Emperor Huang Chao (835 – July 13, 884) was a wealthy Han Chinese salt trader, soldier, rebel and is most well known for being the first and only Emperor of his own country of the Kingdom of Qi (齊國) that fought against the Tang dynasty military and severely weakened and almost defeated the Tang dynasty had Emperor Huang Chao not been betrayed and assassinated by one of his own trusted nephews who had been bribed with money and positions of power by the Tang Dynasty government.
163-558: Emperor Huang had worked many years as a salt trader before joining Wang Xianzhi 's rebellion against the Tang Dynasty in the mid-870s. After splitting with Wang, his army turned south and conquered Guangzhou . In 881, his troops captured the Tang Dynasty capital Chang'an , forcing Emperor Xizong of Tang to flee. Huang proclaimed himself the Emperor of the Kingdom of Qi (齊國) and reigned on
326-503: A Buddhist monk following his escape. The Song dynasty scholar Wang Mingqing ( 王明清 ), for example, alleged in his book Huizhu Lu : "When Zhang Quanyi was the mayor (留守) of the Western Capital (i.e. Luoyang ), he recognized Huang Chao from among the monks." He wrote a few poems that were lyrical even when expressing anger and violence. One such line reads: The capital's full of golden armored soldiers ( 滿城盡帶黃金甲 ) This poem
489-406: A Tang military governor of Fengguo Circuit (奉國, headquartered in modern Zhumadian , Henan ) but who had turned against Tang and was pillaging the modern Henan region with his power base centered at Fengguo's capital Cai Prefecture. Qin, indeed, would subsequently declare himself emperor and try to expand the extent of his control, causing him to battle with Zhu and other Tang generals. Meanwhile,
652-648: A battle. Gao, in anger, ordered Zhang to engage, but this time, Huang decisively defeated Zhang in spring 880 and killed him in battle, throwing Gao into a panic. Huang, after defeating Zhang, then captured Xuan Prefecture, then, in summer 880, crossed the Yangtze River north at Caishi (采石, in modern Ma'anshan , Anhui ), and put the Huainan defense outposts Tianchang (天長, in modern Chuzhou , Anhui) and Liuhe (六合, in modern Nanjing , Jiangsu) under siege, not far from Gao's headquarters at Yang Prefecture ( 揚州 ). Bi Shiduo, who
815-604: A bushy moustache and walking stick, who might have provoked nationalist opposition. Historian Samuel Adshead sees Chinese and foreigners in the Salt Administration as being "co-modernizers." He puts Dane among the "leading figures of European imperialism in China" but one who took his responsibility seriously. Dane resisted both foot-dragging by the Chinese local authorities and the attempts by foreign powers to obtain more salt than what
978-553: A clear conscience, simply accept gifts from salt merchants who were grateful for their help. A good example is Cao Yin (1658–1711). As a personal bondservant and childhood playmate of the Kangxi Emperor , Cao became so rich and influential that he played host four times to the Emperor in his tours of the south. In 1705, as a mark of favor, the emperor ordered Cao, an accomplished scholar, to compile all shi (lyric poems) surviving from
1141-561: A confrontation with the imperial armies under Tian, as well as Tian's allies Zhu Mei the military governor of Jingnan Circuit (靜難, headquartered in modern Xianyang , Shaanxi ) and Li Changfu the military governor of Fengxiang Circuit (鳳翔, headquartered in modern Baoji , Shanxi ). Around new year 886, they defeated Tian and his allies and approached Chang'an. Tian took Emperor Xizong and fled to Xingyuan (興元, in modern Hanzhong , Shanxi ). Zhu and Li Changfu subsequently turned against Emperor Xizong and declared his distant relative Li Yun
1304-452: A court debate in 81 BCE, called the “ Discourses on Salt and Iron .” These debates again revealed a sharp disagreement over the purpose of government. The Legalists, or (perhaps more accurately) the Reformists, argued that the state rather than private merchants should organize trade and realize the profits. Confucian moralists replied that a minimalist government was best and argued that for
1467-495: A declaration that his aim was to capture Emperor Xizong to make Emperor Xizong answer for his crimes. Qi Kerang was put in charge of making a final attempt to stop Huang from reaching Luoyang. Meanwhile, though, the chancellors Doulu Zhuan and Cui Hang , believing that imperial forces would not be able to stop Huang from reaching Luoyang and Chang'an, suggested that Emperor Xizong prepare to flee to Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern Chengdu, Sichuan), where Chen Jingxuan ,
1630-458: A farming household, while collecting and drying salt. Although in 1384, the government had already exempted the salt-producing households from extra work, this policy was not effectively enforced throughout the country, because salt producers were administered by both the salt ministry, who collected salt from them, and the local government, who collected the crops. This led to a large number of salt producers fleeing from their occupation, which caused
1793-528: A flood, Huang Chao decided to head toward Xuanwu's capital Bian Prefecture. While Zhu was able to repel Huang's initial attacks, he sought emergency aid from Li Keyong. Li Keyong, catching Huang when he was about to cross the Yellow River north, launched an attack at Wangman Crossing (王滿渡, in modern Zhengzhou , Henan) and crushed his army. Shang surrendered to Shi, while a large number of other generals surrendered to Zhu. Li Keyong gave chase, and Huang fled to
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#17328413211941956-616: A foothold in these areas when it promised to support salt produces against government collectors. With the founding of the China National Salt Industry Corporation in February 1950, the new government re-established the monopoly of salt production, eventually driving old style and private salt companies out of business. By the 1960s, old style methods of producing salt gave way to large scale production in state owned factories. Improved infrastructure increased access to
2119-403: A great decline, and one of the reasons is the corvee labor that salt producers had to take on. In Ming times, the corvee assigned to salt producers included being enlisted as soldiers in the local army and navy, as servants for local government, or as criminal patrolmen, etc. The extra agricultural work contributed the most burden to salt producers, as they had to plant and harvest as intensively as
2282-507: A huge loss in the national salt industry and economy. Writers turned to poetry and fiction to continue a debate which had been started centuries earlier by Guanzi and the Han dynasty Discourses on Salt and Iron : practical men argued that monopoly revenues helped the state in its mission while Confucian critics argued that government monopolies enriched some groups and left others poor and exploited. These critics added that salt taxes afflicted
2445-641: A major branch of the Shaying River ) to block off Huang's further advance, and also sent Cao and Qi Kerang , the military governor of Taining Circuit (泰寧, headquartered in modern Jining , Shandong), to intercept Huang. However, Cao was only given 6,000 men, and although he fought hard, he was ultimately unable to stop Huang's 150,000 men. At this point, a mutiny among the imperial armies further ended any imperial resistance at Yin River. This occurred as some 3,000 Ganhua soldiers were heading to Yin River to participate in
2608-538: A major confrontation in summer 880. Gao's spirit was crushed by Zhang's death, and he did not try to stop Huang's subsequent advance north, across the Yangtze River into the heart of the Tang realm. Emperor Xizong, as an emergency measure, ordered the armies of various circuits to rendezvous with Cao at Yin River (溵水, a major branch of the Shaying River ) to try to block of Huang's advance. However, Huang defeated Cao, and after
2771-622: A major share of the market. Some salt merchants, such as the Sichuan merchant Zeng Junchen , in the face of rising salt taxes and government monopoly, used their capital and official connections to enter the opium trade. At the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Japanese troops quickly seized the salterns in North China. Soon more than half the salt revenue was either uncollected, retained by needy local governments, or taken by
2934-402: A military governor. Further, Gao, in order to monopolize the achievement, decided to return the supplementary troops from Zhaoyi (昭義, headquartered in modern Changzhi , Shanxi), Ganhua (感化, headquartered in modern Xuzhou , Jiangsu), and Yiwu (義武, headquartered in modern Baoding , Hebei) Circuits. As soon as he returned those troops, however, Huang broke off negotiations and challenged Zhang to
3097-530: A mold…. ” (The use of salt for currency continued into at least the 19th century.) As an official of the Yuan dynasty, however, Polo was more impressed by salt as a source of government revenue than by technology. The Venetian traveler described the Changlu salt region in present-day Hebei province in terms which probably come from direct observation: Polo did not entirely understand what he saw, however. As explained in
3260-423: A monopoly price to merchants, who would pass the price difference on to their customers. This monopoly price was an indirect tax which was reliably collected in advance without having to control the areas where the salt was consumed. Liu created a Salt and Iron Commission whose revenues were particularly important since the central government had lost control of the provinces . Even better, the revenue originated in
