A Study On Taxation In Changshu County In Early Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty is a highly centralized dynasty.Its system is designed on the basis of profits and losses of past dynasties to strengthens the autocratic function.The financial system centered on taxation and collection provides a powerful economic guarantee for autocratic centralization.As the most prominent heavy-duty area in history,Jiangnan has attracted wide attention from scholars both at home and abroad.From the high tax rate caused by the sharp increase in Guantian in the early Ming Dynasty to the continuous reduction of local reserves in order to cope with huge military expenditures in the early Qing Dynasty,the problem of heavy taxation in the Susong area and the imbalance in the proportion of starting,transporting and retaining have brought extremely serious consequences to the local government.In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties,the war which lasted for half a century,coupled with frequent floods and droughts in the south of the Yangtze River,led to the desertion of farmland and the exile of population in the southern provinces.For example,during the reign of Shunzhi and Kangxi,the prefectures and counties of Changshu,Taicang,Kunshan and other prefectures and counties of Suzhou Prefecture "abandoned people and fled for a long time".In addition,due to the special historical background,there was a serious imbalance in the proportion of taxation,transportation and retention in the Qing Dynasty from the beginning.According to Kangxi's?Changshu County Chronicle?,the amount of tax levied on Changshu County in Shunzhi 14 years(1657)and Kangxi 5 years(1666)has been negligible in the case of excessive transportation of money and grain.In the fourteenth year of Shunzhi(1657),the transportation of Changshu County's native color accounted for 94.7% of the total amount of the Department since that year,and the discolored silver reached the stage of "nine transportation and one retention ",which brought huge financial pressure to the local government.Due to the lack of local expenditure,state and county officials have to seek new revenue sources,which has triggered a series of social problems,including official corruption.In the early Qing Dynasty,as the direct undertaker of tax collection in prefectures and counties,the duty and power were very important,which was an important part of ensuring the normal tax collection in prefectures and counties.However,in the process of tax collection,they conspired with the officials and gentry,and even went hand in hand with the cadres.They arbitrarily extorted and disturbed the villagers,which led to the overlapping disadvantages of "covering up","padding up","concealing" and "sophisticating" in Suzhou,where Changshu County was the main county.As the most basic administrative unit,prefectures and counties played a vital role in the administrative system of the Qing Dynasty.Successful collection of money and grain in prefectures and counties is closely related to the economic lifeline of the whole country.The competence of prefectural and county officials is also directly related to the development of local politics,economy,culture and society.The Suzhou area where Changshu County is located has been the most developed area in the whole country since the Song and Yuan Dynasties.It is also an important place for the Ming and Qing dynasties.Because of this,the tax collection in this area is also complicated and has many disadvantages.For example,in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties,the problem of abandonment of farmland and escape of households,the problem of heavy assignment of official farmland since the early Ming Dynasty,the imbalance of the proportion of starting and retaining,and various illegal acts of state and county service are all places that can not be ignored when studying the social development of Changshu County in the early Qing Dynasty.