“Beneath the Banyan Tree: Bottom-up Views of Local Taxation and the State during the Republican...

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Published by Maney Publishing (c) Twentieth-Century China Beneath the Banyan Tree: Popular Views of Taxation and the State during the Republican and Reform Eras by Patricia Thornton In a scathing assessment of the state of local governance and taxation in Nanjing Decade China, social critic Lin Yutang wrote in 1935, 1 Yamen families may indeed well be compared...to the banyan tree whose roots cross and recross each other and spread fanwise, and Chinese society to a banyan forest on a hill ....The common people are the soil which nour- ishes these trees and gives them sustenance and makes them grow ...the gen- try are the parasites, which have a way of reaching the top of the highest tree without great effort, and all Chinese banyans are surrounded by such para- sites. In other·words, they can reach the trees and whisper a kind word for the sap of the earth, incidentally pocketing a commission. More than that, they often undertake from the tree the duty of draining the sap of the earth ....They parcel out the butchery tax, the prostitution tax and the gam- bling tax, and from what they invest in, they naturally expect to get the great- est returns. This idea of the 'greatest returns' proves ruinous to the people. There is no limit to their rapacity, for no definition of 'the greatest' is pos- sible. 2 Lin's vivid description of the predatory nature of local taxation in the Republican era bears a striking resemblance to popular accounts of fiscal practices in the Chinese countryside today. One farmer from Zhouhe Village in Henan's Xin County complained to the People's Daily in 1996: The roads are fixed by the farmers, with their own labor and their own money. But to ride [on them] in a car, they still must pay exorbitant automobile fees ....What about when farmers must send a letter? The envelope must be stamped by one's county post office, and when you go to the post and tele- communications office, you have to send it as an express letter. When pick- ing up a parcel, you must pay a storage fee, whether or not you retrieved it on time. When picking up a remittance of funds, you must once again pay the postal fee that was paid when the money was sent. I once asked a postal clerk, 'Have you people contracted this office from the government? Even Twentieth-Century China, Vol. XXV, No.1 (November 1999): 1-42.

Transcript of “Beneath the Banyan Tree: Bottom-up Views of Local Taxation and the State during the Republican...

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Beneath the Banyan TreePopular Views of Taxation and the Stateduring the Republican and Reform Eras

by Patricia Thornton

In a scathing assessment of the state of local governance and taxation inNanjing Decade China social critic Lin Yutang wrote in 19351

Yamen families may indeed well be compared to the banyan tree whoseroots cross and recross each other and spread fanwise and Chinese societyto a banyan forest on a hill The common people are the soil which nour-ishes these trees and gives them sustenance and makes them grow the gen-try are the parasites which have a way of reaching the top of the highest treewithout great effort and all Chinese banyans are surrounded by such para-sites In othermiddotwords they can reach the trees and whisper a kind word forthe sap of the earth incidentally pocketing a commission More than thatthey often undertake from the tree the duty of draining the sap of theearth They parcel out the butchery tax the prostitution tax and the gam-bling tax and from what they invest in they naturally expect to get the great-est returns This idea of the greatest returns proves ruinous to the peopleThere is no limit to their rapacity for no definition of the greatest is pos-sible2

Lins vivid description of the predatory nature of local taxation in the Republicanera bears a striking resemblance to popular accounts of fiscal practices in theChinese countryside today One farmer from Zhouhe Village in Henans XinCounty complained to the Peoples Daily in 1996

The roads are fixed by the farmers with their own labor and their own moneyBut to ride [on them] in a car they still must pay exorbitant automobilefees What about when farmers must send a letter The envelope must bestamped by ones county post office and when you go to the post and tele-communications office you have to send it as an express letter When pick-ing up a parcel you must pay a storage fee whether or not you retrieved iton time When picking up a remittance of funds you must once again paythe postal fee that was paid when the money was sent I once asked a postalclerk Have you people contracted this office from the government Even

Twentieth-Century China Vol XXV No1 (November 1999) 1-42

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the central state doesnt have this many fees and regulations He said it wasbecause this is a rural village But if thats so then who can afford to be afarmer anymore3

During both the Nanjing Decade and post-Mao reform periods in main-land China ambitious programs of rural reform and economic development un-dertaken by local governments sparked astronomical increases in taxes sur-charges and administrative fines In the face of rising expenditure responsibili-ties county and sub-county administrations during both periods frantically soughtout new sources of revenue not eligible for transfer to higher levels of govern-ment Mobilizing an array of resources available to them county and sub-countyadministrators in both periods adopted what I term an entrepreneurial stancetoward the task of revenue collection affixing surcharges to official taxes cre-ating new categories of levies for county and sub-county use and doggedlyimposing various tolls fines and penalties within their jurisdictions

As local farmers were squeezed in the double bind caused by rising taxesand unstable incomes rising numbers in both periods found themselves unableto meet such demands and local governments appealed to public security andmilitia forces under their control to assist them in tax collection Alarmed by thedeteriorating situation in the countryside central authorities in both cases out-lawed such measures and directed local governments to consolidate tax collec-tion practices and standardize procedures However insofar as a satisfactorysolution to such fiscal dilemmas involved the conclusion of satisfactory revenuesharing agreements between local and central state organs in both cases theburdens on taxpayers continued leading to widespread rural social unrest

The so-called peasant burden (nongmin fudan) problem in both theRepublican and post-Mao reform periods lies at the confluence of several streamsof vital debates on the nature of the Chinese polity Discussions of the source ofthe problem and its possible solutions implicitly invoke varying normative agen-das concerning the rightful exercise of political power the role of the centralstate in the rural economy and the issue of the accountability of state agents inauthoritarian political systems At the same time excessive local taxation inboth periods has had a profound impact on rural residents who have collectivelypressed for tax relief and an end to widespread fiscal predation by the stateThe appeals demands and accusations of rural taxpayers represent a collectivecritique of existing political power structures and contain an implicit notion ofwhat constitutes the legitimate exercise of political authority

Local tax practices during the Republican period and the post-Mao reformera have shaped popular views of the Chinese state in particular ways Despite

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the similarities in revenue generation and retention strategies pursued by localadministrators4 and subsequent increases in taxpayer protest in both periodspopular conceptions of the Chinese state have changed markedly over time AsI will demonstrate the greater degree of rural immiseration and politicaldecen-tralization during the Nanjing Decade notwithstanding portrayals of the centralstate in popular and unofficial sources tend to be far more positive and optimis-tic than those that predominate in the post-Mao period and considerably morebenign than other scholars have previously suggested5

Furthermore as I will demonstrate the distinction between predatory agentsof the local state and superordinate authorities in the national government wasfar clearer for Republican era precursors of todays rightful resisters6 thanfor disgruntled taxpayers in the reform period Placed in a broader historicalperspective contemporary policy-based resisters and tax protestors appearless optimistic than their Nanjing Decade counterparts about the potential of thecentral state effectively to resolve their fiscals woes I conclude that the greatercynicism toward central authority that prevails in rural China today isJargelydue to the deliberate withdrawal of the central state from its redistributive rolein managing certain spheres of the rural economy while continuing to exert itsauthority in an extractive manner in others8

PATTERNS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN THE REpUBLICAN ERA

Soon after the establishment of the Nanjing regime Nationalist programsof economic development and political modernization significantly increased thefinancial burden on local administrations already strapped by heavy militaryexpenses and substantial debt incurred over several previous decades Whilethe types and amounts of taxes and levies collected by sub-provincial govern-ments began to rise in the 1920s after 1927 such categories multiplied at afurious rate often reaching absurd proportions by the mid-1930s in many ar-eas9

By 1934 most provinces commonly levied more than a dozen types ofsurtaxes (jujiashui) on the base land tax Only eight provinces (Suining ChaheerNingxia Qinghai Shaanxi Guizhou Jilin and Xinjiang) officially collected fewerthan ten such surcharges the Jiangsu provincial government at the other end ofthe scale permitted no fewer than 147 such surcharges to be collected1o Interms of total tax burden estimated surtax revenues ranged from more thandouble those collected as base land tax (in Henan) to a whopping thirty timesthe base acreage tax (in Hunan)ll Furthermore counties (xian) wards (qu)

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4 Twentieth-Century China

and villages (cun) also levied their own land tax surcharges as well as a mind-boggling array of other fees ([ei) levies (juan)l2 and provisional imposts (linshitanpai) designed not only to fund specific development projects but also tocover routine administrative expenses13

Following the establishment of the Republic in the winter of 1912 thenewly inaugurated Finance Ministry (Caizheng bu) formulated a series of ar-ticles that established a set of national criteria for local government impositionof certain types of taxes including legislative fees education fees public secu-rity fees industry fees sanitation fees disaster relief fees government debtrepayment fees self-government personnel fees and fees for tax collectionThe following winter the National and Local Tax Act (Guojiashui difangshuifa caoan) authorized local administrations to continue to collect not only sur-charges on the base land tax but also twenty other imposts including taxes onlivestock grain and agricultural produce Local governments were moreoverpermitted to collect a variety of business and sales taxes including levies on oiland soy sauce butchering taxes on meat and fish and a stunning array of taxesto be levied against establishments including hotel room taxes entertainmentfees pharmacy levies and teahouse and restaurant taxes 14 Provincial adminis-trations during the early years of the republic were permitted to levy any num-ber of surcharges on the land tax the sole stipulation being that the sum total ofsuch charges could not exceed more than thirty percent of the base land tax]5

With 1919 passage of the Beij ing governments County Self-GovernmentLaw (Xian zizhi fa) funding sources for the routine expenses of self- governingcounty organs were to include the income from property and enterprises be-longing to such organs a county self-government tax usage and legal fees andretained funds The taxes and fees designated by the law were to be decidedaccording to local conditions by county councils no other limitations were placedon the imposition or collection of such revenues In 1923 a constitutional proc-lamation regulating national and local accounts designated surcharges on theland tax deed taxes and levies as the primary source of tax revenue for all localadministrations ]6

Yet the majority of these revenues were remitted to the provincial admin-istrations which had the authority to decide on revenue-sharing agreements forlower levels of government As a result provincial governments claimed thebulk of such revenues for their own budgets 17 the financing of county and sub-county organs was haphazard at best and revenue collection practices variedwidely from region to region

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In Fujians Taining County for example county managers during the earlyyears of the republic occasionally adjusted land tax rates on various pretextsretaining the additional revenue for county use or created surtaxes on remit-tances collected for higher levels In the early 1920s when provincial officalstagged several surcharges to the national salt tax to pad the provincial budgetthree prefectural administrations and the Taining county government all fol-lowed suit each creating an additional surtax Not surprisingly by 1924 theamount of the surcharges collected actually surpassed the base salt tax in TainingCounty levies were also tagged onto livestock taxes butchery taxes the sale ofluxury goods tobacco and liquor and fertilizer in addition local residents wererequired to pay monthly residence levies and rice and dry goods transportationfees IS

In 1933 an Administrative Yuan investigator carrying out research on taxcollection procedures in Guangxi reported that local government revenues weredrawn primarily from base taxes on land commodities and agricultural prod-ucts on top of which they also collected land tax surcharges business surtaxesand surtaxes on imported goods In total the investigator documented twelvetypes of national taxes being collected in Guangxi twenty types of provincialtaxes seventy-six ward office levies (qu gongsuo juan) and well over twohundred types of county surtaxes and levies19

Burgeoning military expenses in areas under warlord rule fueled the steadyrise in local taxes throughout the 1920s In Sichuans Lu County aside fromvarious imposts and surtaxes added to the base land tax warlord Yang Chunfangimposed a butchery supervisory tax a stamp tax and a wide variety of han-dling fees on all butchered meats Nine years after the imposition of suchsupplementary levies investigation revealed that no fewer than eighteen sepa-rate surtaxes were being imposed on butchered products in Lu County ac-counting for over a tenth of the purchase price of meat 20

At the provincial level regional military commanders seeking to exploitSichuans salt production capabilities imposed heavy exactions on salt at variousstages in the production process In addition numerous charges were added onto the base salt tax including a regulation fee a merchant protection fee a pricestabilization fee a village pacification fee and a waterway defense fee all inlarge part to meet rapidly escalating military expenses in the region Throughoutthe NanjingDecade salt taxes and their surtaxes comprised the main source ofSichuans tax revenue amounting to more than three times the total land taxcollected in 193821

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The abolition such local imposts which collectively came to be referred toas exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes (kejuan zashui) was a centralcomponent of the Northern Expeditions attempt to bring local areas under cen-tralized GMD control in the mid- to late 1920s Propagandists of the NationalRevolutionary Army issued incendiary diatribes against regional military com-manders and their taxation practices regularly portraying local imposts associ-ated with land and salt taxes as the overt attempts of various warlords at self-engrossment Warlords forceful suppression of tax protests only added fuel tothe fire In March 1927 GMD propagandists used Hankous Minguo ribao toappeal to the citizens of Henan to rise up against the Zhang Zuolin and ZhangZongchang regimes

Countrymen (tongbaomen) Now in China proper there are two forces oneis the force of the people the other is the toadying (jengxi) warlordforces Toadying warlords Zhang Zuolin and Zhang Zhongchang are rep-resentatives of the warlord forces Last year in Shandong [ZhangZhongchang] thought up a money-making scheme and added a levy of fiveyuan to every liang of silver on the land tax At that time Dezhou Wenshangand other counties because they had just been devastated by war and ban-ditry in reality were incapable of collecting [the levy] in full and weakly re-sisted inciting the rage of the Dog Meat General He immediately dispatchedseveral thousand troops and slaughtered more than a million of the inhabit-ants of Dezhou Wenshang and the other counties22

As the forces for national reintegration gathered increasing strength thepeasant impoverishment was blamed largely on abusive warlord administra-tions and the GMD made the abolition of such pernicious taxation practices acentral goal of their program for economic recovery

By 1927 three main sources of government revenue-the lijin23 the na-tionally imposed salt tax and the land tax and its surcharges-were widelyregarded as hotbeds (yuansu) of political corruption and bureaucratic abusein the popular mind24 GMD authorities targeted all three of these sources forabolition or reform in the early years of the Nanjing Decade However none ofthe GMD governments various attempts to revise the taxation system success-fully addressed the revenue crisis unfolding at sub-provincial levels

Prior to 1927 the lijin had provided an abundant fiscal resource for localadministrations precisely because it was virtually impossible for higher authori-ties to estimate the revenue it might generate At the same time however poorcentralized control over the collection process caused the lijin to fall prey tovarious abuses and created widespread popular disapproval Nationalist au-

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thorities viewed it as a brake on commercial growth and trade expansion andquickly undertook various attempts to eliminate the lijin in favor of more pro-gressive and standardized forms of taxation Beginning in 1928 the gradualphaseout of the lijin and sharp curtailment of salt tax collection caused wide-spread insolvancy among county governments already strapped by revenue shar-ing arrangements that vastly favored superordinate provincial administrations

In part to address the fiscal crisis already underway in the summer of1927 the First National Fiscal Affairs Conference of the new Nanjing govern-ment produced the Provisional Act to Delimit National and Local Incomes andthe National and Local Revenue Demarcation Act The new legislation autho-rized local administrations to tax farmland deeds and mortgages commercelivestock slaughtering and fisheries transportation and several other types oftransactions However provinces retained the right to negotiate revenue-shar-ing agreements with subordinate administrations and while thirteen types ofitemized expenditures were permitted for county budgets the laws did not oth-erwise regulate how provincial governments divided tax revenues with the coun-ties As a result county administrations faced dramatic rises in administrativeexpenses as the national government pushed through its program to diversifyand bur~aucratize county and sub-county organs but declining revenues due tocurtailment of the lijin and other sources of local tax monies Miscellarreoussurcharges to the land tax acreage levies (mujuan )25 and provisional imposts(tankuan or tanpai) began to climb sharply shortly thereafter26

The FinanceBureau originally sought to stem this rising tide by mandatingthat total land tax surcharges could not exceed the base land tax due in a givenyear and that the combined total could not exceed one percent of the marketvalue of the farmland taxed However there was no date set for the implemen-tation of this rule at the provincial level and provincial administrations were inany case logistically incapable of ensuring county compliance with such regula-tions27 The burden of compliance fell again to the counties where the exhorta-tions of central authorities and complaints of local taxpayers often fell on deafears As one resident ofZhejiangs Pujiang County commented

We have heard the governments [order] that surtaxes must not exceed thebase tax but the peasants laboring beneath the heaviness of various due tospecial situations and limitless temporary provisions bear surtaxes morethan three times the base Below are a list of the various and sundry heavyweights bearing down on the heads of the Pujiang peasantry 1) base tax 2)self-defense corps levy 3) education supplementary levy 4) highway levy5) airplane levy 6) ward office levy 7) pest control handling fee levy 8) tax

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collection fee levy 9) farmers bank levy 10) self-government supplemen-tary levy 11) police levy Altogether these acreage levies total one yuan andfive or six jiao per mu Aside from that one must add the pig slaughteringlevy brokerage levy business taxes and others Although these are not in-cluded in the land tax still in the end they are transferred onto the bodies ofthe peasants which grow poorer and feebler day by day 28

ENTREPRENEURIAL METHODS OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATIONS

