Preliminary Exploration of the Monetization of Land Tax in the Mid-Ming Dynasty's Western Shandong Region from an HGIS Perspective

Abstract

Transportation and retention are among the most important elements of the fiscal system during the Ming Dynasty, categorized as types of tax allocations used in the collection of the land tax, reflecting the fiscal relations between central and local governments. Thus, transportation and retention are central to the fiscal operations of the Ming Dynasty. This paper compiles fiscal data from the Western Shandong Region during the Ming Dynasty and discusses the transportation, retention, and the monetization issues of the land tax during the Wanli Reform. Using Geographic Information Systems, the spatial visualization of the traditional and new land tax transportation quotas was performed, revealing that the new tax regime is heavily constrained by the original quotas.