Discourses on salt and iron : a debate on state control of commerce and industry in ancient China, chapter I-XXVIII / translated from the Chinese of Huan K'uan, with introduction and notes, by Esson M. Gale. |
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 | CHAPTER I Discourses on salt and iron : |  |
CHAPTER I
THE BASIC ARGUMENT
a. It so happened that in the sixth year of the shih-yüan era[1]
an Imperial edict directed the Chancellor[2]
and the Imperial secretaries[4]
to confer with the recommended Worthies and Literati,[5]
and to enquire of them as to the rankling grievances among the
people.[6]
b. The Literati[7]
responded as follows: It is our humble opinion
that the principle of ruling men lies in nipping in the bud[8]
wantonness
and frivolity, in extending wide the elementals of virtue,[9]
and righteousness. Let lucre never be paraded before the eyes of
the people; only then will enlightenment flourish and folkways
improve.
c. But now, with the system of the salt and iron[10]
monopolies,
the liquor excise,[11]
and equable marketing,[12]
established in the provinces
and the demesnes,[13]
the Government has entered into financial
competition with the people,[14]
dissipating primordial candor and
a result few among our people take up the fundamental pursuits
of life,[15] while many flock to the non-essential.[16] Now sturdy natural
qualities decay as artificiality thrives, and rural values decline when
industrialism flourishes. When industrialism is cultivated, the people
become frivolous; when the values of rural life are developed, the
people are simple and unsophisticated. The people being unsophisticated,
wealth will abound; when the people are extravagant, cold
and hunger will follow. We pray that the salt, iron and liquor
monopolies and the system of equable marketing be abolished so
that the rural pursuits may be encouraged, people be deterred from
entering the secondary occupations, and national agriculture be
materially and financially[17] benefited.
d. The Lord Grand Secretary said:[18]
When the Hsiung Nu rebelled
against our authority and frequently raided and devastated the frontier
settlements, to be constantly on the watch for them was a great
strain upon the soldiery of the Middle Kingdom; but without measures
cease. The late Emperor,[19] grieving at the long suffering of the
denizens of the marches who live in fear of capture by the barbarians,
caused consequently forts and seried signal stations to be
built, where garrisons were held ready against the nomads. When
the revenue for the defence of the frontier fell short, the salt and
iron monopoly was established, the liquor excise and the system
of equable marketing introduced;[20] goods were multiplied and wealth
increased so as to furnish the frontier expenses.
e. Now our critics here, who demand that these measures be
abolished, at home would have the hoard of the treasury entirely
depleted, and abroad would deprive the border of provision for its
defence; they would expose our soldiers who defend the barriers
and mount the walls to all the hunger and cold of the borderland.
How else do they expect to provide for them?[21]
It is not expedient
to abolish these measures!
f. The Literati: Confucius observed that the ruler of a kingdom
or the chief of a house is not concerned about his people being few,
but about lack of equitable treatment; nor is he concerned about
poverty, but over the presence of discontentment.[22]
Thus the Son of
Heaven should not speak about much and little, the feudal lords
should not talk about advantage and detriment, ministers about gain
and loss, but they should cultivate benevolence and righteousness,
to set an example to the people, and extend wide their virtuous
conduct to gain the people's confidence. Then will nearby folk
lovingly flock to them and distant peoples joyfully submit to their
authority.[23]
Therefore the master conqueror does not fight; the expert
warrior needs no soldiers; the truly great commander requires not
and the hall, then you need only to show a bold front to the
enemy and your troops will return home in victory. The Prince
who practices benevolent administration should be matchless[25] in
the world; for him, what use is expenditure?
g. The Lord Grand Secretary: The Hsiung Nu, savage[26]
and wily,
boldly push through the barriers and harass the Middle Kingdom,
massacring the provincial population and killing the keepers of the
Northern Marches.[27]
They long deserve punishment for their unruliness
and lawlessness. But Your Majesty[28]
graciously took pity on
the insufficiency of the multitude[29]
and did not suffer his lords and
knights to be exposed in the desert plains, yet[30]
unflinchingly You
cherish the purpose of raising strong armies[31]
and driving the
Hsiung Nu before You to their original haunts in the north. I again
assert that the proposal to do away with the salt and iron monopoly
and equable marketing would grievously diminish[32]
our frontier
supplies and impair our military plans. I can not consider
favorably a proposal so heartlessly dismissing the frontier question.