3423-550: A mutiny at nearby Zhongwu Circuit caused the death of the military governor of Zhongwu, Xue Neng ( 薛能 ), Qi Kerang , the Tang general in command of the Yin River defense, abandoned the defensive position, causing Huang's path toward the Tang eastern capital Luoyang to become wide open. In light of his obstacle being removed, Huang headed straight for Luoyang; on the way, he stopped pillaging other than to force young men into his army and adding to its numbers. Luoyang quickly fell and
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#17328413211943586-503: A mutiny by his officer Li Changyan , Tang forces in the region became uncoordinated and did not make another attempt to recapture Chang'an for some time. In spring 882, Emperor Xizong, then at Chengdu, commissioned Wang Duo to oversee the operations against Qi, and Wang positioned himself at LInggan Temple (靈感寺, in modern Weinan , Shaanxi). With Wang overseeing the operations, Tang forces began to converge again in Chang'an's perimeter area, and
3749-510: A nearly 300-day siege. With his army low on food supplies, he allowed them to roam the nearby countryside, seizing humans and using them for food . Meanwhile, in spring 884, fearing that they would become Huang's next target, Zhou Ji, Shi Pu , the military governor of Ganhua Circuit, and Zhu Wen (whose name had been changed to Zhu Quanzhong by that point), the Tang military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng , Henan), jointly sought aid from Li Keyong, who had been made
3912-450: A proposed salt monopoly. The dialogue raised both practical questions about the effectiveness of taxes and moral questions about the nature of government. Guan Zhong argued that direct taxes created resentment among the people, but extolled indirect taxes, such as those on salt and iron: The Qin dynasty and the succeeding Han dynasty still left salt production and distribution to merchants and local rulers. However, their profits rivaled
4075-474: A result, Huang decided to turn further south, toward the Lingnan region. By this point, Wang Duo had volunteered to oversee the operations against Huang, and Wang was thus made the overall commander of the operations as well as the military governor of Jingnan Circuit (荊南, headquartered in modern Jingzhou , Hubei). In reaction to Huang's movement, he commissioned Li Xi ( 李係 ) to be his deputy commander, as well as
4238-608: A result, survivors grouped themselves into bands and rose to resist Tang rule. In 874, Wang Xianzhi (who, like Huang Chao, was a salt privateer) and Shang Junzhang ( 尚君長 ) raised an army at Changyuan (長垣, in modern Xinxiang , Henan ). By 875, he had repeatedly defeated Xue Chong ( 薛崇 ), the military governor of Tianping Circuit (天平, headquartered in modern Tai'an , Shandong ), in battle. Huang had by this point also raised several thousand men, and joined forces with Wang's now veteran troops. By this time Emperor Yizong had died and his young son Emperor Xizong ruled. Late in 876, Wang
4401-407: A series of Reorganization Loans which were intended to shore up the central government in relation to the provinces. The foreign banks insisted that the loans were to be repaid from the most reliable sources of government income, that is, the maritime customs, the land tax, and the salt tax. Yuan agreed to set up a joint Sino-Foreign Salt Administration to monitor collection of the salt tax and remit
4564-530: A series of central governments in this period with their second most important source of tax revenues. The Salt Administration faced continuous challenges. From 1913 to 1918 it was led by Sir Richard Dane , a British civil servant and colonial administrator who had retired from the Salt Excise in India, where he had been nicknamed “the salt king”. Dane was, in the words of one writer, a “colonial cliché,” complete with
4727-500: A slightly different story. Salt wells were found primarily in what is now Sichuan, but it was not until the Song dynasty that advances in technology brought increases in production and created tax revenues of consequence (the combination of gas and brine had been exploited from early times, but did not reach volumes useful for transporting any distance for sale until even later, in the 19th century). The poet and official Su Shi who criticized
4890-452: A third of the revenue in the government's public budget. Private competition with government salt soon appeared. The Jiuda Salt Industries, starting in 1914, had built a modern chemical and salt works, with seven production plants at Tianjin. The company eventually manipulated its political networks so that by 1936 it had challenged the monopoly of the salt gabelle in order to take advantage of its more efficient technology but still did not gain
5053-684: The An Lushan Rebellion by general An Lushan . The Tang dynasty recovered its power decades after the An Lushan rebellion and was still able to launch offensive conquests and campaigns like its destruction of the Uyghur Khaganate in Mongolia in 840–847 . It was the Huang Chao rebellion in 874–884 by the native Han rebel Huang Chao that permanently destroyed the power of the Tang dynasty. The power of
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5216-557: The Aobo Tu , workers actually sprinkled sea water on the fields which then filtered through sand or fine ash into pits, or perhaps he could have seen “earth salt” derived from soil. Beginning almost immediately after the founding of the dynasty in 1368, the Ming government found it hard to supply its armies in Central Asia . Officials granted merchants who delivered grain to the frontier garrisons
5379-660: The Eastern Han dynasty ) or the Taiping Rebellion (which destabilized the Qing dynasty ). Huang Chao's rebellion greatly weakened the Tang dynasty and it eventually led to its demise in 907 at the hands of Huang Chao's former follower Zhu Wen when Zhu usurped the throne from Emperor Ai and initiated several decades of chaotic civil war called the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period . Political scientist Yuhua Wang argues that
5542-536: The Qianlong era at the close of the 18th century, the Household Department under the eunuch Heshen became corrupt and lax, filling the salt administration with lax and greedy officials. Without competent and honest supervision, merchants once again speculated in salt certificates and officials were incapable of raising their assigned levels of revenue. By the early 19th century, merchant families could not deliver
5705-692: The Shatuo chieftain Li Guochang and Li Guochang's son Li Keyong rebelled to the north, and they made an attempt to take over the modern Shanxi region, but soon they were defeated and forced to flee to the Dada (達靼, then in the Yin Mountains ) tribe. By winter 879, Huang Chao, with his soldiers stricken by tropical/subtropical illnesses that they were not accustomed to, decided to change strategy and head north. He headed north through modern Hunan preparing to confront
5868-674: The Tang dynasty . Cao compiled and published the Complete Tang Poems using proceeds from the Salt Administration. Yet even such a well-connected official relied on the whim of the emperor. The Cao family lost favor and fortune when a new emperor came to the throne, a fall from grace reflected in Dream of the Red Chamber , the nostalgic novel written by Cao Yin's grandson Cao Xueqin . The early Qing emperors placed personnel decisions and supervision of
6031-490: The Xiang River , reaching Hunan's capital Tan Prefecture (in modern Changsha , Hunan) in winter 879. He attacked Tan Prefecture and captured it in a day, and Li Xi fled to Lang Prefecture (朗州, in modern Changde , Hunan). Shang Rang then attacked Jingnan's capital Jiangling Municipality, where Wang Duo was. Wang panicked and fled as well, leaving the city to be defended by his officer Liu Hanhong , but as soon as Wang left
6194-419: The imperial civil service examination system. Salt in Chinese history Salt in Chinese history including salt production and salt taxes played key roles in economic development , and relations between state and society in China. The lure of salt profits led to technological innovation and new ways to organize capital . Debate over government salt policies brought forth conflicting attitudes toward
6357-759: The imperial dragon throne for almost four years but was eventually defeated in battle by the rival Tang dynasty army led by the Shatuo chieftain Li Keyong in 883 and forced to desert and escape Chang'an . Following successive defeats, including to former subordinates Zhu Wen and Shang Rang who had surrendered to Tang, Huang was allegedly killed by his nephew Lin Yan, although the reports are inconclusive. Some other sources state that Huang had escaped to safety with his family, servants, bodyguards and his royal staff. The Tang dynasty, established in 618 A.D., had already passed its golden age and entered its long decline beginning with
6520-534: The imperial examinations , but was not able to pass them, and thereafter resolved to rebel against Tang rule. Late in the Xiantong era (860–874) of Emperor Yizong , there were severe droughts and floods that caused terrible famine. Despite this, the Tang imperial government largely ignored the victims of these natural disasters—instead of granting tax exemptions for affected areas, taxes were increased to fund Emperor Yizong's luxurious lifestyle and military campaigns. As
