Taxation in premodern China

Tax practices of China in the premodern era

Poll tax receipts issued during the Guangxu period of the Qing dynasty.

Taxation in premodern China varied greatly over time. The most important source of state revenue was the tax on agriculture, or land tax. During some dynasties, the government also imposed monopolies that became important sources of revenue. The monopoly on salt was especially lucrative and stable. Commercial taxes were generally quite low, except in times of war. Other means of state revenues were inflation, forced labor (the corvee), and expropriation of rich merchants and landowners. Below is a chart of the sources of state revenue in Imperial China.

See also

• History of canals in China, for their use in conveying the grain taxes

References

Citations

1. Zhan 2006
2. Li & Zheng 2001, p. 244
3. Ji; et al. 2005a, pp. 73–74
4. Li & Zheng 2001, p. 244
5. Ji; et al. 2005a, p. 105
6. Xie 2005
7. Xie 2005
8. Xie 2005
9. Li & Zheng 2001, p. 925
10. Huang 1998, pp. 138–141
11. Myers & Wang 2002, pp. 563–647
12. Zhang, Taisu (2023). The Ideological Foundations of Qing Taxation: Belief Systems, Politics, and Institutions. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108995955. ISBN 978-1-108-99595-5. S2CID 256566388.

General sources

• Huang, Ray (1998), "The Ming fiscal administration", in Twitchett, Denis; Fairbank, John K. (eds.), The Ming Dynasty, 1 398–1644, Part 2, The Cambridge History of China, vol. 8, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 106–172, ISBN 978-0-521-24333-9
• Ji, Jianghong; et al. (2005a), Encyclopedia of China History (in Chinese), vol. 1, Beijing publishing house, ISBN 7-900321-54-3
• Ji, Jianghong; et al. (2005b), Encyclopedia of China History (in Chinese), vol. 2, Beijing publishing house, ISBN 7-900321-54-3
• Ji, Jianghong; et al. (2005), Encyclopedia of China History (in Chinese), vol. 3, Beijing publishing house, ISBN 7-900321-54-3
• Li, Bo; Zheng, Yin (2001), 5000 years of Chinese history (in Chinese), Inner Mongolian People's publishing corp, ISBN 7-204-04420-7
• Xie, Yuanlu (2005), "Analysis of the Tang-Song socioeconomic transformation", Research on Chinese Economic History, 2, archived from the original on 2011-07-06
• Zhan, Zhifei (2006), "Changes in the monetary system in the early Han and its effects", Economic History, 5
• Myers, H. Ramon; Wang, Yeh-Chien (2002), "Economic developments, 1644–1800", in Peterson, Willard (ed.), The Ch'ing Empire to 1800, The Cambridge History of China, vol. 9, Cambridge University Press, pp. 563–647, ISBN 978-0-521-24334-6