Like all organized states, government service in Imperial China was only possible at a cost. How to meet this cost? We'll explore this in the article, particularly relating to the Song state of the 10th-13th centuries.
The Song Chinese imperial state shouldered a great many responsibilities - which might seem remarkably like those of a modern state. Its chief tasks consisted of collecting revenues, defending dynasty and empire, and maintaining ritual correctness at court and thru out the Chinese imperial government. Apart from that, the empire was also tasked with administering justice, providing for relief during crop failures and natural disasters, encouraging public hygiene, setting standards for higher education and recruiting officials, carrying out public works projects, manufacturing military materiel and armaments, building of imperial-sponsored special projects, managing state monopolies and mines and supervising trade.
All of these activities, as well as many others too many to be documented completely, was carried out by the famed Chinese imperial bureaucracy. The Song state required a massive number of officials and other civil servants to function; though compared with other premodern societies and nations, the tax rates were still relatively lower and most of it was retained locally, to contribute to the local economy.
It was estimated that by late Northern Song times, the Song state employed about 10000 officials in the capital. Plus, the 1500 counties each had about 3 to 6 appointed officials (guan), while the 300 prefectures had 6 to 10 such. Add in the staff in the 'circuits' (lu), sort of like the inspecting agency, it totalled about 10000, for those not based at the capital. We can also estimate there's about 10 to 20 clerical posts for each official position in the capital; somewhat more for each centrally appointed official at the county and prefectural levels. Taking in all the lowliest office servants and yamen (county court) aides, it's very possible that the Song state supported between 200000 and 300000 civil employees, of whom 20000 were ranked officials.
In addition, there's the military. By late Northern Song times, the Song military had surpassed 1 million men. In addition to combat duties, the Song military also served as a labour force for building and other public works projects, transport services, manufacturing of arms and other needs. Unfortunately, the Song armies included too many incompetents which wasted money and lowered fighting efficiency and the officer corps lacked prestige and was at best at the margin of elite status. Still, the Song forces were reasonably effective, as a fighting force.
All of these people needed to be paid; particularly the officials, whose official salaries soon reached reasonably generous levels. High officials received in addition, annual allotments of grain and grants of revenue from designated lands. In many cases, favored Chief Councillors and others received direct gifts from the ruler, in appreciation for their services. As part of their package, officials were also given exemptions from taxation and labour service, depending on their rank, and also from most kinds of punishment for legal violations, preferment in access to local examinations for their sons and other relatives, and the possibility of direct appointment to guan status thru 'protection' (yin) for sons or younger male relatives.
The fiscal records seemed to indicate that the costs of paying for all these people ate up all the revenues annually. The Song state was usually in shortage of funds.
Fiscal shortages hurt the emperors too; for they, unlike the autocrats in the West, drew fixed disbursements from imperial agencies. Since all imperial lands belonged to the empire (not the emperor), they also did not have independent income from lands and estates. And of whatever funds they did have, these were subject to stringent bureaucratic procedures and scrutiny.
Now on to the actual theme of the article.
The Song retained the taxation system as inherited from the earlier Tang dynasty, in particular the 'two-tax method' (liang shui fa) as devised by the Tang financial expert Yang Yan and fully adopted in 780. The method called for the levying of two separate taxes, the 'summer tax' and the 'fall grains' taxes on agricultural production and remained in usage, in some form, until the 19th century. Though each dynasty managed it somewhat differently.
In Song times, agrarian taxes were levied not on the basis of households but on the land they owned or farmed. Land was classed into three grades, based on productivity. A share of the expected (not actual) produce was collected as tax-in-kind. In bad years, the central government could order reductions or total exemptions.
