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The Income and Military Expenditure of Kiangsi Province in the Last Years (1860–1864) of the Taiping Rebellion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

David Pong
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The Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864), the biggest rebellion Imperial China had ever experienced, had undoubtedly exposed the many inadequacies of the dynastic government. The decrepit state of the army was at once revealed. The Manchu banner troops had long decayed while the Chinese Army of the Green Standard (Lü-ying) had also reached its nadir at the turn of the nineteenth century. The government, therefore, had to depend more and more on local, gentry-led armies. The defeat of the main government armies in 1860 eventually forced the court at Peking to place full responsibility in the hands of these gentry-led armies, thus introducing a new phase in the war of suppression.

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Articles
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The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , November 1966 , pp. 49 - 65
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Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1966

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References

1 Michael, Franz H. and Taylor, George E., The Far East in the Modern World (New York, 1956), pp. 186–190Google Scholar.

2 Yü-tung, Lo, Chung-kuo li-chin shih (The History of Likin in China), (Shanghai, Commercial Press, 1936)Google Scholar. Beal, Edwin G. Jr., The Origin of Likin, 1853–1864 (Harvard University Press, 1958)Google Scholar. Nai, Hsia, “T'ai-p'ing t'ien-kuo ch'ien-hou Ch'ang-chiang ko-sheng chih t'ien-fu wen-t'i” (“The Land Tax in the Yangtze Provinces Before and After the Taiping Rebellion”), Ch'ing-hua hsüeh-pao, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Apr. 1935)Google Scholar, reprinted in Chung-kuo chin-tai shih lun-ts'ung, second series, No. 2, pp. 145–204. This article is translated, with some omissions, by Sun, E-tu Zen and de Francis, John in Chinese Social History (American Council of. Learned Societies, Washington, D. C., 1956), pp. 361–382Google Scholar. Spector, S., Li Hung-chang and the Huai Army (Seattle, 1964)Google Scholar.

3 A transcription of an imperial edict for Tseng's appointment is contained in Tseng's memorial of HF 10/5/3 (June 21, i860). See TWCK, Vol. 3, 330.

4 Ibid., p. 350.

5 Ibid., p. 435.

6 Ibid., Vol. 3, 436; Vol. 4, 446–447.

7 Kiangsi's annual grain tribute quota was 922,860 shih compared with the national total of 5,526,733 shih. See Hinton, H. C., The Grain Tribute System of China, 1845–1911 (Harvard University Press, 1956), Table A, pp. 9a–9bCrossRefGoogle Scholar. Hinton gives the figure for Kiangsi at 997,472 shih while the CHTC gives 922,860 shih (chiian 83: 10). As Hinton's figure is based on Tsai-ling's Ch'in-ting hu-pu ts'ao-yün ch'üan-shu [Board of Revenue compendium on grain transport], (1876), I prefer the figure in the CHTC which is the pre-Taiping quota. Only eight provinces in the empire were required to return grain tribute, which was assessed by the productivity of grain. There had been little change in the quotas, but for minor revisions, since the beginning of the dynasty. See Hinton. op. cit., pp. 7–9.

8 Kiangsi's land tax revenue for 1849 was 2,163,282 taels. See Hsia Nai, op. cit., p. 155. The empire's total land tax revenue for 1849 was 32,813,340 taels. See Beal, Jr., op. cit., p. 3. A comparison of the land tax revenue quota of Kiangsi and that of the empire gives a percentage of 6.5. See Ch'ing-ch'ao wen-hsien t'ung-kao, Ed. by Huang, Chi et al. (Commercial Press, Shanghai, 1936), pp. 4890–4891Google Scholar.

The land tax revenue quota was determined by the amount of product-yielding land in the province. The land was divided into grades according to fertility and die land tax was assessed accordingly. Except for minor revisions, the quotas had not been changed since 1712 when they were fixed permanently at existing levels.

9 Hsia Nai, op. cit., pp. 154–160.

10 TWCK, Vol. 3, 421–422; Vol. 4, 495.

11 Yu-wen, Chien, T'ai-p'ing t'ien-kuo ch'üan-shih [Complete history of the T'ai-p'ing t'ien-kuo], (Hong Kong, 1962), 3 vols. See Vol. 3, 1616, 2199–2205Google Scholar.