Central government attempts to curtail the powers of local administrationsto impose and collect taxes without addressing the underlying root of the prob-lem-namely limited sources of county and sub-county revenue and simulta-neous increases in administrative and economic burdens-ultimately drove cash-starved local governments to devise new methods to circumvent central direc-tives Nanjings admonitions to lighten the peasant burden by eliminating extor-tionate levies and miscellaneous taxes were countered by a proliferation ofadministrative fees and the imposition of weighty fines on local residents Inmany cases as Bianco has noted local farmers were forced by local authoritiesto abandon subsistence production in favor of crops which yielded higher taxrevenues for county government such as opium29 Merchants and transportworkers faced stiff escalations in locally imposed tolls and tariffs which im-measurably slowed the shipment of products across county lines and fueledendemic price inflation on certain commodities

Often such revenues provided the primary source of funding for the stan-dard operating budgets of various local government organs including the sala-ries of their employees In the districts surrounding Shaanxis Wei County thesalaries of all public servants below the county level were funded either throughprovisional apportionments (linshi tanpai) land tax surcharges or surtaxes onthe sale of specific items3o In Wei County itself this included a staff of sevenward leaders (quzhang) the decimal unit leaders (lizhang) beneath them andat the bottom tier a layer of village headmen (cunzhang) or hamlet leaders(zhuangtou) who were in charge of tax and levy collection each of whomclaimed a cut of the revenue collected Those more closely involved in theactual collection process often benefited from a lower level of supervision andmanipulated the process to engross themselves One central government inves-tigator touring Shaanxi in 1933 commented

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 9

When peasants hand over tax revenue it must go through the hands of thegrain chief (liangtou) hamlet chief(zhuangtou) security captain (jiazhang)village headman(cunzhang) township leader (xiangzhang) ward leader andothers before it finally arrives at the county government These handlersnaturally will receive some interest and this adds another layer to the burdenput on the peasants For example in Fengxiang County Wang Shaocun in1933 levied an irrigation lottery (jiangquan) for the entire village of fifty-sixyuan each security captain got just under six yuan and moreover each vil-lage leader gave each captain eight yuan The decimal unit leader ofQiu Vil-lage charged a rich household levy of two thousand yuan but only turnedover a thousand to the public [coffers] Suide County in 1931 and 1932 wasunable to remit its land taxes in the spring of 1933 the county administra-tion then took these two years of uncollected land tax and gave them to thetax contractors (baoliang ren) to collect in full and added another twentypercent as a handling fee for the contractors31

The result was an elebaorate process of graduated embezzlement thatpermitted the most egregious abuses to occur at the lowest levels of officialdomAs rural villagers in Sichuan ruefully noted Serving as a ranked official (guan)is not as good as being a grain inspector and being a grain inspector isnt evenas good as being a granary watchman32 The process of land tax collectionproved so lucrative in Jiangsu s Changshu County that local government postsfor tax dunning clerks were monopolistically controlled as a type offamily prop-erty which could be bought and sold or passed down from generation to gen-eration The price for such a position could range anywhere from two or threehundred yuan up to a thousand yuan or more33

Such practices while publically condemned by central authorities werelargely driven by the GMDs broad mandate to modernize the countryside Re-forms pursued by the Nanjing leadership required the mobilization of local-levelresources for their realization and the logistics of financing such operationswere most often left to the discretion of lower levels of government

For example in 1928 administrators in Nanjing exhorted local GMD partybranches to organize the rural population into baojia units for self-defense yetdelineated no particular sources of funding for this task Local practices variedwidely but central investigators in Henans Hui County noted that the first ar-ticle of the county baojia handbook stated that each unit was permitted tocollect a fee based upon one percent of the total harvest of all farmland culti-vated within its dominion at current market prices In practice county baojiachiefs collected operating fees of nine yuan per month throughout the yearrequiring the services of both an accountant and a tax collector to manage In

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nearby Deng and Nanzhao counties baojia expenses were calculated on thesay-so of the chief sometimes totaling over a hundred yuan a month and re-quiring so much labor to collect and manage that an investigator commentedthat the entire operation rivaled that of a ward office in size and scope34 Astudy of rural Hebei police found that all of the thirteen counties studied reliedupon forcibly-collected levies for their salaries equipment purchases and oper-ating budgets In at least one of these counties the police force numbered closeto a thousand men but the designated police force acreage levy was only enoughto outfit a hundred the revenue to support and train the remaining officers wasobtained through tax collection procedures of dubious legality35

Local governments during the early Nanjing Decade were thus caught ina vicious cycle the expansion of state agencies at county and sub-county levelscreated a continuing need for miscellaneous fees and levies in order to fundtheir administrative expenses yet the proliferation offees and surtaxes particu-larly on commercial transactions required an increasing number of tax officesand agents to administer Prior to 1934 when the Second Conference on Finan-cial Affairs unified local tax collection offices revenues were collected by awide variety of legal extra-legal and illegal agents often competing with oneanother for shares of increasingly scarce resources

For example a report on tax collection procedures in Zhejiangs YongjiaCounty noted that while the County Audit Bureau did manage some fees andlevies education levies were handled by county education authorities publicsecurity fees by the County Public Security Bureau (gonganju) insect man-agement and control fees by the County Insect Management Control Officeand local militia taxes (baowei mujuan) by the financial manager of the localmilitia other public debt and interest charges were collected by local publicfinance and public property committees according to their own needs and us-ing their own methods The only attempt county administrators made to controlthis process was to request that each office collecting public funds submit amonthly account to the county government and agree in principle to submit tothe investigatory procedures of the county circuit courtS36

The decentralized nature of the system virtually invited abuse Enterpris-ing citizens seeking to augment their incomes often banded together to formbogus state agencies that provided no services but collected a specific type oflevy37For example in 1934 the Henan Provincial Bureau of Finance (caizhengling) received a petition from the Shenxu Business Association asking it toinvestigate the activities of Li Zefen an accused evil gentry in YanchengCounty The associations chairman attested that Li forced the closing of the

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county cooperative society (hezuoshe) on his own authority and in its placeopened up a Progressive Association (gaijin hui) Declaring himself presi-dent of the new association Li began levying special fees against local busi-nesses and ultimately collected over 10000 yuan which he promptly pocketedCentral government investigators found no evidence that Li s Progressive As-sociation performed any community services in return38

With the 1928 curtailment of the lijin and increasing central control oversurcharges on the salt and land taxes county and sub-county administratorsbecame increasingly creative in their search for new sources of revenue Inmany locations the abolition of the lijin was followed by a surge in the numberof toll booths and toll collection sites provinces counties and even wards begancharging and collecting export duties and tariffs along major roads and water-ways In December 1933 one packet of sugar transported by boat from Zigongto Chongqing was subject to no fewer than twenty separate tariffs levies andfees in nine counties along the way ratcheting up the price by a total of overtwelve yuan39 A cargo of sundry goods transported 820 Ii from Chongqing toChengdu along minor waterways incurred one hundred yuans worth of leviesand duties encountering a tax or toll collection office on average every ten li40

Along the roadways the situation was no better county special levies officesdispatched squads of assessors (kayuan) to major checkpoints and truck stopsto collect tariffs and customs duties on goods in transit In Shaanxi such asses-sors often harassed and intimidated farmers on their way to and from markettowns arbitrarily levying tariff duties and charging road buying money (mailuqian) to anyone transporting goods41

Many county administrations and their subordinate offices sought to in-crease revenue from yet another source largely unregulated by the central gov-ernment fees and fines charged for violations of law either real or manufac-tured Opium addicts proved particularly vulnerable to such ploys In 1935Hebeis Yanshan County manager He Xiaoyi was accused of co lluding with thechief of the county public security forces (gongandui) to collect sums rangingfrom 50 to 830 yuan in fees from local opium addicts in exchange for promisesthat they could avoid arrest42 Similarly a village chiefin Hebeis Julu Countycomplained that the county Opium Suppression Office periodically demandedthat each village turn over a set monthly quota of opium addicts as part of analleged crackdown on local opium consumption Those who were rounded upwere almost invariably not drug users but nonetheless had to pay hundreds ofyuan in fines to secure their release43 The department chief of the Special TaxOffice (teshuiju juzhang) in Henans Hui County habituaHy carried a small

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cache of opium with him to plant on innocent residents whenever the opportu-nity arose he would then accuse his hapless victims of drug possession andforce them to pay heavy fines or face arrest and imprisonment 44The enterpris-ing county administrators in Shaanxi s lia County opened a local bank churningout loans with three month intervals at 25 percent interest Most of the loansmade by the bank in 1933 went either to tenant farmers who could not pay theirrent or taxes on time or to local opium addicts in need of a quick fix45

Rural villages staggered under such exactions with even the most ordi-nary transactions plagued by levies Livestock taxes proliferated until authori-ties could collect a toll at each particular stage of a farm animals life once theanimal was slaughtered individual parts of the animal could also be separatelytaxed In Zhejiangs Ruian County for example no fewer than seven levieswere collected on swine alone including a pig tax a piglet tax a suckling pig taxa sow tax a live pig tax a boar bristle tax and a hog tax among others innearby Chongde County aside from a sheep levy which was presumably im-posed on live sheep the county also collected a sheep-shearing levy a woollevy and a sheepskin levy Other Zhejiang counties and townships routinelyimposed taxes on wild game leather pork mutton and all manner of poultry andtheir eggs46At times the tax burden outweighed the benefits of even the sim-plesttransactions One farmer in Hebeis lulu County complained in 1935

The livestock sales tax is so heavy now that we cant even afford to pay itWhether you are selling or buying you have to pay tax on half of the waterbuffalos price In the spring we were still paying a twoen [sales] tax and athree tong brokerage fee on every yuan Starting in May it changed and forevery yuan we had to pay sixen of tax still three tong [brokerage fee] al-together nineen Now this old water buffalo he can be sold for thirty yuanbut Id have to pay two yuan and sevenjiao in tax and fees if I want to turnaround and spend thirty yuan for another one I have to pay another two yuanand sevenjiao Right now trading [him] in is not that important but whereis that five yuan four jiao going to come from47

POPULAR RSPONSES THE VIEW FROM BELOW

Not surprisingly aside from intensifying rural immiseration the prolifera-tion of fees taxes and levies to which residents were subjected during thisperiod led to rising social unrest and increases in various forms of collectiveaction Although Biancos caveat on the unreliability of statistical data on popu-lar protest during this period is well taken48most scholars of the Republican era

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concur that incidents of tax and rent resistance food riots and acts of banditryrose steadily through the mid-193 Os49As Perrys work has shown local secretsocieties such as the Red Spears and Big Swords frequently mobilized againstthe imposition of excessive levies and miscellaneous taxes often clashing withboth local officials and roving army troops50

Incidents of collective violence aside citizens used various methods toremonstrate against the fiscal demands of local administrations during the NanjingDecade Provincial administrations provincial and circuit court judges and theoffices of the Administrative Yuan regularly received letters of grievances fromfarmers and citizens representatives (gongmin daibiao) protesting bureau-cratic malpractice in the countryside51 In 1936 the Control Yuan received arecord number of petitions for investigation of government officials a numbernearly double that of any of the previous three years the vast majority of whichaccused county managers (xianzhang) and their underlings at the county andsub-county levels52 Viewed as a whole these records strongly suggest thatrural residents during this period organized themselves politically not merely toprotest increases in their overall tax burden but also to oppose levies and feesregarded as immoral unjust or overly intrusive Tax collection methods as wellas punishments meted out to those unable to payor in arrears were also com-mon points of contention

However one striking characteristic of popular political discourse duringthis period is the rarity with which disgruntled taxpayers criticized the centralstate Nanjing Decade protestors and petitioners alike were prompted to actionby rising exactions and endemic official malfeasance but it was the officesinstitutions and practices of local administrations which bore the brunt of theirire not the central party-state Rather rural residents seeking redress from thefiscal predation of county officials and their minions tended to see central au-thorities not as culprits or co-conspirators in the fiscal battle being waged againstthem but as potential protectors against local variants of what Thaxton andBergere have termed bureaucratic capitalists53 Thus while Bianco is prob-ably correct in asserting that peasant protestors during this period generallyviewed the state as both parasitic and alien to the social body of the village54 itis also true that many disgruntled rural residents distinguished between the moreremote but potentially benign central authorities and the far more immediate andpernicious local representatives of state power who preyed upon them Theunderlying collective image of the Nanjing Decade state in unofficial sourcesresembles a loosely organized but multi-tiered extractive machine at the locallevel with few if any links to higher levels of government Not surprisingly the

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overwhelming focus of tax protest and petitionary action during the period wasthe offices institutions and practices of local officials and their cohort

As under late imperial rule local government offices including the countyyamen and other revenue collection offices were common sites for anti-taxprotests Although acts of random and haphazard violence certainly were notrare rural residents sometimes bided their time awaiting the opportunity to strikeback at those who abused their official powers For example in the above-mentioned case of the Hui County (Henan) Special Tax Office departmentchief who apparently often planted opium on innocent taxpayers in order toblackmail them county residents waited until the convention of a sanitationmovement meeting at which point they sacked the office with such violencethat the department chief had no alternative but to flee into hiding55

Similarly in 1927 Red Spears in Shandongs Guan County surrounded thecounty seat because local officials there had raised taxes collaborated withlandlords to hasten rent collection and imposed several new levies In August1927 in nearby western Jiao County Red Spears destroyed the Nan hamletbranch office of the salt tax police (yanshui jingchadui)56 and refused to payany taxes Local Big Sword Society members joined the resisters who soonnumbered over a thousand people In October the protesters launched a sur-prise attack on the Hongshiya tax office in She Village and seized its personnelwho attempted to flee Before the army and local police suppressed the protestwell over two thousand homes had been destroyed and fifty people had died57

Popular indignation over local fiscal policy stemmed in part from the man-ner in which taxes were apportioned Not only was it common for landlordswho were legally liable for the payment of land taxes and other acreage leviesto shift the burden of tax payments onto their tenants 58 but also the proliferationof so-called shared apportionments (tanpai) and other head taxes and forcedpurchases extracted increasing revenues from the lowest strata of village soci-ety As one resident of Fuji ans Guangze County recalled

In my county under the rule of the GMD every year the taxes and levies thatwere collected included a rebellion suppression levy (kanluanjuan) a live-stock slaughter tax a conscription levy [and] a tobacco and alcohollevy The rebellion suppression levy was calculated as a supplement to thepopulation-based grain and salt decimal taxes so from every newborn infantup to every septuagenarian none could be late [in paying] The livestockslaughter tax was collected by the household regardless of whether or notyou were raising any pigs on average each household had bear the burden ofone or two pigs worth of the slaughter tax each year The tobacco and wine

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levy was also due regardless of whether or not you were in the business ofproducing or selling any and it toowascoHected by the household The con-script levy was apportioned according to the age of the draftable populationso however many potential draftees a family had thats how many pennies(fen) they paid in conscript levy59

Other burdens were similarly apportioned ranging in nature from forcedvoluntary contributions to the mandatory purchase of items controlled by gov-ernment agents In 1933 in Hebeis JuluCounty the county salt sales officesuddenly announced that contrary to previous popular practice the sale andconsumption of nitrate salt (xiao yan) was illegal but the use of crude salt (dayan) was permitted To remedy the situation the salt office ordered each vil-lage immediately to begin purchasing crude salt at the rate of three hundredjinper month or pay fines totaling the amount of the mandatory purchase (threehundred yuan) Village chiefs ordered each household to purchase a givenamount of crude salt each month whether or not they needed it for their ownuse Families were furthermore required to purchase crude salt rations even forthose family members who no longer resided in the village60

Compounding what was widely perceived to be the unjust apportionmentof the tax burden was the heavy-handed and callous manner in which taxeswere often collected In the case of acreage levies slated for county self-de-fense corps or police use tax collection was left up to the units in question insouthern Sichuan under warlord rule all county tax collection was routinelyhandled by local militia forces whose brutal intimidation and illegal confiscationof personal property ultimately led to widespread tax revolts there in 193361 Inmany areas peasants unable to pay their taxes by the specified date routinelyhad whatever salable items they owned confiscated by the collectors and weresometimes themselves arrested and imprisoned One central government inves-tigator touring rural Jiangsu in 1933 reported that in Changshu County during thetax collection season over a hundred farmers unable to pay their taxes wereimprisoned in thecountyjail 62

As Bianco noted rural residents often mobilized to protest attempts bylocal administrators to expand their tax collecting authority into previously un-regulated areas of the ruraleconomy63 For example one attempt to extend anexisting levy to cover a new category of goods led to armed conf1ict in Zhej iang sYutao County in March 1933 The residents ofShennong a hamlet in the county ssecond ward had long brewed a type of beverage in their homes for their ownconsumption using ingredients they either harvested or traded among them-selves When in early 1933 the director of the Yutao Liquor Levy Inspection

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Branch Office decided that such products were subject to the countys liquorlevy Shennong residents refused to pay and several were arrested As theyawaited trial more than a thousand of their fellow villagers marched on thecounty seat and demanded an end to harassment by county tax collectors abo-lition of the county liquor levy and immediate release of the arrested villagersOnce the group had massed at the gates of the county seat forces sent by thecounty manager permitted only five representatives inside to meet with offi-cials When the representatives reported back to the crowd that county admin-istrators maintained (falsely) that the liquor levy was a national tax over whichthey had no control the crowd became enraged and pressed toward the gatesThe troops then opened fire killing one and injuring two others64

As the Shennong protest demonstrates petitions personal accounts andpress reports from this period strongly suggest that the GMD state was notpopularly conceived as a single unified actor Even after the establishment ofthe Nanjing regime in 1927 unofficial discourse made clear distinctions be-tween central and local authorities and while the rhetoric of most anti-tax pro-tests was vehemently anti-state in nature for the most part agents and sub-county agents of the bureaucracy were perceived to be rural taxpayers pri-mary antagonists As one person commented in 1938 we are all aware thatChinas political system is weighty at the head and light at the feet the organiza-tion of the central administration is flawless those of the provincial administra-tions are okay (hai keyi) but the county administrations fall seriously short(chae yuan)65

