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276-510: After the Taiping Rebellion had depleted the imperial treasury of the Qing dynasty the government reformed the cash coin system to include higher denominations with low intrinsic values essentially creating a fiat currency ; this was a radical departure from China's past where the value of cash coins was dependent on their weight rather than any denominations. The same developments which lead to

552-550: A Rubik's cube look like mere child's play." As the commodity of salt was not uniformly distributed throughout Chinese territory, China was divided into many districts in an attempt to equalise natural conditions in various places. A timetable of tax collection was composed such as the Chinese salt traffic would bear. Consumers near the sea were taxed much higher, for example, this fact would be motivational to everyone to inspire them to evaporate their own salt, while in places where no salt

828-505: A seal (or "chop") to validated Great Qing Treasure Note cash notes (which would increase their market value as they would be authenticated), though usually these would be exchanged for Yu Bank cash notes after which the Yu Banks would return these validated cash notes to the Ministry of Revenue and were brought back into general circulation in the form of military salaries. This procedure helped

1104-552: A Protestant Christian missionary several years earlier. After reading these pamphlets, Hong came to believe that they had given him the key to interpreting his visions: his celestial father was God the Father (whom he identified with Shangdi from Chinese tradition), the elder brother that he had also seen was Jesus Christ , and he had been directed to rid the world of demons, including the corrupt Qing government and Confucian teachings. In 1847 Hong went to Guangzhou , where he studied

1380-732: A Qing-Vietnamese coalition headed by Feng Zicai . Wu Kun's troops broke up and became marauding armies such as the Yellow Flag Army led by Huang Chongying ( 黃崇英 ) and the Black Flag Army led by Liu Yongfu . The latter would become a prominent warlord in Upper Tonkin and would later help the Nguyễn dynasty to engage against the French during the Sino-French War in the 1880s. He later became

1656-411: A bureaucratic system that favored the land-holding class able to afford the best education. One of the greatest literary critics of this was the official and famous poet Su Shi . Yet Su was a product of his times, as the identity, habits, and attitudes of the scholar-official had become less aristocratic and more bureaucratic with the transition of the periods from Tang to Song. At the beginning of

1932-568: A cannon to scatter them irretrievably. Four months before the fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Hong Xiuquan abdicated in favor of his eldest son Hong Tianguifu , who was 15 years old. The younger Hong was inexperienced and powerless, so the kingdom was quickly destroyed when Nanjing fell in July 1864 to the imperial armies after protracted street-by-street fighting. Tianguifu and few others escaped but were soon caught and executed. Most of

2208-450: A climax around the year Xianfeng 3 (1853). By this time the rebel armies of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had conquered the city of Nanjing and established their capital there. Which called for measures beyond traditional solutions. By the time of this occurrence the imperial Chinese treasury was as good as empty. Zeng Guofan realized that his army could not survive off the land in rebel infested Anhui, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang provinces. Since

2484-473: A complete change in the political and social system, rather than working towards the replacement of one dynasty with another. Many Western historians refer to the conflict in general as the "Taiping Rebellion". Recently, however, scholars such as Tobie Meyer-Fong and Stephen Platt have argued that the term "Taiping Rebellion" is biased because it insinuates that the Qing government was a legitimate government which

2760-546: A complete disregard and disdain for the idea of record keeping, no statistics regarding the issue of Great Qing Treasure Note banknotes outside of Beijing has ever come to light. American numismatist John E. Sandrock speculates that these issues must have been comparable in number to, or greatly exceeded the number of cash coin-based banknotes issued in Beijing. In the provinces the central government tended to distribute Great Qing Treasure Note banknotes into circulation by using both

3036-615: A currency unit. Silver then started to occupy a paramount place in the Mongol economy and was supplemented by government issued paper money . Under the reign of Kublai Khan the Zhongtong Jiaochao (中統交鈔) was issued whose value was based on the fabric silk . Under the reign of Külüg Khan in the year 1308 the Zhiyuan Baochao (至元寶鈔) was issued which was supplemented with the silver-based Zhida Yinchao (至大銀鈔), but these circulated only for

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3312-436: A departure from the earlier Tang dynasty (618–907), when the government strictly regulated commercial markets and local affairs; now the government withdrew heavily from regulating commerce and relied upon a mass of local gentry to perform necessary duties in their communities. The gentry distinguished themselves in society through their intellectual and antiquarian pursuits, while the homes of prominent landholders attracted

3588-599: A deterioration of relations between the Taiping rebels and the triads. On March 19, 1853, the Taipings captured the city of Nanjing and Hong renamed it "Tianjing", or the 'heavenly capital' of his kingdom. Since the Taipings considered the Manchus to be demons, they first killed all the Manchu men, then forced the Manchu women outside the city and burned them to death. Shortly thereafter,

3864-461: A disastrous defeat in the First Opium War , while the Chinese economy was severely impacted by a trade imbalance caused by the large-scale and illicit importation of opium. Banditry became common, and numerous secret societies and self-defense units formed, all of which led to an increase in small-scale warfare. Meanwhile, the population of China had nearly doubled between 1766 and 1833, while

4140-431: A few. Operating a business was taxed. There was a mining tax mining, a butcher tax, a pawnshop tax, and a fishing tax. In reality, only very little has actually changed over the years. Duties were levied on goods such as grain, silk, cattle, wagons, oil, cotton, camels, bamboo, sulfur, cloth among others. Despite the large range of the above taxes and duties, each tax in and of itself was very minor and of small consequence to

4416-443: A government license to distribute the new paper currency. The T'ien shops also fulfilled the purpose of being publicly funded pawnshops, they dealt in both pawned items and deposits. It is important to note that none of these institutions would survive the inflation, drowning in an ever-increasing sea of Great Qing Treasure Note cash notes. By the year Xianfeng 11 (1861) these institutions had all closed as they went bankrupt. The fall of

4692-700: A great effect on people's lives, beliefs, and daily activities, and Chinese literature on spirituality was popular. The major deities of Daoism and Buddhism , ancestral spirits , and the many deities of Chinese folk religion were worshipped with sacrificial offerings. Tansen Sen asserts that more Buddhist monks from India traveled to China during the Song than in the previous Tang dynasty (618–907). With many ethnic foreigners travelling to China to conduct trade or live permanently, there came many foreign religions; religious minorities in China included Middle Eastern Muslims ,

4968-412: A high level of suspicion by the judge. Due to costly court expenses and immediate jailing of those accused of criminal offenses, people in the Song preferred to settle disputes and quarrels privately, without the court's interference. Shen Kuo's Dream Pool Essays argued against traditional Chinese beliefs in anatomy (such as his argument for two throat valves instead of three); this perhaps spurred

5244-450: A large scale. At this time both peasants and merchants from the province of Zhili stopped accepting the coin as a form of payment. After in the spring of Xianfeng 7 (1857) the convertibility of Hubu Guanpiao tael notes into Great Qing Treasure Note cash notes was partly restored by the lot method at the Yu banks. The Ministry of Revenue had attempted to stop the large scale counterfeiting and to force

5520-558: A literary flourishing in the Song period, which saw the publication of several major classical koan collections which remain influential in Zen philosophy and practice to the present day. A true revival of Buddhism in Chinese society would not occur until the Mongol rule of the Yuan dynasty, with Kublai Khan's sponsorship of Tibetan Buddhism and Drogön Chögyal Phagpa as the leading lama . The Christian sect of Nestorianism , which had entered China in

5796-461: A lower social tier than men according to Confucian ethics, they enjoyed many social and legal privileges and wielded considerable power at home and in their own small businesses. As Song society became more and more prosperous and parents on the bride's side of the family provided larger dowries for her marriage, women naturally gained many new legal rights in ownership of property. Under certain circumstances, an unmarried daughter without brothers, or

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6072-408: A medium for exchange. This was advertised by the imperial government as a necessary evil because of a shortage of bronze which meant that the production of cash coinage had to be heavily scaled down. The pauperised Chinese public was for centuries uncompromisingly minded against the idea of paper money emissions in any way, shape, or form and would not accept it for any reason. Half a century earlier in

6348-497: A million a century later. This economic power also heavily influenced foreign economies abroad. In 1120 alone, the Song government collected 18,000,000 ounces (510,000 kg) of silver in taxes. The Moroccan geographer al-Idrisi wrote in 1154 of the prowess of Chinese merchant ships in the Indian Ocean and of their annual voyages that brought iron, swords, silk, velvet, porcelain, and various textiles to places such as Aden ( Yemen ),

6624-591: A new organization of classic texts that established the doctrine of Neo-Confucianism . Although civil service examinations had existed since the Sui dynasty , they became much more prominent in the Song period. Officials gaining power through imperial examination led to a shift from a military-aristocratic elite to a scholar-bureaucratic elite. After usurping the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty , Emperor Taizu of Song ( r.  960–976 ) spent sixteen years conquering

6900-531: A part of the Chinese monetary system since around the Tang and Song dynasties , but due to the natural scarcity of silver in China were rare and the use of silver currency was limited to the upper classes of Chinese society and their use was to be given as tribute, to pay bribes, to give away as gifts, silver sycees were also used as a method of transporting large funds over long distances as well as for hoarding wealth, and

7176-456: A philosophical point. Although an early form of the local geographic gazetteer existed in China since the 1st century, the matured form known as "treatise on a place", or fangzhi , replaced the old "map guide", or transl.  zho  – transl.  tujing , during the Song dynasty. The imperial courts of the emperor's palace were filled with his entourage of court painters, calligraphers, poets, and storytellers. Emperor Huizong

7452-452: A raid on Guangxi , the Song commander Guo Kui (1022–1088) penetrated as far as Thăng Long (modern Hanoi ). Heavy losses on both sides prompted the Vietnamese commander Thường Kiệt (1019–1105) to make peace overtures, allowing both sides to withdraw from the war effort; captured territories held by both Song and Vietnamese were mutually exchanged in 1082, along with prisoners of war. During

7728-510: A restoration of the ancient Chinese faith in Shangdi. The Taiping faith, says one historian, "developed into a dynamic new Chinese religion ... Taiping Christianity". The movement at first grew by suppressing groups of bandits and pirates in southern China in the late 1840s, then suppression by Qing authorities led it to evolve into guerrilla warfare and subsequently a widespread civil war . Eventually, two other God Worshipers claimed to possess

8004-529: A role in the start of the Warlord Era , the loss of central control after the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912. The terms which writers use for the conflict and its participants often represent their different opinions. During the 19th century, the Qing did not describe the conflict as either a civil war or a movement because doing so would have lent credibility to the Taiping. Instead, they referred to

8280-424: A small scale during the Sui and Tang dynasties, but by the Song period, it became virtually the only means for drafting officials into the government. The advent of widespread printing helped to widely circulate Confucian teachings and to educate more and more eligible candidates for the exams. This can be seen in the number of exam takers for the low-level prefectural exams rising from 30,000 annual candidates in

8556-541: A surviving mother without sons, could inherit one-half of her father's share of undivided family property. There were many notable and well-educated women, and it was a common practice for women to educate their sons during their earliest youth. The mother of the scientist, general, diplomat, and statesman Shen Kuo taught him essentials of military strategy. There were also exceptional women writers and poets, such as Li Qingzhao (1084–1151), who became famous even in her lifetime. Religion in China during this period had

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8832-522: A total sum of 1.28 million guàn being produced before they were abolished. The denominations of the Hubu Guanpiao followed the pattern of the Ming dynasty period paper notes , but as historiographical sources about the early Qing era paper money are scarce, not much can be known about them. Peng Xinwei suggested that the Manchu rulers of the Qing were very much atavistic towards the inflationary pressure that

9108-588: A tribute to Song. Champa rice was drought-resistant and able to grow fast enough to offer two harvests a year instead of one. Song restaurant and tavern menus are recorded. They list entrees for feasts, banquets, festivals, and carnivals. They reveal a diverse and lavish diet for those of the upper class. They could choose from a wide variety of meats and seafood, including shrimp, geese, duck, mussel, shellfish, fallow deer , hare, partridge, pheasant, francolin, quail, fox, badger, clam, crab, and many others. Dairy products were rare in Chinese cuisine at this time. Beef

9384-515: A variety of courtiers , including artisans, artists, educational tutors, and entertainers. Despite the disdain for trade, commerce, and the merchant class exhibited by the highly cultured and elite exam-drafted scholar-officials, commercialism played a prominent role in Song culture and society. A scholar-official would be frowned upon by his peers if he pursued means of profiteering outside of his official salary; however, this did not stop many scholar-officials from managing business relations through

