Fiscal Crisis,State Capacity Building,and the Industrialization Transformation in the Late Qing Dynasty
The core essence of the transformation of the modern Chinese state was to establish a developmental state that could drive industrialization,transitioning from a traditional agrarian civilization to a modem industrial one.On one hand,the late Qing government was constrained by the land ownership structure and tax system of the traditional agricultural society,where the majority of agricultural surplus was"intercepted"by local elites.On the other hand,during periods of internal and external shocks,the"lijin tax system"and"debt-based finance"exacerbated the dual separation of central and local finances.The combination of these factors left the late Qing government perpetually trapped in a"taxation dilemma",which eventually led to a severe fiscal crisis and a political crisis,plunging the late Qing into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal state.Therefore,restructuring the connection between the bureaucratic organization of the traditional imperial system and grassroots rural society,and reforming the fiscal system where most of the agricultural output under the old system became landlords'rent rather than state taxes.Thus making agricultural surplus more effectively transformable into industrial capital accumulation,and became the core issue in the state capacity building of modern China.
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