Research On The Finance And Revenue Of Xushu Customs During The Qing Dynasty(1645-1860)

Qing Government carried on the customs system of Ming Dynasty and selected several hinge of trade network, then set custom point to charged commercial tax. Therefore, a customs system with larger quantity, wider distribution and huger trade volume was established, whose essence was the levy of commodity circulation tax depending on scatteredsmall-scale production. Xushu Customs located in Suzhou, the central economic city of China during that time. Due to the especial geographical location and the heavy tax amount, it played a vital role in the customs system of Qing Dynasty. The administration scope of Xushu Customs mainly included the commerce circulation of Suzhou and its surrounding area. The crisscross waterway was the geographic carrier of Xushu Customs to exerting effects. Moreover, the huge purchasing power and active consumer demand of Suzhou and the surrounding market towns attracted merchant ships all over the country to transporting food and carrying various kinds of sundry goods through this area. These all became the material basis of tax collection of Xushu Customs. Emperors of Qing Dynasty especially pay attention to the control of Jiangnan region, and Xushu Customs implemented this purport on commercial tax collecting. Xushu Customs was under the direct administration of Guizhou Apartment of The Financial Institution and it was a central-type customs. The taxes of Xushu Customs not only need to turn over to the state, it was also under the direct control of the central government. The turning point of Xushu Customs occurred during the reign of Yongzheng and the early years of Qianlong. Firstly, the officer of Silk Weaving Bureau in Suzhou began to take charge of Xushu Customs as a personnel change. Secondly, documents was emphasized to be issued by The Financial Institution, and the tax code was revised thrice in order to be much clearer. Besides, a surplus report system was established, which facilitated a revolutionary change and the nationalization of the property ownership of customs. By virtue of memorial and archives under the surplus report system, this research was able to make quantitative analysis on the tax collection of Xushu Customs, and divided the changes of tax as three stages from Yongzheng to Xianfeng to present different trends, which standard was whether the taxes reached the demands or not. Basing on quantitative analysis, this thesis use the frame of the Original Amount Doctrine to discuss the trends of fixed quota in tax collection of customs, as well as the operation cost and revenue profile of Xushu Customs. On the basis of analysis about the forming reason of the Original Amount Doctrine, the thesis tried to explore the financial ideas of rulers and the feedbacks of financial system of Qing Dynasty.