9660-499: A weight used to represent one pure ounce of commercial silver. As China was a rather large country where local customs tended to vary widely, an ounce would oftentimes in one place not necessarily be an ounce in another part of China. Consequently, a large variety of different scales were employed all over China by different trades, each of these scales varying somewhat from the other scales that were used in different fields of commerce. The Xianfeng Emperor can't be completely blamed for

9936-560: A year. The final series of paper money issued by the government of the Yuan dynasty from 1350 were the Zhizheng Jiaochao (至正交鈔). A major difference between how paper money was used under the Mongols and under the Song dynasty was that, in certain regions of the Yuan dynasty, paper notes were the only acceptable form of currency and could not be exchanged in either copper cash coins or silver sycees . Exchanging paper money into copper or silver

10212-471: Is a shortage of funds, the currency system depends entirely on the circulation of standard cash was well as other forms of money without obstruction, so that the money supply will be sufficient for the People's livelihood in difficult times. A long time has passed and WE have only received memorials from the governors general and governors of Fujian, Shaanxi, and Shanxi to state that they have acted in accordance with

10488-571: Is now East China . The Southern Song ( 南宋 ; 1127–1279) comprise the period following the loss of control over the northern half of Song territory to the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in the Jin–Song wars . At that time, the Song court retreated south of the Yangtze and established its capital at Lin'an (now Hangzhou ). Although the Song dynasty had lost control of the traditional Chinese heartlands around

10764-401: Is used in a monetary transaction. Neither can banknotes be clipped by dishonest money lenders as was so often the case with silver coins and sycees. The strongest arguments in favour of the use of paper held over hard forms of currency from the government's perspective were twofold. The first reason was that if paper took the place of copper and copper-alloys would stop used in casting cash coins,

11040-506: The Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute from the life story of Cai Wenji (b. 177). This art project was a diplomatic gesture to the Jin dynasty while he negotiated for the release of his mother from Jurchen captivity in the north. In philosophy, Chinese Buddhism had waned in influence but it retained its hold on the arts and on the charities of monasteries. Buddhism had a profound influence upon

11316-818: The Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt, Srivijaya , the Kara-Khanid Khanate in Central Asia , the Goryeo Kingdom in Korea, and other countries that were also trade partners with Japan . Chinese records even mention an embassy from the ruler of "Fu lin" (拂菻, i.e. the Byzantine Empire ), Michael VII Doukas , and its arrival in 1081. However, China's closest neighbouring states had the greatest impact on its domestic and foreign policy. From its inception under Taizu,

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11592-756: The Green Standard Army against the Jintian uprising . On January 11, 1851, Hong declared himself the Heavenly King of the Heavenly Kingdom of Peace (or Taiping Heavenly Kingdom), from which comes the term "Taipings" commonly used for them in English-language studies. The Taipings began marching north in September 1851 to escape Qing forces closing in on them. The Taiping army pressed north into Hunan following

11868-538: The Han and Tang dynasties. It is estimated that the Northern Song had a population of 90 million people, and 200 million by the time of the Ming dynasty . This dramatic increase of population fomented an economic revolution in pre-modern China . The expansion of the population, growth of cities, and emergence of a national economy led to the gradual withdrawal of the central government from direct intervention in

12144-722: The Indus River , and the Euphrates . Foreigners, in turn, affected the Chinese economy. For example, many West and Central Asian Muslims went to China to trade, becoming a preeminent force in the import and export industry, while some were even appointed as officers supervising economic affairs. Sea trade with the South-west Pacific, the Hindu world, the Islamic world, and East Africa brought merchants great fortune and spurred an enormous growth in

12420-894: The Kaifeng Jews , and Persian Manichaeans . The populace engaged in a vibrant social and domestic life, enjoying such public festivals as the Lantern Festival and the Qingming Festival . There were entertainment quarters in the cities providing a constant array of amusements. There were puppeteers, acrobats, theatre actors, sword swallowers, snake charmers, storytellers , singers and musicians, prostitutes, and places to relax, including tea houses, restaurants, and organized banquets. People attended social clubs in large numbers; there were tea clubs, exotic food clubs, antiquarian and art collectors' clubs, horse-loving clubs, poetry clubs, and music clubs. Like regional cooking and cuisines in

12696-525: The Ming–Qing transition , involving most of Central and Southern China. It ranks as one of the bloodiest wars in human history, the bloodiest civil war, and the largest conflict of the 19th century, comparable to World War I in terms of deaths. Thirty million people fled the conquered regions to foreign settlements or other parts of China. The war was characterized by extreme brutality on both sides. Taiping soldiers carried out widespread massacres of Manchus,

12972-479: The Pearl River Delta in 1279, the Yuan army, led by the general Zhang Hongfan , finally crushed the Song resistance. The last remaining ruler, the 13-year-old emperor Zhao Bing , committed suicide, along with Prime Minister Lu Xiufu and 1300 members of the royal clan. On Kublai's orders, carried out by his commander Bayan, the rest of the former imperial family of Song were unharmed; the deposed Emperor Gong

13248-720: The Small Swords Society uprising in Shanghai regrouped with the Taiping army. Du Wenxiu , who led the Panthay Rebellion in Yunnan , was in contact with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. He was not waging his rebellion against Han Chinese, instead, he was anti-Qing and he wanted to destroy the Qing government. Du's forces led many non-Muslim forces, including Han Chinese, Li , Bai , and Hani peoples. They were assisted by non-Muslim Shan and Kachin people and other hill tribes in

13524-785: The Tongzhi Emperor , Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army captured Anqing with help from a naval blockade imposed by the Royal Navy on the city. Near the end of 1861 the Taipings launched a final Eastern Expedition. Ningbo was easily captured on 9 December, and Hangzhou was besieged and finally captured on 31 December. Taiping troops surrounded Shanghai in January 1862, but were unable to capture it. The Ever-Victorious Army repulsed another attack on Shanghai in 1862 and helped to defend other treaty ports such as Ningbo , reclaimed on 10 May. They also aided imperial troops in reconquering Taiping strongholds along

13800-771: The Xiang River , besieging Changsha , occupying Yuezhou , and then capturing Wuchang in December 1852 after reaching the Yangtze River. At this point the Taiping leadership decided to move east along the Yangtze River. Anqing was captured in February 1853. Taiping leaders may have reached out to Triad organizations, which had many cells in South China and among government troops. Taiping titles echoed Triad usage, whether consciously or not, which made it more attractive for Triads to join

14076-569: The Yangtze to establish a new capital at Lin'an (modern Hangzhou). The Jurchen conquest of North China and shift of capitals from Kaifeng to Lin'an was the dividing line between the Northern and Southern Song dynasties. After their fall to the Jin, the Song lost control of North China. Now occupying what has been traditionally known as "China Proper", the Jin regarded themselves the rightful rulers of China. The Jin later chose earth as their dynastic element and yellow as their royal color. According to

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14352-736: The Yellow River , the Southern Song Empire contained a large population and productive agricultural land, sustaining a robust economy. In 1234, the Jin dynasty was conquered by the Mongols , who took control of northern China, maintaining uneasy relations with the Southern Song. Möngke Khan , the fourth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire , died in 1259 while besieging the mountain castle Diaoyucheng in Chongqing . His younger brother Kublai Khan

14628-547: The Yu banks , Ch'ien banks , and T'ien bank groups, these semi-official banks served as the fiscal agents of the Ministry of Revenue. In reality, however, these banking groups were both independent from the Chinese government and from each other and weren't under any form of imperial government supervision. There were 5 "Yu Banks" which were already existing Chinese private banks, while the Ch'ien and T'ien banks were large cash shops which received

14904-560: The earlier Jurchen Empire experienced after they had abused their ability to print Jiaochao banknotes. Modern scholars argue that the banknotes issued during the Shunzhi period, while only brief, likely entrenched the reluctance of the Qing dynasty to issue banknotes because this issue also proved inflationary confirming their fears. It has been suggested by Taiwanese economic historian Lin Man-houng that Chinese money shops did not start with

15180-411: The go and xiangqi board games. During this period greater emphasis was laid upon the civil service system of recruiting officials; this was based upon degrees acquired through competitive examinations , in an effort to select the most capable individuals for governance. Selecting men for office through proven merit was an ancient idea in China . The civil service system became institutionalized on

15456-496: The imperial examination for the third time, frustrating his ambition to become a scholar-official in the civil service and leading him to a nervous breakdown. While recovering, Hong dreamed of visiting Heaven, where he discovered that he possessed a celestial family distinct from his earthly family. His heavenly father lamented that men were worshiping demons rather than himself and informed Hong that his given name violated taboos and had to be changed, suggesting " Hong Xiuquan ",

15732-592: The paper money used by the Ming dynasty could not be converted into coinages of any kind which proved to be an extremely calamitous decision as it had effectively discouraged the reintroduction of paper money in China up until this point. However, the Taiping Rebellion brought both extensive devastation and high defense costs to the point that within 3 years the Xianfeng administration felt forced to re-adopt paper currency. At

16008-417: The shipbuilding industry of Song-era Fujian . However, there was risk involved in such long overseas ventures. In order to reduce the risk of losing money on maritime trade missions abroad, wrote historians Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais: [Song era] investors usually divided their investment among many ships, and each ship had many investors behind it. One observer thought eagerness to invest in overseas trade

16284-454: The universal history text of the Zizhi Tongjian , compiled into 1000 volumes of 9.4 million written Chinese characters . The genre of Chinese travel literature also became popular with the writings of the geographer Fan Chengda (1126–1193) and Su Shi, the latter of whom wrote the 'daytrip essay' known as Record of Stone Bell Mountain that used persuasive writing to argue for

16560-466: The 11th century, political rivalries divided members of the court due to the ministers' differing approaches, opinions, and policies regarding the handling of the Song's complex society and thriving economy. The idealist Chancellor , Fan Zhongyan (989–1052), was the first to receive a heated political backlash when he attempted to institute the Qingli Reforms , which included measures such as improving

16836-405: The 11th-century innovation of the use of coal instead of charcoal in blast furnaces for smelting cast iron . Much of this iron was reserved for military use in crafting weapons and armouring troops, but some was used to fashion the many iron products needed to fill the demands of the growing domestic market. The iron trade within China was advanced by the construction of new canals, facilitating

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17112-589: The 17th and 18th centuries imperial revenue consistently exceeded government expenditures, which resulted in a tidy cash surplus in the Imperial Chinese Treasury. The vastness of China created poor communications across government offices and a general looseness of administration encouraged all sorts of irregularities across the country. During the course of the Taiping Rebellion China would see ⅓ of its people die utterly devastating its economy in

17388-593: The 1856 Tianjing Incident , wherein Yang and his followers were slaughtered by Wei Changhui, Qin Rigang , and their troops on Hong Xiuquan's orders. Shi Dakai's objection to the bloodshed led to his family and retinue being killed by Wei and Qin with Wei ultimately planning to imprison Hong. Wei's plans were ultimately thwarted and he and Qin were executed by Hong. Shi Dakai was given control of five Taiping armies, which were consolidated into one. But fearing for his life, he departed from Tianjing and headed west towards Sichuan. With Hong withdrawn from view and Yang out of

17664-402: The 18th century and that their presence would become very common by the 1820s. The precursor of paper money (紙幣) known as " flying cash " were issued by the Tang dynasty ; however, these bills of exchange could in no way be considered to be a form of paper money as they weren't meant to be a medium of exchange and were only negotiable between two distant points. The first true paper money in

17940-499: The Bible with Issachar Jacox Roberts , an American Baptist missionary. Roberts refused to baptize him and later stated that Hong's followers were "bent on making their burlesque religious pretensions serve their political purpose". Soon after Hong began preaching across Guangxi in 1844, his follower Feng Yunshan founded the God Worshipping Society , a movement which followed Hong's fusion of Christianity, Taoism , Confucianism and indigenous millenarianism , which Hong presented as

18216-547: The Chinese called the Taiping some variant of Long-Hairs ( 長毛鬼、長髪鬼、髪逆、髪賊 ), because they did not shave their foreheads and braid their hair into a queue as Qing subjects were obligated to do , allowing their hair to grow long. During the 19th century, the Qing dynasty experienced a series of famines , natural disasters, economic problems and defeats at the hands of foreign powers. Farmers were heavily overtaxed, rents rose dramatically, and peasants started to desert their lands in droves. The Qing military had recently suffered

18492-446: The Chinese empire. Being lightweight, paper money could be carried around my traders and officials with ease and concealed on one's person as opposed to strings of cash coins which were always visible and a low-effort target for potential robbers. Another argument in favour was that banknotes were not dividable into various grades of purity like is customary for precious metals like silver. Nor does paper money have to be weighed whenever it

