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Mint Metal Mining and Minting in Sichuan, 1700-1900

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Mint Metal Mining and Minting in Sichuan, 1700-1900: Effects on the Regional Economy and Society Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades Doktor der Philosophie der Philosophischen Fakultät der Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen vorgelegt von CAO Jin aus Nantong 2012 Gedruckt mit Genehmigung der Philosophischen Fakultät der Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen Dekan: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Leonhardt Hauptberichterstatter: Prof. Dr. Hans Ulrich Vogel Mitberichterstatter(in): Prof. Dr. Achim Mittag, Prof. Dr. You Jae Lee Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 23. Juli 2012 Verlag: elektronische Publikation bei TOBIAS-lib To my daughter Zumin who was born during the writing of this thesis CAO JIN – MINT METAL MINING AND MINTING IN SICHUAN, 1700-1900 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS After five years which I have spent working on this thesis, numerous institutions and individuals deserve my gratitude for their support in many different ways. The material and intellectual base for this work I certainly owe on the one hand to the Kwok’s Foundation of Sun Hung Kai Properties, the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation and the Hermann Hesse Scholarship of Tübingen University, who generously provided me with the financial means for this research, on the other to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Hans Ulrich Vogel, who has offered me great support, advice and encouragement also in difficult times. For a research framework providing me with an excellent infrastructure of scholarly exchange and communication as a part of the research group “Monies, Markets and Finance in China and East Asia, 1600-1800” I thank the German Research Foundation (DFG). Moreover, I am indebted to my colleagues from the Department of Chinese and Korean Studies at Tübingen University, above all Prof. Dr. Achim Mittag for contributing many a useful and inspiring comment over the years and agreeing to be the second referee for this thesis, but also Dr. Ulrich Theobald, Dr. Thomas Hirzel, Dr. Shan Kunqin 單坤琴, Chen Hailian 陳海連 for years of good cooperation and support in many detail questions. I would not have been able to develop my interest in the economic and social history of the Qing period into anything like substantial research if it was not with the patient and committed guidance of Prof. Guo Runtao 郭潤濤 during my bachelor and master years at Peking University, for which I thank him. Further gratitude I want to express to Prof. Dr. Iwo Amelung, who as the director of the European Centre for Chinese Studies (ECCS) at Peking University enabled me to build up a connection to Tübingen; Prof. Kuroda Akinobu 黑田明伸 and Dr. Werner Burger, who shared their vast knowledge with me and helped me with the acquisition of rare source materials; Prof. George Bryan Souza, who provided me 4 with much advice concerning research methods and with a useful training in reading, handling and understanding western research literature; Dr. Nanny Kim from the University of Heidelberg, who let me take part in her research experience concerning the case of Yunnan and the related transport conditions as well as Prof. Deng Xiaonan 鄧小南 and Dr. Lin Zongcheng 林宗成, who offered me very much help for a field trip in southern Sichuan. Finally, I want to thank my family for their loving support and encouragement. Among them I owe my greatest gratitude to my husband, colleague, and companion-in-arms Alexander Jost, who beyond this earned himself merits by proofreading, language polishing and constantly offering me new inspirations, understandings and perspectives on my work. Many others have enriched and corrected my research with their suggestions, have encouraged me or helped me to focus. If they are not listed here by their name, I ask for their forgiveness. Tübingen, June 2012. 5 CAO JIN – MINT METAL MINING AND MINTING IN SICHUAN, 1700-1900 CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................................................... 10 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES............................................................................................................ 16 MAP OF RELEVANT JURISDICTIONS IN SICHUAN, 1820 ................................................................. 19 1 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................... 22 1.1 STATE OF THE FIELD ................................................................................................................ 24 1.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS, METHODS AND AIMS. ............................................................................. 26 1.3 SOURCES .............................................................................................................................. 28 1.3.1 Sources in Chinese ......................................................................................................... 28 1.3.2 Sources in western languages ....................................................................................... 32 2 MINING ................................................................................................................................ 34 2.1 NATURAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS ............................................................................................ 34 2.1.1 Geographical background ............................................................................................. 34 2.1.2 History of mint metal mining in Sichuan before the Qing period .................................. 36 2.1.3 Ethnic setting in Sichuan in Qing ................................................................................... 38 2.1.4 Sichuan mining’s necessity ............................................................................................ 45 2.2 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF COPPER MINING..................................................................................... 46 2.2.1 The initiating phase (1729-1740) .................................................................................. 46 2.2.2 The reverting phase (1741) ........................................................................................... 48 2.2.3 The negotiating phase (1742-1745) .............................................................................. 48 2.2.4 The final administrative regulations ............................................................................. 51 2.3 PRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 58 2.3.1 Names and locations of the mines ................................................................................ 58 2.3.2 Technology of mining .................................................................................................... 70 2.3.3 Labour ........................................................................................................................... 87 2.3.4 Fuel supply ..................................................................................................................... 96 2.3.5 Food, oil and other supplies ........................................................................................ 100 2.3.6 Output ......................................................................................................................... 101 2.4 DISTRIBUTION ...................................................................................................................... 110 2.4.1 Regulations of distribution .......................................................................................... 110 2.4.2 Price statistics .............................................................................................................. 111 2.4.3 State part..................................................................................................................... 115 2.4.4 Merchant and market part .......................................................................................... 118 6 2.5 DELIVERY AND TRANSPORT ..................................................................................................... 121 2.5.1 Organization ................................................................................................................ 121 2.5.2 Routes and transport means ....................................................................................... 123 2.5.3 Route lengths and funds .............................................................................................. 124 2.5.4 Case study: mint metal transport from Ningyuan to Chengdu ................................... 126 2.5.5 Transport conditions ................................................................................................... 132 2.6 PROBLEMS, ABUSES AND GOVERNMENT REACTIONS .................................................................... 151 2.6.1 Lax control and unable administration ....................................................................... 151 2.6.2 Merchant capital: little, scattered, and unstable ........................................................ 154 2.6.3 Low funds and high costs ............................................................................................ 157 2.6.4 Officials’ and clerks’ abuses......................................................................................... 158 2.6.5 Between Sichuan and Yunnan: case study of the Kang family .................................... 162 2.7 OTHER MINT METALS: LEAD AND ZINC ....................................................................................... 168 2.7.1
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