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Qing / Ch'ing (Manchu) Dynasty - Economy

The situation at the end of the Ming Dynasty was desperate because not only was the government treasury empty, but hope of help from the outside could not be entertained owing to the hostility existing between China and her neighbors. When the Manchus came upon the scene the circumstances were quite different. The resources which the new dynasty commanded were considerable. They were backed by the resources of their own Manchuria, and as results of the military achievements of Kanghi's generals they received tribute from several conquered countries. More important was the opening of trade routes between China and the other domains of the Manchu emperor. Furthermore, the beginning of extensive commercial intercourse with Europeans was witnessed in the reign of Shih Tso, the first Manchu ruler to occupy the “dragon throne.”

Whatever may be said of the subjugation of the Chinese by the Manchus, it cannot be denied that these Tartar rulers did much for the prosperity of their conquered country. It must be admitted, however, that less than half of the population remained to enjoy the change so that the relief problem was not so formidable and the success of the Manchus in solving it may be discounted. Nevertheless, credit is due them for their liberal policy and the solicitude they displayed for the welfare of the Chinese millions. Although occupied constantly with the completing of their conquest, yet within sixty years from the beginning of their dynasty they had restored prosperity and contentment to the realm, the wanderers had been rounded up and peacefully settled, and Kanghi ruled a contented people actively engaged in peaceful pursuits.

Farmers were required to report to the officials whenever misfortune or disaster overtook them. After an investigation conducted by the officials, needed relief was at once applied. The fostering care of a paternal government was extended to the tillers of the soil even during the growing period. Officials were always accessible to them for advice and instruction. New settlers particularly were the objects of government solicitude. Specials officials were designated by the government to render help, to advise, to admonish and to encourage. The people were urged to cut down unneccessary expenses and to save for the proverbial rainy day. The authorities were especially liberal with tax exemptions—often granting them in anticipation of trouble.

But this very prosperity and contentment engendered a serious problem, namely the large increase of population. In provinces like Yunnan and Kweichow it brought about an alarming situation because of the limited supply of rice. The population problem became serious as the number of inhabitants grew by leaps and bounds. Thus in 1736 when Chien Lung came to the throne according to official estimates it was sixty million; in 1753, one hundred million, and in 1792 it had grown to three hundred million. Exaggerated though these later estimates doubtless were, they nevertheless indicate conclusively a very rapid rate of growth.

Following precedent Yung Ching ordered a distribution of the waste lands among the poorer classes. It will be remembered that at the beginning of the Tsing Dynasty almost all the land was waste and the agricultural people had to restore its fertility with the aid of the government. The fields so reclaimed and rendered productive were chiefly instrumental in bringing about material prosperity. But there were still waste lands left which had not been developed in the early Tsing days and which remained idle on account of the expenses incidental to their restoration including the fees asked by the governors and district officials, since the former government aids, etc., for opening waste lands had been withdrawn for some years because the policy was no longer deemed necessary. So Yung Ching encouraged the cultivation of this waste land by removing the official fees, by giving tax exemption for six or ten years according to the condition of the soil, and by giving free use of plowing animals until after the harvest. With the first payment of taxes thereon the people were given deeds for such reclaimed lands.

In addition to the reclamation and cultivation of waste lands, a policy of intensive cultivation was prescribed for all fertile lands throughout the country. The most industrious and successful farmers were rewarded with honors and decorations in order to spur others on to greater exertions. In many parts of South China two crops of rice were raised annually. In order to allay apprehension lest the price of rice would drop too low because of the greater crops, the government promised to use treasury funds to buy grain so as to make production more profitable to the farmers.

in 1812 the census returns showed the population as 362,447,183. Jar Tsin was a ruler interested in his own indulgences rather than in the welfare of his people, hence various disturbances broke out shortly after Chien Lung's death. There sprang up the “White Lotus” and other secret societies whose object was anti-dynastic and which enrolled many inhabitants of Shantung, Honan and Shensi as members and also the “Society for the Propagation of Celestial Reason” which represented the discontent of the people with foreign domination. Their members hesitated at nothing, for some even made attempts on the emperor's life. But the people as a whole were not willing to resort to extreme violence.