18768-406: The Chinese government exercised with the land tax. In September 1853 an event happened which would change the way these customs were collected forever, and in the process, this event resulted transforming the Chinese maritime customs into a competent and highly efficient force for acquiring tax revenue for the Chinese government. In September of the year 1853 the Taiping rebels, fighting their way down

19044-404: The Chinese government was reduced in some areas where necessary as a result of natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes and human disasters such as rebellions and insurrections. The Chinese provinces most devastated by the Taiping Rebellion which were Anhui , Zhejiang , Henan , Jiangxi , Jiangsu , Guizhou , and Sichuan enjoyed a governmental sanctioned "tax break" for decades due to

19320-436: The Chinese government wasn't able to maintain parity for its currencies. By the year Xianfeng 5 (1855) the majority of the high denomination cash coins were abolished because it was both being deprecated at a rapid paste and there was an epidemic of counterfeiting. At this point the higher denomination which still continued to be produced and circulate was the 10 wén cash coin, though it was only worth 70% of its nominal value on

19596-432: The Chinese market while all standard prices kept using them as a base unit of account leading to a price increase of 500% when paying with Daqian cash coins and Great Qing Treasure Note cash notes. This had an immediate negative effect on the soldiers of the banner armies as the central government was forced to pay the soldiers in grain to prevent a famine . The collapse of the iron Daqian cash coins had an immediate effect on

19872-579: The Chinese market. While government reports indicate that the Great Qing Treasure Note would often be refused by private business owners and shops, they were fairly easily exchanged for the banknotes issued by the official banks. Because shops often refused them, the Great Qing Treasure Note cash notes were denominated in wén , instead of metropolitan cash (京錢, Jingqian), the currency unit commonly used on private banknotes in Beijing. The Great Qing Treasure Note could also be quite easily purchased from

20148-616: The Chinese military commissaries, used a different prefix character system, this system was based upon the Five Confucian Virtues as opposed to the thousand character classic-based system of the Great Qing Treasure Note. In the markets of Beijing the new Xianfeng banknotes could not be used, so as people could not purchase any actual goods with them in the capital market many Bannermen lost a large part of their disposable income because of this inability to actually purchase things with their salary. The Shanxi and privately owned banks and

20424-423: The Chinese population under a continued threat of punishments and penalties and also by making their redemption by its holders as difficult as possible. The complete crash of the new currency systems occurred during the winter of Xianfeng 6 (1856) all the way into Xianfeng 7 (1857). The iron 10 wén cash coin drastically declined in its value, one of the reasons for this was the fact that it was being counterfeited on

20700-421: The Chinese provinces a greater flexibility in raising revenues than before, mainly by greatly expanding office selling , a time-honored Chinese fiscal emergency measure of the Ministry of Revenue in the capital city but this was never used on such a scale by provincial and military administrations. The offices being sols were those of jiansheng (監生) and gongsheng (貢生). Silver ingots known as sycees have been

20976-600: The Confucian classics of the Four Books as an introductory corpus to Confucian learning formed the basis of the Neo-Confucian doctrine. By the year 1241, under the sponsorship of Emperor Lizong , Zhu Xi's Four Books and his commentary on them became standard requirements of study for students attempting to pass the civil service examinations. The neighbouring countries of Japan and Korea also adopted Zhu Xi's teaching, known as

21252-688: The Dungan rebellion began in 1862, not as a planned uprising but as a coalescence of local brawls and riots triggered by trivial causes, among these causes were false rumors that the Hui Muslims were aiding the Taiping rebels. The Hui Ma Xiaoshi claimed that the Shaanxi Muslim rebellion was connected to the Taiping. Jonathan Spence claims that a key reason for the Taiping's defeat was its inability to coordinate its rebellion with other rebellions. The rebels announced social reforms, including strict separation of

21528-495: The Great Qing Treasure Note banknotes as large denomination iron cash coins served as the reserve of the cash notes issued by the Yu banks, which in turn handled the exchange of the Great Qing Treasure Note series. This resulted in the cash notes issued by the Yu banks to become quickly depreciated and by extend the Great Qing Treasure Note. The Yu banks went bankrupt and were forced to close their doors, this failure led to privately produced banknotes which were valued 4 times as much as

21804-415: The Great Qing Treasure Note to circulate in the provinces was way more limited than its ability to do so in Beijing. The Great Qing Treasure Note cash notes and Hubu Guanpiao tael notes weren't the only solutions the Chinese government offered to fix its financial crisis, but the actual implementation of these solutions varied greatly from province-to-province. Scholarly studies surrounding the effects around

22080-460: The Hubu Guanpiao tael notes and Great Qing Treasure Note cash notes did not enjoy market preference because of their high nominal value: the lowest denomination Great Qing Treasure Note cash note had a nominal value of 500 wén , while the daily income in the period of 1853 to 1860 for an unskilled Chinese labourer was approximately 93 to 255 metropolitan cash (Jingqian). At this point in time it became clear that physical metal supplies would not reach

22356-528: The Hubu Guanpiao tael notes as was officially set by government regulation. As an example Manchu bannermen were to be paid in 8 parts ordinary cash coins to 2 parts large denomination cash coins, while members of the imperial household received 6 strings (串, chuàn ) of standard cash coins for each 10 strings which were disbursed. Comparatively, government contractors and private merchants tended to receive more multi-denomination cash coins over standard cash coins due to their lower position. Under inflationary pressure

22632-454: The Hubu Guanpiao tael notes through their services. The Shanxi banks were often active in the assigned treaty ports cultivating the business of both Chinese merchants and foreigner traders alike. The Shanxi banks tended to be very competitive in their nature and cooperated extensively with other branches of banking corporations within their own sphere, they would often send crucial banking-related news to member banks by carrier pigeon . Prior to

22908-541: The International Settlement were quick to realise that their country would benefit if China was to follow the West's example. These impressions of foreign business acumen gained during this era, together with cooperation arising out of need in this chaotic time in Chinese history, would lead to the creation of the first native Chinese modern shipping companies and similar business enterprises. The Imperial Maritime Customs

23184-423: The Jin dynasty. It had able military officers such as Yue Fei and Han Shizhong . The government sponsored massive shipbuilding and harbor improvement projects, and the construction of beacons and seaport warehouses to support maritime trade abroad, including at the major international seaports , such as Quanzhou , Guangzhou , and Xiamen , that were sustaining China's commerce. To protect and support

23460-564: The Liao forces, who engaged in aggressive yearly campaigns into Northern Song territory until 1005, when the signing of the Shanyuan Treaty ended these northern border clashes. The Song were forced to provide tribute to the Khitans, although this did little damage to the Song economy since the Khitans were economically dependent upon importing massive amounts of goods from the Song. More significantly,

23736-463: The Ministry of Revenue was attempting to get their hands on ⅓ of these reserves, factually borrowing against the predicted income of the provincial Jiansheng silver funds which was feeding these reserves. This scheme was only functional if the imperial Chinese government had status awards (which were symbolic capital) which people would actually want to purchase using real economic capital, the imperial government would have to be able to arbitrarily dictate

24012-441: The Mongols as vassals ; when the Jin suddenly moved their capital city from Beijing to Kaifeng, the Mongols saw this as a revolt. Under the leadership of Ögedei Khan (r.1229–1241), both the Jin dynasty and Western Xia dynasty were conquered by Mongol forces in 1233/34. The Mongols were allied with the Song, but this alliance was broken when the Song recaptured the former imperial capitals of Kaifeng, Luoyang , and Chang'an at

24288-508: The New Policies and pursued political opponents, tolerated corruption and encouraged Emperor Huizong (1100–1126) to neglect his duties to focus on artistic pursuits. Later, a peasant rebellion broke out in Zhejiang and Fujian, headed by Fang La in 1120. The rebellion may have been caused by an increasing tax burden, the concentration of landownership and oppressive government measures. While

24564-465: The Opium Wars and the future Boxer Rebellion to further weaken the Qing dynasty’s grasp on central China. The Taiping rebellion gave incentive for an initially successful period of reform and self-strengthening although shadowed by social and religious unrest within the country exacerbating ethnic disputes and accelerating the rise of provincial power . Historians debate whether these developments played

24840-406: The Qing dynasty return to issuing banknotes again after four hundred years without using them. There were also other arguments in favour of a paper currency; the earlier advantages of adopting paper currencies had not been entirely forgotten by the Chinese people. The people supporting the reintroduction of fiat money claimed that it could be produced at minimal cost and could circulate widely within

25116-405: The Qing dynasty there isn't much evidence supporting that they also circulated in Beijing. Much of the central government's economic policies surrounded around making this new monetary system work and the practice of office selling would play a paramount role in this as the government would continue to accept both Great Qing Treasure Note banknotes and Daqian cash coins in this endeavour. Throughout

25392-564: The Qing dynasty was forced to open more ports following the Opium Wars . Since the circulating silver sycee in China was rarely of the same degree of fineness, a standard unit of account had to be devised, this unit of exchange for accounting silver came to be known in English as the " tael " (which is pronounced the same as the English word "tail"). The tael itself was not a form of currency, but rather

25668-486: The Qing in general and the Manchus in particular as some variant of demons or monsters ( 妖 ; yāo ), representing Hong's proclamation that they were fighting a holy war to rid the world of demons and establish paradise on earth. The Qing referred to the Taiping as "Yue Bandits" ( 粵匪 ; Yuèfěi or 粵賊 ; Yuèzéi ) in official sources, a reference to their origins in the southeastern province of Guangdong. More colloquially,

25944-538: The Shanghai banks. However, at this time the Second Opium War was being fought with the United Kingdom and France in the northern parts of China. The tribute junks were sunk on their voyage back to Shanghai. Had bullion in precious metals such as gold and silver have been demanded immediately to cover the loss that had occurred during this crisis, then the Shanghai banks would have gone bankrupt. Being allied with

26220-533: The Shanxi banks under normal circumstances was that to send currency to more distant places in payment for traded goods and services . For this service the remittance banks charged a fee which ranged from 2% to 6%. During the usual course of business, these banks also held Qing Chinese government funds for disbursement. As the Shanxi banks were strongly represented in the north of China, the Chinese government saw it as only natural that these banks would be chosen to disburse

26496-413: The Shanxi group, the local Shanghai banks were given time by the holders of the notes to obtain the necessary funds from other Chinese cities and the crisis which could have severely affected the economy of Shanghai negatively was thereby averted. The Taiping Rebellion had caused the government of the Qing dynasty to fall into an extreme debt spiral which forced it to reconsider introducing paper money as

26772-635: The Shushigaku (朱子學, School of Zhu Xi) of Japan, and in Korea the Jujahak (주자학). Buddhism's continuing influence can be seen in painted artwork such as Lin Tinggui 's Luohan Laundering . However, the ideology was highly criticized and even scorned by some. The statesman and historian Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072) called the religion a "curse" that could only be remedied by uprooting it from Chinese culture and replacing it with Confucian discourse. The Chan sect experienced

27048-699: The Song dynasty alternated between warfare and diplomacy with the ethnic Khitans of the Liao dynasty in the northeast and with the Tanguts of the Western Xia in the northwest. The Song dynasty used military force in an attempt to quell the Liao dynasty and to recapture the Sixteen Prefectures , a territory under Khitan control since 938 that was traditionally considered to be part of China proper (Most parts of today's Beijing and Tianjin ). Song forces were repulsed by

27324-409: The Song dynasty was able to hold back the Jin, a new foe came to power over the steppe, deserts, and plains north of the Jin dynasty. The Mongols , led by Genghis Khan (r. 1206–1227), initially invaded the Jin dynasty in 1205 and 1209, engaging in large raids across its borders, and in 1211 an enormous Mongol army was assembled to invade the Jin. The Jin dynasty was forced to submit and pay tribute to

27600-447: The Song dynasty was unparalleled with a gross domestic product three times larger than that of Europe during the 12th century. China's population doubled in size between the 10th and 11th centuries. This growth was made possible by expanded rice cultivation , use of early-ripening rice from Southeast and South Asia, and production of widespread food surpluses. The Northern Song census recorded 20 million households, double that of

27876-507: The Song dynasty, but also the last instance where a war elephant corps was employed as a regular division within a Chinese army. There was a total of 347 military treatises written during the Song period, as listed by the history text of the Song Shi (compiled in 1345). However, only a handful of these military treatises have survived, which includes the Wujing Zongyao written in 1044. It

28152-416: The Song forces only 3,000 men on 120 warships, the Song dynasty forces were victorious in both battles due to the destructive power of the bombs and the rapid assaults by paddlewheel ships . The strength of the navy was heavily emphasized following these victories. A century after the navy was founded it had grown in size to 52,000 fighting marines. The Song government confiscated portions of land owned by