6683-462: The jiedushi or provincial military governors increased greatly after imperial troops crushed the rebels. The discipline of these generals also decayed as their power increased, the resentment of common people against the incapacity of the government grew, and their grievances exploded into several rebellions during the mid-9th century. Many impoverished farmers, tax-burdened landowners and merchants, as well as many large salt smuggling operations, formed
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6846-415: The "salt surplus," that is, what was left over, to foreign banks for use by whichever Chinese government was recognized by the foreign powers. But after 1922, Chinese provincial leaders and local military commanders no longer allowed these funds to leave the territories they controlled; central government salt revenues fell disastrously, though payments to foreign governments continued. The Salt Administration
7009-406: The 15th century in paper money. By the 16th century the system broke down. Government monopoly salt was too expensive to compete with smuggled blackmarket salt, forcing officials to raise prices in order to meet their tax revenue quotas, making the government salt even less competitive and giving saltern families even more reason to sell to smugglers. Officials estimated that two-thirds of the salt in
7172-520: The 20th century. The high price of salt enforced by the monopoly, however, also created an opening for local bandits and rebels who could finance their activities by smuggling salt. Huang Chao , for instance, the late Tang rebel, was a failed exam candidate who became a salt merchant. In the Song dynasty , the 11th century minister Wang Anshi used state policies to expand the rural economy with crop loans and to reduce social inequality by bringing farmers into
7335-644: The Anshi Rebellion), and the Huang family became wealthy from smuggling. It was said that Huang was capable in swordsmanship, riding, and archery, and was somewhat capable in writing and rhetoric. He used his wealth to take in desperate men who then served under him. He had at least one older brother, Huang Cun ( 黃存 ), and at least six younger brothers, Huang Ye ( 黃鄴 ) or Huang Siye ( 黃思鄴 ), Huang Kui ( 黃揆 ), Huang Qin ( 黃欽 ), Huang Bing ( 黃秉 ), Huang Wantong ( 黃萬通 ), and Huang Sihou ( 黃思厚 ). He repeatedly participated in
7498-645: The Changlu Salt Syndicate in Tianjin were only slightly less wealthy and influential. Like Yangzhou, Tianjin had little natural wealth, but used its location on the Grand Canal to become a transshipment center and developed the nearby Changlu salterns as a source of capital. Government Salt Superintendents also accumulated fortunes. They could under-report tax revenues and keep the difference for themselves; they could accept fees from applicants for office; or, with
7661-670: The Ganhua soldiers rioted over what they perceived to be the lack of supplies given to them. Xue met them and calmed them down, but this in turn caused the Zhongwu soldiers and the populace of Xu Prefecture to be angry at his lenient treatment of them. The Zhongwu officer Zhou Ji , himself then taking Zhongwu soldiers toward Yin River, thus turned his army around and attacked and slaughtered the Ganhua soldiers. His soldiers also killed Xue and Xue's family. Zhou then declared himself military governor. Qi, concerned that Zhou would attack him, withdrew from
7824-540: The Heavens") and changed the era name to Wangba, to show independence from the Tang regime. He then captured Yi and Pu Prefectures again, but then suffered several defeats by Tang forces. He thus wrote the new military governor of Tianping, Zhang Xi ( 張裼 ), asking Zhang to ask for a Tang commission on his behalf. At Zhang's request, Emperor Xizong commissioned Huang as a general of the imperial guards, but ordered him to report to Yun Prefecture to disarm before he would report to
7987-411: The Huang Chao rebellion marks a turning point not just in the Tang dynasty, but in Chinese imperial history, as the carnage in the capital region wiped out most of the great aristocratic families which had monopolized politics since the Han dynasty. From the subsequent Song dynasty onwards, the political bureaucracy of China relied on more dispersed regional gentry clans who rose to prominence through
8150-589: The Japanese. The Nationalist government reluctantly allowed the Salt Administration, which legally was a foreign agency, to maintain offices in Shanghai to avoid providing the Japanese with an excuse to set up a puppet salt administration. Payments to the foreign banks were maintained, but at great cost. After 1941 the foreign staff largely resigned or left. Smugglers managed to meet much of the demand for salt in Free China, but
8313-599: The Lianghuai region was contraband. A series of crises followed in which inland prices dropped too low for merchants to make a profit, armies on the frontier went without grain, and small mountains of salt might sit unused because officials impounded them for taxes then could not sell them. Salt production during the Ming period mainly took place in China's coastal regions and salt lakes. Although there were different techniques to obtain salt, boiling seawater and evaporating seawater under
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#17328413211948476-534: The Prince of Xiang emperor at Chang'an, and initially it appeared that military governors were ready to recognize Li Yun as emperor instead. Faced with a situation he could not handle, Tian resigned his position as the commander of the Shence Armies and fled to Xichuan to join his brother Chen Jingxuan. Tian was succeeded by Yang Fugong (the brother of Yang Fuguang, who was deceased by this point). Yang Fugong, utilizing
8639-580: The Tang forces concentrating on defending Luoyang, Huang marched south instead. Huang Chao crossed the Yangzi River southwards and captured several prefectures south of the Yangzi—Qian (虔州, in modern Ganzhou , Jiangxi ), Ji (吉州, in modern Ji'an, Jiangxi ), Rao (饒州, in modern Shangrao , Jiangxi), and Xin (信州, in modern Shangrao). In fall 878, he then headed northeast and attacked Xuan Prefecture (宣州, in modern Xuancheng , Anhui), defeating Wang Ning ( 王凝 ),
8802-512: The Tang forces entering Chang'an were intent on pillaging it, he counterattacked and inflicted great losses on the Tang forces, forcing them to abandon Chang'an again and killing Cheng and Tang Hongfu. For the next several years, he would not again be dislodged from Chang'an despite Tang forces' efforts, and Emperor Xizong himself made no real efforts in trying to organize imperial troops to do so. With Gao not making any efforts to dislodge Huang, either, Emperor Xizong put Wang Duo in overall command of
8965-521: The Tang general Zhang Zhifang welcomed Huang into the capital. Shang Rang issued a declaration proclaiming Huang's love for the people and urged the people to carry on their daily affairs, but despite Shang's assurance that the people's properties would be respected, Huang's soldiers were pillaging the capital repeatedly. Huang himself, briefly, lived at Tian's mansion, moving into the Tang palace several days later. He also ordered that Tang's imperial clan members be slaughtered. Huang Chao then moved into
9128-481: The Tang governmental apparatus in place for some time, hoping to get Tang generals and officials to switch loyalty. After Chang'an's fall, a number of Tang military governors, including Zheng Tian , Wang Chongrong , Wang Chucun , Tuoba Sigong , Cheng Zongchu ( 程宗楚 ), and Tang Hongfu ( 唐弘夫 ), rendezvoused near Chang'an and then attacked Chang'an, hoping to recapture it for Emperor Xizong. In summer 881, Huang briefly abandoned Chang'an, but as soon as he realized that
9291-508: The Tang palace and declared himself the emperor of a new state of Qi. He made his wife, Lady Cao , empress, while making Shang Rang, Zhao Zhang ( 趙璋 ), and the Tang officials Cui Qiu ( 崔璆 ) and Yang Xigu ( 楊希古 ) chancellors. Huang initially tried to simply take over the Tang imperial mandate, as he ordered that the Tang imperial officials of the fourth rank or lower (in Tang's nine-rank system) continue to remain in office, as long as they showed submission by registering with Zhao, removing only
9454-643: The Tang, Liao, and Song dynasties. In the 6th and 7th centuries, the Tang government attempted to control markets and the economy directly, but after a period of success, the expense of suppressing the Anshi Rebellion in the 750s drained the treasury at just the time as the government's loss of local control made it difficult to collect the land tax and other direct taxes. Officials looked for ways to raise revenues which did not depend on direct control of production and retail sales. Chancellor Liu Yan had already proved his worth by using impressed labor to dredge
9617-450: The Works of Nature explained the essential role of salt: Traditional Chinese writers and modern scholars agree that there are at least five types of salt found in different regions of what is now China: As in other ancient centers of civilization, when agriculture replaced hunting, farmers, who ate little meat, needed salt for themselves and for their draft animals. More than a dozen sites on
9780-495: The area and returned to Taining Circuit. In response, the troops that other circuits had stationed at Yin River scattered, leaving the path wide open for Huang. Huang thus crossed the Huai River north, and it was said that starting from this point, Huang's army stopped pillaging for wealth, but forced more young men into the army to increase its strength. As winter 880 began, Huang Chao headed toward Luoyang and Chang'an, and issued
