REVENUE AS A MEASURE FOR EXPENDITURE: MING STATE FINANCE BEFORE THE AGE OF SILVER by NOA GRASS A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (History) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) December 2015 © Noa Grass, 2015 Abstract This dissertation explores fiscal policy during the first half of the Ming dynasty. Assuming a constant state of financial crisis caused by an ideological refusal and institutional inability to increase revenue, it identifies aspects of financial administration that contributed to the durability and resilience of the state. It first analyzes the principles of early Ming financial administration as reflected in the founding administrative text, Zhu si zhi zhang. The chapter devoted to the Ministry of Revenue focuses on the management of local resources through the timely and accurate flow of funds and information throughout the realm and along the administrative hierarchy. Based on evidence of standardized annual revenue reports, this dissertation argues that those principles were applied with relative success throughout most of the fifteenth century. Next, it identifies the practice of commutation in tax collection and official payments as the main fiscal policy that enabled the Ming to abide by its principle of keeping expenditure low while avoiding financial default. Commutation served as a partial tax remission that enabled taxpayers to convert the grain they owed to a money or commodity at a favourable rate. It also alleviated the physical and financial burden of transportation. But as the state came to depend on fixed silver payments, financial administration transformed from a system that was focused on managing local resources to one that was geared to maximizing revenue in the ii political centre. Finally, payments to officials, soldiers, and princes were affected by commutation. Despite their different social status, these groups were all treated as servants of the state and were managed according to the fiscal principle of measuring expenditure according to revenue. Throughout the fifteenth century payments were partially commuted to scrip and as a result salaries and stipends were greatly diminished. Nevertheless, particular policies and practices maintained a minimal degree of remuneration. And strategies employed by members of these groups in order to better their material condition illuminate the relationship between the state and its servants, as well as their place in local society. iii Preface This dissertation is my original, previously unpublished work. I prepared the tables that appear in Appendix D using data from published historical sources. Unless otherwise indicated, translations from the Chinese sources are my own. iv Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Preface ................................................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents ................................................................................................................ v List of Tables ................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures .................................................................................................................... ix Notes on Usage ................................................................................................................... x Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ xi Dedication ........................................................................................................................ xiii 1 Introduction: Ming Fiscal Policy in Historical Context .............................................. 1 1.1 Distinction Between Private and Public Revenue ................................................ 6 1.2 Indirect Taxation .................................................................................................. 9 1.3 Money................................................................................................................. 13 1.3.1 Government Credit...................................................................................... 19 1.4 Financial Administration and Expertise ............................................................. 21 1.5 Another Approach to Financial Administration ................................................. 24 1.6 Distinguishing between the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries ......................... 30 1.7 Accounting ......................................................................................................... 33 1.8 Tax Commutation ............................................................................................... 37 1.9 Exposition of the Chapters ................................................................................. 41 2 The Structure and Role of the Ministry of Revenue ................................................. 57 2.1 Legal Foundation of Financial Administration .................................................. 58 2.2 Political Origins of Ming Financial Administration .......................................... 67 2.3 The Structure of the Ministry of Revenue .......................................................... 73 2.3.1 The Board of Population ............................................................................. 75 2.3.2 The Board of Expenditure ........................................................................... 82 2.3.3 The Board of Money ................................................................................... 84 2.3.4 The Board of Granaries ............................................................................... 85 v 2.4 Annual Revenue Reports .................................................................................... 88 2.5 Sixteenth Century Developments ....................................................................... 96 3 The Role of Tax Commutation in State Finance .................................................... 102 3.1 Scrip ................................................................................................................. 108 3.2 Silver ................................................................................................................ 129 3.3 Cotton and Silk ................................................................................................. 156 3.4 The Annual Revenue Reports and Ming Financial Administration ................. 163 4 Civilian and Military Salaries ................................................................................. 166 4.1 Government Land ............................................................................................. 168 4.2 Salary Charts .................................................................................................... 172 4.3 Commutation of Salaries into Scrip ................................................................. 176 4.4 Commutation into Sappan Wood, Pepper, and Cloth ...................................... 185 4.5 Silver ................................................................................................................ 191 4.6 Sending Money Home ...................................................................................... 194 4.7 Paying Local Officials ...................................................................................... 199 4.8 Ming Salaries in Comparative Perspective ...................................................... 202 5 Military Finance ...................................................................................................... 207 5.1 Rations .............................................................................................................. 212 5.2 Awards ............................................................................................................. 216 5.3 The Salt for Grain Policy ................................................................................. 220 5.4 Military Colonies .............................................................................................. 229 6 Princes ..................................................................................................................... 239 6.1 Regular Income ................................................................................................ 247 6.2 Commutation of Grain Allocations .................................................................. 252 6.3 Princely Estates ................................................................................................ 256 6.4 Expansion of Princely Estates .......................................................................... 260 6.5 Other Expenses of Princely Households .......................................................... 268 6.6 Hereditary Titles ............................................................................................... 270 6.7 Implications for the State Budget ..................................................................... 272 7 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 275 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................