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  2. Kenneth G. Lieberthal and Richard H. Rogel Center for Chinese Studies
  3. Salt and State: An Annotated Translation of the Songshi Salt Monopoly Treatise

Salt and State: An Annotated Translation of the Songshi Salt Monopoly Treatise

Cecilia Lee-fang Chien
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Salt and State is an annotated translation of a treatise on salt from Song China. From its inception in the Han dynasty (206 B.C.–220 A.D.), the salt monopoly was a key component in the Chinese government's financial toolkit. Salt, with its highly localized and large-scale production, was an ideal target for bureaucratic management.

In the Song dynasty (960–1279), fiscal pressures on the government had intensified with increased centralization and bureaucratization. A bloated administration and an enormous standing army maintained against incursions by aggressive steppe neighbors placed tremendous strain on Song finances. Developing the salt monopoly seemed a logical and indeed urgent strategy, but each actor in this plan—the emperor, local officials, monopoly administrators, producers, merchants, and consumers—had his own interests to protect and advance. Thus attempts to maximize the effectiveness of the monopoly meant frequent policy swings and led to levels of corruption that would ultimately undo the Song.

Unlike other contemporary sources, the Songshi treatise organizes its subject into an intelligible and detailed narrative, elucidating special terminology, the bureaucracy and its processes, and debates relating to Chinese finance and politics, as well as the salt industry itself. Professor Chien's extensive annotation relies on parallel histories that corroborate and supplement the Songshi account, together providing a comprehensive study of this important institution in China's premodern political economy.

  • Cover
  • Title Page
  • Copyright Page
  • Dedication
  • Contents
  • Illustrations
  • Preface
  • Note to Readers
  • Maps
  • Part One: Introduction
    • Introduction
      • Pre-Song Salt Monopolies
      • The Historical Context of the Song Monopoly System
      • Early Salt Monopoly Operations
      • Government versus Merchant Distribution
      • Voucher Programs
      • Southern Song Realities
      • Salt in a Pre-Industrial Command Economy
      • Sources
  • Part Two: Annotated Translation
    • Brief Introduction to the Songshi Salt Treatise
    • Section 1: Pond Salt
      • 1. Xiezhou
    • Section 2: Sea Salt
      • 2.Jingdong
      • 3. Hebei
      • 4. Liangzhe
      • 5. Huainan
      • 6. Fujian
      • 7. Guangnan
    • Section 3: Earth Salt
      • 8. Hedong
    • Section 4: Well Salt
      • 9. Sichuan
  • Apparatus
    • Song Reign Periods
    • Weights and Measures Glossaries
    • Place Names
    • People
    • Salt Monopoly and General Terms
  • Works Cited
  • Index
Open access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities / Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program
Citable Link
Published: 2004
Publisher: University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies
License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license
ISBN(s)
  • 978-0-472-90145-6 (open access)
  • 978-0-472-03806-0 (paper)
  • 978-0-89264-163-5 (hardcover)
Series
  • Michigan Monographs in Chinese Studies
Subject
  • Cultural Studies
  • Asian Studies:China
  • History:Asian and Southeast Asian History
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