9943-559: The areas controlled by Qi forces became limited to Chang'an and its immediate surroundings, as well as Tong ( 同州 ) and Hua ( 華州 ) Prefectures (both in modern Weinan). With farming completely disrupted by the warfare, a famine developed in the region, such that both Tang and Qi forces resorted to cannibalism. By fall 882, the Qi general Zhu Wen , in charge of Tong Prefecture, had become unable to stand to Tang pressure and surrendered to Tang. By winter 882, Hua Prefecture also surrendered to Tang under
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#173284132119410106-505: The armies commanded by Wang Duo, who was then in overall command of the operation against him. He first defeated Wang's deputy Li Xi ( 李係 ) at Tan Prefecture (in modern Changsha , Hunan ); Wang, then stationed at Jiangling , panicked and fled, and Wang's officer Liu Hanhong pillaged Jiangling then became an independent rebel leader. Huang's advance, however, was repelled by other Tang generals Liu Jurong ( 劉巨容 ) and Cao Quanzhen ( 曹全晸 ) at Jingmen (荊門, in modern Jingmen , Hubei ). Huang
10269-412: The base of the anti-government rebellions of this period. Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao were two of the important rebel leaders during this era. It is not known when Huang was born, but it is known that he was from Yuanqu (within the present-day Mudan District of Heze , Shandong ). His family had been salt privateers for generations (with the salt trade officially monopolized by the state ever since
10432-724: The benefit to the central government was limited by regional administrators who intercepted salt revenues for their own purposes. The Khitan -led Liao dynasty adopted many traditional institutions of Han -ruled dynasties, had a Salt Monopoly Office which supervised salt production and distribution, though it is not clear how effective it was. Early modern technology in salt originated from China's Yuan dynasty. Increased population, especially in cities, created demand for salt. A combination of government officials and merchant entrepreneurs eagerly invented and deployed new technologies and new ways of organizing salt production, distribution, and taxation. Each type of salt and place of production had
10595-512: The breakdown of the Tang realm continued, with Tang military governors battling each other for supremacy, and one of the key rivalries that developed was that between Zhu (who was made the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit) and Li Keyong (who was made the military governor of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan , Shanxi ), which began over a failed attempt by Zhu to assassinate Li Keyong. Emperor Xizong did return to Chang'an in spring 885, some two years after Tang forces recaptured
10758-443: The brine was boiled. Household that boiled brine also had to obtain fuel, in the form of natural gas or burning firewood and straw, in order to heat up their furnaces. The majority of salt producers in Ming times consisted of young men from saltern households, who were assigned by the government, although some prisoners were also forced to produce salt as part of their sentence until they had served their prison terms. Salt production
10921-503: The brother of the powerful eunuch Tian Lingzi , was military governor. Emperor Xizong, however, wanted to also make one last attempt to defend Tong Pass , between Luoyang and Chang'an, and therefore sent the imperial Shence Army ( 神策軍 ) officers Zhang Chengfan ( 張承範 ), Wang Shihui ( 王師會 ), and Zhao Ke ( 趙珂 )—whose soldiers were ill-trained and ill-equipped, as the Shence Army soldiers' families were largely wealthy and were able to pay
11084-478: The capital Chang'an . Faced with those conditions, Huang refused the offer. Instead, he attacked Song and Bian (汴州, in modern Kaifeng , Henan ) Prefectures, and then attacked Weinan (衞南, in modern Puyang , Henan), and then Ye (葉縣, in modern Pingdingshan , Henan) and Yangzhai (陽翟, in modern Xuchang , Henan). Emperor Xizong thus commissioned troops from three circuits to defend the eastern capital Luoyang , and further ordered Zeng to head to Luoyang as well. With
11247-425: The capital. Soon after Emperor Xizong's return to Chang'an, however, a serious dispute developed between Tian Lingzi, who was still largely in control of the imperial court, and Wang Chongrong, then the military governor of Huguo Circuit (護國, headquartered in modern Yuncheng , Shanxi ). The dispute stemmed from the desperate financial situation that the imperial government was in by this point—with only Chang'an and
11410-474: The central government's own treasury in size and also took salt workers off the tax rolls. The central government took notice. In 119 BCE, Emperor Wu of Han cast about for ways to finance his expansionist policies, and at the urging of his Legalist advisors, decreed salt and iron to be state monopolies. Fifty or so foundries were established, each using hundreds or even thousands of convict or conscript laborers. After Emperor Wu's death, his successor convened
11573-407: The city of Yangzhou became the symbol of conspicuous excess. One merchant commissioned a chamber pot made of gold which was so tall that he had to climb a ladder to use it. These families maintained their positions for generations by emphasizing education for their sons and steady payments to government officials. This luxurious life-style was financed by the exploitative monopoly prices charged by
11736-545: The city recovered quickly because it was the country's single most important salt administrative headquarters. The city was strategically located on the north bank of the Yangzi River near the junction with the Grand Canal which transported salt and grain north. The Salt Commissioner who was headquartered at Yangzhou supervised the Lianghuai district , which shipped salt to seven provinces: Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, and Guizhou. The rights to salt produced along
11899-400: The city, Liu mutinied, pillaged the city, and took his soldiers to become bandits. Huang himself followed Xiang's advance and went through Jiangling to attack Xiangyang , the capital of Shannan East Circuit ( 山南東道 ). He was, however, defeated by the joint forces of Shannan East's military governor Liu Jurong ( 劉巨容 ) and the imperial general Cao Quanzhen ( 曹全晸 ), who further pursued him all
12062-454: The city. Qi forces then counterattacked and defeated them, killing Cheng Zongchu ( 程宗楚 ) the military governor of Jingyuan Circuit (涇原, headquartered in modern Pingliang , Gansu ) and Tang Hongfu, and forcing the other Tang generals to withdraw from the city. Huang reentered Chang'an and, angry at the people of Chang'an for aiding Tang forces, carried out massacres against the population. With Zheng subsequently forced to flee Fengxiang due to
12225-505: The coast were controlled by some 200 Yangzhou merchants who were supervised by the Commissioner but operated privately, making them richer and more powerful than those in other regions. These merchants became patrons of opera, publishing, and painting, but depended on imperial whim. They prudently showered the Kangxi Emperor with praise and gifts when he visited their luxurious gardens and attended their opera performances. The merchants of
12388-457: The commercial economy. In order to finance these goals, Wang relied on methods like expanding the state's monopoly on salt. Wang's allies had his rival, the poet and official Su Shi (1036–1101), arrested for "defaming the emperor." Su confessed to having written this poem: The poet admitted that to write of an old man who had no salt was to point to the harshness of the imperial salt monopoly. The profitable monopoly again survived criticism and
12551-403: The defense operations there, and they went through Xu Prefecture (許州, in modern Xuchang), the capital of Zhongwu Circuit ( 忠武 ). Despite the Ganhua soldiers' reputation for lack of discipline, Xue Neng ( 薛能 ) the military governor of Zhongwu, because he had been Ganhua's military governor before, believed that they would be obedient to him, so he allowed them to stay in the city. But that night,
12714-533: The devastation of the drought last year. As far west at Guo Prefecture [(虢州, in modern Sanmenxia , Henan )] and as far as the Great Sea [(i.e., the East China Sea )], the spring wheat only yielded half as much as it should; the various food crops of the fall yielded very little, and even less of an yield did the winter vegetables have. The poor people ground the seeds of the spatterdock into powder, and ate it with
12877-748: The east. During the chase, Huang's youngest son was captured by Li Keyong. Li Keyong's army became worn out during the chase, however, and he broke off the chase and returned to Bian Prefecture. Huang headed toward Taining's capital Yan Prefecture. Shi Pu's officer Li Shiyue ( 李師悅 ), along with Shang, engaged Huang at Yan Prefecture and defeated him, annihilating nearly the remainder of his army, and he fled into Langhu Valley (狼虎谷, in modern Laiwu , Shandong). On July 13, 884, Huang's nephew Lin Yan ( 林言 ) killed Huang, his brothers, his wife, and his children, and took their heads to prepare to surrender to Shi. On his way to Shi's camp, however, he encountered Shatuo and Boye Army irregulars, who killed him as well and took
13040-452: The effort against Huang again. As the Tang and Huang Chao's Qi forces battled around Chang'an, the rest of the Tang realm, while mostly still ostensibly loyal to Emperor Xizong and obeying his edicts issued from Chengdu, began to break down further in its governmental/command structure. For example, Gao Pian's Huainan Circuit, regarded as one of the riches of the Tang realm, fell into years of internecine warfare (which included Gao's death at