28428-515: The Song navy that could carry 1,000 soldiers aboard their decks, while the swift-moving paddle-wheel craft were viewed as essential fighting ships in any successful naval battle. In a battle on January 23, 971, massive arrow fire from Song dynasty crossbowmen decimated the war elephant corps of the Southern Han army. This defeat not only marked the eventual submission of the Southern Han to

28704-520: The Song state recognized the Liao state as its diplomatic equal. The Song created an extensive defensive forest along the Song-Liao border to thwart potential Khitan cavalry attacks. The Song dynasty managed to win several military victories over the Tanguts in the early 11th century, culminating in a campaign led by the polymath scientist, general, and statesman Shen Kuo (1031–1095). However, this campaign

28980-487: The Song, the era was known for its regional varieties of performing arts styles as well. Theatrical drama was very popular amongst the elite and general populace, although Classical Chinese —not the vernacular language —was spoken by actors on stage. The four largest drama theatres in Kaifeng could hold audiences of several thousand each. There were also notable domestic pastimes, as people at home enjoyed activities such as

29256-465: The T'ien shops was quickened by Chinese peasants who, with the inflation affecting the paper money running rampant, opted to speedily redeem their pawned items with the depreciated Great Qing Treasure Note. This run on the T'ien shops had practically doomed the Chinese pawnshop business overnight. As the Great Qing Treasure Note were intended to be used as a form of payment throughout the Manchu Empire,

29532-447: The Taiping Rebellion, the government produced more and more high denomination banknotes, which were not convertible. This caused hyperinflation ; by the year Xianfeng 9 (1859) the currency had become completely depreciated and was abolished. During the transition from Ming to Qing the Manchu government-issued banknotes known as Hubu Guanpiao (戶部官票) or Shunzhi Guanpiao (順治官票) or Shunzhi Chaoguan (順治鈔貫) which were first issued in

29808-522: The Taiping army's female soldiers. Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( / s ʊ ŋ / ) was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song , who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms , ending the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period . The Song often came into conflict with

30084-513: The Taiping ideology and the policy of strict separation of the sexes, even for married couples, sided with government forces. In Hunan , the local irregular Xiang Army under the personal leadership of Zeng Guofan , became the main force fighting the Taiping on behalf of the Qing. Zeng's Xiang Army proved effective in gradually turning back the Taiping advance in the western theater of the war and ultimately retaking much of Hubei and Jiangxi provinces. In December 1856 Qing forces retook Wuchang for

30360-705: The Taiping launched concurrent Northern and Western expeditions, in an effort to relieve pressure on Nanjing and achieve significant territorial gains. The former expedition was a complete failure but the latter achieved limited success. In 1853, Hong Xiuquan withdrew from active control of policies and administration to rule exclusively by written proclamations. He lived in luxury and had many women in his inner chamber, and often issued religious strictures. He clashed with Yang Xiuqing, who challenged his often impractical policies, and became suspicious of Yang's ambitions, his extensive network of spies and his claims of authority when "speaking as God". This tension culminated in

30636-415: The Taiping princes were executed. A small remainder of loyal Taiping forces had continued to fight in northern Zhejiang, rallying around Tianguifu. But after Tianguifu's capture on 25 October 1864, Taiping resistance was gradually pushed into the highlands of Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian and finally Guangdong , where one of the last Taiping loyalists, Wang Haiyang, was defeated on January 29, 1866. Although

30912-698: The Taiping rebellion lost ground, particularly after the fall of Nanjing in 1864, former Taiping soldiers and commanders like Lai Wenguang were incorporated into Nian ranks. After the failure of the Red Turban Rebellion (1854–1856) to capture Guangzhou , their soldiers retreated north into Jiangxi and joined forces with Shi Dakai. After the defeat of the Li Yonghe and Lan Chaoding rebellion in Sichuan, remnants combined with Taiping forces in Shaanxi. Remnant forces of

31188-522: The Tang era, would also be revived in China under Mongol rule. Sumptuary laws regulated the food that one consumed and the clothes that one wore according to status and social class. Clothing was made of hemp or cotton cloths, restricted to a color standard of black and white. Trousers were the acceptable attire for peasants, soldiers, artisans, and merchants, although wealthy merchants might choose to wear more ornate clothing and male blouses that came down below

31464-403: The Yangtze River and recapturing the strategic city of Anqing , Zeng's forces besieged Nanjing during May 1862. After two more years, on June 1, 1864, Hong Xiuquan died during the siege, caused from the consumption of weeds in the palace grounds as well as suspicions of poison. Nanjing fell barely a month later. The 14-year civil war as a whole coincided with internal and external conflicts of

31740-459: The Yangtze River. In 1863, Shi Dakai surrendered to the Qing near the Sichuan capital Chengdu and was executed by slow-slicing . Some of his followers escaped or were released and continued the fight against the Qing. Qing forces were reorganized under the command of Zeng Guofan , Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang , and the Qing reconquest began in earnest. Zeng Guofan had initially failed so badly that he attempted suicide, but he then adopted

32016-564: The Yangtze valley while leaving a lot of destruction in their wake, threatened the port city of Shanghai . The loyal Chinese government officials lost no time in fleeing to Shanghai's International Settlement which was protected by guns of foreign warships stationed there. The Customs House of Shanghai by this time had been abandoned. Foreign traders and businessmen, refusing to pay duties to unauthorized Chinese officials, came to declare their imported goods instead to their representative consulates in

32292-732: The ability to speak as members of the "Celestial Family", the Father in the case of Yang Xiuqing and Jesus Christ in the case of Xiao Chaogui . The Taiping Rebellion began in the southern province of Guangxi when local officials launched a campaign of religious persecution against the God Worshipping Society. In early January 1851, following a small-scale battle in late December 1850, a 10,000-strong rebel army organized by Feng Yunshan and Wei Changhui routed Qing forces stationed in Jintian (present-day Guiping , Guangxi). Taiping forces successfully repulsed an attempted imperial reprisal by

32568-526: The amount of cultivated land remained the same. The government, commanded by ethnic Manchus , had become increasingly corrupt, and was weak in southern regions where local clans dominated. Anti-Manchu sentiment was strongest in southern China among the Hakka community, a Han Chinese subgroup. Meanwhile, Christian missionaries were active. In 1837, Hong Huoxiu , a Hakka from a poor village in Guangdong , failed

32844-435: The arguments for reintroduction of paper money prevailed and the Great Qing Treasure Note and Great Qing Hubu Guanpiao were introduced in the year Xianfeng 3 (1853). The banknotes denominated in copper-alloy cash coins and the banknotes denominated in taels of silver were introduced simultaneously to the Chinese market by the government. Unlike the earlier Great Ming Treasure Note banknotes these paper notes were to be backed by

33120-433: The around the end of the year 1858 Jiangxi province had been molested very little by the Taiping rebels, Zeng became dependent upon the province of Jiangxi for his military supplies and made its defense an essential part of his counter-rebellion strategy. The main sources of income of the province at the time were agriculturally based; however, the collection of statistical data collected by the bureaucratic apparatus upon which

33396-528: The arts as accepted pastimes of the cultured scholar-official, including painting , composing poetry , and writing calligraphy . The poet and statesman Su Shi and his associate Mi Fu (1051–1107) enjoyed antiquarian affairs, often borrowing or buying art pieces to study and copy. Poetry and literature profited from the rising popularity and development of the ci poetry form . Enormous encyclopedic volumes were compiled, such as works of historiography and dozens of treatises on technical subjects. This included

33672-520: The assault against the Song, gaining a temporary foothold on the southern banks of the Yangtze. By the winter of 1259, Uriyangkhadai's army fought its way north to meet Kublai's army, which was besieging Ezhou in Hubei . Kublai made preparations to take Ezhou , but a pending civil war with his brother Ariq Böke —a rival claimant to the Mongol Khaganate—forced Kublai to move back north with

33948-541: The border region of Hunan, Guizhou and Guangxi. Taiping wars also spilled over into Vietnam with devastating effects. In 1860, Wu Lingyun ( 吳凌雲 ), an ethnic Zhuang Taiping leader, proclaimed himself King of Dingling ( 廷陵國 ) in the Sino-Vietnamese border regions. Dingling was destroyed during a Qing campaign in 1868. His son Wu Yazhong, also called Wu Kun ( 吳鯤 ), fled to Vietnam but was killed in 1869 in Thái Nguyên by

34224-461: The budding movement of Neo-Confucianism , led by Cheng Yi (1033–1107) and Zhu Xi (1130–1200). Mahayana Buddhism influenced Fan Zhongyan and Wang Anshi through its concept of ethical universalism , while Buddhist metaphysics deeply affected the pre–Neo-Confucian doctrine of Cheng Yi. The philosophical work of Cheng Yi in turn influenced Zhu Xi. Although his writings were not accepted by his contemporary peers, Zhu's commentary and emphasis upon

34500-460: The bulk of his forces. In Kublai's absence, the Song forces were ordered by Chancellor Jia Sidao to make an immediate assault and succeeded in pushing the Mongol forces back to the northern banks of the Yangtze. There were minor border skirmishes until 1265, when Kublai won a significant battle in Sichuan . From 1268 to 1273, Kublai blockaded the Yangtze River with his navy and besieged Xiangyang ,

34776-489: The capabilities of the copper-alloy cash coins-based currency system of China. During this period imperial Chinese revenues had to be remitted to the capital city of Beijing and provisional salaries paid. At the time the transportation of large sums of precious metal bullion was both expensive and risky to undertake. However, with the outbreak of the Taiping rebellion the business of transacting funds and revenue became even more dangerous. In order to overcome these new difficulties

35052-410: The capital of Beijing, the preferred substitute turned out to be banknotes. Government officials were very much aware that the issuing of banknotes had to happen within very strict limits because the increases to the supply of metal currencies needed to be matched or the new currency would face the same levels of inflation has had happened several times before in the history of China . Despite knowing all

35328-503: The central Song court remained politically divided and focused upon its internal affairs, alarming new events to the north in the Liao state finally came to its attention. The Jurchen , a subject tribe of the Liao, rebelled against them and formed their own state, the Jin dynasty (1115–1234) . The Song official Tong Guan (1054–1126) advised Emperor Huizong to form an alliance with the Jurchens, and

35604-411: The circulation of a paper money. The Jiaqing Emperor was not fully without justification in asserting his stance against paper currency, as the era Ming banknotes from their introduction had been inconvertible into metal currencies. With no government backing into any other forms of currency these banknotes were swiftly depreciated. While this may seem only logical today the Chinese had to learn this lesson

35880-464: The cities of Huizhou , Chengdu , Hangzhou , and Anqi. The size of the workforce employed in paper money factories was large; it was recorded in 1175 that the factory at Hangzhou employed more than a thousand workers a day. The economic power of Song China can be attested by the growth of the urban population of its capital city Hangzhou. The population was 200,000 at the start of the 12th century and increased to 500,000 around 1170 and doubled to over

36156-545: The city of Beijing the parity between wén cash coins and the Great Qing Treasure Note was maintained, but at the same time the entirety of the Jingqian system would become deprecated in relation to the Zhiqian system and silver prices. Both 10 wén cash coins and Great Qing Treasure Note cash notes were heavily discounted when traded with privately issued banknotes. Around the same time the price of silver declined throughout China, by

36432-604: The city until the Chinese Customs House could be reopened. This resulted to a considerable amount of workload for these foreign consulates, as the funds raised through customs duties were based upon a 5% ad valorem tax on all imports and exports in Shanghai. The foreign consular officials, who were unable to cope with this high volume, set up the Maritime Customs Service to be run by British , American , and French consular representatives and gave this office

36708-549: The city. The city's food supplies ran low. Hong contracted food poisoning from eating wild vegetables; the intent may have been suicide. He died in June 1864 after a 20-day illness. A few days later, the Qing took the city in the Third Battle of Nanjing . On 1 August, Zeng Guofan ordered Hong's body exhumed for verification, and desecrated as spiritual punishment. After exhumation, it was dismembered, cremated, and its ashes were fired from

36984-436: The civil service and the military. The salaries of civil servants and soldiers were partially paid in paper money, and by law, all cash shops and banks were required to accept the Great Qing Treasure Note copper notes in lieu of actual cash coins. Meanwhile, the central government itself allowed for the Chinese people to pay a part of their taxes in banknotes. However, the ability of the imperial Chinese government to try and force

37260-469: The collapse of the Jin dynasty. After the first Mongol invasion of Vietnam in 1258, Mongol general Uriyangkhadai attacked Guangxi from Hanoi as part of a coordinated Mongol attack in 1259 with armies attacking in Sichuan under Mongol leader Möngke Khan and other Mongol armies attacking in modern-day Shandong and Henan . On August 11, 1259, Möngke Khan died during the siege of Diaoyu Castle in Chongqing . His successor Kublai Khan continued

