Changes in China’s fiscal system in the late Qing

ABSTRACT

In the late Qing, due to frequent large-scale wars, the Board of Revenue (hubu) and provincial treasuries were often in a state of great difficulties, struggling to support the wartime needs. After the central government was forced to delegate the authority of fundraising, tax collection and expenditure to the provinces, the provincial governments had to rely on themselves to relieve financial difficulties. Hence, within the centralized and unified traditional fiscal system, the provincial finance was getting stronger, forming the new pattern that the central and provincial governments had equal control of finance. The allocation system of the national financial resources changed from the direct appropriation of funds from the Board of Revenue to the appropriation according to needs of provinces based on consultations with the provinces. In the later period of the Guangxu reign, the central government actively introduced the western fiscal budget system in order to solve the financial problems and prevent chaos. In revenue and expenditure, the Qing government adhered to the traditional principle of “adjusting expenditure according to the income” (liang ru wei chu), while in the wartime or when the demand of funds substantially increased due to the enforcement of the New Policy Reform, it became trapped in the predicament between the traditional principle and the new principle of “adjusting income according to the expenditure” (liang chu wei ru). When the modern budget system was implemented in the late Qing, the central government resolutely put into effect the above two principles into practical budgetary planning, trying to balance between the steady and the positive policies for expanding financial resources. However, the fiscal reform failed to save the Qing government from ultimate falling after the 1911 Revolution started.

KEYWORDS:

• Fiscal system in the late Qing
• fiscal budget system
• wartime finance
• Qing government

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Glossary

Chun qinwang 醇亲王

Daoguang 道光

duzhibu 度支部

Gangyi 刚毅

gongbu 工部

Gongmin bidu chubian 《公民必读初编》

Guangxu 光绪

hubu 户部

huiyizhengwuchu 会议政务处

Jinglian 景廉

jingxiang 京饷

kai yuan jie liu 开源节流

liang chu wei ru 量出为入

liang ru wei chu 量入为出

libu 吏部

lijin 厘金

Liu Zexi 刘泽熙

Ruicheng 瑞澂

tanpai 摊派

Tongzhi 同治

Wang Naizheng 王乃徵

Wei Jingtong 魏景桐

Xianfeng 咸丰

xiexiang 协饷

Xuantong 宣统

Xue Fucheng 薛福成

Yihuan 奕譞

Zaize 载泽

Zengyun 增韞

Zhang Jian 张謇

Zhang Mingqi 张鸣岐

Zhongyang zhuanxiang jingfei 中央专项经费

Zhou Xuexi 周学熙

zizhengyuan yusuangu 资政院预算股

zizhengyuan 资政院

zongguan neiwufu dachen 总管内务府大臣

Zuo Zongtang 左宗棠

Notes

¹ For the relatively overall discussion of fiscal issues in the Qing dynasty, see Chen Feng, Qingdai caizheng zhengce yu huobi zhengce yanjiu; for the discussion of the fiscal system in the late Qing, see Zhou Yumin, Wan Qing caizheng yu shehui bianqian; some scholars have the detailed discussion of the financial relations between the central and local governments in the late Qing, such as Peng Yuxin, “Qingmo zhongyang yu gesheng caizheng guanxi,” 83–110; and He Hanwei, “Qingji zhongyang yu gesheng caizheng,” 597–698.

² August 30, the eightieth year of the Guangxu reign, see Li Deji, “Qingji neiwufu jingfei wenti,” 22–23. In fact, on the first of April in the fourth year of the Guangxu reign, in his memorial to the emperor an official also stated that “the empress dowager and emperor possessed everything all over the world.” The memorial is in the First Historical Archives, file no. 03–5582-026.

³ The Board of Revenue stipulated that the use of over five hundred taels of silver of the land tax, grain tax and other additional taxes should report to the emperor for approval, and over three hundred taels of silver should report to the Board of Revenue for approval. And the Board of Revenue also should compile the statistics reports at the end of the year and report them to the emperor. See “Hubu zou wei zunzhi yi zouzhe,” 3947–3948.

⁴ Peng Yuxin, “Qingdai tianfu qiyun cunliu zhidu,” 133.

⁵ Liu Zenghe, “Taiping tianguo yundong chuqi Qingting,” 55–72; and “Jia guo zhijian,” 175–234.

