The Finance System Operation Of Shanxi Province In 18^th Century

There are considerable studies on Qing dynasty and the history of finance in Qing dynasty. Even so, they are not made by someone alone because of the large number of the historical documents and archives in Qing dynasty and the tremendous change in society in modern times. However, most of the current studies focus on the history of finance in later Qing period and only few studies center on the finance in early Qing period. Therefore, the present study aims to explore the finance in the 18th century according to a case study on the operation of the finance system in Shanxi province. While such study needs a general knowledge of the outer environment and inner factors at that time.This thesis puts emphasis on the process and efficiency of finance operation system process and finance operation is divided into two parts. One is the process of fiscal revenue, including the structure and distribution of the fiscal revenue, for instance, zheng fu (the imperial tax on local revenues) and hao xian and so on. The other is the structure and process of fiscal expenditure, such as the xin feng (salary), yang lian yin (salary for being incorruptible) and xie xiang (assistance pay) of the officials at all levels. Meanwhile the two important issues such as "hao xian gui gong" and "tan ding ru mu" in fiscal reform are discussed here. The fiscal policy is very important, but the execution of the policy is crucial because after it is worked out, it will be interfered by all kinds of factors and conditions in reality during its execution process and finally stray from the right path. Nevertheless, among all of the factors, undoubtedly, the system and administrative ability of the officials are very important.The dynamic process is clued from the static description and introduction of the historical documents like Shang Yu Dang, Yongzheng Chao Nei Ge Liu Ke Shi Shu Hu Ke, Yongzheng Zhu Pi Zou Zhe, and such records and topographies as Qing Shi Lu, Da Qing Hui Dian, Shanxi Tong Zhi, Jin Zheng Ji Yao, all fu (prefecture) records and county annals. It is the basic task and basic purpose of the paper. Based on the dynamic picture and with statistical method, the finance condition of the province is summed up from the fiscal revenue and expenditure. And the structural level of finance is represented by the maps made by using the GIS data provided by the Research Center of the History and Geography of Fudan University. The thesis explores the officials, from provincial officials to county officials, their feng lu and yang lian yin etc. And at the same time a list is offered so as to acknowledge that the amount of total tax is fixed within one period of a country. Similarly, such is the case in Shanxi province. As for its distribution, how much tax is distributed to the government and how much to the people? Does the government vie with the people for the profits? Such questions are the direction of the further study. In other words, this thesis is intended to bring light on the administrative efficiency and economic efficiency of officials.