CHANGES IN THE FISCAL AND RURAL CONTROL SYSTEMS IN THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES

Abstract

AbstractThe founding Ming emperor, Hung-wu, was known as the inaugurator of the political trend known as “Ming-Ch'ing despotism.” In the political realm, he abolished the traditional independent executive organ, the chancellor's office and placed the six major government departments under his direct control. High officials were constantly terrified by the emperor's whims; sometimes they were beaten to death in court and sometimes imprisoned for small offenses. No less than 100,000 gentry members, according to one estimate, had their land expropriated during Hung-wu's reign. On the other hand, the despotic rule in the social and fiscal spheres was manifested in his establishment of an enormous rural control machinery, the li-chia system, a nationwide land and population survey, the elimination of the locally powerful and the implementation of his agrarian policies. In this paper, I shall examine the changes of Ming fiscal administration from the early Ming to the late fifteenth century when the imperial ru...