⁶ Qing shi lu, 772.

⁷ He Hanwei, “Qingji zhongyang yu gesheng caizheng,” 610. In fact, the implementation of this new system was not once and for all, and since then, the achievements of the provinces in paying the funds needed in Beijing were still not very optimistic.

⁸ The funds for northeast border defense in the early Guangxu reign and the coastal defense construction in the north and south also were raised this way.

⁹ Shen Tongsheng, Guangxu zhengyao, 1185.

¹⁰ The author agrees with Luo Yudong’s statement of “decentralization of power.” Luo argues that “decentralization of power” was very different from “division of power.” The “decentralization of power” meant that the power that originally belonged to the monarch, which was unable to wield, scattered to the hands of local authorities. The most obvious example was that in the Qing dynasty the central government could not act arbitrarily and must seek governors’ consent. The “division of power” indicated that the central government divided part of its power to local governments while still remain its power of ruling. See Luo Yudong, “Guangxu chao bujiu caizheng,” 264. The Western scholar Marianne Bastid holds that after the end of the Taiping Rebellion the fiscal management of the Qing government was operated according to the power division system, which was subjected to be deliberated. All parties in the Qing government tried their best to restore the old system, and subjectively it seems that there was no so-called tendency of division of power. Marianne Bastid’s view can be seen in “The Structure of the Financial Institutions,” 78.

¹¹ In the tenth year of Guangxu reign, the Board of Revenue listed 50 to 60 kinds of different bureaus that were registered in the Board. Hubu zougao, vol. 6, 2655–2656.

¹² For example, Guangdong Provincial Finance Bureau managed Likin; Land Rent Bureau managed land renting, official land, sand donation; Title Deed Bureau managed title deeds; Recover Bureau managed donation. See Guangdong qingli caizhengju, Guangdong quan sheng caizheng yange, vol. 13, 5. A bureau in Anhui Province was in charge of regular income as many as 20. See Feng Xu, Wan zheng jiyao, 406–413.

¹³ “Zhi Weng Tongjue han,” 228.

¹⁴ The Board of Revenue and Financial Department in 1905 accused some provinces of selfishly ignoring the needs of the central government in the opium donation issues, see “Caizhengchu, hubu zou wei ba sheng tugao tongjuan yi bingli chouban ni jiang shouzhi geshu chi you zongju huihe fenxi kaibao zhe” [Memorial of the Financial Department and Board of Revenue on the Issue of Opium Donation], Nov. 19, 1905, Caizhengchu quanzong dang’an [Archives of the Financial Department], no file no.

¹⁵ Zhou Jiamei, Qi bu fu zhai zhengshu, 97.

¹⁶ Qing shi gao, vol. 140, zhi 89, officer 1, 3264; and Xue Fucheng, “Xu Jiang chen jianshu zhi ji,” 1889–1896.

¹⁷ “Qi Junzao deng zou fu,” 494.

¹⁸ Xue Fucheng, “Xu Jiang chen jianshu zhi ji,” 1889–1896.

¹⁹ He Hanwei, “Qingji zhongyang yu gesheng caizheng,” 597–698.

²⁰ Takeshi Hamashita, Zhongguo jindai jingjishi yanjiu, 87–88.

²¹ Shanghai tushuguan, Wang Kangnian shiyou shuzha, 336.

²² “Duzhibu zou shi ban,” 299–301.

²³ Qingli caizheng zhangcheng jiangyi, 14.

²⁴ “Zhejiang xunfu zou tiaoli caizheng shiyi zhe” [Memorial of Governor of Zhejiang Province on Financial Affairs], November 1910, Huiyi zhengwuchu quanzong [Office of Government Administration], caizheng 914–8345.

²⁵ Liu Zenghe, “Qian gong hou ju,” 73–91.

²⁶ “Liangguang zongdu Zhang Mingqi zou,” 379–383.

²⁷ “Duzhibu zou qing chi,” 3–4.

²⁸ “Duzhibu zou weichi yusuan,” 2–3.

²⁹ Ibid., 4–5.

³⁰ Li Kanghui, “Ding jingzhi yi yu,” 9.

³¹ Chen Feng, “Chuantong caizheng fanshi de zhuanhuan,” 24.

