Message Board - Biography of Zuo Zongtang

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Biography of Zuo Zongtang (11th Jan 23 at 1:01am UTC)
The strangest thing about China is the monetary system. If it is difficult for Westerners to understand it now, it would have been even more confusing a hundred years ago. But to be fair, the Chinese characteristics that drive foreigners crazy about fiscal matters are not so strange to the Chinese, who are thoroughly used to the system. In fact, they make no secret of their affection for the system, finding in it the kind of attraction that is characteristic of riddles. The system of taxation and government spending is more peculiar than the monetary system. The Chinese, too, are perfectly attuned to the system and may be able to understand it, but clearly don't like it. One thing is certain, in the 19th century, it seriously hindered the mobilization of force necessary to suppress the rebellion, not to mention the disposition of weapons and other equipment of the army. One of the most critical issues in the whole protracted war to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Hui people's movement was money. The generals on the battlefield rose up against the system all the time for money. To give a clearer picture of their circumstances, here is a brief description of how the system provided financial support to the Chinese Empire. The Chinese Empire in the 19th Century (9) Until nearly the end of the 19th century, China, with a few minor exceptions, never had an official metallic coin other than copper. As far as coins are concerned, China is based on copper. This kind of coin is commonly known as "copper cash" among foreigners. Its theoretical value is inherited from the distant past, which is equal to 1/1000 of silver. It is the currency of the common people, and the transactions among the common people are all using copper cash. The larger amount is called "string money",brushless gear motor, a string of money for 1000 coppers, less than a number of coppers of string money will cause trouble. The actual transaction value of this cash is volatile and varies from time to time and from place to place. For the government and all the big firms in the country, it is not copper that circulates, but the weight of silver-two, which foreigners call "Thel". However, there is no national standard of measurement. Many commercial cities in China have their own standards, and there are more than one dozen standards in many places. Not only is the weight of the two different,Small Dc Gear Motor, but the fineness of the silver is also different. There are several kinds of Liang that are widely circulated, such as Kuping Liang, which is used to convert tribute; customs Liang after 1860, which is the standard of offshore customs; and Shanghai Liang. The value of these two is as follows: 100 customs two equals Kuping two equals Caoping two equals Shanghai two. The ratio of two to a foreign currency depends on the price of silver, which, in rough terms, is roughly equal to the dollar. The Chinese government did not issue any paper money during the period we examined, except for a small amount under the rule of Xianfeng (1851-1861). The government made no effort to standardize the weight and fineness of the silver used in the empire. Silver generally circulates in the form of silver bars or ingots, weighing 10 to 50 ounces. In all transactions, the silver is weighed and broken down into the local currency, or measured according to the contract. Both the government and the big firms have two sets of scales, one for expenditure and the other for income. Their expenditure weighs slightly more than their income. The sources of finance are the following: land tax, internal and external customs duties, salt tax, Small Geared Motors ,micro gear motor, Likin, and others. In this tax, the land tax was the main financial source of the imperial government in the early 19th century, providing about 2/3 of the cash income for the treasury. Emperor Kangxi approved it in 1713, and decreed that the tax rate of that year would remain unchanged forever. However, this tax rate is actually several times higher than Kangxi's standard, because of a very cleverly designed system that incorporates surcharges and tax costs, as well as arbitrary exchange rates between two copper and cash, ignoring the prevailing exchange rate. The basic approved amount is still the standard of 1713, but the actual amount paid is three to four times the approved tax rate. According to a less authoritative calculation, the tax flowing into the treasury was in line with the approved tax rate of 1713. The approved levies appear to be distributed haphazardly among provinces, with Shanxi, one of the poorest agricultural provinces, actually ranking first on the tax list, while Guangdong, a particularly wealthy province, ranks tenth. Morse reported that the total amount of land tax flowing into the Treasury was, and he estimated that taxpayers paid four times that amount. Tribute is a tax levied on the production of the whole country, and the main item is grain. Other items are copper, silk, wood, wax, fruit, ginseng and porcelain. The amount of tax so collected is difficult to determine, and Morse's estimate is 7.42 million taels. Tariff: China levies taxes on foreign trade imports and exports, as well as on domestic products shipped from one port to another. Land customs have also been set up at the border and in some of the larger cities. Especially in Beijing, all goods entering the capital have to pay taxes. Before 1841, all foreign trade by sea was confined to Guangzhou Port. The main land pass was at Kyakhta, through which Russian trade passed. Under a treaty with Great Britain in 1842, four additional ports for foreign trade were opened, a number that increased during the century under a number of treaties. During the chaos of the Taiping Rebellion, foreign consular officials at some ports collected customs duties on behalf of the Chinese government, which later led to the establishment of coastal customs in China in order to meet the demands of Britain and France for reparations in 1860. The coastal customs house was administered by foreigners in the service of the Chinese government, but it was not entirely subject to Chinese justice, and all import and export duties were levied at the ports specified in the treaty. Therefore, there is a distinction between the inner customs and the outer customs. The inner customs levies taxes at non-treaty ports and inland river ports, while the outer customs levies taxes at treaty ports. The coastal customs gradually became the main source of finance, but before its formation, the contribution of customs to the imperial finance was not great. The Chinese Empire in the 19th Century (10) Salt tax is one of the oldest taxes in China. This is a tax that is easy to abuse, and it is not uncommon in Chinese history for officials to make full use of this opportunity. Salt resources include sea salt from the seashore, lake salt from saline lakes and marshes in the interior, and well salt from salt wells in Yunnan and Sichuan. Morse said: "The biggest dark curtain of salt tax finance stems from the mixture of official and commercial factors in the collection process.". Salt is under the tightest government control anywhere, and taxes are levied at all stages of production,Parallel Shaft Gearbox, bulk purchasing, transportation, wholesale and retail. ［4］。 ichgearmotor.com
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