A Study On The Tobacco Monopoly Sale Legal System During The Period Of The Republic Of China(1912-1937)

The tobacco industry has been constantly developing despite controversy. Anti-tobacco movement has rose one after another with the development of tobacco industry. It’s undeniable that the history of tobacco has been going alongside with that of China, and has been bound up with Chinese economy, culture and policy. It has also been closely linked with Chinese honor and disgrace and has been enriching Chinese historical and cultural heritage, from which there are manythings worth us exploiting, studying and memorizing.When was tobacco introduced to China is a controversial issue. It’s generally believed that the tobacco industry has been formed from the end of the 16 th century to the 17 th century. Before the mid Qing Dynasty, under the leadership’s Physiocracy, tobacco had been banned planting. The prevailing of consuming tobacco contributed, to some degree, to the development of the tobacco industry. After the Opium War the capital countries invaded China with guns and cannons, which meanwhile introduced foreign tobacco. The foreigners’ advanced technology far outweighed Chinese small individual workshops. From the end of Qing Dynasty, influenced by the Sumptuary policy from other countries and the internal and external political troubles, the government had tried to increase the revenue by strengthening the control of tobacco and its taxation.From the beginning of the Republican period the Beiyang Government began to set up public sale system and planned a series of laws to push the system. Unfortunately the time of separatism was unsuitable to launch the system and the free-for-all among all the provinces and cities were majority. Even though, their initial step towards the tobacco ’s monopoly management system, whose reforms ranged from Likin, alcohol and tobacco tax, public sale fees to excise had brought positive influence to society, economy and cultural life. It also has laid foundation for present tobacco ’s monopoly management as well as a meaningful lesson to the research and discussion about whether it should be cancelled or not.