The weakness of the central government did not affect the people, for the daily life of the masses was not disturbed by revolts of savage tribes or unsuccessful campaigns in the interior. Engrossed in their struggle for existence they paid no heed to the blunders or misfortunes of the sovereign. But the dearth in Shansi and the overflow of the Hoangho—these came home to them with the force of a real affliction; but it must be remembered that on account of the general prosperity the greater portion of the country was undisturbed, and the people continued to develop their agricultural resources. If left in security to themselves, they would till every kind of land and would raise on it some kind of a crop. They drained the swamps which became rich pastures, and they terraced the slopes of the mountains. Neither were they less skillful as traders; the deficiencies of one province were supplied by the abundance of another, and the luxuries of the capital were furnished by all accessible markets. It is for this reason that the influence of the “White Lotus” and other secret societies failed to bear fruit in this reign—for when they attempted to incite the people to violence and rebellion, the majority of them held aloof.

r Dow Kwong who reigned for a period of twenty-nine years (1821-1850). Dow Kwong cannot be said to have neglected the welfare of his people but his reign was marked by calamities and disasters. Inundations in the province of Peh Chili were followed by a season of drought. The government did the best it could to alleviate the prevailing distress, and a fixed allowance was made to those in a destitute condition; but the suffering was so intense that the emperor gave up his annual visit to Jehol. The intensity of the suffering during the famine that followed was proved by the increase of crime in the capital and throughout the country. Robbery was a common occurence as well as forgery and counterfeiting; and the only effectual treatment for this social disease consisted in providing those in absolute want with means of subsistence, thus adding greatly to the embarrassment of the straitened government. The amount of suffering with loss of human life is almost incredible if stated in bald figures.

But as the population was rapidly increasing to excess, such sweeping calamities seemed to be a providential check to overpopulation. Sporadic riots occurred in Szechuen and Kansuh, and a revival of piracy was reported on the Canton River. In 1834 there was a big deficit in the government finances, the insurrections and the military operations necessary for their suppression having resulted in a great increase in the expenditures of the government. Also the natural calamities had caused a diminution of revenue at the the very moment when a full exchequer was needed to meet the requirements of warlike operations in several distant regions. In relief work the emperor's energies were laudably conspicuous, no means being spared by him to mitigate suffering and to anticipate the recurrence of natural calamities. The deep interest in the people's welfare displayed by the emperor seemed to have made the secret societies quiescent during the first part of the reign. But on the other hand there was growing discontent of a large section of the people due to lack of work and scarcity of food.

All trade with China prior to 1842 was carried on through the “hong merchants” at the few ports where travelers were permitted to send their vessels or land their goods. The Portuguese who sent the first trading vessel to the coast of China in 1516 met with varying success in their attempts to establish business relations, but finally succeeded in bringing about business relations and in establishing a trading post called a “factory” at Ningpo in 1522, and in 1537 another on the island of Macao, off the southern coast, near Canton, which island they still hold, but were only permitted to sell through the Chinese merchants having “hongs” or warehouses at Canton.

The smuggling of opium, which was brought from the possessions in India, soon became extremely popular with the Chinese. Numerous embassies were sent to the capital by the various nations with the hope of establishing closer commercial relations, but as the dignitaries sent were invariably required to perform the “kotow,” which consisted in kneeling three times and striking the forehead nine times upon the ground before the Emperor, progress in establishing closer relations was not rapid.

The event which began the new order of things was the “opium war” between Great Britain and China, growing out of the seizure of opium brought in British vessels, which war resulted in the signing of a treaty of peace between China and Great Britain in 1842, in which it was agreed that British subjects should be permitted to eside at the ports of Canton, Shanghai, Amoy, Foochow, and Ningpo, all located on the eastern coast, and to trade with whatever persons they pleased. The ports thus opened to commerce became known as “treaty ports,” which naive has been applied to others similarly opened through other and later treaties until the number thus opened to foreign trade and residence reached nearly 30, many of them far in the interior.