13203-478: The emperor appointed the reform-minded official Tao Zhu to head the Lianghuai Salt Administration. Tao immediately ended the Ming franchise system in favor of a relatively open market. He ordered that merchants of good standing could buy salt certificates for a large or small amount of salt which could be retailed wherever the merchant wished. The certificates themselves could be bought and sold. In
13366-430: The eunuch general Yang Fuguang to negotiate a surrender. However, Song, who opposed a peace with Wang, captured Shang as Shang was on his way to meet with Yang, and falsely claimed that he had claimed Shang in battle. He delivered Shang to Chang'an to be executed, despite Yang's repeated attempts to have Shang spared. Shang's death ended hopes for a negotiated peace. (Meanwhile, though, Wang Ying's rebellion ended when he
13529-419: The famine and immediately start disaster relief efforts. Emperor Xizong issued an edict agreeing with Lu's suggestions, but it was said that no actual disaster relief was actually carried out. Meanwhile, the southwestern regions of the empire, largely unaffected by the famine, was instead embroiled in the wars with Dali . As the famine continued, the people who were displaced by the famine began to lose hope in
13692-689: The foreign Arab and Persian Muslim, Zoroastrian, Jewish, and Christian victims numbered tens of thousands. However, Chinese sources do not mention the event at all. Mulberry groves in south China were ruined by his army, leading to a decline in silk exports along the Maritime Silk Road . However, as Huang Chao's army was in the Lingnan region, his soldiers were stricken by illnesses, and some 3–40% died. His key subordinates suggested that he march back north, and he agreed. He thus made rafts at Gui Prefecture (桂州, in modern Guilin , Guangxi ) and took them down
13855-602: The friendships that Yang Fuguang had with Wang Chongrong and Li Keyong, was able to persuade them to again recognize and support Emperor Xizong. Subsequently, Zhu's subordinate Wang Xingyu assassinated him and forced Li Yun to flee to Huguo, where Wang Chongrong killed him, ending his challenge to Emperor Xizong. Subsequently, Emperor Xizong's general Li Maozhen defeated Li Changfu and took over Fengxiang. Emperor Xizong himself returned to Chang'an in spring 888. One month after Emperor Xizong returned to Chang'an, he died of illness. Yang Fugong supported his younger brother Li Jie
14018-558: The front, but by the time they reached there, Tong Pass had already fallen, and the troops from Boye Army ( 博野軍 ) and Fengxiang Circuit (鳳翔, headquartered in modern Baoji , Shaanxi ), also sent to the front to try to aid Zhang, became angry at the good equipment (including warm clothes) that Tian's new soldiers had, and mutinied, instead serving as guides for Huang's forces. Emperor Xizong and Tian abandoned Chang'an and fled toward Xichuan Circuit on January 8, 881. Later that day, Huang's forward commander Chai Cun ( 柴存 ) entered Chang'an, and
14181-430: The government differed throughout the Ming period, but included grain, money, subsidies, and decreased or voided land tax. In the 16th century, salt producers were able to sell over-quota salt directly to licensed salt merchants who purchased a fixed amount of salt from the imperial government first. Before the government held an absolute monopoly of salt industry and would not legitimate salt producers' direct transaction to
14344-473: The government lost important revenue. Since Japanese homeland did not produce enough salt to meet the demands of industrial production, the Japanese organized special companies which early in the war exported over 900,000 tons a year from North China and Manchuria. Nationalist government attempts to collect salt taxes during and immediately after the war provoked resistance from small-scale local salt producers in North China. The Chinese Communist Party gained
14507-437: The governor of Hunan Circuit (湖南, headquartered in modern Changsha , Hunan), in order to block a potential northerly return route for Huang. Meanwhile, Huang wrote Cui Qiu ( 崔璆 ), the governor of Zhedong Circuit, and Li Tiao ( 李迢 ), the military governor of Lingnan East Circuit (嶺南東道, headquartered in modern Guangzhou , Guangdong ), to ask them to intercede for him, offering to submit to Tang imperial authority if he were made
14670-415: The governor of Xuanshe Circuit (宣歙, headquartered at Xuan Prefecture), at Nanling (南陵, in modern Wuhu , Anhui), but could not capture Xuan Prefecture, and therefore further headed southeast to attack Zhedong Circuit (浙東, headquartered in modern Shaoxing , Zhejiang ), and then, via a mountainous route, Fujian Circuit (福建, headquartered in modern Fuzhou , Fujian) in winter 878. However, during this march, he
14833-415: The ground, the remnants of an ancient inland sea. He ordered first that the pools be made deeper, then that wells be dug, and eventually that narrower and more efficient shafts be sunk. By the end of the 2nd century CE, workers had devised a system of leather valves and bamboo pipes which drew up both brine and natural gas, which they burned to boil the brine (the technology they developed for the bamboo piping
14996-806: The hands of Qin Yan ) with Yang Xingmi eventually emerging victorious but with the circuit laid waste. Meanwhile, Yang Fuguang enlisted Li Keyong, who had previously fled to the Dada tribes, to return to Tang realm to help battle Qi, offering to pardon him. Li Keyong did so in 882, and repeatedly defeated Qi forces. In spring 883, Huang abandoned Chang'an and fled back east, allowing Tang forces to recapture Chang'an. Huang's forces then were continued to be defeated by Tang generals Li Keyong, Zhu Quanzhong , and Shi Pu , eventually falling apart. In fall 884, Huang's nephew Lin Yan ( 林言 ) killed Huang, ending Huang's Qi state. Emperor Xizong did not return to Chang'an, immediately, apparently fearing Qin Zongquan —formerly
15159-450: The head, and the rebel soldiers also clamored against the arrangement. Wang Xianzhi, fearing the wrath of his own army, turned against Pei and pillaged Qi Prefecture. However, afterwards, the rebel army broke up into two groups, with one group following Wang Xianzhi and Shang Junzhang, and one group following Huang. Huang Chao subsequently roamed throughout central China, and his campaign took him into many engagements with Tang forces: In
15322-453: The heads to present to Shi. (However, according to an alternative account in the New Book of Tang , Huang, believing that it was the only way that any of his army could be saved, committed suicide after instructing Lin to surrender with his head.) Some speculate that Lin Yan bringing the alleged heads of Huang Chao and others to Shi Pu was only a decoy to allow the real Huang Chao to escape. It
15485-457: The immediately surrounding region under the imperial government's control and submitting taxes to it (and the other circuits withholding their usual tax submissions to the imperial government, the imperial government was unable to pay the salaries of the army that Tian had amassed, which included the Shence Armies and personal armies that Tian himself had recruited). Tian tried to partially solve
15648-486: The imperial Left Shence Army ( 左神策軍 ) and delivered the commission to Qi Prefecture. However, Huang, who did not receive a commission as part of this arrangement, angrily stated: "When we started the rebellion, we made a grand oath and we have marched through great distances with you. Now, you are going to accept this office and go to the Left Shence Army. What should these 5,000 men do?" He battered Wang Xianzhi on
15811-744: The imperial government put Zhang's superior Gao Pian, who had by that point been transferred to Huainan Circuit (淮南, headquartered in modern Yangzhou , Jiangsu), in charge of the overall operations against Huang, replacing Wang. Many circuits thus sent troops to Huainan With his forces repeatedly defeated by Zhang and also suffering from plagues, Huang, then stationed at Xin Prefecture (信州, in modern Shangrao), decided to try to bribe his way out of his predicament. He thus submitted much gold to Zhang and wrote letters to plead with Gao, offering to submit to Tang imperial authority. Gao, who also wanted to use trickery himself to capture Huang, offered to recommend Huang as
15974-435: The imperial government, and they gathered in roving bands, pillaging for food. By 874–875, a large group had gathered under the leadership of Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao . Within a few months, Wang and Huang had gathered tens of thousands of men in their army. Meanwhile, the army officer Wang Ying also rebelled and led his band of rebels to pillage the southeast coast. There were numerous smaller bands of rebels roving around
16137-460: The imperial government, and would never recover, falling eventually in 907. Li Yan was born on June 8, 862, at the eastern palace in the Tang imperial capital Chang'an , as the fifth son of then-reigning Emperor Yizong . His mother was Emperor Yizong's concubine Consort Wang, who carried the title of Guifei , the highest rank carried by imperial consorts. In 865, Li Yan was created the Prince of Pu; at that time, his older brother Li Kan ( 李侃 )
16300-433: The land tax, and, with considerable regional variation and periodic reworking, it remained in place until the mid-20th century. Salt also played a role in Chinese society and culture. Salt is one of the " seven necessities of life" mentioned in proverbs and "salty" is one of the " five flavors " which form the cosmological basis of Chinese cuisine . Song Yingxing , author of the 17th century treatise, The Exploitation of