37536-482: The contemporaneous Liao , Western Xia and Jin dynasties in northern China. After retreating to southern China following attacks by the Jin dynasty, the Song was eventually conquered by the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty . The dynasty's history is divided into two periods: during the Northern Song ( 北宋 ; 960–1127), the capital was in the northern city of Bianjing (now Kaifeng ) and the dynasty controlled most of what

37812-409: The copper saved could be used in the production of weapons for the imperial Chinese and provincial armies. The second reason was that in the case replacing of silver coinages, if the mercantile (merchants) and commercial (business owners) classes could be brought to the persuasion to accept paper banknotes in lieu of silver, then the silver saved could be stored up in the government coffers. Eventually,

38088-476: The copper supply dependent on the copper mines of Yunnan which had been interdicted by the rebels. Secondly, the Chinese silver sector, with its system of Loofang (which was the private smelting of sycees), was never able to adequately fulfil the demands of Chinese commercial sector; and thirdly, the Qing dynasty was ruled by a government which proved incapable of enforcing the monetary policy which had worked so well for previous dynasties. All these factors reached

38364-407: The cost of this material. The lijin tax limited the amount collected in any one province to 10%. The tolls collected on passing commodities substantially slowed the flow of business within China. The lijin system would survive the fall of the Qing dynasty as it was a major source of revenue. The lijin tax would constitute the principal source of income for the Chinese provinces and was most essential to

38640-419: The country's social order. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom located at Nanjing managed to seize control of significant portions of southern China. At its peak, the Heavenly Kingdom ruled over a population of nearly 30 million people. For more than a decade, Taiping armies occupied and fought across much of the mid- and lower Yangtze valley, ultimately devolving into civil war. It was the largest war in China since

38916-467: The court. Wang Anshi's "New Policies Group" ( Xin Fa ), also known as the "Reformers", were opposed by the ministers in the "Conservative" faction led by the historian and Chancellor Sima Guang (1019–1086). As one faction supplanted another in the majority position of the court ministers, it would demote rival officials and exile them to govern remote frontier regions of the empire. One of the prominent victims of

39192-413: The creation of the new Xianfeng coinage had also necessitated the reintroduction of paper money in China after it was absent for two centuries. The new paper currency came in two forms, one was the copper-alloy cash coins-based Great Qing Treasure Note and the other was the silver sycee -based Hubu Guanpiao (戶部官票) which were both introduced simultaneously with the new debased cash coinage. However,

39468-529: The death toll may have reached 100 million. The Nian Rebellion (1853–1868), and several Chinese Muslim rebellions in the southwest (the Panthay Rebellion , 1855–1873) and the northwest ( Dungan revolt , 1862–1877) continued to pose considerable problems for the Qing dynasty. Occasionally, the Nian rebels collaborated with Taiping forces, for instance, they collaborated during the Northern Expedition . As

39744-514: The destruction of idols was initially welcomed by foreign missionaries, missionaries eventually came to fear the zealotry of the Taiping that they had a hand in creating. Separation of the sexes was strictly enforced in the first few years, although it tapered off in later years. Part of the extremeness came from a mistranslation of the Ten Commandments , which led to the seventh commandment also forbidding "licentiousness" as well as adultery. It

40020-451: The destruction that was wreaked upon them by the Taiping Rebellion. This "tax break" accounted for much loss of imperial government revenue which it had previously gained from those provinces. The proceeds of the land tax money collected during this era at the provincial level were substantially decreased. Severe irregularities and mass extortion commonly took place on the part of local tax collectors. The second most important tax collected by

40296-413: The dynasty, government posts were disproportionately held by two elite social groups: a founding elite who had ties with the founding emperor and a semi-hereditary professional elite who used long-held clan status, family connections , and marriage alliances to secure appointments. By the late 11th century, the founding elite became obsolete, while political partisanship and factionalism at court undermined

40572-511: The early 11th century to 400,000 candidates by the late 13th century. The civil service and examination system allowed for greater meritocracy , social mobility , and equality in competition for those wishing to attain an official seat in government. Using statistics gathered by the Song state, Edward A. Kracke, Sudō Yoshiyuki, and Ho Ping-ti supported the hypothesis that simply having a father, grandfather, or great-grandfather who had served as an official of state did not guarantee one would obtain

40848-561: The economy. The lower gentry assumed a larger role in local administration and affairs. Song society was vibrant, and cities had lively entertainment quarters. Citizens gathered to view and trade artwork, and intermingled at festivals and in private clubs. The spread of literature and knowledge was enhanced by the rapid expansion of woodblock printing and the 11th-century invention of movable type printing. Philosophers such as Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi reinvigorated Confucianism with new commentary, infused with Buddhist ideals, and emphasized

41124-443: The edict. As for the rest of the provinces, they have by no means as yet done so. Those governors-general and governors, if they had with full devotion managed their affairs, what need would there be for a year's delay? Are not the regulations settled? Fujian is well known to be a barren place and yet the regulations are already in effect there. Even if the situation is not the same in each province, it cannot be so difficult to establish

41400-580: The educational system and state bureaucracy. Seeking to resolve what he saw as state corruption and negligence, Wang implemented a series of reforms called the New Policies . These involved land value tax reform, the establishment of several government monopolies, the support of local militias, and the creation of higher standards for the Imperial examination to make it more practical for men skilled in statecraft to pass. The reforms created political factions in

41676-402: The empire. In one such project, cartographers created detailed maps of each province and city that were then collected in a large atlas . Emperor Taizu also promoted groundbreaking scientific and technological innovations by supporting works like the astronomical clock tower designed and built by the engineer Zhang Sixun . The Song court maintained diplomatic relations with Chola India ,

41952-417: The empire. The Great Qing Treasure Note banknotes rather than being smoothly introduced to the local markets were "dumped" (Lanfa) on purveyors of goods and services to the bureaucracy of the Qing government and were not as easily accepted back in tax payments to the government by these same purveyors. Unlike the Hubu Guanpiao tael notes, the Great Qing Treasure Note cash notes were initially well received by

42228-586: The establishment of retirement homes , public clinics , and paupers ' graveyards . The Song dynasty supported a widespread postal service that was modeled on the earlier Han dynasty (202 BCE – CE 220) postal system to provide swift communication throughout the empire. The central government employed thousands of postal workers of various ranks to provide service for post offices and larger postal stations. In rural areas, farming peasants either owned their own plots of land , paid rents as tenant farmers , or were serfs on large estates. Although women were on

42504-485: The establishment of the Ming dynasty the Mongol Yuan dynasty had suffered from a severe case of hyperinflation which made the paper money issued by them worthless. Under the reign of the Yuan dynasty copper cash coins remained in circulation with the inscriptions Zhida Tongbao (至大通寶), Dayuan Tongbao (大元通寶), and Zhizheng Tongbao (至正通寶) forming the majority of the circulating issues and " strings of cash coins " remaining

42780-501: The ethnic minority of the ruling Imperial House of Aisin-Gioro . Meanwhile, the Qing government also engaged in massacres, most notably against the civilian population of Nanjing. Weakened severely by internal conflicts following an attempted coup and the failure of the siege of Beijing , the Taiping rebels were defeated by decentralised provincial armies such as the Xiang Army organised and commanded by Zeng Guofan . After moving down

43056-474: The existing Shanxi banks (票号, "draft banks" or "remittance banks", which had earned this nickname as most remittance banks were owned and operated by merchants from the province of Shanxi , meanwhile foreigners in China called these institutions "native banks" to describe both the Shanxi banks and large money lenders whose businesses had accumulated a sufficient of capital to make loans) were greatly expanded to accommodate this demand. The principal function of

43332-445: The extent that the copper reserves which backed this issue up had lost much of its value, which compounded inflationary pressures and justified the longstanding mistrust of paper money that the Chinese public had for the medium. Initially, the Great Qing Treasure Note banknotes were able to be redeemed through the local Yu, Ch'ien and T'ien banks in a proportion of Zhiqian (制錢, "standard cash coins"), Daqian (大錢, "big cash"), silver, or

43608-431: The fall of Nanjing in 1864 marked the destruction of the Taiping regime, the fight was not yet over. There were still several hundred thousand Taiping troops continuing the fight, with more than a quarter-million fighting in the border regions of Jiangxi and Fujian alone. It was not until August 1871 that the last Taiping army led by Shi Dakai 's commander, Li Fuzhong ( 李福忠 ), was completely wiped out by government forces in

43884-452: The fall of Taiping-controlled Nanjing —which they had renamed Tianjing "heavenly capital"—in 1864. However, the last rebel forces were not defeated until August 1871. Estimates of the conflict's death toll range between 20 and 30 million people, representing 5–10% of China's population at that time. While the Qing ultimately defeated the rebellion, the victory came at a great cost to the state's economic and political viability. The uprising

44160-447: The famed Bao Zheng (999–1062) embodied the upright, moral judge who upheld justice and never failed to live up to his principles. Song judges specified the guilty person or party in a criminal act and meted out punishments accordingly, often in the form of caning . A guilty individual or parties brought to court for a criminal or civil offense were not viewed as wholly innocent until proven otherwise, while even accusers were viewed with

44436-540: The field of battle suffered by the Chinese government, new armies and new types of armies had to be raised. For this task the Emperor was forced to turn to the provinces. Eventually, the imperial Chinese government had no recourse other than to place full responsibility in these newly formed units led by local warlords and aristocrats. Zeng Guofan , the architect of eventual victory over the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom ,

44712-551: The final time. The Xiang Army captured Jiujiang in May 1858 and then the rest of Jiangxi by September. In 1859, Hong Rengan , Hong Xiuquan's cousin, joined the Taiping forces in Nanjing and was given considerable power by Hong. Hong Rengan developed an ambitious plan to expand the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's boundaries. In May 1860, the Taiping defeated the imperial forces that had been besieging Nanjing since 1853, eliminating them from

44988-419: The first Chinese government to establish a permanent standing navy . This dynasty saw the first surviving records of the chemical formula for gunpowder, the invention of gunpowder weapons such as fire arrows , bombs, and the fire lance . It also saw the first discernment of true north using a compass, first recorded description of the pound lock , and improved designs of astronomical clocks . Economically,

45264-520: The first syllable of their names as "Yu banks" (宇) received iron Daqian from the government's Iron Cash Bureau (鐵錢局). These banks started issuing their own banknotes. The amount of Great Qing Treasure Note cash notes which could be exchanged for banknotes issued by these Yu banks was dependent on lot (掣字) which was further divided into validated Great Qing Treasure Note cash notes known as "Sichao" (實鈔) and non-validated Great Qing Treasure Note cash notes known as "Kongchao" (空鈔). The Yu Banks would sometimes add

45540-451: The flow of iron products from production centres to the large market in the capital city. The annual output of minted copper currency in 1085 reached roughly six billion coins. The most notable advancement in the Song economy was the establishment of the world's first government issued paper-printed money, known as Jiaozi (see also Huizi ). For the printing of paper money , the Song court established several government-run factories in

45816-576: The government nationalised paper money in the year 1023 under the Bureau of Exchange. As these paper notes were backed by the government they were instantly successful and the people regarded them to be equally trustworthy as cash coins , other types of paper notes issued under the Song dynasty include the Huizi and the Guanzi . Before the Mongol Empire conquered China the Jin dynasty also issued paper money. Before

46092-577: The government and were supposed to be fully convertible on demand. Banknotes denominated in copper-alloy cash coins were referred to as Chaopiao (鈔票, or "precious notes") and Qianpiao (錢票, or "cash notes", which was a reference to their (initial) convertibility into strings of copper-alloy cash coins). In the year Xianfeng 3 (1853) the Ministry of Revenue also gave authorisation to the local provincial governments of China to directly issue banknotes denominated in copper-alloy cash coins and silver taels, these banknotes bore its official seal and were valid throughout

46368-441: The government did not keep adequate reserves of hard currency to back the new banknotes up. Many provincial governments didn't allow for taxes to be paid using paper money, and after a few years the government started refusing to convert the new paper money into hard currency; consequently, the Chinese people started to distrust it as a valid medium of exchange . In response to the ever more expensive military expenditures caused by

46644-484: The government found it a necessity to try to bring them into circulation in the provinces by using the Yu, Ch'ien, and T'ien banking corporations. The entire process was spread over a biannual period, this was done because of the chaotic nature of China in the wake of this massive civil war. In the capital city of Beijing the issuance of Great Qing Treasure Note banknotes had exceeded over 15,000,000 strings of cash coins . Since local provincial officials tended to display

