Salt and Power:Salt Shops and the Society of Counties and Towns in the Qing Dynasty
In the Qing Dynasty,the grass-roots operating organizations in the official salt distribution market formed a hierarchical structure of"head office-branch"with the establishment of the business monopoly system.From Shunzhi to Yongzheng years,relying on the concession rights granted by the imperial court,salt merchants in various counties set up salt shops in intermediate market towns and grassroots market towns to establish market barriers for salt trade.In the middle of the Qing Dynasty,many salt shops with unsustainable capital have adopted the method of selling salt sales licenses(yin)or using designated salt sales places(yin di)as shares to recruit merchants to attract private capital to invest in high-return,high-risk official salt trade in order to maintain their operations.After the Jiaqing and Daoguang reigns,local society became increasingly turbulent.In order to reduce risks,the prefecture and county salt shops made more use of"non-market"methods to maintain monopoly operations,that is,in the name of anti-smuggling,they recruited armed patrolmen on a large scale and actively intervened in local affairs,becoming an important force influencing the local social process.Therefore,the salt shop in the Qing Dynasty was not only a commercial organization that monopolized the sale of official salt,but also a powerful organization in the grassroots market community.
countiessalt shopofficial saltillicit saltsociety of counties and towns
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