Despite the fact that it was primarily after the establishment of the GMDregime in 1927 that exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes began to multi-ply most vigorously in the countryside overt critiques of the central governmentin rural protest were relatively rare and many of these can be traced specifi-cally to the involvement of Communist organizers For example in 1931 theAnhui provincial government under Chen Diaoyuan imposed a supplementaryshipped rice inspection levy decimal tax (jujia chuanyun mizhao juan lijin)and other assorted fees on rice transported along the Huai River Several weekslater following a confrontation between protesting boat people (chuanmin)and local authorities large-scale demonstrations against Chen and the rice in-spection levy erupted in Bangbu involving representatives of over fifty differentworkers and merchants associations in northern Anhui Communist YouthLeague activists from local middle schools organized over two thousand stu-dents to march to join the other demonstrators at the local parade grounds andattempted to lead the crowd in chanting similar slogans However when the

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Communist organizers in the crowd began chanting Defeat the Guomindangreactionaries a melee broke out and the activists barely escaped with theirlives The issue was later settled following a series of formal appeals to thecentral government66

By and large rural residents engaging in anti-tax resistance viewed thecentral government as an ally in their struggles against the incessant demandsof entrepreneurial local administrations and their agents In June of 1934 whenresidents of Hutubi County in Xinj iang could no longer tolerate the corruptionand extortion of two successive county managers the village headman (xiangyue)and a group of villagers secretly gathered to discuss the problem At the meet-ing one local herdsman later recalled he argued that the central governmenthad repeatedly stressed its determination severely to punish corrupt officialsand their venal underlings and should be taken at its word

These two county managers have engaged in various audacious and cor-rupt perversions of the law extorted the people and openly violated the newgovernments policies If someone would go to the procuracy in the countyseat to make a report the [central] government could not ignore it 67

The herdsman ultimately penned such a letter on behalf of his fellow citizensOne copy reached the Control Yuan which turned the petition over to the pro-vincial government for investigation and the county manager in question waslater executed for his crimes68

In other cases frustrated rural taxpayers sought redress from central au-thorities outside of the formal procedures of appeal and due process One Ad-ministrative Yuan investigator had just concluded his interview with a Shaanxivillage headman and had taken his leave when he was mutely accosted by aresident in the street The villager threw himself on the ground beseechinglyand thrust into his hands a paper which read

According to the order of the county government the balance due from landtaxes from 1920 1921 and 1922 must be raised from household surplus grainimmediately post haste Accordingly the villager Yuan Zuorong is to remitfive dollars (dayang yuan) someone will be dispatched immediately and itwill be turned over to the county as this is absolutely a matter of great im-portance Hereby submitted to Yuan Zuorong

Other village residents quickly gathered around and explained to the investiga-tor that the sum in question was in fact not being collected by the county gov-ernment but instead by the village headman he had just interviewed who the

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villagers alleged was trading on his authority as an agent of the county govern-ment in order to enrich himself69

Such agents were generally conceived of and described in local sources inanimalistic terms as predators who fed rapaciously on the peasants livelihoodin marked contrast to their role as father-mother officials (fumu guan) whoseduty it was to nourish and care for those under their jurisdiction 70Entrepre-neurial agents were commonly referred to as man-eating tigers or even blood-sucking vampires who treated rural villagers as if they were [merely] meatand fish [to be consumed] (yurou xiangmin) or trampled upon them likegrass (caojian renming) One group of Guangzhous Nanhai County resi-dents in 1921 posted a particularly graphic notice to protest the unendurableexactions of the local bullies who staffed their county administration avowingthat the predators had first stripped away our hair and skin and then cut awayour flesh and when our meat is exhausted they will whittle away our bones7lBrokerage licenses to collect commercial taxes or even county authorization tocollect any type of revenue at all were purportedly referred to as choice cutsof meat (feirou) that officials brokers and local notables would squabble overwith each striving to select the richest bit of fat upon which to feast 72

Particularly brazen officials were purported to have used such languagepublicly themselves in Guangxis remote Sanjiang County Han officials at thesub-county levels were said to have derisively referred to their extortive taxcollection tactics in one minority village as eating sprouts (chi miaozi) a playon the homophone for the Miao people who resided in thearea73 Even ControlYuan inspectors when submitting their reports to their superiors or filing legalsummaries of disciplinary action commonly referred to excessive and illegaltaxation methods as sucking down the fat of the people (xiaxi mingu) andperverting the law to fatten themselves (wanfa zifei)74

As the Nanjing Decade drew to a close central government officials ap-peared to be enjoying greater successes in handling the problem of burdensomelocal taxation In June 1931 the Commission of Disciplinary Action againstPublic Servants (Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjie weiyuanhui) was foundedunder the auspices of the Judicial Yuan a body which evaluated cases of ad-ministrative abuses on materials prepared by Control Yuan officials police of-ficers colleagues of the official concerned and the testimony of the accusedHowever because the Disciplinary Commission often considered the findingsof ordinary courts against civil servants in assessing punishment there wasoften a substantial lag between the filing of a case and a legal judgment againsta public servant accused of wrongdoing In 1937 a temporary decree granted

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the Control Yuan the power of rectification which greatly facilitated the pro-cess of disciplining civil officials7s However with the Japanese invasion ofnorthern China later that year the onerous burden of escalating military ex-penses forced the GMD to reverse many of its local tax and levy reductionpolicies and rural economies in particular once again felt the pinch of increasingfiscal exactions

PATTERNS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN THE REFORM DECADE

Just over fifty years later the Dengist program of decollectivization anddecentralization recreated conditions very similar to the fiscal challenges facedby local administrations during the Nanjing Decade Faced with rising expendi-ture responsibilities and revenue-sharing arrangements that vastly favoredsuperordinate levels of government county and newly-created township andvillage administrations through the 1980s and early 1990s increasingly soughtout revenue sources which were not tightly controlled by the central govern-ment or sought to shield resources from sharing with upper levels using a vari-ety of methods recreating what some have called a reform era warlordeconomy76 The need for higher revenues has been driven in large part by theincreasing expense burdens of county township and village governments whichhave assulued control over social welfare programs within their jurisdictions 77Whereas on the eve of the reform period half of all state expenditures weremade by local governluents by the period of the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1986-90) the percentage had crept up to over 60 percent 78

As during the Nanjing Decade such revenues are required largely to off-set rising administrative costs as local government organizations proliferate andbecome more specialized as well as to fund economic development projectsDespite the goal of reducing the state role in economic management adminis-trative personnel have nearly doubled under the reforms expanding 45 percentover the 1978-1990 period Such increases are at least partly due to the in-creasingly complex nature of reform period tax collection procedures whichhave required the establishment of 47000 new finance offices at the townshipleve179One village cadre recently estimated that she spent approximately sev-enty percent of her work time on tasks associated with revenue collection alone80Shaanxis remote Qingjian County with a population of 205700 people andcounty revenues of 1237 luillion yuan in 1995 employed 3710 people in gov-ernment administrative organs with each administrator requiring--on average-the remittances of fifty-five residents to support them81 One study of the 697

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individuals employed by the 41 township administrations in Sichuans Jiang anCounty discovered that while the employees base salaries averaged between60 and 80 yuan per month they also received regular subsidies benefits andperquisites that raised the actual figure to over 100 yuan per month Further-more the administrative expenses incurred by these employees including offi-cial business trips entertainment and continuing education on average addedanother 3000 yuan per employee Of these monies the study revealed fifteenpercent came from fiscal administration fees (caizheng shiye fei) thirty tothirty- five percent from retained funds (til iu) and the remaining fifty to fifty-five percent from various management fees (guanli fei) penalties or fines(fakuan) and paid service fees (youcheng fuwu fei)82

At the same time central government subsidies to local administrationshave declined markedly In Guizhou where the central government financednearly 60 percent of the provinces budgetary expenditures in the early 1980sby 1993 only 20 percent were centrally subsidized Not surprisingly the revenueshortage cut deeply into sub-provincial administrative budgets as well over thesame period the provincial administration not only ended its policy of subsidizinglocal government operations but by the early 1990s had also begun to extractrevenue from the counties in order to fund its own programs83

Caught between the cross-cutting pressures of rising expenditures anddeclining subsidies local administrators during the reform period improvised awide variety of entrepreneurial methods to increase local revenues much astheir Nanjing Decade predecessors had One method by which this was com-monly achieved was through shifting funds from budgetary (yusuannei) sourceswhich are subject to remittance to higher levels to various types of off-budgetfunds which are far less easily monitored by and not subject to sharing withhigher level authorities Off-budget revenues which include both so-calledextrabudgetary (yusuanwai) and self-raised (zichou) funds played an in-creasingly important role in local finance during the reform period From 1978 to1992 total budgetary revenue of local governments tripled but extrabudgetaryrevenues increased eleven-fold during the same period in 1978 extrabudgetaryfunds comprised only 31 percent of budgetary revenue but by 1992extrabudgetary revenue climbed to 98 percent of budgetary revenue totals84

Self-raised funds accounted for only 117 percent of total revenues availableat the township level in 1986 but rose to 20 percent of the same in 199385

The main sources of these off-budget revenues at the county and town-ship levels are various types of user fees and surcharges levied on formal taxesand public utilities including road maintenance fees education surcharges man-

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agement and planning fees and in some provinces unified levies (tongchou)collected from households by village cadres to finance a variety of social ser-vices and government projects86 In 1991 the central government authorizedthe levying of three assessments by township level cadres and the collectionof five general fees by village level cadres stipulating only that the combinedtotal not exceed five percent of the average annual income of the residents forthe previous year The three assessments included public reserve funds to beused for irrigation and afforestation work as well as the establishment of col-lective enterprises public welfare funds to provide subsidies to needy localfamilies and support local health care and administrative fees to cover cadresalaries and administrative expenses The five general fees collected at thevillage level wereto cover educational expenses family planning programswelfare payments to veterans and their families local militia training and ruralroad construction8

However with no systemic mechanism for the fiscal management of sub-county administrations in place the problem of the so-called three arbitraries(san luan)-arbitary collection of fees (luan shoufei) arbitrary levying offines (luanfakuan) and arbitrary apportionments (luan tanpai)-mushroomedin rural areas during the reform period In Hubei s Jinniu Township under thejurisdiction ofDazhi Municipality a provincial investigation into fee collection inthe township discovered that more than eighteen departments concerned withagriculture alone collected fees for more than 144 different projects from town-ship residents88 A Hubei provincial auditor investigating Suizhou and Jingmenmunicipalities found over sixty-six duplicated assessments collected from cityresidents in 199589In 1997 representatives of seventy-seven households resid-ing in Guanzi Village in Baiyangtownship in Sichuans Jiang County sued thetownship government for its collection of excessive fees and charges Some ofthe collections cited in the lawsuit included a wired broadcasting fee a tuningin fee (shoutingfei) a movie-watching fee and a mulberry grove penalty90

In a Shandong township in which the average annual income jn 1994 was1000yuan cadres in one village collected on a per capita basis a 379 yuancomprehensive planning fee a 25 yuan voluntary contribution to the roadrepair fund et 245 yuan voluntary contribution to the oil-producing crop funda total of 115yuan in fees for township office construction and road hardening70 yuan to cover the cost of excavating sand stones and earth a 10 yuan pigraising fee and a 80 yuan land leasing and sale fee In addition virtually all ofthe village residents were levied also on a per capita basis a 10 yuan fine forgrowing yellow tobacco a cash crop which local authorities maintained was

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unsuitable for cultivation in the region The combined year total of such chargesamounted to nearly 373 yuan Despite central government injunctions in 1994against such practices the following year township exactions rose to 5315yuan per resident91

Ad hoc levies and fees charged against rural enterprises by local agenciesin recent years have proven even more numerous than those lodged againstindividual taxpayers One survey of Hunan rural enterprises discovered thatover sixty different industrial administrations and organs had assessed and col-lected over one hundred types of charges from them92 a central governmentreport calculated that over 900 types of administrative fees were being col-lected on private enterprises on top of which local administrations were alsocollecting more than 1000 types of fees and funds93 In Zhejiang one-third oflocal government revenues for 1989 were traced back to the fees and sur-charges levied against rural enterprises94 That same year ajoint Chinese Acad-emy of Social Sciences (CASS) and World Bank study team surveyed the stateof the rural economy and concluded that excessive demands levied against ruralindustries by local governments were commonplace Citing the case of a firm inJiangxis Shangrao County that had been taxed more by local administratorsthan it had earned in profits the World BankCASS investigators noted thatwhat they termed fiscal predation was acting as a powerful brake on thedevelopment of the rural economy95 As one refrain now popular among themanagers of rural enterprises puts it Of heaven and earth we have no fearonly of entrepreneurial government drawing near96

Fees fines and tolls have also once again become a lucrative source oflocal government revenues and are collected by a wide variety of agents for avariety of reasons In some remote Jiangxi villages in 1996 elderly residentswere fined 5yuan for spitting on the sidewalk any attempt to argue against thepunishment was countered with the addition of an attitude penalty (taidufakuan) of 10 yuan The presence of a common housefly on the premises of arestaurant in those same villages could result in a 50 yuan fine for the owner Inat least one case officials from a local Sanitation and Epidemic PreventionStation descended upon a newly opened establishment with armed with fly-swatters and levied a separate 50 yuan fine for each housefly killed on thepremises causing the owner to shut down the restaurant that same day97 Incertain counties in Sichuan farmers can be fined by local governments forfailing to meet production targets set for the local development of supplemen-tary agricultural goods98 Local groups have also resurrected the Republicanera practice of erecting toll booths and checkpoints on highways in 1995 pro-

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

C-

was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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the central state doesnt have this many fees and regulations He said it wasbecause this is a rural village But if thats so then who can afford to be afarmer anymore3

During both the Nanjing Decade and post-Mao reform periods in main-land China ambitious programs of rural reform and economic development un-dertaken by local governments sparked astronomical increases in taxes sur-charges and administrative fines In the face of rising expenditure responsibili-ties county and sub-county administrations during both periods frantically soughtout new sources of revenue not eligible for transfer to higher levels of govern-ment Mobilizing an array of resources available to them county and sub-countyadministrators in both periods adopted what I term an entrepreneurial stancetoward the task of revenue collection affixing surcharges to official taxes cre-ating new categories of levies for county and sub-county use and doggedlyimposing various tolls fines and penalties within their jurisdictions

As local farmers were squeezed in the double bind caused by rising taxesand unstable incomes rising numbers in both periods found themselves unableto meet such demands and local governments appealed to public security andmilitia forces under their control to assist them in tax collection Alarmed by thedeteriorating situation in the countryside central authorities in both cases out-lawed such measures and directed local governments to consolidate tax collec-tion practices and standardize procedures However insofar as a satisfactorysolution to such fiscal dilemmas involved the conclusion of satisfactory revenuesharing agreements between local and central state organs in both cases theburdens on taxpayers continued leading to widespread rural social unrest

The so-called peasant burden (nongmin fudan) problem in both theRepublican and post-Mao reform periods lies at the confluence of several streamsof vital debates on the nature of the Chinese polity Discussions of the source ofthe problem and its possible solutions implicitly invoke varying normative agen-das concerning the rightful exercise of political power the role of the centralstate in the rural economy and the issue of the accountability of state agents inauthoritarian political systems At the same time excessive local taxation inboth periods has had a profound impact on rural residents who have collectivelypressed for tax relief and an end to widespread fiscal predation by the stateThe appeals demands and accusations of rural taxpayers represent a collectivecritique of existing political power structures and contain an implicit notion ofwhat constitutes the legitimate exercise of political authority

Local tax practices during the Republican period and the post-Mao reformera have shaped popular views of the Chinese state in particular ways Despite

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the similarities in revenue generation and retention strategies pursued by localadministrators4 and subsequent increases in taxpayer protest in both periodspopular conceptions of the Chinese state have changed markedly over time AsI will demonstrate the greater degree of rural immiseration and politicaldecen-tralization during the Nanjing Decade notwithstanding portrayals of the centralstate in popular and unofficial sources tend to be far more positive and optimis-tic than those that predominate in the post-Mao period and considerably morebenign than other scholars have previously suggested5

Furthermore as I will demonstrate the distinction between predatory agentsof the local state and superordinate authorities in the national government wasfar clearer for Republican era precursors of todays rightful resisters6 thanfor disgruntled taxpayers in the reform period Placed in a broader historicalperspective contemporary policy-based resisters and tax protestors appearless optimistic than their Nanjing Decade counterparts about the potential of thecentral state effectively to resolve their fiscals woes I conclude that the greatercynicism toward central authority that prevails in rural China today isJargelydue to the deliberate withdrawal of the central state from its redistributive rolein managing certain spheres of the rural economy while continuing to exert itsauthority in an extractive manner in others8

PATTERNS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN THE REpUBLICAN ERA

Soon after the establishment of the Nanjing regime Nationalist programsof economic development and political modernization significantly increased thefinancial burden on local administrations already strapped by heavy militaryexpenses and substantial debt incurred over several previous decades Whilethe types and amounts of taxes and levies collected by sub-provincial govern-ments began to rise in the 1920s after 1927 such categories multiplied at afurious rate often reaching absurd proportions by the mid-1930s in many ar-eas9