12 This was the campaign led by Shih Ta-k'ai. Eight out of thirteen prefectural capitals and over fifty hsien fell to the Taipings. See Chien Yu-wen, op. cit., Vol. 2, 1164.

13 Hsia Nai, op. cit., p. 166. See also below.

14 LKIIC, Vol. 1, Memorials, chüan 2, 44–45. Also CHTC, chüan 87: 8b–9.

15 LKIIC, Vol. 1, Memorials, chüan 3, 98. Also CHTC, chüan 87: 17.

16 CHTC, chüan 83: 7b–8.

17 I understand from Mr. E. M. Wang of Academia Sinica that the Palace Museum at Peking still holds a sizable collection of statistical records of individual provinces, but some were lost during the Japanese invasion in the present century.

18 Quoted in Sun, E-tu Zen, “The Board of Revenue in Nineteenth-Century China,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 24 (1962–63), 192CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

19 For instance, the Memorial of HF 10/5/6 (June 24, 1860) entitled “Report on Military Expenditures of Previous Years” is among the best accounts on military finances by Tseng Kuo-fan, but even so, is nothing more than a brief report for the four-year period of HF 3 to HF 6 (1853–56). See TWCK, Vol. 3, 333–334.

20 LKIIC, Vol. I, Memorials, chüan 3, 86–87.

21 See Liu K'un-i's Memorials of TC 7/intercalary 4/28 (June 18, 1868) and of TC 9/7/2 (July 29, 1870) in LKIIC, Vol. 1, Memorials, chüan 4, 159–160 and chüan 6, 228 respectively.

22 See Liu's Memorials of TC 5/1/26 (March 12, 1866) and of TC 5/10/28 (December 4, 1866) in LKIIC, Vol.I, Memorials, chüan 2, 44–47 and chüan 3, 98–99.

23 Chüan 87 and 88, passim.

24 TWCK, Vol. 4, 495.

25 Hsia Nai, op. cit., pp. 179–181.

26 SWSK, chüan 1: 34b–35.

27 LKIIC, Vol. 1, Memorials, chüan 3, 85.

28 SWSK, chüan 1: 34–34b; see also Table C.

29 CHTC, chüan 87: 7b–8b.

30 See note 14 above.

31 CHTC, chüan 87: 8b–ab. In the CHTC, however, the figure given for the year 1863–1864 was 100,000 taels less than that given in Liu's Memorial: LKIIC, Vol. i, Memorials, chüan 2, 46; also quoted in CHTC, chüan 87: 9b.

32 LKIIC, Vol. 1, Memorials, chüan 2, 44–46.

33 CHTC, chüan 87: 23b.

34 Ibid., chüan 87: 23.

35 Most of these foreign ships were run by Americans with the English coming second. Only two French ships were recorded at Kiukiang in the whole of 1863 and none in 1864. See PP of HC, 1865, LIII [3489], Commercial Reports from Her Majesty's Consuls in China, pp. 169–170.

36 Although there were certain commodities which foreign merchants were not allowed to deal in, foreigners and Chinese merchants acting for foreigners paid duties at a fixed ad valorem rate, whereas Chinese merchants paid duties at varying rates for different articles on top of which they had to pay likin. See “Revised Regulations of Trade on the Yang-tze-kiang.” PP of HC, 1863, LXXIII [3104], Further Papers relating to the Rebellion in China, pp. 153–154.

37 PP of HC, 1865, XXXVIII [3509], (China, No. 1), Foreign Customs Establishment in China, p. 6.

38 Hat-fang tang [Facsimile of the Maritime Defence Files], (Taipei, 1957). See the Memorial of Li Hung-chang dated TC 2/3/3 (April 20, 1863), Part 1, Vol. 1, 137a.Google Scholar

39 PP of HC, 1865, LIII [3489], op. cit., pp. 148, 172. A hai-kuan tael at this time was equivalent to seven shillings approximately, or, 1.01642335 k'u-p'ing or Board of Revenue tael.

40 CHTC, chüan 87: 13b–14b.

41 PP of HC, 1865, LIII [3489], op. cit., p. 74 and p. 172. It may also be remarked here that opium continued to be the leading item of import in Kiangsi in 1864. Ibid., p. 171.