An often cited set of figures from 1077 indicated that the summer tax provided for 1/4 of the total agrarian taxes, while the autumn grain levies (when major cereals were being harvested) provided for the rest. These were mainly in the form of wheat in the North and rice in the South, with the Huai river as the border. Though in both parts as well as elsewhere, other cereals were also grown, including varieties of millet, barley, beans and peas. Other agricultural products were also part of the summer and autumn taxes, including silk floss, bolts of ordinary cloth, lacquer, fodder grasses and hay, tea, reeds for fuel or other uses. Some levies of gold and silver were included, as well as salt.
Apart from the 'two-tax' levies, there were other taxes in operation (naturally). In towns and cities, land and buildings were taxed. Oxen for plowing, leather products, iron and iron goods, farm implements, wine and wine yeasts, alum, forest products, and many others were either government monopolies or else taxed as private forms of wealth.
Also, beginning in Song times, commercial taxes on goods in the market, and goods in transit began to form a major element in imperial taxation. Tariffs were also collected at seaports and at customs checkpoints all along the land borders with China's northern neighbours, the Xi Xia and the Liao (later the Jin). Shops were taxed on volume of sales (sort of like VAT today). Goods in transit were taxed at 2 to 3 % each time they passed thru a 'tax barrier', of which they would be several in the course of a 100 miles. Needless to say, smuggling was rife. Though the taxation was a burden, commerce flourished as never before and there was little evidence to indicate taxation was a clampdown on commercial activity.
Government production and distribution monopolies were also a form of taxation, or at least a source of revenues for the imperial government. The most important was salt because it carried the highest volume and also because it's a necessity of life (everybody needs it). It had been a govt monopoly since long before the empire. Salt in Song times came mainly from the dry salt beds in Inner Asian deserts, deep salt wells in Sichuan and from coastal salterns where seawater was sun-dried or boiled-dried to extract the salt.
The same monopoly agencies also managed other consumption monopolies such as those for wine and liquors, wine yeasts, vinegar, tea, alum, incense fragrances and others. Salt and other products were often delivered to consumption areas on boats and barges which had delivered the grain taxes from those areas. Because of the Song's relatively more sophisticated taxation system, China's organisation of production and distribution took large steps forward and a complex economic system developed rapidly.
In addition, there's also the industrial sector to consider. The mining, smelting and fabricating of iron, steel, copper, tin, lead, mercury and other minerals were govt monopolies as well or under strict government management. Also controlled were charcoal and coke made from coal because of their use in the manufacture of industrial metals. A study indicated coal and steel production in Northern Song times were certainly the highest per capita worldwide at the time, and unsurpassed till middle industrial times.
Most of Song taxation was paid in kind, but the usage of money to pay taxes grew rapidly thru out the Song era, particularly in commercial taxes. It probably accounted for 1/3 to 1/4 of the government's revenues. The round copper alloy coins, with a square hold in the middle for stringing on cords or thongs, were commonly used loose or as whole strings of a standard number. Their equivalents in unminted silver ingots, bolts of common silk or other commodities were also recognized as standard units of value.
These stringed cash and other equivalents eventually grew too bulky for convenient use. As a result, in Song times, the Chinese began to use 'credit currency', notes of credit or paper currency, at first privately issued but then taken up by the govt (like everything else). About the year 1000, the govt recognized the issuance of paper notes called jiaozi (exchange medium) by licensed merchant associations in West China and soon took it over like the other monopolies (naturally).
From then on, various forms of official paper bills (most commonly called huizi) were developed, all denominated in strings of cash. Printed on high-quality paper from brass printing plates, often in two or three colors to discourage counterfeiting, their use spread thru out the empire. Inflationary pressures eventually reduced their value (the govt printed too many of them...) to 1/4 or less of their face value. Paper money works well, then as now, but only when proper fiscal management is enforced.
From all these, it can be seen that Song society was certainly wealthy enough to provide the kinds of revenue needed to sustain the Song form of imperial government. Unfortunately the Song taxation/economic experiment was put short, first by the Jurchen invasion and then by the final Mongol onslaught. We'd never know how it might have developed...