16463-459: The late Ming period. Saltern households were generally called yan hu (盐户), and specifically, those who boiled seawater were called zao hu (灶户). Other techniques were applied in inland regions of China. In Yunnan , salt was obtained through the mining of saline rocks. In Shanxi and Shaanxi , salt was gathered in the summer when the salt lake dried up. And in Sichuan , brine wells were dug and then
16626-402: The leadership of the officer Wang Yu ( 王遇 ), limiting Qi territory to Chang'an. However, Tang forces were still not making a true attempt to recapture Chang'an by this point. However, the ethnic Shatuo general Li Keyong — who had been a Tang renegade for years but who had recently resubmitted to Tang and offered to attack Qi on Tang's behalf, arrived at Tong Prefecture in winter 882 to join
16789-407: The leaves of the pagoda tree as they were vegetables. Some people suffered even worse, indescribable fates. For several years now, year by year there were poor harvests, and the people fled to other prefectures, leaving just the helpless people with nowhere to go, sitting in the ruins of their villages awaiting starvation. Lu urged that Emperor Xizong waive all taxation on the prefectures affected by
16952-452: The long silted-over canal connecting the Huai and Yellow rivers; this project lowered transport costs, relieved food shortages, and increased tax revenues with little government investment. The Huai river ran through Northern Jiangsu, the location of coastal salt marshes which were the major source of salt. Liu realized that if the government could control these areas, it could sell the salt at
17115-536: The major salt flats of Qinghai , such as those surrounding Dabusun Lake . The Zigong Salt Museum preserves one well to demonstrate the traditional methods, but by 2011, China's production of table salt was the largest in the world. In 2014, the Chinese government announced plans to end the salt monopoly and government price controls starting from 2016. Emperor Xizong of Tang Emperor Xizong of Tang (June 8, 862 – April 20, 888), né Li Yan , later name changed to Li Xuan ( Chinese : 李 儇 , changed 873),
17278-555: The massive amounts of salt they had contracted but instead raised prices to yield steady profits. Smuggled and black market salt then rose to meet demand and soon outweighed official sales. Government revenues fell. When the Daoguang Emperor came to the throne in 1820, he was alarmed at the outflow of silver to pay for opium. In the years leading up to the Opium Wars fiscal reform became an emotional as well as fiscal issue. In 1832,
17441-460: The merchants, until it encountered a serious financial shortage of salt manufacture. Salt merchants, however, were only licensed to purchase a limited amount of salt, and they had to pay the tax to the government for exceeded amount. Towards the end of the Ming period, selling the non-quota salt became the main income source for salt producing families. Some salt producers became wealthier and purchased other saltern households, while providing them with
17604-458: The mid-8th century, imperial bureaucracies reaped these revenues safely and indirectly by selling salt rights to merchants who then sold the salt in retail markets. Private salt trafficking persisted, however, because monopoly salt was more expensive and of lower quality. Local bandits thrived on salt smuggling and rebels supported themselves with it. The basic system of bureaucratic oversight and private management provided state revenue second only to
17767-443: The military governor of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan , Shanxi). Li Keyong thus headed south to aid them. After Li Keyong joined forces with those sent by Zhou, Zhu, Shi, and Qi Kerang, they attacked and defeated Shang Rang at Taikang (太康, in modern Zhoukou) and Huang Siye at Xihua (西華, in modern Zhoukou as well). Huang Chao, in fear, lifted the siege on Chen and withdrew. With his encampments being destroyed in
17930-822: The military governor of Hezhong Circuit (河中, headquartered in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi ), and Zhou Ji (whom he made the military governor of Zhongwu Circuit) — although each of those generals eventually redeclared loyalty to Tang and disavowed Qi allegiances. He also tried to persuade the former Tang chancellor Zheng Tian , the military governor of nearby Fengxiang Circuit (鳳翔, headquartered in modern Baoji , Shaanxi), to submit, but Zheng resisted, and when he sent Shang and Wang Bo ( 王播 ) to try to capture Fengxiang, Zheng defeated Qi forces that he sent in spring 881. In light of Zheng's victory over Qi forces, Tang forces from various circuits, including Zheng and his ally Tang Hongfu ( 唐弘夫 ), Wang Chongrong (who had turned against Qi by this point and redeclared his loyalty to Tang), Wang Chucun ,
18093-411: The military governor of Tianping. Cui and Li Tiao relayed his request, but Emperor Xizong refused. Huang then directly made an offer to Emperor Xizong, requesting to be the military governor of Lingnan East. Under the opposition of the senior official Yu Cong , however, Emperor Xizong also refused. Instead, at the chancellors' advice, he offered to make Huang an imperial guard general. Huang, receiving
18256-416: The military governor of Yiwu Circuit, and Tuoba Sigong , the military governor of Xiasui Circuit (夏綏, headquartered in modern Yulin, Shaanxi ), converged on Chang'an in summer 881, hoping to quickly capture it. With the people of Chang'an waging street warfare against Qi forces as well, Huang withdrew from the city — but as Tang forces entered Chang'an, they lost discipline and became bogged down in pillaging
18419-597: The nature of government, private wealth, the relation between the rich and the poor, while the administration of these salt policies was a practical test of a government's competence. Because salt is a necessity of life, the salt tax (sometimes called the salt gabelle , after the French term for a salt tax) had a broad base and could be set at a low rate and still be one of the most important sources of government revenue . In early times, governments gathered salt revenues by managing production and sales directly. After innovations in
18582-567: The offer, was incensed by what he perceived to be an insult. In fall 879, he attacked Lingnan East's capital Guang Prefecture, capturing it after a one-day siege and taking Li Tiao captive. He ordered Li Tiao to submit a petition to Emperor Xizong on his behalf again, but this time, Li Tiao refused, so he executed Li Tiao. Arab and Persian pirates had previously sacked Guangzhou; the port was subsequently closed for fifty years. As subsequent relations were rather strained, their presence came to an end during Huang Chao's revenge. Arab sources claim that
18745-640: The other Tang forces. In spring 883, Li Keyong and the other Tang generals defeated a major Qi force (150,000 men) commanded by Shang and approached Chang'an. In summer 883, Li Keyong entered Chang'an, and Huang was unable to resist him, and so abandoned Chang'an to flee east. With Tang forces again boggled down in pillaging the city, they were unable to chase Huang, and Huang was able to flee east without being stopped. Huang Chao headed toward Fengguo Circuit (奉國, headquartered in modern Zhumadian) and had his general Meng Kai ( 孟楷 ) attack Fengguo's capital Cai Prefecture. The military governor of Fengguo, Qin Zongquan ,
18908-404: The others. Officials tried to control production by continuing the Yuan system of registering hereditary salt producing households (竈戶 zàohù ). These families were not allowed to change their occupation or where they lived and were required to produce a yearly quota of salt (in the beginning, a little more than 3,000 catties). Initially, the government paid these saltern families with rice, then in
19071-469: The people and the revenue encouraged expansionary wars which would doom the empire. Each side claimed the moral high ground. Bai Juyi 's Tang dynasty poem, “The Salt Merchant’s Wife” (c. 808), commented on the luxurious life of the salt merchant's wife whose boat took her from place to place: A 13th century Yuan dynasty poem describes the quite different conditions among the hereditary "boiling households" (saltern households): Hereditary salt merchants in
19234-633: The poor and the sick to fill in for them—to try to defend it. Meanwhile, Luoyang fell quickly, and Qi withdrew to Tong Pass as well, and submitted an emergency petition stating that his troops were fatigued, hungry, and without supplies, with no apparent imperial response. Huang then attacked Tong Pass. Qi and Zhang initially resisted his forces for more than a day, but thereafter, Qi's troops, hungry and tired, scattered and fled. Zhang's final attempts to defend Tong Pass were futile, and it fell. Meanwhile, Tian had recruited some new soldiers, who were also ill-trained but relatively well-equipped, and sent them to
19397-408: The problem by ordering Wang to return control of salt ponds at Huguo Circuit, previously under imperial control, to the imperial government, so that its proceeds could be used to pay imperial armies. Wang refused and spoke against Tian publicly. Tian, in retaliation, had Emperor Xizong order that Wang be transferred to Tianping Circuit. Wang refused the transfer and, allied with Li Keyong, prepared for
19560-574: The realm. The imperial administration tried to deal with the Wang/Huang rebellion by initially having the military governors ( jiedushi ) of the five most-affected circuits—Huainan (淮南, headquartered in modern Yangzhou , Jiangsu ), Zhongwu (忠武, headquartered in modern Xuchang , Henan ), Xuanwu (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng , Henan ), Yicheng (義成, headquartered in modern Anyang , Henan ), and Tianping (天平, headquartered in modern Tai'an , Shandong ) mobilize their local troops to either destroy