h. The Literati: The ancients held in honor virtuous methods
and discredited resort to arms. Thus Confucius said: If remoter
are to be cultivated to attract them to be so; and when they have
been so attracted, they must be made contented and tranquil?[33] Now
these virtuous principles are discarded and reliance put on military
force; troops are raised to attack the enemy and garrisons are
stationed to make ready for him. It is the long drawn-out service
of our troops in the field and the ceaseless transportation for the
needs of the commissariat that cause our soldiers on the marches
to suffer from hunger and cold abroad, while the common people
are burdened with labor at home. The establishment of the salt
and iron monopoly and the institution of finance officials to supply
the army needs were not permanent schemes; it is therefore desirable
that they now be abolished.
i. The Lord Grand Secretary: The ancient founders of the Commonwealth
made open the ways for both fundamental and branch
industries[34]
and facilitated equitable distribution of goods. Markets
and courts[35]
were provided to harmonize various demands; there
people of all classes gathered together and all goods collected, so
that farmer, merchant, and worker could each obtain what he
desired; the exchange completed, everyone went back to his occupation.
Facilitate exchange so that the people will be unflagging in
industry says the Book of Changes.[36]
Thus without artisans, the
farmers will be deprived of the use of implements; without merchants,
all prized commodities will be cut off. The former would
lead to stoppage of grain production, the latter to exhaustion of
wealth. It is clear that the salt and iron monopoly and equable
marketing are really intended for the circulation of amassed wealth
and the regulation of the consumption according to the urgency of
the need.[37]
It is inexpedient to abolish them.
j. The Literati: Lead the people with virtue[38]
and the people
will return to honest simplicity; entice the people with gain, and
they will become vicious.[39]
Vicious habits would lead them away
from righteousness to follow after gain, with the result that people
will swarm on the road and throng at the markets. A poor country
may appear plentiful, not because it possesses abundant wealth, but
because wants multiply and people become reckless, said 
Lao 
-tzŭ.[40]
Hence the true King promotes rural pursuits and discourages branch
industries; he checks the people's desires through the principles of
propriety and righteousness and provides a market for grain in
exchange for other commodities, where there is no place for merchants
to circulate useless goods, and for artisans to make useless implements.
Thus merchants are for the purpose of draining stagnation[41]
and the artisans for providing tools; they should not become the
principal concern of the government.[42]
k. The Lord Grand Secretary: Kuan-tzŭ is reported to have said:
A country may possess a wealth of fertile land and yet its people
may be underfed — the reason lying in lack of an adequate supply
of agricultural implements. It may possess rich natural resources in
its mountains and seas and yet the people may be deficient in wealth —
the reason being in the insufficient number of artisans and merchants.[43]
leather goods, bone and ivory of Ching and Yang, the cedars,
lindera,[45] and bamboo rods of Chiang-nan, the fish, salt, rugs, and
furs of Yen and Ch'i, the lustrine yarn,[46] linen, and hemp-cloth of
Yen and Yü,[47] are all necessary commodities to maintain our lives
and provide for our death.[48] But we depend upon the merchants
for their distribution and on the artisans for giving them their
finished forms. This is why the Sages availed them of boats and
bridges[49] to negotiate rivers and gulleys, and domesticated cattle
and horses for travel over mountains and plateaux. Thus by penetrating
to distant lands and exploring remote places, they were
able to exchange all goods to the benefit of the people. Hence His
late Majesty established officers in control of iron to meet the
farmer's needs and provided equable marketing to make sufficient
the people's wealth. Thus, the salt and iron monopoly and the
equable marketing supported by the myriad people and looked to
as the source of supply, cannot conveniently be abolished.
l. The Literati: That a country possesses a wealth of fertile land
and yet its people are underfed is due to the fact that merchants
and workers have prospered unduly while the fundamental occupations
have been neglected. That a country possesses rich natural
resources in its mountains and seas and yet its people lack capital
is because the people's necessities have not been attended to, while
a river cannot fill a leaking cup; mountains and seas cannot overwhelm
streams and valleys. This is why P'an Kêng practised communal
living, Shun hid away gold, and Kao Tsu forbade merchants
and shopkeepers to be officials.[50] Their purpose was to discourage
habits of greed and fortify the spirit of extreme earnestness. Now
with all the discriminations against the market people, and stoppage
of the sources of profit, people still do evil. What if the
ruling classes should pursue profit themselves? The Chuan says,
When the princes take delight in profit, the ministers become mean;
when the ministers become mean, the minor officers become greedy;
when the minor officers become greedy, the people become thieves.[51]
Thus to open the way for profit is to provide a ladder to popular
misdemeanor.[52]
m. The Lord Grand Secretary: Formerly the Princes in the provinces
and the demesnes sent in their respective products as tribute.