The prompt result of this was a movement from all parts of the business world in the direction of China, and the establishment of business and manufacturing industries, not only in the old treaty ports but in the new ones which were opened by the Japanese treaty, and by subsequent action of the Chinese Government. This was followed by other evidences of a disposition to adopt modern methods. The railroad from Pekin to Tientsin was quickly completed by the Chinese Government, and agreements made looking to the construction by foreign capital of other lines thousands of miles in length; telegraphs were extended; electric roads, electric lights and telephones introduced in the principal cities; mining and manufacturing concessions freely granted; the West River, which penetrates southern China from Canton westward, was opened to commerce, and, finally, small steamers under foreign control were given permission to penetrate to the interior limits of navigation on all the rivers of the provinces containing treaty ports. The effect of this is already seen in the establishment of factories and business houses, the construction of railroads, the extension and multiplication of steam navigation lines, and the opening of mines in the great sections where the iron and coal deposits were said to be the greatest in the known world.

By the year 1900 the 400,000,000 people of China were served by 350 miles of railway, or less than 1 mile for each million people. More than ten times this length of railway, however, was projected, and not only projected in the ordinary sense of the term, but in many cases being actively pushed forward and with prospect of a comparatively early completion. The roads thus far constructed belonged to the Chinese Government, and were constructed under its control and direction and at its expense.

The telegraph system was introduced in China even earlier than the railway. While it also met with considerable opposition in the beginning, its advantages were soon recognized by the Government in the opportunity which it gave for instant communication between Pekin, the seat of government and the capitals of the provinces. So important a factor in the maintenance of order and preparation for the insurrections and local troubles which have been so frequent a feature of Chinese history could not be neglected and as a consequence telegraph lines now connect Pekin with the capitals of practically all of the provinces and extend far into the dependencies, connecting also with the ocean cables and the Russian trans-Siberian telegraph lines, thus putting not only the capital, but all of the provinces of China into speaking relations with all parts of the world.

Land traffic in the interior of China is a tedious process, and will doubtless so continue until the railways now projected shall come into active operation. Roads are proverbially and actually bad. Wheeled vehicles ar confined almost exclusively to the wheelbarrow, and land transportation therefore carried on either by barrow, engineered by individuals, or by packs upon ponies, donkeys, or the backs of men, while travelers by land mus content themselves with similar conveniences of travel, either in wheelbarrows, upon the backs of ponies and donkeys, or by sedan chair carried by porters. Wagon roads are few and bad, and wagon transportation therefor is seldom undertaken.

The waterways of China had been its most important means of communication. Some events in the late 19th Century added greatly to their value in this particular, and especially their relation to foreign commerce. Formerly they were not open to foreigners or their vessels, nor were any cities on their shores open to foreign commerce. In 1862 Hankow, located 582 miles from the coast, and readily accessible by the lower Yangtze, was made a treaty port, and in 1877 a number of other cities in the interior were opened to foreign residence and commerce.

Not only has the Yangtze, the principal river of China, been opened for a distance of more than 2,000 miles, but the West River, the next in importance, which runs westward from Canton through the southern part of China, has also been opened for navigation by foreigners and a number of treaty ports established along its course, while other cities and towns have been designated as “stations” or “stages,” at which privileges similar to those of treaty ports are accorded to foreign trade, but not to permanent foreign residence.

The money of China was uncertain as to quantity and quality. No accurate estimate had been made of the amount of money in circulation in the Empire, while no accurate statement can be made its value. Based upon silver, its value fluctuated with the changes in the market price of silver. The copper “cash,” valued at about one-tenth of a cent, was the actual circulating medium, while the tael is the nominal standard for larger sums, it being merely a given weight of silver, and not a coin.

Actual silver circulated in two forms, the “dollar” and the “sycee.” The dollar was originally the Mexican dollar, and became a popular and generally accepted form of currency wherever obtained. So convenient was it that large quantities were imported for use as currency. By the end of the 19th century, however, mints for the coinage of “dollars” purporting to be of weight and fineness equal to Mexican coin have been established, not by the central government, but by the authorities of the various provinces, and the result is that the rivalry between these provincial mints reduced the weight and fineness of the “dollars” which they issued, until the provincial silver “dollars” were looked upon with distrust. Additional mints, however, were being established, the machinery for them being from the United States. By the year 1900 some half dozen of the cities of China had their mints for the coinage of “dollars,” and work is in progress upon local mints in other cities. By 1900, according to the North China Daily News, at least ten different kinds of silver coins purporting to be “dollars” were upon the market.