By 1934 most provinces commonly levied more than a dozen types ofsurtaxes (jujiashui) on the base land tax Only eight provinces (Suining ChaheerNingxia Qinghai Shaanxi Guizhou Jilin and Xinjiang) officially collected fewerthan ten such surcharges the Jiangsu provincial government at the other end ofthe scale permitted no fewer than 147 such surcharges to be collected1o Interms of total tax burden estimated surtax revenues ranged from more thandouble those collected as base land tax (in Henan) to a whopping thirty timesthe base acreage tax (in Hunan)ll Furthermore counties (xian) wards (qu)

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and villages (cun) also levied their own land tax surcharges as well as a mind-boggling array of other fees ([ei) levies (juan)l2 and provisional imposts (linshitanpai) designed not only to fund specific development projects but also tocover routine administrative expenses13

Following the establishment of the Republic in the winter of 1912 thenewly inaugurated Finance Ministry (Caizheng bu) formulated a series of ar-ticles that established a set of national criteria for local government impositionof certain types of taxes including legislative fees education fees public secu-rity fees industry fees sanitation fees disaster relief fees government debtrepayment fees self-government personnel fees and fees for tax collectionThe following winter the National and Local Tax Act (Guojiashui difangshuifa caoan) authorized local administrations to continue to collect not only sur-charges on the base land tax but also twenty other imposts including taxes onlivestock grain and agricultural produce Local governments were moreoverpermitted to collect a variety of business and sales taxes including levies on oiland soy sauce butchering taxes on meat and fish and a stunning array of taxesto be levied against establishments including hotel room taxes entertainmentfees pharmacy levies and teahouse and restaurant taxes 14 Provincial adminis-trations during the early years of the republic were permitted to levy any num-ber of surcharges on the land tax the sole stipulation being that the sum total ofsuch charges could not exceed more than thirty percent of the base land tax]5

With 1919 passage of the Beij ing governments County Self-GovernmentLaw (Xian zizhi fa) funding sources for the routine expenses of self- governingcounty organs were to include the income from property and enterprises be-longing to such organs a county self-government tax usage and legal fees andretained funds The taxes and fees designated by the law were to be decidedaccording to local conditions by county councils no other limitations were placedon the imposition or collection of such revenues In 1923 a constitutional proc-lamation regulating national and local accounts designated surcharges on theland tax deed taxes and levies as the primary source of tax revenue for all localadministrations ]6

Yet the majority of these revenues were remitted to the provincial admin-istrations which had the authority to decide on revenue-sharing agreements forlower levels of government As a result provincial governments claimed thebulk of such revenues for their own budgets 17 the financing of county and sub-county organs was haphazard at best and revenue collection practices variedwidely from region to region

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In Fujians Taining County for example county managers during the earlyyears of the republic occasionally adjusted land tax rates on various pretextsretaining the additional revenue for county use or created surtaxes on remit-tances collected for higher levels In the early 1920s when provincial officalstagged several surcharges to the national salt tax to pad the provincial budgetthree prefectural administrations and the Taining county government all fol-lowed suit each creating an additional surtax Not surprisingly by 1924 theamount of the surcharges collected actually surpassed the base salt tax in TainingCounty levies were also tagged onto livestock taxes butchery taxes the sale ofluxury goods tobacco and liquor and fertilizer in addition local residents wererequired to pay monthly residence levies and rice and dry goods transportationfees IS

In 1933 an Administrative Yuan investigator carrying out research on taxcollection procedures in Guangxi reported that local government revenues weredrawn primarily from base taxes on land commodities and agricultural prod-ucts on top of which they also collected land tax surcharges business surtaxesand surtaxes on imported goods In total the investigator documented twelvetypes of national taxes being collected in Guangxi twenty types of provincialtaxes seventy-six ward office levies (qu gongsuo juan) and well over twohundred types of county surtaxes and levies19

Burgeoning military expenses in areas under warlord rule fueled the steadyrise in local taxes throughout the 1920s In Sichuans Lu County aside fromvarious imposts and surtaxes added to the base land tax warlord Yang Chunfangimposed a butchery supervisory tax a stamp tax and a wide variety of han-dling fees on all butchered meats Nine years after the imposition of suchsupplementary levies investigation revealed that no fewer than eighteen sepa-rate surtaxes were being imposed on butchered products in Lu County ac-counting for over a tenth of the purchase price of meat 20

At the provincial level regional military commanders seeking to exploitSichuans salt production capabilities imposed heavy exactions on salt at variousstages in the production process In addition numerous charges were added onto the base salt tax including a regulation fee a merchant protection fee a pricestabilization fee a village pacification fee and a waterway defense fee all inlarge part to meet rapidly escalating military expenses in the region Throughoutthe NanjingDecade salt taxes and their surtaxes comprised the main source ofSichuans tax revenue amounting to more than three times the total land taxcollected in 193821

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The abolition such local imposts which collectively came to be referred toas exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes (kejuan zashui) was a centralcomponent of the Northern Expeditions attempt to bring local areas under cen-tralized GMD control in the mid- to late 1920s Propagandists of the NationalRevolutionary Army issued incendiary diatribes against regional military com-manders and their taxation practices regularly portraying local imposts associ-ated with land and salt taxes as the overt attempts of various warlords at self-engrossment Warlords forceful suppression of tax protests only added fuel tothe fire In March 1927 GMD propagandists used Hankous Minguo ribao toappeal to the citizens of Henan to rise up against the Zhang Zuolin and ZhangZongchang regimes

Countrymen (tongbaomen) Now in China proper there are two forces oneis the force of the people the other is the toadying (jengxi) warlordforces Toadying warlords Zhang Zuolin and Zhang Zhongchang are rep-resentatives of the warlord forces Last year in Shandong [ZhangZhongchang] thought up a money-making scheme and added a levy of fiveyuan to every liang of silver on the land tax At that time Dezhou Wenshangand other counties because they had just been devastated by war and ban-ditry in reality were incapable of collecting [the levy] in full and weakly re-sisted inciting the rage of the Dog Meat General He immediately dispatchedseveral thousand troops and slaughtered more than a million of the inhabit-ants of Dezhou Wenshang and the other counties22

As the forces for national reintegration gathered increasing strength thepeasant impoverishment was blamed largely on abusive warlord administra-tions and the GMD made the abolition of such pernicious taxation practices acentral goal of their program for economic recovery

By 1927 three main sources of government revenue-the lijin23 the na-tionally imposed salt tax and the land tax and its surcharges-were widelyregarded as hotbeds (yuansu) of political corruption and bureaucratic abusein the popular mind24 GMD authorities targeted all three of these sources forabolition or reform in the early years of the Nanjing Decade However none ofthe GMD governments various attempts to revise the taxation system success-fully addressed the revenue crisis unfolding at sub-provincial levels

Prior to 1927 the lijin had provided an abundant fiscal resource for localadministrations precisely because it was virtually impossible for higher authori-ties to estimate the revenue it might generate At the same time however poorcentralized control over the collection process caused the lijin to fall prey tovarious abuses and created widespread popular disapproval Nationalist au-

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thorities viewed it as a brake on commercial growth and trade expansion andquickly undertook various attempts to eliminate the lijin in favor of more pro-gressive and standardized forms of taxation Beginning in 1928 the gradualphaseout of the lijin and sharp curtailment of salt tax collection caused wide-spread insolvancy among county governments already strapped by revenue shar-ing arrangements that vastly favored superordinate provincial administrations

In part to address the fiscal crisis already underway in the summer of1927 the First National Fiscal Affairs Conference of the new Nanjing govern-ment produced the Provisional Act to Delimit National and Local Incomes andthe National and Local Revenue Demarcation Act The new legislation autho-rized local administrations to tax farmland deeds and mortgages commercelivestock slaughtering and fisheries transportation and several other types oftransactions However provinces retained the right to negotiate revenue-shar-ing agreements with subordinate administrations and while thirteen types ofitemized expenditures were permitted for county budgets the laws did not oth-erwise regulate how provincial governments divided tax revenues with the coun-ties As a result county administrations faced dramatic rises in administrativeexpenses as the national government pushed through its program to diversifyand bur~aucratize county and sub-county organs but declining revenues due tocurtailment of the lijin and other sources of local tax monies Miscellarreoussurcharges to the land tax acreage levies (mujuan )25 and provisional imposts(tankuan or tanpai) began to climb sharply shortly thereafter26

The FinanceBureau originally sought to stem this rising tide by mandatingthat total land tax surcharges could not exceed the base land tax due in a givenyear and that the combined total could not exceed one percent of the marketvalue of the farmland taxed However there was no date set for the implemen-tation of this rule at the provincial level and provincial administrations were inany case logistically incapable of ensuring county compliance with such regula-tions27 The burden of compliance fell again to the counties where the exhorta-tions of central authorities and complaints of local taxpayers often fell on deafears As one resident ofZhejiangs Pujiang County commented

We have heard the governments [order] that surtaxes must not exceed thebase tax but the peasants laboring beneath the heaviness of various due tospecial situations and limitless temporary provisions bear surtaxes morethan three times the base Below are a list of the various and sundry heavyweights bearing down on the heads of the Pujiang peasantry 1) base tax 2)self-defense corps levy 3) education supplementary levy 4) highway levy5) airplane levy 6) ward office levy 7) pest control handling fee levy 8) tax

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collection fee levy 9) farmers bank levy 10) self-government supplemen-tary levy 11) police levy Altogether these acreage levies total one yuan andfive or six jiao per mu Aside from that one must add the pig slaughteringlevy brokerage levy business taxes and others Although these are not in-cluded in the land tax still in the end they are transferred onto the bodies ofthe peasants which grow poorer and feebler day by day 28

ENTREPRENEURIAL METHODS OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATIONS

Central government attempts to curtail the powers of local administrationsto impose and collect taxes without addressing the underlying root of the prob-lem-namely limited sources of county and sub-county revenue and simulta-neous increases in administrative and economic burdens-ultimately drove cash-starved local governments to devise new methods to circumvent central direc-tives Nanjings admonitions to lighten the peasant burden by eliminating extor-tionate levies and miscellaneous taxes were countered by a proliferation ofadministrative fees and the imposition of weighty fines on local residents Inmany cases as Bianco has noted local farmers were forced by local authoritiesto abandon subsistence production in favor of crops which yielded higher taxrevenues for county government such as opium29 Merchants and transportworkers faced stiff escalations in locally imposed tolls and tariffs which im-measurably slowed the shipment of products across county lines and fueledendemic price inflation on certain commodities

Often such revenues provided the primary source of funding for the stan-dard operating budgets of various local government organs including the sala-ries of their employees In the districts surrounding Shaanxis Wei County thesalaries of all public servants below the county level were funded either throughprovisional apportionments (linshi tanpai) land tax surcharges or surtaxes onthe sale of specific items3o In Wei County itself this included a staff of sevenward leaders (quzhang) the decimal unit leaders (lizhang) beneath them andat the bottom tier a layer of village headmen (cunzhang) or hamlet leaders(zhuangtou) who were in charge of tax and levy collection each of whomclaimed a cut of the revenue collected Those more closely involved in theactual collection process often benefited from a lower level of supervision andmanipulated the process to engross themselves One central government inves-tigator touring Shaanxi in 1933 commented

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When peasants hand over tax revenue it must go through the hands of thegrain chief (liangtou) hamlet chief(zhuangtou) security captain (jiazhang)village headman(cunzhang) township leader (xiangzhang) ward leader andothers before it finally arrives at the county government These handlersnaturally will receive some interest and this adds another layer to the burdenput on the peasants For example in Fengxiang County Wang Shaocun in1933 levied an irrigation lottery (jiangquan) for the entire village of fifty-sixyuan each security captain got just under six yuan and moreover each vil-lage leader gave each captain eight yuan The decimal unit leader ofQiu Vil-lage charged a rich household levy of two thousand yuan but only turnedover a thousand to the public [coffers] Suide County in 1931 and 1932 wasunable to remit its land taxes in the spring of 1933 the county administra-tion then took these two years of uncollected land tax and gave them to thetax contractors (baoliang ren) to collect in full and added another twentypercent as a handling fee for the contractors31

The result was an elebaorate process of graduated embezzlement thatpermitted the most egregious abuses to occur at the lowest levels of officialdomAs rural villagers in Sichuan ruefully noted Serving as a ranked official (guan)is not as good as being a grain inspector and being a grain inspector isnt evenas good as being a granary watchman32 The process of land tax collectionproved so lucrative in Jiangsu s Changshu County that local government postsfor tax dunning clerks were monopolistically controlled as a type offamily prop-erty which could be bought and sold or passed down from generation to gen-eration The price for such a position could range anywhere from two or threehundred yuan up to a thousand yuan or more33

Such practices while publically condemned by central authorities werelargely driven by the GMDs broad mandate to modernize the countryside Re-forms pursued by the Nanjing leadership required the mobilization of local-levelresources for their realization and the logistics of financing such operationswere most often left to the discretion of lower levels of government

For example in 1928 administrators in Nanjing exhorted local GMD partybranches to organize the rural population into baojia units for self-defense yetdelineated no particular sources of funding for this task Local practices variedwidely but central investigators in Henans Hui County noted that the first ar-ticle of the county baojia handbook stated that each unit was permitted tocollect a fee based upon one percent of the total harvest of all farmland culti-vated within its dominion at current market prices In practice county baojiachiefs collected operating fees of nine yuan per month throughout the yearrequiring the services of both an accountant and a tax collector to manage In

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nearby Deng and Nanzhao counties baojia expenses were calculated on thesay-so of the chief sometimes totaling over a hundred yuan a month and re-quiring so much labor to collect and manage that an investigator commentedthat the entire operation rivaled that of a ward office in size and scope34 Astudy of rural Hebei police found that all of the thirteen counties studied reliedupon forcibly-collected levies for their salaries equipment purchases and oper-ating budgets In at least one of these counties the police force numbered closeto a thousand men but the designated police force acreage levy was only enoughto outfit a hundred the revenue to support and train the remaining officers wasobtained through tax collection procedures of dubious legality35

Local governments during the early Nanjing Decade were thus caught ina vicious cycle the expansion of state agencies at county and sub-county levelscreated a continuing need for miscellaneous fees and levies in order to fundtheir administrative expenses yet the proliferation offees and surtaxes particu-larly on commercial transactions required an increasing number of tax officesand agents to administer Prior to 1934 when the Second Conference on Finan-cial Affairs unified local tax collection offices revenues were collected by awide variety of legal extra-legal and illegal agents often competing with oneanother for shares of increasingly scarce resources

For example a report on tax collection procedures in Zhejiangs YongjiaCounty noted that while the County Audit Bureau did manage some fees andlevies education levies were handled by county education authorities publicsecurity fees by the County Public Security Bureau (gonganju) insect man-agement and control fees by the County Insect Management Control Officeand local militia taxes (baowei mujuan) by the financial manager of the localmilitia other public debt and interest charges were collected by local publicfinance and public property committees according to their own needs and us-ing their own methods The only attempt county administrators made to controlthis process was to request that each office collecting public funds submit amonthly account to the county government and agree in principle to submit tothe investigatory procedures of the county circuit courtS36

The decentralized nature of the system virtually invited abuse Enterpris-ing citizens seeking to augment their incomes often banded together to formbogus state agencies that provided no services but collected a specific type oflevy37For example in 1934 the Henan Provincial Bureau of Finance (caizhengling) received a petition from the Shenxu Business Association asking it toinvestigate the activities of Li Zefen an accused evil gentry in YanchengCounty The associations chairman attested that Li forced the closing of the

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county cooperative society (hezuoshe) on his own authority and in its placeopened up a Progressive Association (gaijin hui) Declaring himself presi-dent of the new association Li began levying special fees against local busi-nesses and ultimately collected over 10000 yuan which he promptly pocketedCentral government investigators found no evidence that Li s Progressive As-sociation performed any community services in return38

With the 1928 curtailment of the lijin and increasing central control oversurcharges on the salt and land taxes county and sub-county administratorsbecame increasingly creative in their search for new sources of revenue Inmany locations the abolition of the lijin was followed by a surge in the numberof toll booths and toll collection sites provinces counties and even wards begancharging and collecting export duties and tariffs along major roads and water-ways In December 1933 one packet of sugar transported by boat from Zigongto Chongqing was subject to no fewer than twenty separate tariffs levies andfees in nine counties along the way ratcheting up the price by a total of overtwelve yuan39 A cargo of sundry goods transported 820 Ii from Chongqing toChengdu along minor waterways incurred one hundred yuans worth of leviesand duties encountering a tax or toll collection office on average every ten li40

Along the roadways the situation was no better county special levies officesdispatched squads of assessors (kayuan) to major checkpoints and truck stopsto collect tariffs and customs duties on goods in transit In Shaanxi such asses-sors often harassed and intimidated farmers on their way to and from markettowns arbitrarily levying tariff duties and charging road buying money (mailuqian) to anyone transporting goods41

Many county administrations and their subordinate offices sought to in-crease revenue from yet another source largely unregulated by the central gov-ernment fees and fines charged for violations of law either real or manufac-tured Opium addicts proved particularly vulnerable to such ploys In 1935Hebeis Yanshan County manager He Xiaoyi was accused of co lluding with thechief of the county public security forces (gongandui) to collect sums rangingfrom 50 to 830 yuan in fees from local opium addicts in exchange for promisesthat they could avoid arrest42 Similarly a village chiefin Hebeis Julu Countycomplained that the county Opium Suppression Office periodically demandedthat each village turn over a set monthly quota of opium addicts as part of analleged crackdown on local opium consumption Those who were rounded upwere almost invariably not drug users but nonetheless had to pay hundreds ofyuan in fines to secure their release43 The department chief of the Special TaxOffice (teshuiju juzhang) in Henans Hui County habituaHy carried a small