46920-476: The government of the Qing dynasty had set aside for those who would redeem the Great Qing Treasure Note banknotes turned out to be too low to meet the demand. During some audits conducted by the Ministry of Revenue their turned out to be major irregularities with the reserves held by the private and provincial note issuing banks. Eventually, the Chinese government would abandon any policy other than one of keeping their banknotes in general circulation by forcing them on

47196-556: The government of the Qing dynasty was taxation. The Taiping Rebellion was the largest civil war that China had experienced up until that point. The Qing dynasty Army of the Green Standard and its bannermen had long since fallen into decay, revealing the decrepit state of the Chinese military. Near the end of the year 1851, the Ministry of Revenue in Beijing promulgated the Statutes for Raising Military Funds (餉事例). After repeated defeats on

47472-400: The government relied upon the cooperation of the few or many local gentry in the area. For example, the Song government—excluding the educational-reformist government under Emperor Huizong—spared little amount of state revenue to maintain prefectural and county schools; instead, the bulk of the funds for schools was drawn from private financing. This limited role of government officials was

47748-576: The government-issued banknotes on the market further ushering in a decline for the Great Qing Treasure Note. Taiping Rebellion The Taiping Rebellion , also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution , was a civil war in China between the Manchu -led Qing dynasty and the Hakka -led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom . The conflict lasted 14 years, from its outbreak in 1850 until

48024-407: The groups eventually disbanded. With no reliable census at the time, estimates of the death toll of the Taiping Rebellion are speculative. The most widely cited sources estimate the total number of deaths during the almost 14 years of the rebellion to be approximately 20 to 30 million civilians and soldiers. Most of the deaths were attributed to plague and famine. Some analysts have claimed that

48300-411: The hard way. The first radical change to the Chinese monetary system involved the authorization and introduction of "big cash coins" (大錢 - known today as multiple cash coins). This measurement was seen as one of the only remaining options left, and simultaneously the Qing government decided to reintroduce paper currency. Xianfeng's paper money consisted of two types of paper bank notes, the first of which

48576-521: The hierarchic social order, a person could gain status and prestige in society by becoming a high-ranking military officer with a record of victorious battles. At its height, the Song military had one million soldiers divided into platoons of 50 troops, companies made of two platoons, battalions composed of 500 soldiers. Crossbowmen were separated from the regular infantry and placed in their own units as they were prized combatants, providing effective missile fire against cavalry charges. The government

48852-514: The imperial Chinese government introduced to raise funds was to allow provincial governments to sell Imperial Academy degrees, the profits from this were collected into a fund known as the jiansheng silver fund (監銀). Under the reign of the Daoguang Emperor , provincial treasuries kept approximately 48% of the money made from this scheme in provincial grain reserves known as Changpingcang (常平倉) and provincial silver reserves known as fengzhuyin (封貯銀),

49128-506: The imperial Chinese government was the grain tribute. Yearly quotas were set, but these quotas were limited to only the 15 provinces with fertile soil which were all situated along the basin of the Yangtze River. The quotas set up by the Imperial Chinese government were assessed based upon local grain productivity in these provinces. The Chinese government levered duties on customs and goods which entered China since ancient times dating to

49404-421: The imperial Qing government allocated funds to the provinces, they were normally paid in either silver bullion and Hubu Guanpiao tael notes. In addition, Great Qing Treasure Note cash notes were printed specifically for the provinces, and imperial government made sure that these provincial Great Qing Treasure Note cash notes could not be used in the capital city; they would not be accepted in the official banks or in

49680-414: The importance of proper coroner 's conduct during autopsies and the accurate recording of the inquest of each autopsy by official clerks. The Song military was chiefly organized to ensure that the army could not threaten Imperial control, often at the expense of effectiveness in war. Northern Song's Military Council operated under a Chancellor, who had no control over the imperial army. The imperial army

49956-613: The individual in China, however in the aggregate, it was of great significance to the Chinese government. Collecting and accounting for this diverse revenue constituted a real nightmare of administration for imperial Chinese government tax agencies. As a way to enhance the revenue the Chinese government introduced the Lijin tax (釐金, "a contribution of a thousandth" in Mandarin Chinese, or 1‰) which would prove to be very successful; however, this tax severely hampered trade and commence. The lijin

50232-413: The interest in the performance of post-mortem autopsies in China during the 12th century. The physician and judge known as Song Ci (1186–1249) wrote a pioneering work of forensic science on the examination of corpses in order to determine cause of death (strangulation, poisoning, drowning, blows, etc.) and to prove whether death resulted from murder, suicide, or accidental death. Song Ci stressed

50508-478: The introduction of the railroad to China, the Chinese economy relied heavily on Shanxi banks to finance inter-city commerce. In Northern China the preferred method of land transportation was the camel due to the fact that these animals could cope with the conditions of Northern China while many other animals couldn't, and the Shanxi banks employed camels in the north for transportation. The Shanxi banks and other Chinese banking companies were essential in connecting

50784-466: The introduction of these many new types of monies and what effect they had all played into the new monetary system, however, while the Great Qing Treasure Note cash notes and Hubu Guanpiao tael notes weren't actually convertible into hard currency they had a fixed rate to each other and did circulate throughout the Machu Empire. The central government of the Qing dynasty became increasingly impatient with

51060-495: The joint military campaign under this Alliance Conducted at Sea toppled and completely conquered the Liao dynasty by 1125. During the joint attack, the Song's northern expedition army removed the defensive forest along the Song-Liao border. However, the poor performance and military weakness of the Song army was observed by the Jurchens, who immediately broke the alliance, beginning the Jin–Song Wars of 1125 and 1127. Because of

51336-487: The knee, skirts, and jackets with long or short sleeves, while women from wealthy families could wear purple scarves around their shoulders. The main difference in women's apparel from that of men was that it was fastened on the left, not on the right. The main food staples in the diet of the lower classes remained rice, pork, and salted fish. In 1011, Emperor Zhenzong of Song introduced Champa rice to China from Vietnam 's Kingdom of Champa , which sent 30,000 bushels as

51612-484: The land tax system, the grain tribute, the imperial customs revenue system, the tax on the salt monopoly, lijin, and miscellaneous taxes and duties imposed on the people. From ancient times the land tax had produced up to ⅔ of the Chinese government's total revenue. In China, historically all land within its territory was considered to be the property of the Emperor , the monarch having acquired it through conquest. How this land

51888-451: The landed gentry in order to raise revenue for these projects, an act which caused dissension and loss of loyalty amongst leading members of Song society but did not stop the Song's defensive preparations. Financial matters were made worse by the fact that many wealthy, land-owning families—some of which had officials working for the government—used their social connections with those in office in order to obtain tax-exempt status. Although

52164-445: The last few decades of the Yuan dynasty the inflation caused people to lose their trust in paper money and barter became the most common means of exchange. During the beginning of Manchu rule over China in the year 1644, the total imperial revenues of the Qing dynasty were an approximated 30,000,000 taels . Imperial Government expenditures at the time were correspondingly modest. During the balanced periods in Qing dynasty history of

52440-467: The last obstacle in his way to invading the rich Yangtze River basin. Kublai officially declared the creation of the Yuan dynasty in 1271. In 1275, a Song force of 130,000 troops under Chancellor Jia Sidao was defeated by Kublai's newly appointed commander-in-chief, general Bayan . By 1276, most of the Song territory had been captured by Yuan forces, including the capital Lin'an. In the Battle of Yamen on

52716-483: The law and arrange these affairs. In general, delinquent local officials fear difficulties and live in improper ease, idle and negligent, procrastinating. They are really to be bitterly hated. LET each province's governor-general, governor and military commander, and the governor of the imperial prefecture take official notice of the original memorial of the Board of Revenue and take part with their subordinates, deliberating over

52992-408: The local circumstances, and then quickly establish an official currency office and also devise means to raise funds to open mints to increase the casting so that the legal cash and cash notes, the one supplementing the other, are issued. At the same time deliberate on the rules and regulations and memorialize on what is being done." - Ministry of Revenue (translated by John E. Sandrock). Despite

53268-400: The local provincial treasuries to defray provincial military expenses. To make up in part for these losses, the lijin tax was introduced. During the entire Taiping Rebellion there were never sufficient funds to run the Chinese government and pay the army to crush the rebellion. These taxes collected by the imperial Chinese government took many different forms; the most important of which were

53544-558: The major cause of Song economic prosperity. Artisans and merchants formed guilds that the state had to deal with when assessing taxes, requisitioning goods, and setting standard workers' wages and prices on goods. The iron industry was pursued by both private entrepreneurs who owned their own smelters as well as government-supervised smelting facilities. The Song economy was stable enough to produce over 100,000,000 kg (220,000,000 lb) of iron products per year. Large-scale Deforestation in China would have continued if not for

53820-427: The market. During this period both the Great Qing Treasure Note and Hubu Guanpiao banknotes were worth only 50% their nominal value. Privately produced cash notes around the same time were fixed to the 10 wén Daqian and lost 60% of their value between the years 1852 and 1856. Both government issued banknotes and Yu Bank issued banknotes were only valued half that of privately issued banknotes in 1856. The reserves that

54096-412: The marriage strategies of the professional elite, which dissolved as a distinguishable social group and was replaced by a multitude of gentry families. Due to Song's enormous population growth and the body of its appointed scholar-officials being accepted in limited numbers (about 20,000 active officials during the Song period), the larger scholarly gentry class would now take over grassroots affairs on

54372-494: The memorial issued by the Ministry of Revenue, it is likely that local government officials were very much aware of how disruptive this monetary policy was and would lead to inflation. To many local government officials, the real issue at hand was actually with how much gaming the system they were able to get away with. The Great Qing Treasure Note banknotes were convertible into Daqian cash coins at times, and while these multi-denominational cash coins were meant to circulate all over

54648-417: The military operations conducted by Zeng Guofan. The Ministry of Revenue assigned which funds had to be sent to the central government in Beijing and which could be retained for local provincial use. The fact that, at times, the military payment of provincial troops was 8 to 9 months in some areas established that the money more often went to Beijing than to the coffers of the provincial governments. One scheme

54924-402: The monetary crisis the Qing dynasty experienced during this era. The monetary policy of the Qing government had been effective for over 160 years, yet under the Daoguang Emperor 's reign, which preceded that of Xianfeng, inherent problems to the system were becoming evident. 3 principal issues with the system arose. First, cash coinage became debased due to dishonest officials and the failure of

55200-401: The moniker ultimately adopted by Hong. In later embellishments, Hong would declare that he also saw Confucius being punished by his celestial father for leading the people astray. In 1843, Hong failed the imperial examinations for the fourth and final time. It was only then, prompted by a visit by his cousin, that Hong took time to carefully examine Christian pamphlets he had received from

55476-721: The most prosperous and advanced economies in the medieval world. Song Chinese invested their funds in joint stock companies and in multiple sailing vessels at a time when monetary gain was assured from the vigorous overseas trade and domestic trade along the Grand Canal and Yangtze River. Both private and government-controlled industries met the needs of a growing Chinese population in the Song; prominent merchant families and private businesses were allowed to occupy industries that were not already government-operated monopolies. Economic historians emphasize this toleration of market mechanisms over population growth or new farming technologies as

55752-409: The movement. In 1852, Qing government troops captured Hong Daquan , a rebel who had assumed the title Tian De Wang (King of Heavenly Virtue). Hong Daquan's confession claimed that Hong Xiuquan had made him co-sovereign of the Heavenly Kingdom and given him that title, but was more likely an echo of an earlier but unconnected White Lotus Rebellion . However, the capture of Nanjing in that year led to

56028-579: The multitude of ships sailing for maritime interests into the waters of the East China Sea and Yellow Sea (to Korea and Japan ), Southeast Asia , the Indian Ocean , and the Red Sea , it was necessary to establish an official standing navy . The Song dynasty therefore established China's first permanent navy in 1132, with a headquarters at Dinghai . With a permanent navy, the Song were prepared to face

56304-456: The naval forces of the Jin on the Yangtze River in 1161, in the Battle of Tangdao and the Battle of Caishi . During these battles the Song navy employed swift paddle wheel driven naval vessels armed with traction trebuchet catapults aboard the decks that launched gunpowder bombs . Although the Jin forces commanded by Wanyan Liang (the Prince of Hailing) boasted 70,000 men on 600 warships, and

56580-411: The new banking corporations which had been established by the Chinese imperial government to be representative of the Chinese provincial treasuries were also assigned blocks of Chinese characters, which were to be placed in the prefix block on each banknote they would issue, thereby making it easy to identify every Great Qing Treasure Note banknote to a specific place where the paper note was issued. Both

56856-473: The new currencies. Both the Guanhao Qianpiao and Sihao Qianpiao were based on the Jingqian accounting unit of cash coins as was used in Beijing, this meant that for example of one were to exchange 15,000 wén worth of Guanhao Qianpiao or Sihao Qianpiao cash notes in the year 1861 that person would only receive 7500 wén worth of physical coins (or 750 cash coins of 10 wén to be more precise). This practice