The transportation was vexacious and disorganized;[53]
the goods were
usually of distressingly bad quality, often failing to repay[54]
their
transport costs. Therefore Transportation Officers have been provided
in every province to assist in the delivery and transportation and
for the speeding of the tribute from distant parts. So the system
came to be known as equable marketing. A Receiving Bureau has
been established at the capital to monopolize[55]
all the commodities,
with the result that the Government[57] suffers no loss and the merchants
cannot speculate for profit.[58] This is therefore known as
the balancing standard.[59] With the balancing standard people are
safeguarded from unemployment; with the equable marketing
people have evenly distributed labor. Both of these measures are
intended to equilibrate all goods and convenience the people, and
not to open the way to profit and provide a ladder to popular
misdemeanor.
n. The Literati: The Ancients in levying upon and taxing[60]
the
people would look for what the latter were skilled in, and not
seek for those things in which they were not adept. Thus the
farmers contributed the fruits of their labor, the weaving women,
their products. Now the Government leaves alone what the people
have and exacts what they have not, with the result that the people
sell their products at a cheap price to satisfy demands from above.
Recently in some of the provinces and demesnes they ordered the
people to make woven goods. The officers then caused the producers
by the officers was not only the silk from Ch'i and T'ao, or cloth
from Shu and Han,[61] but also other goods manufactured by the
people which were mischievously sold at a standard price. Thus
the farmers suffer twice over[62] while the weaving women are doubly
taxed. We have not yet seen that your marketing is "equable".
As to the second measure under discussion, the government officers
swarm out to close the door, gain control of the market and corner
all commodities. With commodities cornered, prices soar; with
prices rising, the merchants make private deals by way of speculation.
Thus the officers are lenient to the cunning capitalists, and
the merchants store up goods and accumulate commodities waiting
for a time of need. Nimble traders and unscrupulous officials buy
in cheap to get high returns. We have not yet seen that your
standard is "balanced." For it seems that in ancient times equable
marketing was to bring about equitable division of labor and facilitate
transportation of tribute; it was surely not for profit or to make
trade in commodities.
In the second month of the sixth year of Chao Ti's reign according to the Ch'ienhan-shu,
ch. VII (81 B. C.). See Introduction.
[OMITTED]. Chang[3]
inserts a note based upon T'ien Ch'ien-ch'iu's [OMITTED]
biography to prove that T'ien was the "Chancellor" of the debate; also known as
[OMITTED].
Note: References to the principal editions and commentators will be given hereafter
as Chang (Chang Chih-hsiang), Lu (Lu Wên-chao) and Wang (Wang Hsien-ch'ien). The
various editors are discussed under "Editions of the Yen T'ieh Lun" in the Introduction.
[OMITTED]: Yü-shih, i.e., Sang Hung-yang [OMITTED], the "Lord Grand Secretary",
and his assistants. Son of a shop-keeper of Loyang, he was made a [OMITTED] at the
age of thirteen due to his ability in "mental arithmetic" [OMITTED]. In 110 B.C. he
was promoted [OMITTED]. For his biography, cf. Ch'ien-han-shu, XXIV, 6.
[OMITTED]: the Worthies and Literati who took part in the
debate had been selected and recommended in the preceding year, (Ch'ien-han-shu, ch. VII).
Persons so designated were first called upon to discuss official affairs in the 11th month
of the second year of Wên Ti's reign. See the edict in Ch'ien-han-shu, ch. IV., where
the Emperor summons them to [OMITTED].
[OMITTED]; thus the actual subject for discussion was not specifically
"the salt and iron monopolies", as indicated in the title of the work.
[OMITTED]. As to the establishment of the salt and iron control, the Shih-chi
(Chavannes, Mém. hist. III, 570—71) relates that in 119 B. C. two wealthy manufacturers
of salt and iron, Tung-kuo Hsien-yang [OMITTED] and K'ung Chin
[OMITTED], were designated to organize the state administration of these two commodities
throughout the Empire. A special office [OMITTED] within the Treasury [OMITTED] was
created for this purpose. For the political rôle of salt in ancient China to the establishment
of a definitive system of state control in the Early Han era, see E. M. Gale,
Proceedings of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association (1929),
"Historical Evidences Relating to Early Chinese Public Finance"; also O. Franke,
in Sitzungsberichten der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, (1931), XIII, "Staatssozialistische
Versuche im Alten und Mittelalterlichen China".