42 The duties levied on opium depended on the amount that was transported outside the treaty port of Kiukiang. No extra duties were levied on opium sold and consumed in Kiukiang itself.

43 LKIIC, Vol. 1, Memorials, chüan 5, 183–185. This Memorial of Liu, dated TC 7/11/24 (January 6, 1869), gives the most comprehensive and detailed account of the history of likin in Kiangsi.

44 CHTC, chüan 87: 24b–25.

45 TWCK, Vol. 3, 332–333.

46 Ibid., Vol. 3, 337; Vol. 4, 521; CHTC, chüan 87: 25.

47 LKIIC, Vol. 1, Memorials, chüan 5, 185–186.

48 Ibid., chüan 5, 182.

49 Ibid., chüan 6, 219.

50 E-tu Zen Sun, op. cit., p. 205.

51 SWSK, chüan 2: 66–66b.

52 TWCK, Vol. 4, 579–580.

53 SWSK, chüan 3: 2.

54 Ibid., chüan 1: 27.

55 Ibid., chüan I: 29–29b Ch'ing-shih (Taipei, 1961), p. 1633.5 (Vol.3).

56 SWSK, chüan 1: 34–35. I have no evidence that ti-ting was actually used by the army of Chekiang.

57 TWCK, Vol. 4, 495.

58 SWSK, chüan 1: 3315–34.

59 Ibid., chüan 1: 35; LKIIC, Vol. 1, Memorials, chüan 3, 85.

60 TWCK, Vol. 3, 358.

61 Ibid., Vol. 4, pp. 579–580. Towards the end of 1863, the size of Tseng's army had grown to 120,000 in number. See Tseng Kuo-fan wei-k'an hsin-kao [Unpublished correspondence of Tseng Kuofan], ed. Shih-jung, Chiang (Shanghai, 1959), p. 195Google Scholar.

62 Ibid., Vol. 4, 550.

63 SWSK, chüan 1: 35.

64 TWCK, Vol. 4, 521–522.

65 CHTC, chüan 87: 25.

66 See note 64.

67 TWCK, Vol. 3, 358.

68 LKIIC, Vol. 1, Memorials, chüan 6, 219.

69 See note 64; also, Bales, W. L., Tso Tsung-tang, Soldier and Statesman of Old China (Shanghai, 1937), p. 128Google Scholar.

70 TWCK, Vol. 4, 521–522.

71 Ibid., Vol. 3, 358.

72 Ibid., Vol. 4, 579–580, 634.

73 LKIIC, Vol. 1, Memorials, chüan 3, 85.

74 TWCK, Vol. 4) 580, 645.

75 SWSK, chüan 2: 22–22b; Tseng Kuo-fan wei-k'an hsin-kao, p. 214.

76 Hai-jang tang. Part i, Vol. 1, No. 188 (p. 167), TC 2/5/24 (July 9, 1863); No. 282 (pp. 264–265), TC 2/9/26 (November 7, 1863). After the first three payments, these 10,000 taels were diverted into financing the return of the flotilla to Britain as negotiations broke down over die question of control. This payment was discontinued after March, 1864. For a history of die Lay-Osborn Flotilla, see Wright, Stanley F., Hart and the Chinese Customs (Belfast, 1950), pp. 225–257Google Scholar. See also Morse, H. B., The International Relations of the Chinese Empire (London, 1918), Vol. 2, 32–46Google Scholar.

77 LKIIC, Vol. 1, Memorials, chüan 5, 184.

78 This debt was incurred in the following ways: first, the provincial government owed the provincial troops part of their pay which it undertook to pay in the future; second, advancements secured from the provincial treasury in anticipation of future returns of revenue; third, funds borrowed from local authorities during local military emergencies. See ibid., chüan 3, 87–88.

79 TWCK, Vol. 4, 634–636.

80 SWSK, chüan 1: 34b.

81 Ibid., chüan 3: 1–3b.

82 TWCK, Vol. 4, 682–683.

83 LKIIC, Vol. 1, Memorials, chüan 4, 159–160.

84 SWSK, chüan i: 33–35b.

85 From June, 1858, on, Tseng was in charge of military affairs in Chekiang.

86 TWCK, Vol. 3, 332–333.