Drawn from Imperial China 900 - 1800 by F.W. Mote
The Song Chinese imperial state shouldered a great many responsibilities - which might seem remarkably like those of a modern state. Its chief tasks consisted of collecting revenues, defending dynasty and empire, and maintaining ritual correctness at court and thru out the Chinese imperial government. Apart from that, the empire was also tasked with administering justice, providing for relief during crop failures and natural disasters, encouraging public hygiene, setting standards for higher education and recruiting officials, carrying out public works projects, manufacturing military materiel and armaments, building of imperial-sponsored special projects, managing state monopolies and mines and supervising trade.
All of these activities, as well as many others too many to be documented completely, was carried out by the famed Chinese imperial bureaucracy. The Song state required a massive number of officials and other civil servants to function; though compared with other premodern societies and nations, the tax rates were still relatively lower and most of it was retained locally, to contribute to the local economy.
It was estimated that by late Northern Song times, the Song state employed about 10000 officials in the capital. Plus, the 1500 counties each had about 3 to 6 appointed officials (guan), while the 300 prefectures had 6 to 10 such. Add in the staff in the 'circuits' (lu), sort of like the inspecting agency, it totalled about 10000, for those not based at the capital. We can also estimate there's about 10 to 20 clerical posts for each official position in the capital; somewhat more for each centrally appointed official at the county and prefectural levels. Taking in all the lowliest office servants and yamen (county court) aides, it's very possible that the Song state supported between 200000 and 300000 civil employees, of whom 20000 were ranked officials.
In addition, there's the military. By late Northern Song times, the Song military had surpassed 1 million men. In addition to combat duties, the Song military also served as a labour force for building and other public works projects, transport services, manufacturing of arms and other needs. Unfortunately, the Song armies included too many incompetents which wasted money and lowered fighting efficiency and the officer corps lacked prestige and was at best at the margin of elite status. Still, the Song forces were reasonably effective, as a fighting force.
All of these people needed to be paid; particularly the officials, whose official salaries soon reached reasonably generous levels. High officials received in addition, annual allotments of grain and grants of revenue from designated lands. In many cases, favored Chief Councillors and others received direct gifts from the ruler, in appreciation for their services. As part of their package, officials were also given exemptions from taxation and labour service, depending on their rank, and also from most kinds of punishment for legal violations, preferment in access to local examinations for their sons and other relatives, and the possibility of direct appointment to guan status thru 'protection' (yin) for sons or younger male relatives.
The fiscal records seemed to indicate that the costs of paying for all these people ate up all the revenues annually. The Song state was usually in shortage of funds.
Fiscal shortages hurt the emperors too; for they, unlike the autocrats in the West, drew fixed disbursements from imperial agencies. Since all imperial lands belonged to the empire (not the emperor), they also did not have independent income from lands and estates. And of whatever funds they did have, these were subject to stringent bureaucratic procedures and scrutiny.
Now on to the actual theme of the article.
The Song retained the taxation system as inherited from the earlier Tang dynasty, in particular the 'two-tax method' (liang shui fa) as devised by the Tang financial expert Yang Yan and fully adopted in 780. The method called for the levying of two separate taxes, the 'summer tax' and the 'fall grains' taxes on agricultural production and remained in usage, in some form, until the 19th century. Though each dynasty managed it somewhat differently.
In Song times, agrarian taxes were levied not on the basis of households but on the land they owned or farmed. Land was classed into three grades, based on productivity. A share of the expected (not actual) produce was collected as tax-in-kind. In bad years, the central government could order reductions or total exemptions.
An often cited set of figures from 1077 indicated that the summer tax provided for 1/4 of the total agrarian taxes, while the autumn grain levies (when major cereals were being harvested) provided for the rest. These were mainly in the form of wheat in the North and rice in the South, with the Huai river as the border. Though in both parts as well as elsewhere, other cereals were also grown, including varieties of millet, barley, beans and peas. Other agricultural products were also part of the summer and autumn taxes, including silk floss, bolts of ordinary cloth, lacquer, fodder grasses and hay, tea, reeds for fuel or other uses. Some levies of gold and silver were included, as well as salt.