[OMITTED]; evidently a system of state supervision and taxation (excise) imposed
upon the wine trade. The term [OMITTED] has been preserved in this special sense in connection
with the transportation, distribution and sale of salt in the officially supervised
"salt transportation offices" in the four central China provinces. These bureaux are
designated [OMITTED], where salt transported by private merchants is sold by
official agency and a tax collected. Cf. E. M. Gale, The Annals of the American Academy
of Political and Social Science, (Vol. 152, November, 1930) "Public Administration
of Salt in China: A Historical Survey".
[OMITTED]. I have adopted the term equable marketing to designate this interesting
attempt to solve the problem of distribution in Han times. It has also been translated
as "equalized transportation", "adjusted taxation". It appears to be also the name of
the officials charged with the administration of the system. The Shih-chi (chap. XXX)
assigns its institution to K'ung Chin and Sang Hung-yang. The institution of chün shu
dates from the second year of yüan-ting (115 B. C.). These functionaries were distinguished
as [OMITTED] (principals) and [OMITTED] (assistants). They were under the "Treasury" [OMITTED].
Their actual duty was to equalize or balance prices by transporting commodities from
such places as they were abundant to where they were scarce. The two characters
signify "to equalize and to transport". Cf. Chavannes, Mém. hist., III, 579, note 4;
also, Franke, op. cit.
Chang's explanatory note gives the quotations from the Ch'ien-han-shu, XXIV, 6,
and Shih-chi, XXX, clarifying these technical terms.
In Wên Ti's time the same warning had been sounded, but it was as yet
qualified by the word `perhaps' [OMITTED], cf. edict in the 9th month of the second
year of his reign: [OMITTED]
[OMITTED] . . . .
Pên [OMITTED] and Mo [OMITTED]; the "fundamental" ("radical", "constitutional") industry
of the Empire was considered to be agriculture, while manufacture and trade were
considered "non-essentials" ("secondary", "branch" industries). [OMITTED] and [OMITTED], trade
and industry, were, of course, recognized early as legitimate occupations by the Confucian
Literati, who, however, always warned the ruler against over-developing them
to the detriment of agriculture. Shih Huang-ti had boasted of having [OMITTED]
[OMITTED] and having enriched the people thereby (cf. Shih-chi, K'ang-hsi Dict. sub [OMITTED]).
[OMITTED], therefore, should be taken as designating both the secondary professions (legitimate,
though circumscribed) and industrialism, industrialization (condemned in toto) vs.
rural life, rural values, rural pursuits. Cf. Duyvendak, The Book of Lord Shang, 15,
43, for a discussion of these terms as employed by the jurists in earlier times.
[OMITTED]. The first term usually refers to the extension of acreage, while the
second is applied to the disposal of the crops (distribution).
The "inferiority" of the Lord Grand Secretary is indicated by some Confucian
editors, as in Chang Chih-hsiang's edition, by beginning paragraphs one space lower in
the column than those in which the Literati are the interlocutors.
Han Wu Ti [OMITTED] On his "grieving" cf. Ch'ien-han-shu, VI, rescript in
Spring of 2nd Year of yüan kuang [OMITTED].
The historical reasons for the introduction of these financial expedients are given
in the Introduction.
Lun-yü, XIII, xvi, a concept of early Chinese political writers, that the Ruler
could obtain the submission of distant peoples by an example of virtue.
A frequently used quotation of uncertain source. The T'ung-tien, ch. 148, 11 r.,
ascribes it to [OMITTED] ([OMITTED] ?). The passage is indeed reminiscent of Lao -tzŭ.
Cf. Tao-tê-ching, ch. 68.
Confucian truism; cf. Mencius, VII, ii, iv, with his condemnation of "expert warriors",
[OMITTED].
[OMITTED]: Chang says, murderous, [OMITTED]. It is of course the posthumous
name of the traditional tyrant, Chieh, last of the Hsia.
Or the Shuo-fang [OMITTED] commandery established by Wu Ti. The name Shuo-fang
as designating the Northern region occurs in the Odes.