19723-414: The rebels or encourage them to surrender. This strategy was ineffective, and at the suggestion of Song Wei ( 宋威 ) the military governor of Pinglu Circuit (平盧, headquartered in modern Weifang , Shandong ), Emperor Xizong put Song in command of a special task force concentrating on eliminating the rebels. Song had some early successes, but soon showed himself to be unable to follow up on his successes, as he
19886-406: The required portions to foreign creditors. The Sino-Foreign Salt Administration, which lasted until 1949, became, in the words of one historian, a "veritable model of a successful, well-institutionalized, high prestige organization that elicited the loyalty and commitment of its Chinese and foreign staff even as it operated in an extremely turbulent, often hostile environment.” Moreover, it provided
20049-436: The revenues for themselves. They revived the ten zone system set up in the Song dynasty which the Ming inherited from the Yuan, and continued the merchant-official alliance. Over the course of the dynasty, even vigorous administration could not prevent the accumulation of problems. Manchu armies nearly destroyed the prosperous salt city of Yangzhou when it offered resistance. Although it had no natural resources or production,
20212-442: The right to buy salt certificates (鹽引 yányǐn ) which entitled them to buy government salt at monopoly prices which they could then sell in protected markets. One scholar has called this salt-grain exchange a “unique combination of state monopoly and market initiative, bridging state and market.” The merchants, however, soon circumvented the system by selling the certificates to others rather than undertaking risky expeditions to deliver
20375-471: The rivers and eighteen hells. The Judge sent to the upper world for one Wang Shi, a village salt peddler. When Wang demanded to know why he, of all people, had been chosen, the Judge of Purgatory gave this satirical and paradoxical explanation: When the Qing dynasty was founded in the middle of the 17th century, the court immediately seized the saltern areas in order to cut off supplies to their enemies and gain
20538-529: The salt gabelle in the hands of the Imperial Household Department . Since the department was housed within the Forbidden City , where the emperor lived for much of the year, the emperor and his personal servants could control the revenues directly, whereas much of the land tax, the other major revenue source, was siphoned off at the local level or committed to other expenses. In the last years of
20701-425: The salt ministry became financially unable to provide iron plates due to the great cost of manufacture and replacement. As a result, the government reluctantly permitted merchants to provide cauldrons to the producers, although it was argued that cauldrons were the reason for contraband salt. The congregational salt production in turn collapsed into individual saltern household production. The methods of payment from
20864-641: The salt monopoly also described the salt wells in Sichuan: Marco Polo visited salt areas in the 13th century Yuan dynasty . His detailed and accurate descriptions of salt production confirm that he had actually been in China. Marco described salt wells and hills where salt could be mined, probably in Yunnan , and reported that in the mountains “these rascals … have none of the Great Khan's paper money, but use salt instead…. They have salt which they boil and set in
21027-400: The salt, leading to hoarding and speculation. The system of government production and merchant distribution required a strong and adaptive bureaucracy. To begin with, the Ming government inherited from the preceding Yuan dynasty not a unified national system but a dozen or more regional monopolies, each of which had a different production center, none of which was allowed to distribute salt to
21190-418: The seawater in an officially provided iron plate. The government believed that this congregational salt production allowed the officials to conveniently control the amount of fuel, iron plates, and salt produced so that they were able to prevent the trade of contraband salt. However, in reality, salt producers would collude with salt patrols to gain profit from contraband salt. After Jiajing ’s reign (1522–1566),
21353-462: The short term, however, Tao could not make good on his promises for delivery of salt and revenue, and was forced to retire. Nevertheless, the system had been changed and the bureaucracy of the dynasty showed a greater ability to adapt than later critics gave it credit for. By the beginning of the 20th century, there was not so much a national system as a venerable patchwork of production, distribution, and taxation. The salt trade in one province, Hunan,
21516-483: The south, where it could be safely used to buy grain to ship to the capital, Chang'an , by river and canal. In the last century of Tang rule, salt provided more than half of the government's annual revenue and prolonged its life, for a government which managed to control the salt production areas, the canal, and the capital was hard to dislodge. The basic principles of "official supervision, merchant transportation" established at this time lasted fundamentally unchanged until
21679-553: The southwest coast of the Bohai Bay show that the Dawenkou culture was already producing salt from underground brine more than 6,000 years ago during the Neolithic . In the same region, the late Shang dynasty (ca. 1600–1046) produced salt on a large scale and moved it inland in "helmet shaped-vessels" ( kuixingqi 盔形器). These pottery jars may have served as "standard units of measurement in
21842-406: The spring of 878, Huang was besieging Bo Prefecture (亳州, in modern Bozhou , Anhui ), when Wang Xianzhi was crushed by Zeng at Huangmei (黃梅, in modern Huanggang , Hubei) and killed. Shang Rang took the remnants of Wang's army and joined Huang at Bo Prefecture, and he offered the title of king to Huang. Huang, instead, claimed the title of Chongtian Dajiangjun (衝天大將軍, "Generalissimo Who Charges to
22005-542: The state to make a profit was to steal from the people and to undermine morality: “trade promotes dishonesty.” The Legalists won the debate; salt provided a major part of government revenue for the remainder of Han rule. After the fall of the Han in the 2nd century CE, the smaller successor states could not enforce the monopoly reliably and the Sui and early Tang dynasties relied instead on land taxes. The principles of official supervision and merchant transportation formed during
22168-599: The successor. Thereafter, an edict was issued in Emperor Yizong's name, creating Li Yan Crown Prince . The edict also changed Li Yan's name to Li Xuan. Emperor Yizong died that day, and Li Xuan took the throne as Emperor Xizong, with his brother-in-law, the chancellor Wei Baoheng , serving as regent for several days. He posthumously honored his mother Consort Wang as empress dowager and created Liu and Han dukes. Almost immediately thereafter, Wei Baoheng, who had been exceedingly powerful late in Emperor Yizong's reign,
22331-480: The sun were the two popular methods of isolating salt. Both techniques of salt production required dry and sunny weather. During Ming times, boiling seawater was the most prevailing technique. Salt producers laid down reeds and straws to absorb and concentrate seawater and then boiled it to isolate the salt grains. The technique of sunshine exposure was occasionally used in Fujian and was not commonly applied nationally until
22494-489: The third-rank or above officials. The Tang officials who would not submit were executed en masse. Huang also tried to persuade Tang generals throughout the circuits to submit to him, and a good number of them did, including Zhuge Shuang ( 諸葛爽 ) (whom he made the military governor of Heyang Circuit (河陽, headquartered in modern Jiaozuo , Henan )), Wang Jingwu the military governor of Pinglu Circuit (平盧, headquartered in modern Weifang , Shandong), Wang Chongrong (whom he made
22657-433: The tools and capital to do their work. These wealthier producers could then benefit from the low land tax given by the government and could further rent out the extra farmland as another source of income. Those that kept salt producers under them could meet the salt quota, and therefore avoided the corvee work that the government asked of salt producers. Throughout the Ming dynasty, the number of salt producers had suffered
22820-474: The trade and distribution of salt". Oracle bones mention "petty officers for salt" ( lu xiaochen 鹵小臣), suggesting that the Shang had officials who oversaw salt production and provisioning. The earliest surviving record of salt production in what is now China is a text from roughly 800 BCE which reports that the much earlier (and perhaps mythical) Xia dynasty reduced sea water for salt. There are reliable reports of
22983-452: The use of iron salt pans in the 5th century BCE. Early states often located their capital cities near ready sources of salt, a consideration which also affected locations in later times. In the 3rd century BCE, the expansionist and innovative Qin dynasty , in addition to organizing the Sichuan basin water control system at Dujiangyan , discovered that the salt pools which had been used for many centuries were actually fed from deep under