³² “Zaixi lai han,” 1–9.

³³ Ni Yuping, Cong guojia caizheng dao caizheng guojia, 274–276.

³⁴ Liu Zenghe, “Wan Qing bao jiang de junfei yunchou,” 174.

³⁵ Jing Lian, “Zou wei jingchen shishi jiannan,” file no. 03–6602-006.

³⁶ Gang Yi, “Zou wei dangjin mifei lianxiang,” file no. 03–5516-069.

³⁷ According to Liu Zexi, head of the Department of Budget Review of the Advisory Council, the budget deficit in the third year of Xuantong reign reached 50 million taels. See Liu Zexi’s speech on budget audit, “Zizhengyuan yusuan gu guyuanzhang,” 1–2.

³⁸ Zhou Xuexi, “Zhi Li fu zongtong, ge sheng dufu, minzhengzhang han” [Letter to Vice President Li, Governor of All Provinces, and Minister of Civil Affairs], Caizhengbu minyuan dang’an [Archives of the Ministry of Finance in the First Year of the Republic of China], registration no. 392930.

³⁹ The principle of “adjusting income according to the expenditure” started since the middle of the seventeenth century in Britain. After Cromwell had overthrown the monarchy and established the republic, all the national expenditure was decided by members of the parliament; every month the monthly expenditure should be estimated first and then the government started to levy taxes. Since then, almost all constitutional and republican countries have taken this as the guide to budget, see Chen Hengwu, Zhongguo daxue jiangyi, 4.

⁴⁰ Meng Zhaochang, Gongmin bidu chubian, 17.

⁴¹ Zhang Jian, Yuji defang zizhi jingfei liding, 3.

⁴² “Zhejiang xunfu zou tiaoli caizheng shiyi zhe” [Memorial of Zhejiang Governor on Financial Affairs], Huiyi zhengwuchu quanzong [Archives of the Council of Government Affairs], 914–8345.

⁴³ Shaanxi qingli caizhengju, Shaanxi qingli caizheng shuomingshu, 1.

⁴⁴ Guangxi caizheng yange libi shuoming, 6.

⁴⁵ “Huiyi duzhibu zou shiban Xuantong san nian yusuan qing chi jiao zizhengyuan zhaozhang banli zhe” [The Memorial of the Minister of Finance on the Budget of the Third Year of Xuantong reign and Requesting the Advisory Council to Handle It According to Regulations], Huiyi zhengwuchu dang’an quanzong [Archives of the Council of Government Affairs], Finance 982.

⁴⁶ “Chou yi yusuan juesuan zhuoshou banfa,” Shengjing shibao, 3.

⁴⁷ “Duzhibu zou diaocha ge sheng,” 5–7.

⁴⁸ “(Duzhibu) you zou shiban yusuan,” 13.

⁴⁹ See Liu Zexi’s speech at the annual meeting of the Advisory Council, “Zizhengyuan yusuangu guyuanzhang,” 8.

⁵⁰ “Hubei buzhengshi Wang Naizheng,” 7–11.

⁵¹ “Hu Guang zongdu Ruicheng,” 10–12.

⁵² Guangdong sheng qingli caizhengju, Guangdong caizheng shuomingshu.

⁵³ “Dai fuyuan ni fu zhengwuchu,” 70.

⁵⁴ “Huyuan wei juzou hejian xiuzheng,” 485–486.

⁵⁵ “Lun zhengfu hejian ge sheng,” 2–3.

⁵⁶ “Duzhibu zou wei shiban quanguo yusuan,” 2.

⁵⁷ “Zizhengyuan diyi ci changnianhui,” 2.

⁵⁸ Shanxi qingli caizhengju, Shanxi quansheng caizheng shuomingshu, 54.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Social Science Funds of China (No. 17AZS008).

Notes on contributors

Zenghe LIU

LIU Zenghe is a professor of the Department of History, Ji’nan University in Guangzhou. His main research interest is the history of the late Qing and the history of institutions of modern China. His representative works include The Opium Taxation and the Late Qing Reform (Revised edition, Chengdu: Sichuan People’s Publishing House, 2020) and Silver and War: Research on Wartime Financial Operations in the Late Qing (Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press, 2021).