[OMITTED]: beneath the steps [of the Throne], "he at whose feet I am", "Your
Majesty". This direct address to the Throne would indicate that the Emperor himself,
although only thirteen years of age at the time (81 B. C.), was present at the debate.
[OMITTED]: "put on strong (armour) and seize sharp (weapons)", referring
apparently to the Emperor himself.
[OMITTED]: Lu thinks this an error. However, as Wang observes, it can very
well be taken in the sense [OMITTED].
I-ching [OMITTED] (ibid., para. 14). This passage is quoted in Wu Ti's edict of
the 3rd month of first year of yüan shuo [OMITTED], Ch'ien-han-shu, VI.
The Literati, the representatives of the ju-chia [OMITTED] or Confucian school of the
Han period, do not oppose a necessary minimum of exchange and trade. See Introduction.
The passage is not found in the present Kuan-tzŭ text. This work has been traditionally
attributed to Kuan Chung [OMITTED], the celebrated minister of Duke Huan of
Ch'i [OMITTED], of the seventh century B. C. It is now held that the original work
was written at the end of the Warring States era (IV—III centuries B.C.) by perhaps
several of the so-called jurists or writers on legislation. Maspero classes it as a roman
philosophique of the second half of the fourth century B. C. As to the modern pseudoKuan-tzŭ,
perhaps some portion of the original work remains, but intermixed with
excerpts from other ancient works, as well as with entirely new interpolations. It
is possible, accordingly, that Huan K'uan's citations are from a text now lost. For
discussions of the composition of the Kuan-tzŭ, cf. Maspero, Journal Asiatique, CCX,
1927, 144—152; and Karlgren, Bul. of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, No. 1,
1929, 165—183.
[OMITTED] "cedals", Machilus Nanmu; [OMITTED] "lindera", Lindera Tzumu, according to
H. Giles, Chinese and English Dictionary.
[OMITTED] could mean also lacquer and silk; lacquer has already been mentioned
and besides is not a product of Yen. The two characters are often used together and
may have designated some sort of glossy silk.
Lung [OMITTED], Shu [OMITTED], Ching [OMITTED], Yang [OMITTED] Chiang-nan [OMITTED], Yen [OMITTED],
Ch'i [OMITTED], Yen [OMITTED], Yü [OMITTED]; see glossary for these geographical names.
The whole sentence is greatly reminiscent of the Shih-chi Ch. CXXIX, preface.
Some of these geographical divisions retain the names given the nine Chou of the Shu-ching,
Yü-kung.
For this passage cf. the I-ching ([OMITTED]). `Availed them of boats and
bridges', lit. `of the use of ....' [OMITTED].
[OMITTED]; see glossary for these names. A variant for the last
is [OMITTED] (Chang) which would alter the reference from the founder of the Han
house, who is held to have enacted discriminatory regulations against merchants, to the
practices of the "ancient Emperors".
The source of this quotation is uncertain. [OMITTED] may simply mean a transmitted
saying. This question is discussed in the Introduction.
[OMITTED]: Lu suggests [OMITTED], so the T'ung-tien, which is a good emendation according
to Wang.
[OMITTED]: `cage', [OMITTED] `gather together', K'ang Hsi Dictionary, cf. Ch'ien-han-shu,
ch. XXIV: [OMITTED].
[OMITTED]: for [OMITTED] Lu suggests [OMITTED]. In old texts both
characters are used as practically synonymous.
[OMITTED]: for [OMITTED] Chang and the T'ung-tien have [OMITTED]. So also the
Shih-chi, ch. XXX, [OMITTED].
[OMITTED]: this was the organ (and the designation of the officials in charge)
established at the Capital to regulate the delicate mechanism of the [OMITTED]. The
measure, for which Sang Hung-yang was responsible (adopted in 110 B.C.), is described
in the Shih-chi (Chavannes, Mêm. hist., III, 598). There would be established in the
Capital p'ing chün who would have charge of deliveries and shipments for the whole
Empire. The several officers of the ta nung were to buy up all merchandise and commodities
of the Empire. When they were dear, they would sell; when they were cheap,
they would buy. Thus it would follow that the rich traders and the big shop-keepers
could not make great profits and would return to the fundamental occupations; and
furthermore commodities would no longer undergo fluctuations in price; by this means
there would be regulation of prices throughout the whole Empire. The famous chapter XXX
of the Shih-chi obtains its title from this expression, p'ing chün.
| CHAPTER I Discourses on salt and iron : | |