Apart from the 'two-tax' levies, there were other taxes in operation (naturally). In towns and cities, land and buildings were taxed. Oxen for plowing, leather products, iron and iron goods, farm implements, wine and wine yeasts, alum, forest products, and many others were either government monopolies or else taxed as private forms of wealth.
Also, beginning in Song times, commercial taxes on goods in the market, and goods in transit began to form a major element in imperial taxation. Tariffs were also collected at seaports and at customs checkpoints all along the land borders with China's northern neighbours, the Xi Xia and the Liao (later the Jin). Shops were taxed on volume of sales (sort of like VAT today). Goods in transit were taxed at 2 to 3 % each time they passed thru a 'tax barrier', of which they would be several in the course of a 100 miles. Needless to say, smuggling was rife. Though the taxation was a burden, commerce flourished as never before and there was little evidence to indicate taxation was a clampdown on commercial activity.
Government production and distribution monopolies were also a form of taxation, or at least a source of revenues for the imperial government. The most important was salt because it carried the highest volume and also because it's a necessity of life (everybody needs it). It had been a govt monopoly since long before the empire. Salt in Song times came mainly from the dry salt beds in Inner Asian deserts, deep salt wells in Sichuan and from coastal salterns where seawater was sun-dried or boiled-dried to extract the salt.
The same monopoly agencies also managed other consumption monopolies such as those for wine and liquors, wine yeasts, vinegar, tea, alum, incense fragrances and others. Salt and other products were often delivered to consumption areas on boats and barges which had delivered the grain taxes from those areas. Because of the Song's relatively more sophisticated taxation system, China's organisation of production and distribution took large steps forward and a complex economic system developed rapidly.
In addition, there's also the industrial sector to consider. The mining, smelting and fabricating of iron, steel, copper, tin, lead, mercury and other minerals were govt monopolies as well or under strict government management. Also controlled were charcoal and coke made from coal because of their use in the manufacture of industrial metals. A study indicated coal and steel production in Northern Song times were certainly the highest per capita worldwide at the time, and unsurpassed till middle industrial times.
Most of Song taxation was paid in kind, but the usage of money to pay taxes grew rapidly thru out the Song era, particularly in commercial taxes. It probably accounted for 1/3 to 1/4 of the government's revenues. The round copper alloy coins, with a square hold in the middle for stringing on cords or thongs, were commonly used loose or as whole strings of a standard number. Their equivalents in unminted silver ingots, bolts of common silk or other commodities were also recognized as standard units of value.
These stringed cash and other equivalents eventually grew too bulky for convenient use. As a result, in Song times, the Chinese began to use 'credit currency', notes of credit or paper currency, at first privately issued but then taken up by the govt (like everything else). About the year 1000, the govt recognized the issuance of paper notes called jiaozi (exchange medium) by licensed merchant associations in West China and soon took it over like the other monopolies (naturally).
From then on, various forms of official paper bills (most commonly called huizi) were developed, all denominated in strings of cash. Printed on high-quality paper from brass printing plates, often in two or three colors to discourage counterfeiting, their use spread thru out the empire. Inflationary pressures eventually reduced their value (the govt printed too many of them...) to 1/4 or less of their face value. Paper money works well, then as now, but only when proper fiscal management is enforced.
From all these, it can be seen that Song society was certainly wealthy enough to provide the kinds of revenue needed to sustain the Song form of imperial government. Unfortunately the Song taxation/economic experiment was put short, first by the Jurchen invasion and then by the final Mongol onslaught. We'd never know how it might have developed...
Drawn from Imperial China 900 - 1800 by F.W. Mote
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