淸代後期の縣衙門による非正規の課徵 --四川省南部縣の「取行應差」を例として--

Abstract

The practice of collecting hangyong 行用 to supply chaiwu 差務 is referred to as quhang yingchai. Chaiwu 差務 was the money, goods and corvee that the county government levied from the people within its jurisdiction. And the money collected by the market managers and agents to supply chaiwu is called hangyong. Quhang yingchai was a widespread phenomenon in Sichuan province during the middle and late Qing Dynasty, and the income obtained through this method played a significant role in the finances of Sichuan counties. Due to the growth of the market, the Nanbu County government had begun to actively promote quhang yingchai since the Daoguang period. The county government sent standard scales to market managers and their agents for certain commodities such as grain, pigs and coal, authorizing them to collect hangyong on behalf of the county government. In general, quhang yingchai was a profitable venture. The county government and those involved in quhang yingchai established a stable institution to distribute its income. Driven by these profits, an increasing number of market managers and agents submitted to the jurisdiction of the Nanbu County government, collecting hangyong on behalf of the county government and supplying chaiwu for it. During the Guangxu period, influenced by the fiscal reforms conducted by Ding Baozhen 丁寶楨, the flexible levy of chaiwu was transformed into a fixed rate of lijin 釐金, which was still paid by market managers and agents. However, this transition did not lead to a transformation of Nanbu County's finances, because the system designed to distribute the income that suited quhang yingchai had become deeply ingrained in Nanbu County society. Once the fixed lijin could not meet the government's demand, chaiwu would reappear.