A Chekiang Small Tax Silver

Stephen Tai
May, 23, 1998

	Inscription: Shou Chang [County] Wen Yin [Fine Silver] Dimensions: 27(L) x 8(W) x 6(H) mm Weight: 10 g
	A Tax Receipt as of the 30^th year of Kuang Hsu (1904), issued by Feng Sui County, Yen Juo Prefecture, Chekiang Province to a tax payer Bao Yu Kun, for the payment in silver of 1 mace 9 candareen and 9 Li, levied on account of the first semi-annual land and poll tax.

In Ching Dynasty, Hsien (County) was the official sector regulated to collect land and poll tax from its people, mostly twice a year, and its authority was requested by the Central to be responsible for the collection. In case of the collection being completed without any shortage, the chief of the county would be rewarded; on the contrary, undertake to fulfill all the shortage, as punishment.
With a view to avoid from any trouble that might occur during the tax collection, some local governments, especially many in Chekiang Province, licensed the right of collecting tax to merchants or riches. Upon fulfilling the payment to the local governments for silver no less than what being mandated by the central, those merchants and riches became tax agents, and were entitled to collecting taxes on the behave of the government within the licensed territory.
Apart from collecting regular taxes, the tax agents used to impose Monkey Fees on tax payers, such as making excuses on the insufficient purity of the paid silver, cheating on scale to light-weigh the silver; and in the event that tax payers have only cash coins to pay, a prejudiced exchange rate between the two currency would apply… As a result, the tax payers were forced to paying their tax for even several times than what they needed to.
Throughout the history of Ching Dynasty, most of the cities in Chekiang their taxes were substantially controlled in the hands of some tax agents, in spite of the legends of government's tax receipt repeatedly stating that a tax payer is all by himself to enclose the tax silver into an envelop and throw it into a cash box of the official, as a routine appears on Chekiang's tax receipt (as above shown), such a legend was to liberate tax payers from the boycott among certain silver shops and the official who conspired in taking advantages from tax payers while they dominated the tax silver making business, however, it did not work in Chekiang. In facts, those tax agents refused to accept any silver not being cast by the silver shops appointed by them, even if the purity had no problem. Moreover, the appointed silver shop for casting tax silver, mostly were running by the tax agents.
Since, the tax agents being able to recognize their own chops used on tax silver, sometimes, did not even need to identify the name of silver shop. In such a case, some tax silver such as the above one, silver shop's name chop were omitted.

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