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cache of opium with him to plant on innocent residents whenever the opportu-nity arose he would then accuse his hapless victims of drug possession andforce them to pay heavy fines or face arrest and imprisonment 44The enterpris-ing county administrators in Shaanxi s lia County opened a local bank churningout loans with three month intervals at 25 percent interest Most of the loansmade by the bank in 1933 went either to tenant farmers who could not pay theirrent or taxes on time or to local opium addicts in need of a quick fix45

Rural villages staggered under such exactions with even the most ordi-nary transactions plagued by levies Livestock taxes proliferated until authori-ties could collect a toll at each particular stage of a farm animals life once theanimal was slaughtered individual parts of the animal could also be separatelytaxed In Zhejiangs Ruian County for example no fewer than seven levieswere collected on swine alone including a pig tax a piglet tax a suckling pig taxa sow tax a live pig tax a boar bristle tax and a hog tax among others innearby Chongde County aside from a sheep levy which was presumably im-posed on live sheep the county also collected a sheep-shearing levy a woollevy and a sheepskin levy Other Zhejiang counties and townships routinelyimposed taxes on wild game leather pork mutton and all manner of poultry andtheir eggs46At times the tax burden outweighed the benefits of even the sim-plesttransactions One farmer in Hebeis lulu County complained in 1935

The livestock sales tax is so heavy now that we cant even afford to pay itWhether you are selling or buying you have to pay tax on half of the waterbuffalos price In the spring we were still paying a twoen [sales] tax and athree tong brokerage fee on every yuan Starting in May it changed and forevery yuan we had to pay sixen of tax still three tong [brokerage fee] al-together nineen Now this old water buffalo he can be sold for thirty yuanbut Id have to pay two yuan and sevenjiao in tax and fees if I want to turnaround and spend thirty yuan for another one I have to pay another two yuanand sevenjiao Right now trading [him] in is not that important but whereis that five yuan four jiao going to come from47

POPULAR RSPONSES THE VIEW FROM BELOW

Not surprisingly aside from intensifying rural immiseration the prolifera-tion of fees taxes and levies to which residents were subjected during thisperiod led to rising social unrest and increases in various forms of collectiveaction Although Biancos caveat on the unreliability of statistical data on popu-lar protest during this period is well taken48most scholars of the Republican era

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concur that incidents of tax and rent resistance food riots and acts of banditryrose steadily through the mid-193 Os49As Perrys work has shown local secretsocieties such as the Red Spears and Big Swords frequently mobilized againstthe imposition of excessive levies and miscellaneous taxes often clashing withboth local officials and roving army troops50

Incidents of collective violence aside citizens used various methods toremonstrate against the fiscal demands of local administrations during the NanjingDecade Provincial administrations provincial and circuit court judges and theoffices of the Administrative Yuan regularly received letters of grievances fromfarmers and citizens representatives (gongmin daibiao) protesting bureau-cratic malpractice in the countryside51 In 1936 the Control Yuan received arecord number of petitions for investigation of government officials a numbernearly double that of any of the previous three years the vast majority of whichaccused county managers (xianzhang) and their underlings at the county andsub-county levels52 Viewed as a whole these records strongly suggest thatrural residents during this period organized themselves politically not merely toprotest increases in their overall tax burden but also to oppose levies and feesregarded as immoral unjust or overly intrusive Tax collection methods as wellas punishments meted out to those unable to payor in arrears were also com-mon points of contention

However one striking characteristic of popular political discourse duringthis period is the rarity with which disgruntled taxpayers criticized the centralstate Nanjing Decade protestors and petitioners alike were prompted to actionby rising exactions and endemic official malfeasance but it was the officesinstitutions and practices of local administrations which bore the brunt of theirire not the central party-state Rather rural residents seeking redress from thefiscal predation of county officials and their minions tended to see central au-thorities not as culprits or co-conspirators in the fiscal battle being waged againstthem but as potential protectors against local variants of what Thaxton andBergere have termed bureaucratic capitalists53 Thus while Bianco is prob-ably correct in asserting that peasant protestors during this period generallyviewed the state as both parasitic and alien to the social body of the village54 itis also true that many disgruntled rural residents distinguished between the moreremote but potentially benign central authorities and the far more immediate andpernicious local representatives of state power who preyed upon them Theunderlying collective image of the Nanjing Decade state in unofficial sourcesresembles a loosely organized but multi-tiered extractive machine at the locallevel with few if any links to higher levels of government Not surprisingly the

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overwhelming focus of tax protest and petitionary action during the period wasthe offices institutions and practices of local officials and their cohort

As under late imperial rule local government offices including the countyyamen and other revenue collection offices were common sites for anti-taxprotests Although acts of random and haphazard violence certainly were notrare rural residents sometimes bided their time awaiting the opportunity to strikeback at those who abused their official powers For example in the above-mentioned case of the Hui County (Henan) Special Tax Office departmentchief who apparently often planted opium on innocent taxpayers in order toblackmail them county residents waited until the convention of a sanitationmovement meeting at which point they sacked the office with such violencethat the department chief had no alternative but to flee into hiding55

Similarly in 1927 Red Spears in Shandongs Guan County surrounded thecounty seat because local officials there had raised taxes collaborated withlandlords to hasten rent collection and imposed several new levies In August1927 in nearby western Jiao County Red Spears destroyed the Nan hamletbranch office of the salt tax police (yanshui jingchadui)56 and refused to payany taxes Local Big Sword Society members joined the resisters who soonnumbered over a thousand people In October the protesters launched a sur-prise attack on the Hongshiya tax office in She Village and seized its personnelwho attempted to flee Before the army and local police suppressed the protestwell over two thousand homes had been destroyed and fifty people had died57

Popular indignation over local fiscal policy stemmed in part from the man-ner in which taxes were apportioned Not only was it common for landlordswho were legally liable for the payment of land taxes and other acreage leviesto shift the burden of tax payments onto their tenants 58 but also the proliferationof so-called shared apportionments (tanpai) and other head taxes and forcedpurchases extracted increasing revenues from the lowest strata of village soci-ety As one resident of Fuji ans Guangze County recalled

In my county under the rule of the GMD every year the taxes and levies thatwere collected included a rebellion suppression levy (kanluanjuan) a live-stock slaughter tax a conscription levy [and] a tobacco and alcohollevy The rebellion suppression levy was calculated as a supplement to thepopulation-based grain and salt decimal taxes so from every newborn infantup to every septuagenarian none could be late [in paying] The livestockslaughter tax was collected by the household regardless of whether or notyou were raising any pigs on average each household had bear the burden ofone or two pigs worth of the slaughter tax each year The tobacco and wine

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levy was also due regardless of whether or not you were in the business ofproducing or selling any and it toowascoHected by the household The con-script levy was apportioned according to the age of the draftable populationso however many potential draftees a family had thats how many pennies(fen) they paid in conscript levy59

Other burdens were similarly apportioned ranging in nature from forcedvoluntary contributions to the mandatory purchase of items controlled by gov-ernment agents In 1933 in Hebeis JuluCounty the county salt sales officesuddenly announced that contrary to previous popular practice the sale andconsumption of nitrate salt (xiao yan) was illegal but the use of crude salt (dayan) was permitted To remedy the situation the salt office ordered each vil-lage immediately to begin purchasing crude salt at the rate of three hundredjinper month or pay fines totaling the amount of the mandatory purchase (threehundred yuan) Village chiefs ordered each household to purchase a givenamount of crude salt each month whether or not they needed it for their ownuse Families were furthermore required to purchase crude salt rations even forthose family members who no longer resided in the village60

Compounding what was widely perceived to be the unjust apportionmentof the tax burden was the heavy-handed and callous manner in which taxeswere often collected In the case of acreage levies slated for county self-de-fense corps or police use tax collection was left up to the units in question insouthern Sichuan under warlord rule all county tax collection was routinelyhandled by local militia forces whose brutal intimidation and illegal confiscationof personal property ultimately led to widespread tax revolts there in 193361 Inmany areas peasants unable to pay their taxes by the specified date routinelyhad whatever salable items they owned confiscated by the collectors and weresometimes themselves arrested and imprisoned One central government inves-tigator touring rural Jiangsu in 1933 reported that in Changshu County during thetax collection season over a hundred farmers unable to pay their taxes wereimprisoned in thecountyjail 62

As Bianco noted rural residents often mobilized to protest attempts bylocal administrators to expand their tax collecting authority into previously un-regulated areas of the ruraleconomy63 For example one attempt to extend anexisting levy to cover a new category of goods led to armed conf1ict in Zhej iang sYutao County in March 1933 The residents ofShennong a hamlet in the county ssecond ward had long brewed a type of beverage in their homes for their ownconsumption using ingredients they either harvested or traded among them-selves When in early 1933 the director of the Yutao Liquor Levy Inspection

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Branch Office decided that such products were subject to the countys liquorlevy Shennong residents refused to pay and several were arrested As theyawaited trial more than a thousand of their fellow villagers marched on thecounty seat and demanded an end to harassment by county tax collectors abo-lition of the county liquor levy and immediate release of the arrested villagersOnce the group had massed at the gates of the county seat forces sent by thecounty manager permitted only five representatives inside to meet with offi-cials When the representatives reported back to the crowd that county admin-istrators maintained (falsely) that the liquor levy was a national tax over whichthey had no control the crowd became enraged and pressed toward the gatesThe troops then opened fire killing one and injuring two others64

As the Shennong protest demonstrates petitions personal accounts andpress reports from this period strongly suggest that the GMD state was notpopularly conceived as a single unified actor Even after the establishment ofthe Nanjing regime in 1927 unofficial discourse made clear distinctions be-tween central and local authorities and while the rhetoric of most anti-tax pro-tests was vehemently anti-state in nature for the most part agents and sub-county agents of the bureaucracy were perceived to be rural taxpayers pri-mary antagonists As one person commented in 1938 we are all aware thatChinas political system is weighty at the head and light at the feet the organiza-tion of the central administration is flawless those of the provincial administra-tions are okay (hai keyi) but the county administrations fall seriously short(chae yuan)65

Despite the fact that it was primarily after the establishment of the GMDregime in 1927 that exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes began to multi-ply most vigorously in the countryside overt critiques of the central governmentin rural protest were relatively rare and many of these can be traced specifi-cally to the involvement of Communist organizers For example in 1931 theAnhui provincial government under Chen Diaoyuan imposed a supplementaryshipped rice inspection levy decimal tax (jujia chuanyun mizhao juan lijin)and other assorted fees on rice transported along the Huai River Several weekslater following a confrontation between protesting boat people (chuanmin)and local authorities large-scale demonstrations against Chen and the rice in-spection levy erupted in Bangbu involving representatives of over fifty differentworkers and merchants associations in northern Anhui Communist YouthLeague activists from local middle schools organized over two thousand stu-dents to march to join the other demonstrators at the local parade grounds andattempted to lead the crowd in chanting similar slogans However when the

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Communist organizers in the crowd began chanting Defeat the Guomindangreactionaries a melee broke out and the activists barely escaped with theirlives The issue was later settled following a series of formal appeals to thecentral government66

By and large rural residents engaging in anti-tax resistance viewed thecentral government as an ally in their struggles against the incessant demandsof entrepreneurial local administrations and their agents In June of 1934 whenresidents of Hutubi County in Xinj iang could no longer tolerate the corruptionand extortion of two successive county managers the village headman (xiangyue)and a group of villagers secretly gathered to discuss the problem At the meet-ing one local herdsman later recalled he argued that the central governmenthad repeatedly stressed its determination severely to punish corrupt officialsand their venal underlings and should be taken at its word

These two county managers have engaged in various audacious and cor-rupt perversions of the law extorted the people and openly violated the newgovernments policies If someone would go to the procuracy in the countyseat to make a report the [central] government could not ignore it 67

The herdsman ultimately penned such a letter on behalf of his fellow citizensOne copy reached the Control Yuan which turned the petition over to the pro-vincial government for investigation and the county manager in question waslater executed for his crimes68

In other cases frustrated rural taxpayers sought redress from central au-thorities outside of the formal procedures of appeal and due process One Ad-ministrative Yuan investigator had just concluded his interview with a Shaanxivillage headman and had taken his leave when he was mutely accosted by aresident in the street The villager threw himself on the ground beseechinglyand thrust into his hands a paper which read

According to the order of the county government the balance due from landtaxes from 1920 1921 and 1922 must be raised from household surplus grainimmediately post haste Accordingly the villager Yuan Zuorong is to remitfive dollars (dayang yuan) someone will be dispatched immediately and itwill be turned over to the county as this is absolutely a matter of great im-portance Hereby submitted to Yuan Zuorong

Other village residents quickly gathered around and explained to the investiga-tor that the sum in question was in fact not being collected by the county gov-ernment but instead by the village headman he had just interviewed who the

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villagers alleged was trading on his authority as an agent of the county govern-ment in order to enrich himself69

Such agents were generally conceived of and described in local sources inanimalistic terms as predators who fed rapaciously on the peasants livelihoodin marked contrast to their role as father-mother officials (fumu guan) whoseduty it was to nourish and care for those under their jurisdiction 70Entrepre-neurial agents were commonly referred to as man-eating tigers or even blood-sucking vampires who treated rural villagers as if they were [merely] meatand fish [to be consumed] (yurou xiangmin) or trampled upon them likegrass (caojian renming) One group of Guangzhous Nanhai County resi-dents in 1921 posted a particularly graphic notice to protest the unendurableexactions of the local bullies who staffed their county administration avowingthat the predators had first stripped away our hair and skin and then cut awayour flesh and when our meat is exhausted they will whittle away our bones7lBrokerage licenses to collect commercial taxes or even county authorization tocollect any type of revenue at all were purportedly referred to as choice cutsof meat (feirou) that officials brokers and local notables would squabble overwith each striving to select the richest bit of fat upon which to feast 72

Particularly brazen officials were purported to have used such languagepublicly themselves in Guangxis remote Sanjiang County Han officials at thesub-county levels were said to have derisively referred to their extortive taxcollection tactics in one minority village as eating sprouts (chi miaozi) a playon the homophone for the Miao people who resided in thearea73 Even ControlYuan inspectors when submitting their reports to their superiors or filing legalsummaries of disciplinary action commonly referred to excessive and illegaltaxation methods as sucking down the fat of the people (xiaxi mingu) andperverting the law to fatten themselves (wanfa zifei)74

As the Nanjing Decade drew to a close central government officials ap-peared to be enjoying greater successes in handling the problem of burdensomelocal taxation In June 1931 the Commission of Disciplinary Action againstPublic Servants (Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjie weiyuanhui) was foundedunder the auspices of the Judicial Yuan a body which evaluated cases of ad-ministrative abuses on materials prepared by Control Yuan officials police of-ficers colleagues of the official concerned and the testimony of the accusedHowever because the Disciplinary Commission often considered the findingsof ordinary courts against civil servants in assessing punishment there wasoften a substantial lag between the filing of a case and a legal judgment againsta public servant accused of wrongdoing In 1937 a temporary decree granted

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the Control Yuan the power of rectification which greatly facilitated the pro-cess of disciplining civil officials7s However with the Japanese invasion ofnorthern China later that year the onerous burden of escalating military ex-penses forced the GMD to reverse many of its local tax and levy reductionpolicies and rural economies in particular once again felt the pinch of increasingfiscal exactions

PATTERNS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN THE REFORM DECADE

Just over fifty years later the Dengist program of decollectivization anddecentralization recreated conditions very similar to the fiscal challenges facedby local administrations during the Nanjing Decade Faced with rising expendi-ture responsibilities and revenue-sharing arrangements that vastly favoredsuperordinate levels of government county and newly-created township andvillage administrations through the 1980s and early 1990s increasingly soughtout revenue sources which were not tightly controlled by the central govern-ment or sought to shield resources from sharing with upper levels using a vari-ety of methods recreating what some have called a reform era warlordeconomy76 The need for higher revenues has been driven in large part by theincreasing expense burdens of county township and village governments whichhave assulued control over social welfare programs within their jurisdictions 77Whereas on the eve of the reform period half of all state expenditures weremade by local governluents by the period of the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1986-90) the percentage had crept up to over 60 percent 78

As during the Nanjing Decade such revenues are required largely to off-set rising administrative costs as local government organizations proliferate andbecome more specialized as well as to fund economic development projectsDespite the goal of reducing the state role in economic management adminis-trative personnel have nearly doubled under the reforms expanding 45 percentover the 1978-1990 period Such increases are at least partly due to the in-creasingly complex nature of reform period tax collection procedures whichhave required the establishment of 47000 new finance offices at the townshipleve179One village cadre recently estimated that she spent approximately sev-enty percent of her work time on tasks associated with revenue collection alone80Shaanxis remote Qingjian County with a population of 205700 people andcounty revenues of 1237 luillion yuan in 1995 employed 3710 people in gov-ernment administrative organs with each administrator requiring--on average-the remittances of fifty-five residents to support them81 One study of the 697