In addition to this uncertainty it may be pointed out the fact that the “tael” differed in various cities and provinces, the weight of silver recognized as a tael being greater at some points than at others. The consequence is that while the haikwan, or customs, tael was worth, on January 1, 1899, 72.2 cents (gold), the Amoy tael was worth but 71 cents, the Canton tael 70.8 cents, the Chinkiang tael 69.3 cents, the Ningpo tael 68.2 cents, the Chefoo tael 67.9 cents, the Hankow tael 66.4 cents, the Foochow tael 65.6 cents, and the Shanghai tael 64.8 cents.

Even the “Sycee,” which is an actual quantity of silver cast in the form of a shoe with the weight written upon it in Chinese characters, is somewhat uncertain as to its value, both by reason of the constant fluctuation in the price of the silver which it contains and the uncertainty as to the fineness of the silver utilized. All efforts to learn the exact fineness of the standard silver used in the sycee had been unsuccessful, though the estimates put the rate at ninety-seven one-hundredths, which is considerably in excess of the American coin, which is ninety one-hundredths fine. The Sycee is merely an indefinite quantity of silver cast in the form of a woman's shoe, its actual weight being determined by agents or officers appointed by the merchants to weigh the Sycees, accuracy and integrity on their part being insured by actual physical decapitation of those who are found dishonest.

Even the “cash,” a copper and zinc coin about the size of our 25-cent piece, having a square hole in the center for convenience in stringing quantities of them together, varies greatly both in fineness and weight, in some cases 1,000 of them being equal to a “dollar,” while in others nearly 2,000 are required to equal a “dollar.”

Gold coin was practically unknown in China, no coins of this metal being made at the mints, and gold coins of other countries have seldom, if ever, circulated, though the value of the metal is fully recognized, and gold, whether in coin or bulk, proves a medium of exchange upon determination of its weight and fineness when occasion required.

. Internal disorder and agitation were sure symptoms of decay, such as the outbreaks of the Triad Society in Northern Kwongtung and of the Green Lotus Society in the central provinces of Hunnan and Hupeh, ravages of pirates on the coast of Formosa, Fuokien and Chehkiang and uprisings of the nomadic tribes in Central Asia. When Siuen Chung, or Dow Kwong, died in 1850 he closed a reign of unredeemed failure. The weakened government henceforth got perfunctory and grudging obedience from its people. In its efforts to secure increased revenue both for indemnity purposes and for increased expenditures for the army and navy, the government had to contend against the peculations of the official classes. The name of the next reign is significant of the conditions existing at the time of Wen Chung's elevation to the throne. Hsien Fung, or “universal abundance,” the name he adopted, expressed a desire rather than a fact, for there was country-wide dearth and widespread distress, so that everyone agreed that general plenty was the one thing needed to put the country on its feet.

The Hsien Fung period was one remarkable for its natural as well as political calamities. There was an earthquake in Szechuen which inflicted immense loss of life and property and widespread consternation; Canton, one of the treaty ports, was largely destroyed by fire in October, 1851; and a severe famine in the metropolitan district compelled the cabinet to vote large sums for relief. These natural calamities upset the ordinary course of administration as the energies of the government were concentrated on counteracting their effects. Consequently official corruption grew in extent and audacity, unrestrained and unchecked; justice was sold to the highest bidder; offices were sold to the illiterate, who recouped themselves by “squeezing; ” and the nation was ground under heavy taxes, the larger portion of which went into the pockets of the officials.

Mun Chung died in 1874 and Der Chung, or Kwong Sui, ascended a tottering throne. He found the empire pacified but still suffering from the effects of the civil wars. These, together with continued drought, were the causes of poor harvests and great scarcity in Honan and Shansi, and suffering was general over the whole of northern China. The multitudes that perished from cold and hunger were reckoned by the million.

The farmers had done well, and have year by year gotten all that was possible out of the soil. Their marvelous industry and patient endurance availed to develop a state of material prosperity. The struggle was one of desperation. They had been driven to the lowest straits — working from sunrise till sunset, yet are barely able to provide themselves with the necessaries of life, not to speak of putting aside any savings. Theirs is a hand-to-mouth existence, so that when a natural calamity befalls them, such as flood or drought, Or even a poor harvest from any other cause, their plight was a sorry one.