57132-401: The official banks at a discount and be used to pay for taxes and the purchase of titles. As the government of the Qing dynasty rather quickly realised that the banknotes denominated in copper-alloy cash coins were more popular than those denominated in silver, because of the relatively high nominal value of the latter, the imperial government began promoting the Great Qing Treasure Note more. In

57408-561: The payment of taxes. As the Qing dynasty starting regaining territory in the areas held by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, they immediately started issuing Great Qing Treasure Note and Hubu Guanpiao banknotes in these places. These issues were controlled using two different ideogram systems for the indexes and prefixes, the Chinese characters utilised by these systems were based on the Thousand Character Classic (千字文, Qiānzì Wén ). The prefixed Chinese character (which would appear in

57684-452: The picture, the remaining Taiping leaders tried to widen their popular support and forge alliances with European powers, but failed on both counts. The Europeans decided to stay officially neutral, though European military advisors served with the Qing army. Inside China, the rebellion faced resistance from the traditionalist rural classes because of hostility to Chinese culture and Confucian values . The landowning upper class, unsettled by

57960-401: The political rivalry, the famous poet and statesman Su Shi (1037–1101), was jailed and eventually exiled for criticizing Wang's reforms. The continual alternation between reform and conservatism had effectively weakened the dynasty. This decline can also be attributed to Cai Jing (1047–1126), who was appointed by Emperor Zhezong (1085–1100) and who remained in power until 1125. He revived

58236-407: The port, would return with shipments of oil, peas, bean cakes, and other products for trade. In the year 1858, a crisis occurred when the Shanghai banks would let the merchants borrow money to pay for the import of various foreign products and merchandise with the expectation that the tribute junks would return with oil and foodstuffs with a value that would be sufficient to offset the advance paid by

58512-416: The prices for these symbolic awards, and would also have maintained complete control over the selling process for these awards. Chinese censor Huashana (花沙納) was highly critical of the Ministry of Revenue's profit-generating plan to start selling provincial examination degrees and titles (舉人), this had in the history of China never been allowed to be sold before showcasing how desperate the Ministry of Revenue

58788-407: The process. Of China's 18 wealthiest provinces 12 were left in ruins, this would put a heavy strain on the resources of the government of the Qing dynasty putting it near breaking point as the rebellion had sown the seeds for further calamities which would hurt the economy of China even more and ultimately led to the downfall of the Qing dynasty during the next century. The main source of income for

59064-412: The production of their own private banknotes until the end of the Qianlong period , these shops were very likely to have been more developed in Northern China , where these money shops produced banknotes which were mostly denominated in cash coins while banknotes from Southern China tended to be denominated in taels of silver. It is also possible that private-order banknotes could have emerged earlier in

59340-443: The provincial governments of China to start accepting both iron and copper-alloy Daqian cash coins and Great Qing Treasure Note cash notes for tax payments, but quickly abandoned proposing iron Daqian cash coins and settled on a cash coin system of iron 1 wén coins and copper-alloy 10 wén coins, this system would prevail until the year Xianfeng 10 (1860). Because of this the standard copper-alloy cash coins completely disappeared from

59616-407: The recruitment system of officials, increasing the salaries for minor officials, and establishing sponsorship programs to allow a wider range of people to be well educated and eligible for state service. After Fan was forced to step down from his office, Wang Anshi (1021–1086) became Chancellor of the imperial court. With the backing of Emperor Shenzong (1067–1085), Wang Anshi severely criticized

59892-421: The region and opening the way for a successful invasion of southern Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, the wealthiest region of the Qing Empire. The Taiping rebels were successful in taking Hangzhou on March 19, 1860, Changzhou on May 26, and Suzhou on June 2 to the east. While Taiping forces were preoccupied in Jiangsu, Zeng's forces moved down the Yangtze River. An attempt to take Shanghai begun in June 1861

60168-432: The region of Manchuria ( Jilin , Fengtian , and Heilongjiang ) in the north of China the circulation of the Great Qing Treasure Note banknotes was extensive, meanwhile these banknotes also enjoyed circulation in Central China where they vacillated with the spoils and fortunes of the war. The Great Qing Treasure Note banknotes tended not to circulate much in Southern China which (with the notable exception of Fujian )

60444-438: The removal of the previous defensive forest, the Jin army marched quickly across the North China Plain to Kaifeng. In the Jingkang Incident during the latter invasion, the Jurchens captured not only the capital, but the retired Emperor Huizong, his successor Emperor Qinzong , and most of the Imperial court. The remaining Song forces regrouped under the self-proclaimed Emperor Gaozong of Song (1127–1162) and withdrew south of

60720-601: The rest of China proper , reuniting much of the territory that had once belonged to the Han and Tang empires and ending the upheaval of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. In Kaifeng , he established a strong central government over the empire. The establishment of this capital marked the start of the Northern Song period. He ensured administrative stability by promoting the civil service examination system of drafting state bureaucrats by skill and merit (instead of aristocratic or military position) and promoted projects that ensured efficiency in communication throughout

60996-420: The revolt. The other Muslim rebellion, the Dungan revolt , was the reverse: it was not aiming to overthrow the Qing dynasty because its leader Ma Hualong had accepted an imperial title. Instead, it erupted as a result of intersectional fighting between Muslim factions and Han Chinese. During the Dungan revolt, various groups fought against each other without any coherent goal. According to modern researchers,

61272-418: The risks and the predicted hyperinflation paired with many examples of historical precedent, the central government decided to pursue issuing more banknotes than they were able to back up because of the pressing matters of the Taiping Rebellion. In reality, there was no other means that the government of the Qing dynasty would be able to pay for the war and the inflation was a calculated risk deemed worth it. In

61548-401: The same era as the land era. With the forced opening of the Qing dynasty's doors after the Opium Wars and the following increase in maritime trade with foreign nations, the customs duties took on a vastly expanded level of importance in the Chinese taxation system. Before the year 1854 the same rather lax administration and sleight of hand was practiced with the collection of the import customs as

61824-459: The same level of authority. Robert Hartwell and Robert P. Hymes criticized this model, stating that it places too much emphasis on the role of the nuclear family and considers only three paternal ascendants of exam candidates while ignoring the demographic reality of Song China, the significant proportion of males in each generation that had no surviving sons, and the role of the extended family . Many felt disenfranchised by what they saw as

62100-405: The same time, mints across China started releasing a substantial amount of new Daqian coins , whose nominal value vastly exceeded their intrinsic copper value. Both currencies would prove to become exceedingly inflationary as time passed by, this disrupted the market exchange rate of copper to silver and lead to unrest among the people. While military expenses were the main reason the government of

62376-407: The second and last leader of the short-lived Republic of Formosa . Other "Flag Gangs" armed with the latest weapons, disintegrated into bandit groups that plundered remnants of the Lan Xang kingdom. They were then engaged in the Haw wars (misnamed due to conflation with Chinese Muslims ) against the incompetent forces of King Rama V ( r.  1868–1910–  ) until 1890, when the last of

62652-403: The series block preceding the actual serial number on each banknote) was actually one of these thousand classical ideograms, it is known that the first 320 characters from this series were reserved for the Peking Metropolitan District . By contrast, early Hubu Guanpiao tael notes of the Xianfeng era, which were issued through the Peking Metropolitan District, the provincial treasuries of China, and

62928-476: The sexes, abolition of foot binding , land socialisation, and "suppression" of private trade. They also outlawed the importation of opium into all Taiping territories. In regard to religion, the Kingdom replaced Confucianism , Buddhism and Chinese folk religion with the Taiping Christianity, God Worshipping , which held that Hong Xiuquan was the younger brother of Jesus and the second son of Shangdi . Buddhist libraries were burned. Because Hong saw Confucianism

63204-534: The slow adoption of the new paper currency in the provinces, in 1854 the Ministry of Revenue sent out a memorial to all provincial governors and governors-general to speed up the introduction and adoption processes. "The Board of Revenue has already memorialized to order each province to open an official cash office and issue official notes, to increase the casting of copper and iron cash and the various denominations of big cash. Upon receipt of this memorial WE thereupon issued an edict fully authorizing this. Because there

63480-452: The soldiers of the banner armies, but would come at the expense of the convertibility of Hubu Guanpiao tael notes into Great Qing Treasure Note cash notes, which was suspended in order to protect the Great Qing Treasure Note series from being affected by further depreciation. Despite both denying silver notes and issuing their own cash notes in extreme excess of their actual reserves of cash coins, free Yu banks were still undercapitalised. When

63756-492: The task of collecting all customs duties on traded goods. As at the time only the British inspector was able to speak Mandarin Chinese , he was handed the office of the Inspector General. It was very rare for contemporary Chinese merchants who came into the Shanghai International Settlement to have had any prior contact with Western people. These people now could now observe western business practices and their administration at very close quarters. Some of these refugees who fled into

64032-415: The taxation system was based was often completely disrupted during Taiping incursions into the area, thus depriving the Ministry of Revenue of its base upon which to collect these taxes. This resulted that land taxes and grain tributes which were the 2 principal sources of revenue, were in large measure not paid to the central government in Beijing. additionally, taxes that were collected were often diverted to

64308-457: The teachings of the 16th-century Ming general Qi Jiguang . He bypassed the professional regular armies and recruited from local villages, paying and drilling them well. Zeng, Zuo and Li led personally loyal soldiers. By early 1864, Qing control in most areas had been reestablished. In May 1862, the Xiang Army besieged Nanjing; attempts to break the siege by the numerically superior Taiping Army failed. Hong Xiuquan declared that God would defend

64584-473: The theory of the Five Elements (wuxing), the earth element follows the fire, the dynastic element of the Song, in the sequence of elemental creation. Therefore, their ideological move showed that the Jin considered Song reign in China complete, with the Jin replacing the Song as the rightful rulers of China Proper. Although weakened and pushed south beyond the Huai River , the Southern Song found new ways to bolster its strong economy and defend itself against

64860-426: The tumultuous civil war as a period of chaos ( 亂 ; luàn ), rebellion ( 逆 ; nì ) or military ascendancy ( 軍興 ; jūnxìng ). They often referred to it as the Hong-Yang Rebellion ( 洪楊之亂 ; Hóngyáng zhī luàn ), referring to the two most prominent leaders. It was also dismissively referred to as the Red Sheep Rebellion ( 紅羊之亂 ; Hóngyáng zhī luàn ) because the two names sound similar in Chinese. In modern China,

65136-413: The upper class society including merchants, traders, and aristocrats. Millions of Chinese peasants for millennia knew of no other medium of exchange than copper-alloy cash coins . All daily purchases of the common people were counted in cash coins. The reintroduction of paper money was specifically denominated in copper-alloy cash coins to allow it to be trusted by the general Chinese populace, comparatively

65412-472: The use of intermediary agents. The Song judicial system retained most of the legal code of the earlier Tang dynasty, the basis of traditional Chinese law up until the modern era. Roving sheriffs maintained law and order in the municipal jurisdictions and occasionally ventured into the countryside. Official magistrates overseeing court cases were not only expected to be well-versed in written law but also to promote morality in society. Magistrates such as

65688-423: The various monetary systems that circulated in China at the time by facilitating interregional trade and commerce, providing credit for merchants, and cooperating in times of crisis. It was customary for example for the Shanghai banks to make advances to junk owners who were engaged in the trade of carrying tribute rice to the north, holding their vessels as collateral. These junks after having unloaded their rice in

65964-404: The vast local level. Excluding the scholar-officials in office, this elite social class consisted of exam candidates, examination degree-holders not yet assigned to an official post, local tutors, and retired officials. These learned men, degree-holders, and local elites supervised local affairs and sponsored necessary facilities of local communities; any local magistrate appointed to his office by

66240-518: The waist. Acceptable apparel for scholar-officials was rigidly defined by the social ranking system. However, as time went on this rule of rank-graded apparel for officials was not as strictly enforced. Each official was able to display his awarded status by wearing different-colored traditional silken robes that hung to the ground around his feet, specific types of headgear, and even specific styles of girdles that displayed his graded-rank of officialdom. Women wore long dresses, blouses that came down to

66516-426: The war is often referred to as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, due to the fact that the Taiping espoused a doctrine which was both nationalist and communist, and the Taiping represented a popular ideology which was based on either Han nationalism or protocommunist values. The scholar Jian Youwen is among those who refer to the rebellion as the "Taiping Revolutionary Movement" on the grounds that it worked towards