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individuals employed by the 41 township administrations in Sichuans Jiang anCounty discovered that while the employees base salaries averaged between60 and 80 yuan per month they also received regular subsidies benefits andperquisites that raised the actual figure to over 100 yuan per month Further-more the administrative expenses incurred by these employees including offi-cial business trips entertainment and continuing education on average addedanother 3000 yuan per employee Of these monies the study revealed fifteenpercent came from fiscal administration fees (caizheng shiye fei) thirty tothirty- five percent from retained funds (til iu) and the remaining fifty to fifty-five percent from various management fees (guanli fei) penalties or fines(fakuan) and paid service fees (youcheng fuwu fei)82

At the same time central government subsidies to local administrationshave declined markedly In Guizhou where the central government financednearly 60 percent of the provinces budgetary expenditures in the early 1980sby 1993 only 20 percent were centrally subsidized Not surprisingly the revenueshortage cut deeply into sub-provincial administrative budgets as well over thesame period the provincial administration not only ended its policy of subsidizinglocal government operations but by the early 1990s had also begun to extractrevenue from the counties in order to fund its own programs83

Caught between the cross-cutting pressures of rising expenditures anddeclining subsidies local administrators during the reform period improvised awide variety of entrepreneurial methods to increase local revenues much astheir Nanjing Decade predecessors had One method by which this was com-monly achieved was through shifting funds from budgetary (yusuannei) sourceswhich are subject to remittance to higher levels to various types of off-budgetfunds which are far less easily monitored by and not subject to sharing withhigher level authorities Off-budget revenues which include both so-calledextrabudgetary (yusuanwai) and self-raised (zichou) funds played an in-creasingly important role in local finance during the reform period From 1978 to1992 total budgetary revenue of local governments tripled but extrabudgetaryrevenues increased eleven-fold during the same period in 1978 extrabudgetaryfunds comprised only 31 percent of budgetary revenue but by 1992extrabudgetary revenue climbed to 98 percent of budgetary revenue totals84

Self-raised funds accounted for only 117 percent of total revenues availableat the township level in 1986 but rose to 20 percent of the same in 199385

The main sources of these off-budget revenues at the county and town-ship levels are various types of user fees and surcharges levied on formal taxesand public utilities including road maintenance fees education surcharges man-

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agement and planning fees and in some provinces unified levies (tongchou)collected from households by village cadres to finance a variety of social ser-vices and government projects86 In 1991 the central government authorizedthe levying of three assessments by township level cadres and the collectionof five general fees by village level cadres stipulating only that the combinedtotal not exceed five percent of the average annual income of the residents forthe previous year The three assessments included public reserve funds to beused for irrigation and afforestation work as well as the establishment of col-lective enterprises public welfare funds to provide subsidies to needy localfamilies and support local health care and administrative fees to cover cadresalaries and administrative expenses The five general fees collected at thevillage level wereto cover educational expenses family planning programswelfare payments to veterans and their families local militia training and ruralroad construction8

However with no systemic mechanism for the fiscal management of sub-county administrations in place the problem of the so-called three arbitraries(san luan)-arbitary collection of fees (luan shoufei) arbitrary levying offines (luanfakuan) and arbitrary apportionments (luan tanpai)-mushroomedin rural areas during the reform period In Hubei s Jinniu Township under thejurisdiction ofDazhi Municipality a provincial investigation into fee collection inthe township discovered that more than eighteen departments concerned withagriculture alone collected fees for more than 144 different projects from town-ship residents88 A Hubei provincial auditor investigating Suizhou and Jingmenmunicipalities found over sixty-six duplicated assessments collected from cityresidents in 199589In 1997 representatives of seventy-seven households resid-ing in Guanzi Village in Baiyangtownship in Sichuans Jiang County sued thetownship government for its collection of excessive fees and charges Some ofthe collections cited in the lawsuit included a wired broadcasting fee a tuningin fee (shoutingfei) a movie-watching fee and a mulberry grove penalty90

In a Shandong township in which the average annual income jn 1994 was1000yuan cadres in one village collected on a per capita basis a 379 yuancomprehensive planning fee a 25 yuan voluntary contribution to the roadrepair fund et 245 yuan voluntary contribution to the oil-producing crop funda total of 115yuan in fees for township office construction and road hardening70 yuan to cover the cost of excavating sand stones and earth a 10 yuan pigraising fee and a 80 yuan land leasing and sale fee In addition virtually all ofthe village residents were levied also on a per capita basis a 10 yuan fine forgrowing yellow tobacco a cash crop which local authorities maintained was

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unsuitable for cultivation in the region The combined year total of such chargesamounted to nearly 373 yuan Despite central government injunctions in 1994against such practices the following year township exactions rose to 5315yuan per resident91

Ad hoc levies and fees charged against rural enterprises by local agenciesin recent years have proven even more numerous than those lodged againstindividual taxpayers One survey of Hunan rural enterprises discovered thatover sixty different industrial administrations and organs had assessed and col-lected over one hundred types of charges from them92 a central governmentreport calculated that over 900 types of administrative fees were being col-lected on private enterprises on top of which local administrations were alsocollecting more than 1000 types of fees and funds93 In Zhejiang one-third oflocal government revenues for 1989 were traced back to the fees and sur-charges levied against rural enterprises94 That same year ajoint Chinese Acad-emy of Social Sciences (CASS) and World Bank study team surveyed the stateof the rural economy and concluded that excessive demands levied against ruralindustries by local governments were commonplace Citing the case of a firm inJiangxis Shangrao County that had been taxed more by local administratorsthan it had earned in profits the World BankCASS investigators noted thatwhat they termed fiscal predation was acting as a powerful brake on thedevelopment of the rural economy95 As one refrain now popular among themanagers of rural enterprises puts it Of heaven and earth we have no fearonly of entrepreneurial government drawing near96

Fees fines and tolls have also once again become a lucrative source oflocal government revenues and are collected by a wide variety of agents for avariety of reasons In some remote Jiangxi villages in 1996 elderly residentswere fined 5yuan for spitting on the sidewalk any attempt to argue against thepunishment was countered with the addition of an attitude penalty (taidufakuan) of 10 yuan The presence of a common housefly on the premises of arestaurant in those same villages could result in a 50 yuan fine for the owner Inat least one case officials from a local Sanitation and Epidemic PreventionStation descended upon a newly opened establishment with armed with fly-swatters and levied a separate 50 yuan fine for each housefly killed on thepremises causing the owner to shut down the restaurant that same day97 Incertain counties in Sichuan farmers can be fined by local governments forfailing to meet production targets set for the local development of supplemen-tary agricultural goods98 Local groups have also resurrected the Republicanera practice of erecting toll booths and checkpoints on highways in 1995 pro-

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

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was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 37

local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 41

108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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the similarities in revenue generation and retention strategies pursued by localadministrators4 and subsequent increases in taxpayer protest in both periodspopular conceptions of the Chinese state have changed markedly over time AsI will demonstrate the greater degree of rural immiseration and politicaldecen-tralization during the Nanjing Decade notwithstanding portrayals of the centralstate in popular and unofficial sources tend to be far more positive and optimis-tic than those that predominate in the post-Mao period and considerably morebenign than other scholars have previously suggested5

Furthermore as I will demonstrate the distinction between predatory agentsof the local state and superordinate authorities in the national government wasfar clearer for Republican era precursors of todays rightful resisters6 thanfor disgruntled taxpayers in the reform period Placed in a broader historicalperspective contemporary policy-based resisters and tax protestors appearless optimistic than their Nanjing Decade counterparts about the potential of thecentral state effectively to resolve their fiscals woes I conclude that the greatercynicism toward central authority that prevails in rural China today isJargelydue to the deliberate withdrawal of the central state from its redistributive rolein managing certain spheres of the rural economy while continuing to exert itsauthority in an extractive manner in others8

PATTERNS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN THE REpUBLICAN ERA

Soon after the establishment of the Nanjing regime Nationalist programsof economic development and political modernization significantly increased thefinancial burden on local administrations already strapped by heavy militaryexpenses and substantial debt incurred over several previous decades Whilethe types and amounts of taxes and levies collected by sub-provincial govern-ments began to rise in the 1920s after 1927 such categories multiplied at afurious rate often reaching absurd proportions by the mid-1930s in many ar-eas9

By 1934 most provinces commonly levied more than a dozen types ofsurtaxes (jujiashui) on the base land tax Only eight provinces (Suining ChaheerNingxia Qinghai Shaanxi Guizhou Jilin and Xinjiang) officially collected fewerthan ten such surcharges the Jiangsu provincial government at the other end ofthe scale permitted no fewer than 147 such surcharges to be collected1o Interms of total tax burden estimated surtax revenues ranged from more thandouble those collected as base land tax (in Henan) to a whopping thirty timesthe base acreage tax (in Hunan)ll Furthermore counties (xian) wards (qu)

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and villages (cun) also levied their own land tax surcharges as well as a mind-boggling array of other fees ([ei) levies (juan)l2 and provisional imposts (linshitanpai) designed not only to fund specific development projects but also tocover routine administrative expenses13

Following the establishment of the Republic in the winter of 1912 thenewly inaugurated Finance Ministry (Caizheng bu) formulated a series of ar-ticles that established a set of national criteria for local government impositionof certain types of taxes including legislative fees education fees public secu-rity fees industry fees sanitation fees disaster relief fees government debtrepayment fees self-government personnel fees and fees for tax collectionThe following winter the National and Local Tax Act (Guojiashui difangshuifa caoan) authorized local administrations to continue to collect not only sur-charges on the base land tax but also twenty other imposts including taxes onlivestock grain and agricultural produce Local governments were moreoverpermitted to collect a variety of business and sales taxes including levies on oiland soy sauce butchering taxes on meat and fish and a stunning array of taxesto be levied against establishments including hotel room taxes entertainmentfees pharmacy levies and teahouse and restaurant taxes 14 Provincial adminis-trations during the early years of the republic were permitted to levy any num-ber of surcharges on the land tax the sole stipulation being that the sum total ofsuch charges could not exceed more than thirty percent of the base land tax]5

With 1919 passage of the Beij ing governments County Self-GovernmentLaw (Xian zizhi fa) funding sources for the routine expenses of self- governingcounty organs were to include the income from property and enterprises be-longing to such organs a county self-government tax usage and legal fees andretained funds The taxes and fees designated by the law were to be decidedaccording to local conditions by county councils no other limitations were placedon the imposition or collection of such revenues In 1923 a constitutional proc-lamation regulating national and local accounts designated surcharges on theland tax deed taxes and levies as the primary source of tax revenue for all localadministrations ]6

Yet the majority of these revenues were remitted to the provincial admin-istrations which had the authority to decide on revenue-sharing agreements forlower levels of government As a result provincial governments claimed thebulk of such revenues for their own budgets 17 the financing of county and sub-county organs was haphazard at best and revenue collection practices variedwidely from region to region

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 5

In Fujians Taining County for example county managers during the earlyyears of the republic occasionally adjusted land tax rates on various pretextsretaining the additional revenue for county use or created surtaxes on remit-tances collected for higher levels In the early 1920s when provincial officalstagged several surcharges to the national salt tax to pad the provincial budgetthree prefectural administrations and the Taining county government all fol-lowed suit each creating an additional surtax Not surprisingly by 1924 theamount of the surcharges collected actually surpassed the base salt tax in TainingCounty levies were also tagged onto livestock taxes butchery taxes the sale ofluxury goods tobacco and liquor and fertilizer in addition local residents wererequired to pay monthly residence levies and rice and dry goods transportationfees IS

In 1933 an Administrative Yuan investigator carrying out research on taxcollection procedures in Guangxi reported that local government revenues weredrawn primarily from base taxes on land commodities and agricultural prod-ucts on top of which they also collected land tax surcharges business surtaxesand surtaxes on imported goods In total the investigator documented twelvetypes of national taxes being collected in Guangxi twenty types of provincialtaxes seventy-six ward office levies (qu gongsuo juan) and well over twohundred types of county surtaxes and levies19

Burgeoning military expenses in areas under warlord rule fueled the steadyrise in local taxes throughout the 1920s In Sichuans Lu County aside fromvarious imposts and surtaxes added to the base land tax warlord Yang Chunfangimposed a butchery supervisory tax a stamp tax and a wide variety of han-dling fees on all butchered meats Nine years after the imposition of suchsupplementary levies investigation revealed that no fewer than eighteen sepa-rate surtaxes were being imposed on butchered products in Lu County ac-counting for over a tenth of the purchase price of meat 20

At the provincial level regional military commanders seeking to exploitSichuans salt production capabilities imposed heavy exactions on salt at variousstages in the production process In addition numerous charges were added onto the base salt tax including a regulation fee a merchant protection fee a pricestabilization fee a village pacification fee and a waterway defense fee all inlarge part to meet rapidly escalating military expenses in the region Throughoutthe NanjingDecade salt taxes and their surtaxes comprised the main source ofSichuans tax revenue amounting to more than three times the total land taxcollected in 193821

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The abolition such local imposts which collectively came to be referred toas exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes (kejuan zashui) was a centralcomponent of the Northern Expeditions attempt to bring local areas under cen-tralized GMD control in the mid- to late 1920s Propagandists of the NationalRevolutionary Army issued incendiary diatribes against regional military com-manders and their taxation practices regularly portraying local imposts associ-ated with land and salt taxes as the overt attempts of various warlords at self-engrossment Warlords forceful suppression of tax protests only added fuel tothe fire In March 1927 GMD propagandists used Hankous Minguo ribao toappeal to the citizens of Henan to rise up against the Zhang Zuolin and ZhangZongchang regimes

Countrymen (tongbaomen) Now in China proper there are two forces oneis the force of the people the other is the toadying (jengxi) warlordforces Toadying warlords Zhang Zuolin and Zhang Zhongchang are rep-resentatives of the warlord forces Last year in Shandong [ZhangZhongchang] thought up a money-making scheme and added a levy of fiveyuan to every liang of silver on the land tax At that time Dezhou Wenshangand other counties because they had just been devastated by war and ban-ditry in reality were incapable of collecting [the levy] in full and weakly re-sisted inciting the rage of the Dog Meat General He immediately dispatchedseveral thousand troops and slaughtered more than a million of the inhabit-ants of Dezhou Wenshang and the other counties22

As the forces for national reintegration gathered increasing strength thepeasant impoverishment was blamed largely on abusive warlord administra-tions and the GMD made the abolition of such pernicious taxation practices acentral goal of their program for economic recovery

By 1927 three main sources of government revenue-the lijin23 the na-tionally imposed salt tax and the land tax and its surcharges-were widelyregarded as hotbeds (yuansu) of political corruption and bureaucratic abusein the popular mind24 GMD authorities targeted all three of these sources forabolition or reform in the early years of the Nanjing Decade However none ofthe GMD governments various attempts to revise the taxation system success-fully addressed the revenue crisis unfolding at sub-provincial levels

Prior to 1927 the lijin had provided an abundant fiscal resource for localadministrations precisely because it was virtually impossible for higher authori-ties to estimate the revenue it might generate At the same time however poorcentralized control over the collection process caused the lijin to fall prey tovarious abuses and created widespread popular disapproval Nationalist au-

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 7

thorities viewed it as a brake on commercial growth and trade expansion andquickly undertook various attempts to eliminate the lijin in favor of more pro-gressive and standardized forms of taxation Beginning in 1928 the gradualphaseout of the lijin and sharp curtailment of salt tax collection caused wide-spread insolvancy among county governments already strapped by revenue shar-ing arrangements that vastly favored superordinate provincial administrations

In part to address the fiscal crisis already underway in the summer of1927 the First National Fiscal Affairs Conference of the new Nanjing govern-ment produced the Provisional Act to Delimit National and Local Incomes andthe National and Local Revenue Demarcation Act The new legislation autho-rized local administrations to tax farmland deeds and mortgages commercelivestock slaughtering and fisheries transportation and several other types oftransactions However provinces retained the right to negotiate revenue-shar-ing agreements with subordinate administrations and while thirteen types ofitemized expenditures were permitted for county budgets the laws did not oth-erwise regulate how provincial governments divided tax revenues with the coun-ties As a result county administrations faced dramatic rises in administrativeexpenses as the national government pushed through its program to diversifyand bur~aucratize county and sub-county organs but declining revenues due tocurtailment of the lijin and other sources of local tax monies Miscellarreoussurcharges to the land tax acreage levies (mujuan )25 and provisional imposts(tankuan or tanpai) began to climb sharply shortly thereafter26

The FinanceBureau originally sought to stem this rising tide by mandatingthat total land tax surcharges could not exceed the base land tax due in a givenyear and that the combined total could not exceed one percent of the marketvalue of the farmland taxed However there was no date set for the implemen-tation of this rule at the provincial level and provincial administrations were inany case logistically incapable of ensuring county compliance with such regula-tions27 The burden of compliance fell again to the counties where the exhorta-tions of central authorities and complaints of local taxpayers often fell on deafears As one resident ofZhejiangs Pujiang County commented

We have heard the governments [order] that surtaxes must not exceed thebase tax but the peasants laboring beneath the heaviness of various due tospecial situations and limitless temporary provisions bear surtaxes morethan three times the base Below are a list of the various and sundry heavyweights bearing down on the heads of the Pujiang peasantry 1) base tax 2)self-defense corps levy 3) education supplementary levy 4) highway levy5) airplane levy 6) ward office levy 7) pest control handling fee levy 8) tax

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collection fee levy 9) farmers bank levy 10) self-government supplemen-tary levy 11) police levy Altogether these acreage levies total one yuan andfive or six jiao per mu Aside from that one must add the pig slaughteringlevy brokerage levy business taxes and others Although these are not in-cluded in the land tax still in the end they are transferred onto the bodies ofthe peasants which grow poorer and feebler day by day 28

