106 



8GIENGJS. 



[Vol. VIII., No. 183 



from pawnbrokers, merchants, etc. ; 5°, inland 

 transport duties, the likin, or toll-tax. Some 

 other, unimportant, sources are the sale of offices, 

 ' contributions ' from wealthy citizens, etc. 



As in all oriental lands, the land-tax forms the 

 chief source of state revenue. At the close of the 

 last century it furnished two-thirds of the entire 

 Chinese revenue, but it has dwindled down so that 

 at present it does not furnish more than one- 

 third. 



This tax is levied by a district chief directly 

 upon the tilled land. In each smaller province 

 there is an especial department for land registry, 

 in which, in order to be legal, every transfer of 

 land must be entered, and paid for by a certain 

 fee. This registry shows what land and how 

 much each piece shall be taxed. Unfortunately, 

 a great looseness prevails in recording the sales 

 and transfers of land, — a looseness which has now 

 reached such an extent that it would be difficult 

 and unjust to attempt its remedy. As a result, 

 great irregularities prevail in the raising of the 

 land-tax. This tax is collected by the provincial 

 officers through the subordinate ' land overseers.' 



The entire levied tax from this source, as given 

 in the state almanac, amounts to about thii-ty- 

 three million taels in silver, and four and a half 

 million piculs' of rice, making a sum total of about 

 forty million taels ($57,100,000). This tax was 

 very seriously affected by the Taiping rebellion, 

 which desolated nearly half of the land, including 

 the best cultivated part of the empire. From the 

 effects the country was a long time in recovering, 

 nor has it by any means fully recovered yet, a 

 proof of which is afforded by the fact that several 

 large cities in the neighborhood of Shanghai are 

 yet in large part fields of extended ruin-heaps. 

 From these circumstances it is evident that the 

 figures, as given by the national authorities, are 

 too high, illustrating the thorough unbusinesslike 

 methods of the government. How much they are 

 too high cannot be definitely said, but from an 

 estimate of the actual differences between the 

 returns of various provinces and the levied taxes 

 for the same, they must be decreased by at least 

 one-third. The central government, moreover, 

 is continually called upon to furnish relief to dif- 

 ferent provinces suffering from famine, or from 

 damages by storms and floods, so that scarcely a 

 year goes by in which a million taels are not thus 

 expended. 



It is also difficult to estimate with accuracy the 

 income derived from the tax on natural produc- 

 tions, the so-called grain or rice tribute. A por- 

 tion of this is devoted to the sustenance of the 

 imperial army, and, like all the other taxes, is 

 1 1 picul=100 catties=6\45kiIogr =133.13 lbs. 



distributed unequally in the different provinces. 

 There is a tendency to commute this tax by the 

 payment of silver, but the monstrous abuses 

 which such commutation opens up on the part of 

 the officials is the greatest drawback. The total 

 amount reaches about five and a half million piculs, 

 worth seven and a half miUion taels ($10,000,000). 

 This, however, represents the sum received by the 

 government, by no means what is paid by the 

 people. An evidence of what the people are 

 really compelled to pay will be best shown by the 

 following incident. A foreigner was required to 

 pay a certain toll-tax of l:a,000 cash on a char- 

 tered junk, which he did, but demanded a 

 receipt. This was furnished him, but only for 

 6,400 cash. The discrepancy not at all suiting his 

 ideas of business, the owner applied to his consul 

 for I'elief , who, after correspondence with the offi- 

 cials, ascertained that the latter sum represented 

 the actual tax; the remainder, the cost of freight on 

 the money, the loss and cost of melting the coin 

 and transforming it into Pekin taels, and various 

 other expenses. One cannot but be amused at 

 such exorbitant charges, though perhaps we in 

 America are not wholly above reproach in similar 

 charges on non-dutiable imports. The incident, 

 however, only illustrates the condition of affairs 

 over the whole kingdom. For every tael, for 

 every picul of rice, there are added so many 

 charges and counter charges, that the sum is more 

 than doubled. A yet greater evil is the one 

 already mentioned, by which every district chief 

 or tax-receiver is allowed so much liberty in the 

 imposition of taxes. The officers all receive like 

 salaries and perquisites, but there exist vast dif- 

 ferences in the value of the different posts. Each 

 district chief must furnish a certain definite quota. 

 The excess belongs to himself, not always to go 

 into his private pocket, for the powers that be, 

 whether city, state, or judicial, all come in for 

 douceurs, and vice-kings, governors, judges, and 

 commissioners all wax equally and enormously 

 rich. 



The average ground-rent for cultivated rice-land 

 is about one dollar per acre. Of the eight hundred 

 million acres of land in the empire, one-half is till- 

 able ; and allowing in the most liberal way for 

 all contingencies, and estimating the average tax 

 at less than half of that mentioned above, the 

 amount paid by the people must reach one hun- 

 dred million dollars, of which the government re- 

 ceives not over forty million. All the rest of this 

 vast sum represents the cost of collecting and the 

 aggregate stealings of the collectors. 



The salt-tax or monopoly is one of the most 

 peculiar, as it is one of the most important, sources 

 of revenue. The empire, in its salt administra- 