23146-461: The village retailers whose wealth put them above the law. The late Ming and early Qing writer, Pu Songling caught this cynicism when he remarked that "What the state defines as illegal is that which does not follow its rule, while officials and merchants label as smuggling that which they do not smuggle themselves." Pu's short story, "The Salt Smuggler" told of the Judge of Purgatory who needed help cleaning out newly arrived sinners who were choking
23309-402: The way to Jiangling. However, Liu, concerned that if he captured Huang, the imperial government would no longer value him, called off the pursuit, and Cao also broke off his pursuit. Huang then headed east and attacked E Prefecture (鄂州, in modern Wuhan), and pillaged the 15 surrounding prefectures. As he did so, however, he was repeatedly repelled by Zhang Lin. As a result of Zhang's successes,
23472-536: Was also useful in organizing and financing army units. The eight regiments under General Sun Li-jen were among the most effective Chinese troops during the Second Sino-Japanese War . When these foreign governments extended diplomatic recognition to the Nationalist Government of Chiang Kai-shek in 1928, they used salt revenue to reward the new government's agreement to continue loan payments contracted by its predecessors. In 1931, salt taxes provided nearly
23635-472: Was an emperor of China's Tang dynasty . He reigned from 873 to 888. He was the fifth son of his predecessor Emperor Yizong and was the elder brother of his successor Emperor Zhaozong . His reign saw his realm overrun by the great agrarian rebellions led by Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao , and while both were eventually defeated, by the end of Emperor Xizong's reign, the Tang state had virtually disintegrated into pieces ruled by individual warlords, rather than
23798-459: Was attacked by the Tang officers Zhang Lin ( 張璘 ) and Liang Zuan ( 梁纘 ), who were subordinates of Gao Pian , the military governor of Zhenhai Circuit ( 鎭海 , headquartered in modern Zhenjiang , Jiangsu), and was defeated several times. As a result of these battles, a number of Huang's followers, including Qin Yan , Bi Shiduo , Li Hanzhi , and Xu Qing ( 許勍 ), surrendered to the Zhenhai troops. As
23961-406: Was captured on 22 December 880. Emperor Xizong and Tian Lingzi conscripted a new army and put Zhang Chengfan ( 張承範 ) in charge of it, having him rendezvous with Qi at Tong Pass to defend against Huang's advance toward Chang'an. However, Emperor Xizong and Tian were instead making plans to flee to Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern Chengdu , Sichuan ), where Tian's brother Chen Jingxuan
24124-446: Was created the Prince of Ying. Consort Wang died a year later, in 866. As he was growing up, one of his constant companions was the eunuch Tian Lingzi , who attended to the stables at his mansion. In 873, Emperor Yizong became seriously ill. The eunuch commanders of the imperial Shence Armies , Liu Xingshen ( 劉行深 ) and Han Wenyue ( 韓文約 ), despite the fact that Li Yan was one of the younger sons of Emperor Yizong, supported him as
24287-434: Was defeated by Meng, and reacted by opening the city gates, submitting to Huang, and joining Huang's forces. Meng, after defeating Qin, attacked Chen Prefecture (陳州, in modern Zhoukou , Henan), but was surprised by a counterattack by Zhao Chou , the prefect of Chen Prefecture, and was killed in battle. Angered by Meng's death, Huang led his and Qin's forces and put Chen Prefecture under siege, but could not capture it despite
24450-462: Was estimated to involve some 1,000 traders, six to nine thousand junkmen, and about 1,000 state employees and officials, including police. In the broader Lianghuai region altogether some 369,000 people were employed, including 230,000 laborers in the salt fields. With the 1911 Revolution , the imperial system fell, but the old patchwork salt system survived. In 1913, the president of the young new republic , Yuan Shikai , negotiated with foreign banks
24613-493: Was eventually applied to household plumbing). Before the Qin's wars of unification in 221 BCE, salt was produced and traded widely and presented as tribute to the courts of the regional states. The Guanzi , a Han dynasty compilation of texts attributed to the 4th century BCE, includes a perhaps apocryphal discussion between the philosopher Guan Zhong and Duke Huan of the State of Qi on
24776-518: Was exiled and later forced to commit suicide in exile. Meanwhile, Tian Lingzi became very influential, and was described as the actual decision-maker for most of the important decisions of state, as Emperor Xizong was young and trusting of him. Early in Emperor Xizong's reign, a terrible drought-driven famine took over the heart of the Tang realm. As described by the imperial scholar Lu Xi , who would become chancellor in late 874: I personally saw
24939-441: Was forced to flee east, but he regrouped in the modern Jiangxi region and prepared for another advance north. As Huang did so, he had multiple engagements with the armies under the command of Gao Pian the military governor of Huainan Circuit, whom Emperor Xizong had put in command of the overall operations against Huang, replacing Wang. Gao's officer Zhang Lin ( 張璘 ) had initial successes against Huang, but Huang killed Zhang in
25102-492: Was killed in battle.) Soon thereafter, Song was relieved of his command of the task force, and Zeng Yuanyu ( 曾元裕 ) took over. Zeng soon defeated Wang Xianzhi in battle and killed him. However, Wang's followers, including Shang Junzhang's brother Shang Rang , gathered their troops and submitted to Huang. Huang continued the roving campaign, and marched south, capturing and for some time holding Guang Prefecture (廣州, in modern Guangzhou , Guangdong ) as his headquarters. Meanwhile,
25265-574: Was legally required. Dane restructured the bureaucracy and hired energetic and competent Chinese and foreign officers. In contrast to the Imperial Maritime Customs Service , the Salt Administration had only a few dozen foreign employees and more than 5,000 Chinese ones. It did not enter domestic salt trade and tax collection; it concerned itself only with gathering salt revenues to repay the Reorganization Loans and depositing
25428-415: Was military governor. As soon as news arrived that Huang had defeated Zhang and Qi and was advancing quickly toward Chang'an, Emperor Xizong and Tian abandoned Chang'an and fled toward Chengdu, arriving there in early 881. Huang entered Chang'an and declared himself the emperor of a new state of Qi. He slaughtered members of the Tang imperial family and a large number of high level officials, but tried to keep
25591-481: Was noted that Langhu Valley was over 500 li or 3–4 days away on a horseback from Shi's camp in Xu Prefecture, and decomposition would have already kicked in during the hot summer to make the faces unrecognizable. Moreover, Huang Chao had a number of brothers following him and the siblings likely resembled each other. Legends popular during the ensuing Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period claim that Huang became
25754-408: Was passed on generationally within their households. The households would be registered under a regional distribution center, where they would receive a quota on the quantity of salt produced. Families that produced salt through boiling brine could receive tools from the state if they did not have that capital. In early Ming, salt producers would congregate under the supervision of salt patrols and boil
25917-468: Was refined for new uses. In the salt marshes of the Huai valley, some 280,000 families worked for the state and were required to sell fixed quotas of salt at low prices. Workers who were forced into debt fled or joined the army. Merchants who helped to provision troops on the frontier were compensated with certificates which entitled them to buy salt and sell it in areas where they were given exclusive rights. Yet
26080-413: Was sought to parlay his victories into a peaceful submission to Tang authority, in which he would be generously treated by the throne. This was being mediated by Tang official Wang Liao ( 王鐐 ), a close relation to chancellor Wang Duo , and Pei Wo ( 裴偓 ) the prefect of Qi Prefecture (蘄州, in modern Huanggang , Hubei ). Under Wang Duo's insistence, Emperor Xizong commissioned Wang Xianzhi as an officer of
26243-499: Was then serving as an officer under Gao, suggested that Gao engage Huang, but Gao was terrified of engaging Huang after Zhang's death, and instead sent urgent requests for aid to the imperial government. The imperial government, which had hoped that Gao would be successful in stopping Huang, was very disappointed and thrown into a panic itself. Emperor Xizong ordered the circuits south of the Yellow River to send troops to Yin River (溵水,
26406-501: Was unable to contain Wang's roving army. In late 876, the chancellor Wang Duo tried to end Wang Xianzhi's rebellion by promising to make him an army officer—an offer that Wang Xianzhi was initially entice by—but after Huang opposed the proposal, the war continued, with Wang Xianzhi and Huang dividing their armies into two separate bands. However, Wang Xianzhi again made a peace overture in 877, sending his deputy Shang Junzhang ( 尚君長 ) to meet
26569-550: Was used to describe his preparations for rebellion in an angry spirit. Later, this phrase was used for the Chinese name of the 2006 film Curse of the Golden Flower . The Hongwu Emperor , founder of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), wrote a similar poem. Although Huang Chao was one of many rebel leaders in Chinese history, the impact of his rebellion can be compared to that of the Yellow Turban Rebellion (which fragmented
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