ENTREPRENEURIAL METHODS OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATIONS

Central government attempts to curtail the powers of local administrationsto impose and collect taxes without addressing the underlying root of the prob-lem-namely limited sources of county and sub-county revenue and simulta-neous increases in administrative and economic burdens-ultimately drove cash-starved local governments to devise new methods to circumvent central direc-tives Nanjings admonitions to lighten the peasant burden by eliminating extor-tionate levies and miscellaneous taxes were countered by a proliferation ofadministrative fees and the imposition of weighty fines on local residents Inmany cases as Bianco has noted local farmers were forced by local authoritiesto abandon subsistence production in favor of crops which yielded higher taxrevenues for county government such as opium29 Merchants and transportworkers faced stiff escalations in locally imposed tolls and tariffs which im-measurably slowed the shipment of products across county lines and fueledendemic price inflation on certain commodities

Often such revenues provided the primary source of funding for the stan-dard operating budgets of various local government organs including the sala-ries of their employees In the districts surrounding Shaanxis Wei County thesalaries of all public servants below the county level were funded either throughprovisional apportionments (linshi tanpai) land tax surcharges or surtaxes onthe sale of specific items3o In Wei County itself this included a staff of sevenward leaders (quzhang) the decimal unit leaders (lizhang) beneath them andat the bottom tier a layer of village headmen (cunzhang) or hamlet leaders(zhuangtou) who were in charge of tax and levy collection each of whomclaimed a cut of the revenue collected Those more closely involved in theactual collection process often benefited from a lower level of supervision andmanipulated the process to engross themselves One central government inves-tigator touring Shaanxi in 1933 commented

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When peasants hand over tax revenue it must go through the hands of thegrain chief (liangtou) hamlet chief(zhuangtou) security captain (jiazhang)village headman(cunzhang) township leader (xiangzhang) ward leader andothers before it finally arrives at the county government These handlersnaturally will receive some interest and this adds another layer to the burdenput on the peasants For example in Fengxiang County Wang Shaocun in1933 levied an irrigation lottery (jiangquan) for the entire village of fifty-sixyuan each security captain got just under six yuan and moreover each vil-lage leader gave each captain eight yuan The decimal unit leader ofQiu Vil-lage charged a rich household levy of two thousand yuan but only turnedover a thousand to the public [coffers] Suide County in 1931 and 1932 wasunable to remit its land taxes in the spring of 1933 the county administra-tion then took these two years of uncollected land tax and gave them to thetax contractors (baoliang ren) to collect in full and added another twentypercent as a handling fee for the contractors31

The result was an elebaorate process of graduated embezzlement thatpermitted the most egregious abuses to occur at the lowest levels of officialdomAs rural villagers in Sichuan ruefully noted Serving as a ranked official (guan)is not as good as being a grain inspector and being a grain inspector isnt evenas good as being a granary watchman32 The process of land tax collectionproved so lucrative in Jiangsu s Changshu County that local government postsfor tax dunning clerks were monopolistically controlled as a type offamily prop-erty which could be bought and sold or passed down from generation to gen-eration The price for such a position could range anywhere from two or threehundred yuan up to a thousand yuan or more33

Such practices while publically condemned by central authorities werelargely driven by the GMDs broad mandate to modernize the countryside Re-forms pursued by the Nanjing leadership required the mobilization of local-levelresources for their realization and the logistics of financing such operationswere most often left to the discretion of lower levels of government

For example in 1928 administrators in Nanjing exhorted local GMD partybranches to organize the rural population into baojia units for self-defense yetdelineated no particular sources of funding for this task Local practices variedwidely but central investigators in Henans Hui County noted that the first ar-ticle of the county baojia handbook stated that each unit was permitted tocollect a fee based upon one percent of the total harvest of all farmland culti-vated within its dominion at current market prices In practice county baojiachiefs collected operating fees of nine yuan per month throughout the yearrequiring the services of both an accountant and a tax collector to manage In

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nearby Deng and Nanzhao counties baojia expenses were calculated on thesay-so of the chief sometimes totaling over a hundred yuan a month and re-quiring so much labor to collect and manage that an investigator commentedthat the entire operation rivaled that of a ward office in size and scope34 Astudy of rural Hebei police found that all of the thirteen counties studied reliedupon forcibly-collected levies for their salaries equipment purchases and oper-ating budgets In at least one of these counties the police force numbered closeto a thousand men but the designated police force acreage levy was only enoughto outfit a hundred the revenue to support and train the remaining officers wasobtained through tax collection procedures of dubious legality35

Local governments during the early Nanjing Decade were thus caught ina vicious cycle the expansion of state agencies at county and sub-county levelscreated a continuing need for miscellaneous fees and levies in order to fundtheir administrative expenses yet the proliferation offees and surtaxes particu-larly on commercial transactions required an increasing number of tax officesand agents to administer Prior to 1934 when the Second Conference on Finan-cial Affairs unified local tax collection offices revenues were collected by awide variety of legal extra-legal and illegal agents often competing with oneanother for shares of increasingly scarce resources

For example a report on tax collection procedures in Zhejiangs YongjiaCounty noted that while the County Audit Bureau did manage some fees andlevies education levies were handled by county education authorities publicsecurity fees by the County Public Security Bureau (gonganju) insect man-agement and control fees by the County Insect Management Control Officeand local militia taxes (baowei mujuan) by the financial manager of the localmilitia other public debt and interest charges were collected by local publicfinance and public property committees according to their own needs and us-ing their own methods The only attempt county administrators made to controlthis process was to request that each office collecting public funds submit amonthly account to the county government and agree in principle to submit tothe investigatory procedures of the county circuit courtS36

The decentralized nature of the system virtually invited abuse Enterpris-ing citizens seeking to augment their incomes often banded together to formbogus state agencies that provided no services but collected a specific type oflevy37For example in 1934 the Henan Provincial Bureau of Finance (caizhengling) received a petition from the Shenxu Business Association asking it toinvestigate the activities of Li Zefen an accused evil gentry in YanchengCounty The associations chairman attested that Li forced the closing of the

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county cooperative society (hezuoshe) on his own authority and in its placeopened up a Progressive Association (gaijin hui) Declaring himself presi-dent of the new association Li began levying special fees against local busi-nesses and ultimately collected over 10000 yuan which he promptly pocketedCentral government investigators found no evidence that Li s Progressive As-sociation performed any community services in return38

With the 1928 curtailment of the lijin and increasing central control oversurcharges on the salt and land taxes county and sub-county administratorsbecame increasingly creative in their search for new sources of revenue Inmany locations the abolition of the lijin was followed by a surge in the numberof toll booths and toll collection sites provinces counties and even wards begancharging and collecting export duties and tariffs along major roads and water-ways In December 1933 one packet of sugar transported by boat from Zigongto Chongqing was subject to no fewer than twenty separate tariffs levies andfees in nine counties along the way ratcheting up the price by a total of overtwelve yuan39 A cargo of sundry goods transported 820 Ii from Chongqing toChengdu along minor waterways incurred one hundred yuans worth of leviesand duties encountering a tax or toll collection office on average every ten li40

Along the roadways the situation was no better county special levies officesdispatched squads of assessors (kayuan) to major checkpoints and truck stopsto collect tariffs and customs duties on goods in transit In Shaanxi such asses-sors often harassed and intimidated farmers on their way to and from markettowns arbitrarily levying tariff duties and charging road buying money (mailuqian) to anyone transporting goods41

Many county administrations and their subordinate offices sought to in-crease revenue from yet another source largely unregulated by the central gov-ernment fees and fines charged for violations of law either real or manufac-tured Opium addicts proved particularly vulnerable to such ploys In 1935Hebeis Yanshan County manager He Xiaoyi was accused of co lluding with thechief of the county public security forces (gongandui) to collect sums rangingfrom 50 to 830 yuan in fees from local opium addicts in exchange for promisesthat they could avoid arrest42 Similarly a village chiefin Hebeis Julu Countycomplained that the county Opium Suppression Office periodically demandedthat each village turn over a set monthly quota of opium addicts as part of analleged crackdown on local opium consumption Those who were rounded upwere almost invariably not drug users but nonetheless had to pay hundreds ofyuan in fines to secure their release43 The department chief of the Special TaxOffice (teshuiju juzhang) in Henans Hui County habituaHy carried a small

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cache of opium with him to plant on innocent residents whenever the opportu-nity arose he would then accuse his hapless victims of drug possession andforce them to pay heavy fines or face arrest and imprisonment 44The enterpris-ing county administrators in Shaanxi s lia County opened a local bank churningout loans with three month intervals at 25 percent interest Most of the loansmade by the bank in 1933 went either to tenant farmers who could not pay theirrent or taxes on time or to local opium addicts in need of a quick fix45

Rural villages staggered under such exactions with even the most ordi-nary transactions plagued by levies Livestock taxes proliferated until authori-ties could collect a toll at each particular stage of a farm animals life once theanimal was slaughtered individual parts of the animal could also be separatelytaxed In Zhejiangs Ruian County for example no fewer than seven levieswere collected on swine alone including a pig tax a piglet tax a suckling pig taxa sow tax a live pig tax a boar bristle tax and a hog tax among others innearby Chongde County aside from a sheep levy which was presumably im-posed on live sheep the county also collected a sheep-shearing levy a woollevy and a sheepskin levy Other Zhejiang counties and townships routinelyimposed taxes on wild game leather pork mutton and all manner of poultry andtheir eggs46At times the tax burden outweighed the benefits of even the sim-plesttransactions One farmer in Hebeis lulu County complained in 1935

The livestock sales tax is so heavy now that we cant even afford to pay itWhether you are selling or buying you have to pay tax on half of the waterbuffalos price In the spring we were still paying a twoen [sales] tax and athree tong brokerage fee on every yuan Starting in May it changed and forevery yuan we had to pay sixen of tax still three tong [brokerage fee] al-together nineen Now this old water buffalo he can be sold for thirty yuanbut Id have to pay two yuan and sevenjiao in tax and fees if I want to turnaround and spend thirty yuan for another one I have to pay another two yuanand sevenjiao Right now trading [him] in is not that important but whereis that five yuan four jiao going to come from47

POPULAR RSPONSES THE VIEW FROM BELOW

Not surprisingly aside from intensifying rural immiseration the prolifera-tion of fees taxes and levies to which residents were subjected during thisperiod led to rising social unrest and increases in various forms of collectiveaction Although Biancos caveat on the unreliability of statistical data on popu-lar protest during this period is well taken48most scholars of the Republican era

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concur that incidents of tax and rent resistance food riots and acts of banditryrose steadily through the mid-193 Os49As Perrys work has shown local secretsocieties such as the Red Spears and Big Swords frequently mobilized againstthe imposition of excessive levies and miscellaneous taxes often clashing withboth local officials and roving army troops50

Incidents of collective violence aside citizens used various methods toremonstrate against the fiscal demands of local administrations during the NanjingDecade Provincial administrations provincial and circuit court judges and theoffices of the Administrative Yuan regularly received letters of grievances fromfarmers and citizens representatives (gongmin daibiao) protesting bureau-cratic malpractice in the countryside51 In 1936 the Control Yuan received arecord number of petitions for investigation of government officials a numbernearly double that of any of the previous three years the vast majority of whichaccused county managers (xianzhang) and their underlings at the county andsub-county levels52 Viewed as a whole these records strongly suggest thatrural residents during this period organized themselves politically not merely toprotest increases in their overall tax burden but also to oppose levies and feesregarded as immoral unjust or overly intrusive Tax collection methods as wellas punishments meted out to those unable to payor in arrears were also com-mon points of contention

However one striking characteristic of popular political discourse duringthis period is the rarity with which disgruntled taxpayers criticized the centralstate Nanjing Decade protestors and petitioners alike were prompted to actionby rising exactions and endemic official malfeasance but it was the officesinstitutions and practices of local administrations which bore the brunt of theirire not the central party-state Rather rural residents seeking redress from thefiscal predation of county officials and their minions tended to see central au-thorities not as culprits or co-conspirators in the fiscal battle being waged againstthem but as potential protectors against local variants of what Thaxton andBergere have termed bureaucratic capitalists53 Thus while Bianco is prob-ably correct in asserting that peasant protestors during this period generallyviewed the state as both parasitic and alien to the social body of the village54 itis also true that many disgruntled rural residents distinguished between the moreremote but potentially benign central authorities and the far more immediate andpernicious local representatives of state power who preyed upon them Theunderlying collective image of the Nanjing Decade state in unofficial sourcesresembles a loosely organized but multi-tiered extractive machine at the locallevel with few if any links to higher levels of government Not surprisingly the

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overwhelming focus of tax protest and petitionary action during the period wasthe offices institutions and practices of local officials and their cohort

As under late imperial rule local government offices including the countyyamen and other revenue collection offices were common sites for anti-taxprotests Although acts of random and haphazard violence certainly were notrare rural residents sometimes bided their time awaiting the opportunity to strikeback at those who abused their official powers For example in the above-mentioned case of the Hui County (Henan) Special Tax Office departmentchief who apparently often planted opium on innocent taxpayers in order toblackmail them county residents waited until the convention of a sanitationmovement meeting at which point they sacked the office with such violencethat the department chief had no alternative but to flee into hiding55

Similarly in 1927 Red Spears in Shandongs Guan County surrounded thecounty seat because local officials there had raised taxes collaborated withlandlords to hasten rent collection and imposed several new levies In August1927 in nearby western Jiao County Red Spears destroyed the Nan hamletbranch office of the salt tax police (yanshui jingchadui)56 and refused to payany taxes Local Big Sword Society members joined the resisters who soonnumbered over a thousand people In October the protesters launched a sur-prise attack on the Hongshiya tax office in She Village and seized its personnelwho attempted to flee Before the army and local police suppressed the protestwell over two thousand homes had been destroyed and fifty people had died57

Popular indignation over local fiscal policy stemmed in part from the man-ner in which taxes were apportioned Not only was it common for landlordswho were legally liable for the payment of land taxes and other acreage leviesto shift the burden of tax payments onto their tenants 58 but also the proliferationof so-called shared apportionments (tanpai) and other head taxes and forcedpurchases extracted increasing revenues from the lowest strata of village soci-ety As one resident of Fuji ans Guangze County recalled

In my county under the rule of the GMD every year the taxes and levies thatwere collected included a rebellion suppression levy (kanluanjuan) a live-stock slaughter tax a conscription levy [and] a tobacco and alcohollevy The rebellion suppression levy was calculated as a supplement to thepopulation-based grain and salt decimal taxes so from every newborn infantup to every septuagenarian none could be late [in paying] The livestockslaughter tax was collected by the household regardless of whether or notyou were raising any pigs on average each household had bear the burden ofone or two pigs worth of the slaughter tax each year The tobacco and wine

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levy was also due regardless of whether or not you were in the business ofproducing or selling any and it toowascoHected by the household The con-script levy was apportioned according to the age of the draftable populationso however many potential draftees a family had thats how many pennies(fen) they paid in conscript levy59

Other burdens were similarly apportioned ranging in nature from forcedvoluntary contributions to the mandatory purchase of items controlled by gov-ernment agents In 1933 in Hebeis JuluCounty the county salt sales officesuddenly announced that contrary to previous popular practice the sale andconsumption of nitrate salt (xiao yan) was illegal but the use of crude salt (dayan) was permitted To remedy the situation the salt office ordered each vil-lage immediately to begin purchasing crude salt at the rate of three hundredjinper month or pay fines totaling the amount of the mandatory purchase (threehundred yuan) Village chiefs ordered each household to purchase a givenamount of crude salt each month whether or not they needed it for their ownuse Families were furthermore required to purchase crude salt rations even forthose family members who no longer resided in the village60

Compounding what was widely perceived to be the unjust apportionmentof the tax burden was the heavy-handed and callous manner in which taxeswere often collected In the case of acreage levies slated for county self-de-fense corps or police use tax collection was left up to the units in question insouthern Sichuan under warlord rule all county tax collection was routinelyhandled by local militia forces whose brutal intimidation and illegal confiscationof personal property ultimately led to widespread tax revolts there in 193361 Inmany areas peasants unable to pay their taxes by the specified date routinelyhad whatever salable items they owned confiscated by the collectors and weresometimes themselves arrested and imprisoned One central government inves-tigator touring rural Jiangsu in 1933 reported that in Changshu County during thetax collection season over a hundred farmers unable to pay their taxes wereimprisoned in thecountyjail 62

As Bianco noted rural residents often mobilized to protest attempts bylocal administrators to expand their tax collecting authority into previously un-regulated areas of the ruraleconomy63 For example one attempt to extend anexisting levy to cover a new category of goods led to armed conf1ict in Zhej iang sYutao County in March 1933 The residents ofShennong a hamlet in the county ssecond ward had long brewed a type of beverage in their homes for their ownconsumption using ingredients they either harvested or traded among them-selves When in early 1933 the director of the Yutao Liquor Levy Inspection

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Branch Office decided that such products were subject to the countys liquorlevy Shennong residents refused to pay and several were arrested As theyawaited trial more than a thousand of their fellow villagers marched on thecounty seat and demanded an end to harassment by county tax collectors abo-lition of the county liquor levy and immediate release of the arrested villagersOnce the group had massed at the gates of the county seat forces sent by thecounty manager permitted only five representatives inside to meet with offi-cials When the representatives reported back to the crowd that county admin-istrators maintained (falsely) that the liquor levy was a national tax over whichthey had no control the crowd became enraged and pressed toward the gatesThe troops then opened fire killing one and injuring two others64