66792-406: The waving of banners and to halt at the sound of bells and drums. The Song navy was of great importance during the consolidation of the empire in the 10th century; during the war against the Southern Tang state, the Song navy employed tactics such as defending large floating pontoon bridges across the Yangtze River in order to secure movements of troops and supplies. There were large ships in

67068-422: The world was issued under the Song dynasty , these were promissory notes issued by merchants in Sichuan known as the Jiaozi , under the reign of Emperor Zhenzong (997–1022) the government of the Song dynasty granted a monopoly for the production of Jiaozi notes to sixteen wealthy merchants in Sichuan, as these merchants were slow to redeem their banknotes and inflation started affecting these private banknotes

67344-413: The year 1651 on initiative of the Minister of Revenue, Wei Xiangshu (魏象樞) during the war with the remnants of the Ming dynasty to cover the more immediate expenses of the Manchus as the finances of the Qing during this period were in dire distress, these banknotes were declared void only a decade after their issued. An annual amount of 128,000 guàn (貫) of these early Manchu banknotes were issued, with

67620-421: The year 1814, when Cai Zhiding (蔡之定, Ts'ai Chih-Ting), who was a high official in the Ministry of State, petitioned to the court of the Jiaqing Emperor advocating the resumption of a paper money currency, this request was denied. Cai was later severely rebuked in the Jiaqing Emperor's memorial in which he pointed out that neither the Chinese government nor any individuals in the past had experienced benefits from

67896-445: The year 1855 the government ramped up the production of cash notes and established 5 more Yu Group government banks for their exchange. The Yu banks had insufficient reserves to actually exchange the Great Qing Treasure Note cash notes for real copper, so they exchanged them for their own banknotes. Because the Yu banks had seriously over-issued their own banknotes compared to their very limited reserves, they would all close their doors in

68172-475: The year 1857. The series from the third year of Xianfeng (1853) and successive issues of copper-alloy cash notes were issued in the denominations of 500 wén , 1000 wén , 1500 wén , and 2000 wén . Later as severe depreciation occurred within the new currency system which was brought on by inflation series higher denomination banknotes were issued. These included the denominations of 5,000 wén , 10,000 wén , 50,000 wén , and 100,000 wén which were issued from

68448-496: The year Xianfeng 4 (1854) the imperial Chinese government attempted to find a solution to the fact that the Great Qing Treasure Note cash notes weren't being readily accepted on the market, which they finally found around the end of the year when a group of private merchants would offer the ability to make the government-issued cash notes convertible into privately produced banknotes which were also denominated in cash coins. 5 newly founded banks which were semi-private companies, known by

68724-409: The year Xianfeng 6 (1856) it had declined to 50% its value of what it was in Xianfeng 2 (1852), the exchange rate between Jingqian and silver had increased by 192% and would go up to 300% only two years later. This was however, only reflected on the paper money market for private cash notes as government-issued cash notes continued to lose their value. In the provinces of Zhili , Shanxi , Henan , and

69000-483: The year Xianfeng 6 until Xianfeng 9. During this period 9 government banks in Beijing (of which 4 were newly established institutions) started issuing another type of cash note known as the Guanhao Qianpiao (官號錢票), these cash notes were backed by reserved kept in Daqian rather than standard cash coins. The Guanhao Qianpiao were modeled after privately produced banknotes known as the Sihao Qianpiao (私號錢票), these private cash notes would also continue to circulate alongside

69276-486: Was a shadow of its noble origin, being now a tool of the Qing to tyrannize Han people, libraries of the Confucian monasteries were destroyed—in the Yangtze delta, almost entirely —and the temples were often defaced or turned into temples of his new religion or hospitals and libraries. Traditionalist works like those of Confucius were burned and their sellers executed. The Taiping were especially opposed to idolatry , destroying idols wherever found with great prejudice. Though

69552-429: Was a stronghold of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom . The local authorities of the city of Fuzhou , Fujian also issued banknotes denominated in cash coins to the market, their reason was the fact that there was a severe lack of cash coins circulating in the market at that time and that these banknotes would help alleviate this scarcity. The Fuzhou government often opted to pay using heavily debased cash coins, this happened to

69828-442: Was a tax imposed upon traded commodities. Lijin collection points were established along all highways and waterways in China. Additionally, the lijin tax was collected at every border crossing between Chinese provinces and at all city gates. Lumber originating on the upper Yalu River and bound for the capital city of Beijing has to pass through no less than 68 inspection stations to be taxed. The lijin collected added no less than 17% to

70104-452: Was an era of administrative sophistication and complex social organization. Some of the largest cities in the world were found in China during this period (Kaifeng and Hangzhou had populations of over a million). People enjoyed various social clubs and entertainment in the cities, and there were many schools and temples to provide the people with education and religious services. The Song government supported social welfare programs including

70380-437: Was asymmetrical as government documents noted a string of cash coins as 1000 wén while paying out only 500 wén for these cash notes. The Great Qing Treasure Note banknotes were supposed to enjoy circulation in all territories of the Qing dynasty. In order to facilitate this widespread adoption of the new paper currency the Great Qing Treasure Note banknotes were issued to the general public through semi-official banks known as

70656-417: Was at the time for generating money to continue fighting the expensive war. Huashana praised the idea of producing paper money as a far better alternative to selling offices and degrees, but despite his anti-office selling stance he did not advocate for it to be abolished. During the 19th century, Chinese trade in commodities such as tea, silk, and grain was of such a large volume that this trade actually taxed

70932-462: Was demoted, being given the title 'Duke of Ying', but was eventually exiled to Tibet where he took up a monastic life. The former emperor would eventually be forced to commit suicide under the orders of Kublai's great-great-grandson, Gegeen Khan , out of fear that Emperor Gong would stage a coup to restore his reign. Other members of the Song imperial family continued to live in the Yuan dynasty, including Zhao Mengfu and Zhao Yong. The Song dynasty

71208-402: Was denominated in qian, or copper cash; and the second type, in silver taels. As the general population of the Qing dynasty at the time was living in extreme poverty, the commodity of copper was the basis of the Chinese monetary system as the majority of the Chinese people had very little economic power and could barely survive off of their income, by contrast silver was the preferred currency of

71484-421: Was divided among three marshals, each independently responsible to the Emperor. Since the Emperor rarely led campaigns personally, Song forces lacked unity of command. The imperial court often believed that successful generals endangered royal authority, and relieved or even executed them (notably Li Gang, Yue Fei, and Han Shizhong ). Although the scholar-officials viewed military soldiers as lower members in

71760-582: Was eager to sponsor new crossbow designs that could shoot at longer ranges, while crossbowmen were also valuable when employed as long-range snipers . Song cavalry employed a slew of different weapons, including halberds, swords, bows, spears, and ' fire lances ' that discharged a gunpowder blast of flame and shrapnel . Military strategy and military training were treated as sciences that could be studied and perfected; soldiers were tested in their skills of using weaponry and in their athletic ability. The troops were trained to follow signal standards to advance at

72036-413: Was fighting against the illegitimate Taiping rebels. Instead, they argue that the conflict should be called a "civil war". Other historians such as Jürgen Osterhammel term the conflict "Taiping Revolution" because of the rebels' radical transformational objectives and the social revolution that they initiated. Little is known about how the Taiping referred to the war, but the Taiping often referred to

72312-411: Was given unprecedented powers in this pursuit. By January of the year 1862 conditions had worsened. Zeng's troops now only received 40% of their pay, and even so, payment fell as much as 15 months behind. Desertions now began occurring for the first time in 9 years of fighting. The government withdrew from conventional modes of centralised war financing as it has been proven ineffective. In turn, it allowed

72588-446: Was known as duìxiàn (兌現, "convert into specie") which was the main reason why earlier forms of paper money were deemed reliable. As these regions were completely dependent on paper money inflation hit them more severely as their notes could not be converted into a currency based on any intrinsic value, for this reason the Mongols allowed their subjects to continue using copper-alloy cash coins and issued new ones every now and then. During

72864-420: Was led by Hong Xiuquan , an ethnic Hakka who had proclaimed himself to be the brother of Jesus Christ . Hong sought the religious conversion of the Han people to his syncretic version of Christianity , as well as the political overthrow of the Qing dynasty, and a general transformation of the mechanisms of state. Moreover, rather than supplanting China's ruling class, the Taiping rebels sought to entirely upend

73140-498: Was marked by a high level of discipline and fanaticism. They typically wore a uniform of red jackets with blue trousers, and grew their hair long so in China they were nicknamed "long hair". In the beginning of the rebellion, the large numbers of women serving in the Taiping army also distinguished it from other 19th-century armies. However, after 1853 there ceased being many women in the Taiping army. Hong Xuanjiao , Su Sanniang and Qiu Ersao are examples of women who became leaders of

73416-463: Was organised so well that it would become a model of efficiency, so efficient in fact that the British would never relinquish their control of this system during imperial China, the Manchus would continue this arrangement to the end of the Qing dynasty. Since ancient times in China, the salt trade was treated as a government monopoly. John E. Sandrock described the administration of this commodity to be "so complicated, that by comparison, it would make

73692-464: Was proclaimed the new Great Khan and in 1271 founded the Yuan dynasty. After two decades of sporadic warfare, Kublai Khan's armies conquered the Song dynasty in 1279 after defeating the Southern Song in the Battle of Yamen , and reunited China under the Yuan dynasty. Technology , science, philosophy, mathematics, and engineering flourished during the Song era. The Song dynasty was the first in world history to issue banknotes or true paper money and

73968-510: Was produced too high a tax would drive consumption down thereby reducing the revenues made. By this act of fine tuning the Chinese salt tax the Imperial Treasury of China kept up a steady flow of income of significant proportions. The 5th of the imperial revenue sources was also by far the most diversified. These were the "miscellaneous taxes and duties", this category included everything imaginable to be taxed. There were separate taxes on deeds, wine , tobacco , tea , sugar , and timber to list

74244-498: Was rarely consumed since the bull was a valuable draft animal, and dog meat was absent from the diet of the wealthy, although the poor could choose to eat dog meat if necessary (yet it was not part of their regular diet). People also consumed dates , raisins, jujubes , pears, plums, apricots, pear juice, lychee -fruit juice, honey and ginger drinks, spices and seasonings of Sichuan pepper , ginger , soy sauce, vegetable oil, sesame oil, salt, and vinegar. The Song dynasty had one of

74520-429: Was repulsed after 15 months by an army of Qing troops supported by European officers under the command of Frederick Townsend Ward . This army would become known as the " Ever Victorious Army ", a seasoned and well-trained Qing military force commanded by Charles George Gordon , and would be instrumental in the defeat of the Taiping rebels. In 1861, around the time of the death of the Xianfeng Emperor and ascension of

74796-405: Was so severe that parents and children of the opposite sex could not interact, and even married couples were discouraged from having sex. The rebels used brilliant unorthodox strategies that nearly toppled the dynasty but inspired it to adopt what one historian calls "the most significant military experimentation since the seventeenth century." The Taiping army was the rebellion's key strength. It

75072-436: Was the eighth emperor of the Song dynasty and he was a renowned artist as well as a patron of the art and the catalogue of his collection listed over 6,000 known paintings. A prime example of a highly venerated court painter was Zhang Zeduan (1085–1145) who painted an enormous panoramic painting , Along the River During the Qingming Festival . Emperor Gaozong of Song initiated a massive art project during his reign, known as

75348-512: Was the first known book to have listed formulas for gunpowder; it gave appropriate formulas for use in several different kinds of gunpowder bombs. It also provided detailed descriptions and illustrations of double-piston pump flamethrowers , as well as instructions for the maintenance and repair of the components and equipment used in the device. The visual arts during the Song dynasty were heightened by new developments such as advances in landscape and portrait painting. The gentry elite engaged in

75624-443: Was ultimately a failure due to a rival military officer of Shen disobeying direct orders, and the territory gained from the Western Xia was eventually lost. The Song fought against the Vietnamese kingdom of Đại Việt twice, the first conflict in 981 and later a significant war from 1075 to 1077 over a border dispute and the Song's severing of commercial relations with Đại Việt. After the Vietnamese forces inflicted heavy damages in

75900-399: Was used by the government to pay military expenses. This all changed when the Ming dynasty started trading with the Portuguese during the 16th century, large amounts of European silver would enter the trading port of Guangzhou leading to a large surplus of the metal in China as merchants began using silver to pay their taxes with. The amounts of silver flowing in increased dramatically after

76176-420: Was used, however, was left to those that occupied and lived on it in return for a yearly tax based upon the rental value of the land in question. In the year 1713 the Kangxi Emperor had fixed the rent collected by the imperial Chinese government at ¾ tael per 6 mou (or 1 acre) of land and issued a decree that this ratio should stand for all time unchanged. From time to time however the actual land tax collected by

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