustrated Account of Mines and Smelters in Yunnan) is a comprehensive writing about history of mining industry in Yunnan in Qing Period, in particular with details on mint copper transportation routes, time, expenses, and managements of officials and boats. The administration on copper transportation could also be found in Yunnan tongzhi雲南銅志(On the copper of Yunnan), Tongzheng bianlan銅政便覽 (A manual on copper administration) and Yunnan tongzheng quanshu雲南銅政全書(Complete Book on the Copper Administration of Yunnan). Moreover, bunches of literature on copper transportation are contained in historical archives, local gazetteers and travel accounts. Nevertheless, a systematic research on copper transportation based on the above literature is still scarce.With the focus on Yunnan copper transportation system, the paper makes a preliminary but systematic study mainly on the above literature. The following issues are well presented: (1) a new explaination of the definition of copper mines; (2) the copper mines database and copper mines location map with annual quota; (3) the transportation routes for copper to Peking mints, Yunnan and provincial mints, as well as transportation expenses and administrations, with the map of transportation routes, and a comparison of transportation cost between copper and general goods in Yunnan and out of Yunnan; (4) the transportation means and techniques, assessing transport capability in Yunnan under discussions on shortage of cattle, improvement of roads and riverway. Furthermore, a field investigation in central and southwesten Yunnan helps revise the knowledge from textual research. The assessment of copper transportation system is also presented including transportation technology, road conditions and transportation administration.