Salt and State: An Annotated Translation of the Songshi Salt Monopoly Treatise

411 Pages·2004·42.979 MB·English

by  Cecilia Chien

SALT AND STATE
AN ANNOTATED TRANSLATION OF THE
SONGSHI SALT MONOPOLY TREATISE
Cecilia Lee-fang Chien
Center for Chinese Studies
The University of Michigan
Ann Arbor
Open access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities/
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program.
MICHIGAN MONOGRAPHS IN CHINESE STUDIES
ISSN 1081-9053
SERIES ESTABLISHED 1968
VOLUME 99
Published by
Center for Chinese Studies
The University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104-1608
© 2004 The Regents of the University of Michigan
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chien, Cecilia Lee-fang
Salt and state : an annotated translation of the Songshi salt monopoly
treatise / Cecilia Lee-fang Chien.
p. cm. — (Michigan monographs in Chinese studies, ISSN 1081-
9053 ; v. 99)
Includes bibliographic references and index.
ISBN 0-89264-163-0 (alk. paper)
1. Salt industry and trade—China—History. 2. Song shi. Shi huo zhi.
Yan. 3. Government monopolies—China. 4. China—History—Song
dynasty, 960-1279. I. Song shi. Shi huo zhi. Yan. English. II. Title. III.
Michigan monographs in Chinese studies no. 99.
HD9213.C42C517 2004
338.4'76644'095109021—dc22
2003055689
ISBN 978-0-89264-163-5 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-472-03806-0 (paper)
ISBN 978-0-472-12750-4 (ebook)
ISBN 978-0-472-90145-6 (open access)
The text of this book is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
To my mother, Florence Chien,
and to the memory of my father,
Gabriel Y. T Chien, 1922-2002

CONTENTS
Illustrations vii
Preface ix
Note to Readers xm
XV
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
Pre-Song Salt Monopolies 4
The Historical Context of the Song Monopoly System 10
Early Salt Monopoly Operations 39
Government versus Merchant Distribution 49
Voucher Programs 62
Southern Song Realities 70
Salt in a Pre-Industrial Command Economy 81
Sources 85
PART TWO: ANNOTATED TRANSLATION
Brief Introduction to the Songshi Salt Treatise 93
Section 1: Pond Salt 95
1. Xiezhou 95
Section 2: Sea Salt 141
2. Jingdong 142
3. Hebei 146
4. Liangzhe 156
5. Huainan 183
6. Fujian 241
7. Guangnan 257
Section 3: Earth Salt 275
8. Hedong 275
Section 4: Well Salt 283
9. Sichuan 283
APPARATUS
Song Reign Periods 301
Weights and Measures 303
Glossaries
Place Names 305
People 313
Salt Monopoly and General Terms 318
Works Cited 330
Index 346
VI
ILLUSTRATIONS
MAPS
Map 1. The Northern Song Empire xvi
Map 2. The Southern Song Empire xvii
Map 3. Yongxingjun (Shaanxi) Circuit xviii
Map 4. Jingdongdong and Jingdongxi Circuits xx
Map 5. Jingxibei andjingxinan Circuits xxii
Map 6. Jingji and Jingxibei Circuits xxiv
Map 7. Hebeidong, Hebeixi, and Hedong Circuits xxvi
Map 8. Huainandong and Huainanxi Circuits xxviii
Map 9. Qinfeng (Shaanxi) Circuit xxx
Map 10. Liangzhe and Jiangnandong Circuits xxxii
Map 11. Fujian Circuit xxxiv
Map 12. Guangnandong and.Guangnanxi Circuits xxxvi
Map 13. Jiangnanxi Circuit xxxviii
Map 14. Jinghubei and Jinghunan Circuits xl
Map 15. Lizhou, Chengdufu, Zizhou, and Kuizhou Circuits xlii
TABLES
Table 1. Major Military Developments in the Song 25
Table 2. Pond Salt Production in the Northern Song 99
Table 3. Aggregate Liangzhe Salt Production 157
Table 4. Aggregate Huai Salt Production 183
Table 5. Annual Production of Fujian Salt 241
Table 6. Aggregate Guangnan Salt Production 258
vn

PREFACE
The rich and unprecedented developments in virtually every aspect of
Chinese culture dunng the Song dynasty (960-1279) have inspired scholars
to delve into its many and diverse areas. In recent years in China, Japan,
and the West the study of the state salt monopoly in the larger context of
China's bureaucracy and political economy has generated rising interest.1
My annotated translation and Introduction to the complete text of the salt
monopoly treatise in the Songshi, the Song dynastic history, may be seen as
part of this effort.
Through much of the imperial period, the monopoly stood second
only to the land tax in generating revenues, particularly during the Song,
when it provided over 50 percent of the state's cash income. Although the
Song was arguably China's greatest age, its imperial administration felt fiscal
pressures from the start. The government's central dilemma was how to
maximize state revenues while improving its people's welfare. In response
to ongoing military pressures, Song emperors assumed near complete
control over the fisc in general and the lucrative salt monopoly in
particular, their efforts arguably achieving the apex of court activism in the
imperial era. They prohibited private individuals from trespassing on the
state's monopoly revenues and established penalties for those who broke the
law; they increased their personal control over financial decision-making by
creating offices directly answerable to the throne; they presided over
meetings on fiscal affairs and frequently inquired into the state's financial
condition; and they had accounting records compiled to keep them
informed of the overall fiscal process.
Among the number of bibliographies which attest to the growth of the field,
see Hans Ulrich Vogel's Bibliography of Works on Salt History Published in China
(special issue of the Commission Internationale d'Histoire du Sel, Austria:
Berenkamp Verlag Schwaz, 1992), which counts more than 700 titles between
1980 and 1989 and is to be continued for the periods before and after.
ix