As the Shennong protest demonstrates petitions personal accounts andpress reports from this period strongly suggest that the GMD state was notpopularly conceived as a single unified actor Even after the establishment ofthe Nanjing regime in 1927 unofficial discourse made clear distinctions be-tween central and local authorities and while the rhetoric of most anti-tax pro-tests was vehemently anti-state in nature for the most part agents and sub-county agents of the bureaucracy were perceived to be rural taxpayers pri-mary antagonists As one person commented in 1938 we are all aware thatChinas political system is weighty at the head and light at the feet the organiza-tion of the central administration is flawless those of the provincial administra-tions are okay (hai keyi) but the county administrations fall seriously short(chae yuan)65

Despite the fact that it was primarily after the establishment of the GMDregime in 1927 that exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes began to multi-ply most vigorously in the countryside overt critiques of the central governmentin rural protest were relatively rare and many of these can be traced specifi-cally to the involvement of Communist organizers For example in 1931 theAnhui provincial government under Chen Diaoyuan imposed a supplementaryshipped rice inspection levy decimal tax (jujia chuanyun mizhao juan lijin)and other assorted fees on rice transported along the Huai River Several weekslater following a confrontation between protesting boat people (chuanmin)and local authorities large-scale demonstrations against Chen and the rice in-spection levy erupted in Bangbu involving representatives of over fifty differentworkers and merchants associations in northern Anhui Communist YouthLeague activists from local middle schools organized over two thousand stu-dents to march to join the other demonstrators at the local parade grounds andattempted to lead the crowd in chanting similar slogans However when the

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Communist organizers in the crowd began chanting Defeat the Guomindangreactionaries a melee broke out and the activists barely escaped with theirlives The issue was later settled following a series of formal appeals to thecentral government66

By and large rural residents engaging in anti-tax resistance viewed thecentral government as an ally in their struggles against the incessant demandsof entrepreneurial local administrations and their agents In June of 1934 whenresidents of Hutubi County in Xinj iang could no longer tolerate the corruptionand extortion of two successive county managers the village headman (xiangyue)and a group of villagers secretly gathered to discuss the problem At the meet-ing one local herdsman later recalled he argued that the central governmenthad repeatedly stressed its determination severely to punish corrupt officialsand their venal underlings and should be taken at its word

These two county managers have engaged in various audacious and cor-rupt perversions of the law extorted the people and openly violated the newgovernments policies If someone would go to the procuracy in the countyseat to make a report the [central] government could not ignore it 67

The herdsman ultimately penned such a letter on behalf of his fellow citizensOne copy reached the Control Yuan which turned the petition over to the pro-vincial government for investigation and the county manager in question waslater executed for his crimes68

In other cases frustrated rural taxpayers sought redress from central au-thorities outside of the formal procedures of appeal and due process One Ad-ministrative Yuan investigator had just concluded his interview with a Shaanxivillage headman and had taken his leave when he was mutely accosted by aresident in the street The villager threw himself on the ground beseechinglyand thrust into his hands a paper which read

According to the order of the county government the balance due from landtaxes from 1920 1921 and 1922 must be raised from household surplus grainimmediately post haste Accordingly the villager Yuan Zuorong is to remitfive dollars (dayang yuan) someone will be dispatched immediately and itwill be turned over to the county as this is absolutely a matter of great im-portance Hereby submitted to Yuan Zuorong

Other village residents quickly gathered around and explained to the investiga-tor that the sum in question was in fact not being collected by the county gov-ernment but instead by the village headman he had just interviewed who the

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villagers alleged was trading on his authority as an agent of the county govern-ment in order to enrich himself69

Such agents were generally conceived of and described in local sources inanimalistic terms as predators who fed rapaciously on the peasants livelihoodin marked contrast to their role as father-mother officials (fumu guan) whoseduty it was to nourish and care for those under their jurisdiction 70Entrepre-neurial agents were commonly referred to as man-eating tigers or even blood-sucking vampires who treated rural villagers as if they were [merely] meatand fish [to be consumed] (yurou xiangmin) or trampled upon them likegrass (caojian renming) One group of Guangzhous Nanhai County resi-dents in 1921 posted a particularly graphic notice to protest the unendurableexactions of the local bullies who staffed their county administration avowingthat the predators had first stripped away our hair and skin and then cut awayour flesh and when our meat is exhausted they will whittle away our bones7lBrokerage licenses to collect commercial taxes or even county authorization tocollect any type of revenue at all were purportedly referred to as choice cutsof meat (feirou) that officials brokers and local notables would squabble overwith each striving to select the richest bit of fat upon which to feast 72

Particularly brazen officials were purported to have used such languagepublicly themselves in Guangxis remote Sanjiang County Han officials at thesub-county levels were said to have derisively referred to their extortive taxcollection tactics in one minority village as eating sprouts (chi miaozi) a playon the homophone for the Miao people who resided in thearea73 Even ControlYuan inspectors when submitting their reports to their superiors or filing legalsummaries of disciplinary action commonly referred to excessive and illegaltaxation methods as sucking down the fat of the people (xiaxi mingu) andperverting the law to fatten themselves (wanfa zifei)74

As the Nanjing Decade drew to a close central government officials ap-peared to be enjoying greater successes in handling the problem of burdensomelocal taxation In June 1931 the Commission of Disciplinary Action againstPublic Servants (Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjie weiyuanhui) was foundedunder the auspices of the Judicial Yuan a body which evaluated cases of ad-ministrative abuses on materials prepared by Control Yuan officials police of-ficers colleagues of the official concerned and the testimony of the accusedHowever because the Disciplinary Commission often considered the findingsof ordinary courts against civil servants in assessing punishment there wasoften a substantial lag between the filing of a case and a legal judgment againsta public servant accused of wrongdoing In 1937 a temporary decree granted

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the Control Yuan the power of rectification which greatly facilitated the pro-cess of disciplining civil officials7s However with the Japanese invasion ofnorthern China later that year the onerous burden of escalating military ex-penses forced the GMD to reverse many of its local tax and levy reductionpolicies and rural economies in particular once again felt the pinch of increasingfiscal exactions

PATTERNS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN THE REFORM DECADE

Just over fifty years later the Dengist program of decollectivization anddecentralization recreated conditions very similar to the fiscal challenges facedby local administrations during the Nanjing Decade Faced with rising expendi-ture responsibilities and revenue-sharing arrangements that vastly favoredsuperordinate levels of government county and newly-created township andvillage administrations through the 1980s and early 1990s increasingly soughtout revenue sources which were not tightly controlled by the central govern-ment or sought to shield resources from sharing with upper levels using a vari-ety of methods recreating what some have called a reform era warlordeconomy76 The need for higher revenues has been driven in large part by theincreasing expense burdens of county township and village governments whichhave assulued control over social welfare programs within their jurisdictions 77Whereas on the eve of the reform period half of all state expenditures weremade by local governluents by the period of the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1986-90) the percentage had crept up to over 60 percent 78

As during the Nanjing Decade such revenues are required largely to off-set rising administrative costs as local government organizations proliferate andbecome more specialized as well as to fund economic development projectsDespite the goal of reducing the state role in economic management adminis-trative personnel have nearly doubled under the reforms expanding 45 percentover the 1978-1990 period Such increases are at least partly due to the in-creasingly complex nature of reform period tax collection procedures whichhave required the establishment of 47000 new finance offices at the townshipleve179One village cadre recently estimated that she spent approximately sev-enty percent of her work time on tasks associated with revenue collection alone80Shaanxis remote Qingjian County with a population of 205700 people andcounty revenues of 1237 luillion yuan in 1995 employed 3710 people in gov-ernment administrative organs with each administrator requiring--on average-the remittances of fifty-five residents to support them81 One study of the 697

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individuals employed by the 41 township administrations in Sichuans Jiang anCounty discovered that while the employees base salaries averaged between60 and 80 yuan per month they also received regular subsidies benefits andperquisites that raised the actual figure to over 100 yuan per month Further-more the administrative expenses incurred by these employees including offi-cial business trips entertainment and continuing education on average addedanother 3000 yuan per employee Of these monies the study revealed fifteenpercent came from fiscal administration fees (caizheng shiye fei) thirty tothirty- five percent from retained funds (til iu) and the remaining fifty to fifty-five percent from various management fees (guanli fei) penalties or fines(fakuan) and paid service fees (youcheng fuwu fei)82

At the same time central government subsidies to local administrationshave declined markedly In Guizhou where the central government financednearly 60 percent of the provinces budgetary expenditures in the early 1980sby 1993 only 20 percent were centrally subsidized Not surprisingly the revenueshortage cut deeply into sub-provincial administrative budgets as well over thesame period the provincial administration not only ended its policy of subsidizinglocal government operations but by the early 1990s had also begun to extractrevenue from the counties in order to fund its own programs83

Caught between the cross-cutting pressures of rising expenditures anddeclining subsidies local administrators during the reform period improvised awide variety of entrepreneurial methods to increase local revenues much astheir Nanjing Decade predecessors had One method by which this was com-monly achieved was through shifting funds from budgetary (yusuannei) sourceswhich are subject to remittance to higher levels to various types of off-budgetfunds which are far less easily monitored by and not subject to sharing withhigher level authorities Off-budget revenues which include both so-calledextrabudgetary (yusuanwai) and self-raised (zichou) funds played an in-creasingly important role in local finance during the reform period From 1978 to1992 total budgetary revenue of local governments tripled but extrabudgetaryrevenues increased eleven-fold during the same period in 1978 extrabudgetaryfunds comprised only 31 percent of budgetary revenue but by 1992extrabudgetary revenue climbed to 98 percent of budgetary revenue totals84

Self-raised funds accounted for only 117 percent of total revenues availableat the township level in 1986 but rose to 20 percent of the same in 199385

The main sources of these off-budget revenues at the county and town-ship levels are various types of user fees and surcharges levied on formal taxesand public utilities including road maintenance fees education surcharges man-

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agement and planning fees and in some provinces unified levies (tongchou)collected from households by village cadres to finance a variety of social ser-vices and government projects86 In 1991 the central government authorizedthe levying of three assessments by township level cadres and the collectionof five general fees by village level cadres stipulating only that the combinedtotal not exceed five percent of the average annual income of the residents forthe previous year The three assessments included public reserve funds to beused for irrigation and afforestation work as well as the establishment of col-lective enterprises public welfare funds to provide subsidies to needy localfamilies and support local health care and administrative fees to cover cadresalaries and administrative expenses The five general fees collected at thevillage level wereto cover educational expenses family planning programswelfare payments to veterans and their families local militia training and ruralroad construction8

However with no systemic mechanism for the fiscal management of sub-county administrations in place the problem of the so-called three arbitraries(san luan)-arbitary collection of fees (luan shoufei) arbitrary levying offines (luanfakuan) and arbitrary apportionments (luan tanpai)-mushroomedin rural areas during the reform period In Hubei s Jinniu Township under thejurisdiction ofDazhi Municipality a provincial investigation into fee collection inthe township discovered that more than eighteen departments concerned withagriculture alone collected fees for more than 144 different projects from town-ship residents88 A Hubei provincial auditor investigating Suizhou and Jingmenmunicipalities found over sixty-six duplicated assessments collected from cityresidents in 199589In 1997 representatives of seventy-seven households resid-ing in Guanzi Village in Baiyangtownship in Sichuans Jiang County sued thetownship government for its collection of excessive fees and charges Some ofthe collections cited in the lawsuit included a wired broadcasting fee a tuningin fee (shoutingfei) a movie-watching fee and a mulberry grove penalty90

In a Shandong township in which the average annual income jn 1994 was1000yuan cadres in one village collected on a per capita basis a 379 yuancomprehensive planning fee a 25 yuan voluntary contribution to the roadrepair fund et 245 yuan voluntary contribution to the oil-producing crop funda total of 115yuan in fees for township office construction and road hardening70 yuan to cover the cost of excavating sand stones and earth a 10 yuan pigraising fee and a 80 yuan land leasing and sale fee In addition virtually all ofthe village residents were levied also on a per capita basis a 10 yuan fine forgrowing yellow tobacco a cash crop which local authorities maintained was

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unsuitable for cultivation in the region The combined year total of such chargesamounted to nearly 373 yuan Despite central government injunctions in 1994against such practices the following year township exactions rose to 5315yuan per resident91

Ad hoc levies and fees charged against rural enterprises by local agenciesin recent years have proven even more numerous than those lodged againstindividual taxpayers One survey of Hunan rural enterprises discovered thatover sixty different industrial administrations and organs had assessed and col-lected over one hundred types of charges from them92 a central governmentreport calculated that over 900 types of administrative fees were being col-lected on private enterprises on top of which local administrations were alsocollecting more than 1000 types of fees and funds93 In Zhejiang one-third oflocal government revenues for 1989 were traced back to the fees and sur-charges levied against rural enterprises94 That same year ajoint Chinese Acad-emy of Social Sciences (CASS) and World Bank study team surveyed the stateof the rural economy and concluded that excessive demands levied against ruralindustries by local governments were commonplace Citing the case of a firm inJiangxis Shangrao County that had been taxed more by local administratorsthan it had earned in profits the World BankCASS investigators noted thatwhat they termed fiscal predation was acting as a powerful brake on thedevelopment of the rural economy95 As one refrain now popular among themanagers of rural enterprises puts it Of heaven and earth we have no fearonly of entrepreneurial government drawing near96

Fees fines and tolls have also once again become a lucrative source oflocal government revenues and are collected by a wide variety of agents for avariety of reasons In some remote Jiangxi villages in 1996 elderly residentswere fined 5yuan for spitting on the sidewalk any attempt to argue against thepunishment was countered with the addition of an attitude penalty (taidufakuan) of 10 yuan The presence of a common housefly on the premises of arestaurant in those same villages could result in a 50 yuan fine for the owner Inat least one case officials from a local Sanitation and Epidemic PreventionStation descended upon a newly opened establishment with armed with fly-swatters and levied a separate 50 yuan fine for each housefly killed on thepremises causing the owner to shut down the restaurant that same day97 Incertain counties in Sichuan farmers can be fined by local governments forfailing to meet production targets set for the local development of supplemen-tary agricultural goods98 Local groups have also resurrected the Republicanera practice of erecting toll booths and checkpoints on highways in 1995 pro-

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

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was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 29

By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 41

108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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and villages (cun) also levied their own land tax surcharges as well as a mind-boggling array of other fees ([ei) levies (juan)l2 and provisional imposts (linshitanpai) designed not only to fund specific development projects but also tocover routine administrative expenses13

Following the establishment of the Republic in the winter of 1912 thenewly inaugurated Finance Ministry (Caizheng bu) formulated a series of ar-ticles that established a set of national criteria for local government impositionof certain types of taxes including legislative fees education fees public secu-rity fees industry fees sanitation fees disaster relief fees government debtrepayment fees self-government personnel fees and fees for tax collectionThe following winter the National and Local Tax Act (Guojiashui difangshuifa caoan) authorized local administrations to continue to collect not only sur-charges on the base land tax but also twenty other imposts including taxes onlivestock grain and agricultural produce Local governments were moreoverpermitted to collect a variety of business and sales taxes including levies on oiland soy sauce butchering taxes on meat and fish and a stunning array of taxesto be levied against establishments including hotel room taxes entertainmentfees pharmacy levies and teahouse and restaurant taxes 14 Provincial adminis-trations during the early years of the republic were permitted to levy any num-ber of surcharges on the land tax the sole stipulation being that the sum total ofsuch charges could not exceed more than thirty percent of the base land tax]5

With 1919 passage of the Beij ing governments County Self-GovernmentLaw (Xian zizhi fa) funding sources for the routine expenses of self- governingcounty organs were to include the income from property and enterprises be-longing to such organs a county self-government tax usage and legal fees andretained funds The taxes and fees designated by the law were to be decidedaccording to local conditions by county councils no other limitations were placedon the imposition or collection of such revenues In 1923 a constitutional proc-lamation regulating national and local accounts designated surcharges on theland tax deed taxes and levies as the primary source of tax revenue for all localadministrations ]6

Yet the majority of these revenues were remitted to the provincial admin-istrations which had the authority to decide on revenue-sharing agreements forlower levels of government As a result provincial governments claimed thebulk of such revenues for their own budgets 17 the financing of county and sub-county organs was haphazard at best and revenue collection practices variedwidely from region to region

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In Fujians Taining County for example county managers during the earlyyears of the republic occasionally adjusted land tax rates on various pretextsretaining the additional revenue for county use or created surtaxes on remit-tances collected for higher levels In the early 1920s when provincial officalstagged several surcharges to the national salt tax to pad the provincial budgetthree prefectural administrations and the Taining county government all fol-lowed suit each creating an additional surtax Not surprisingly by 1924 theamount of the surcharges collected actually surpassed the base salt tax in TainingCounty levies were also tagged onto livestock taxes butchery taxes the sale ofluxury goods tobacco and liquor and fertilizer in addition local residents wererequired to pay monthly residence levies and rice and dry goods transportationfees IS

In 1933 an Administrative Yuan investigator carrying out research on taxcollection procedures in Guangxi reported that local government revenues weredrawn primarily from base taxes on land commodities and agricultural prod-ucts on top of which they also collected land tax surcharges business surtaxesand surtaxes on imported goods In total the investigator documented twelvetypes of national taxes being collected in Guangxi twenty types of provincialtaxes seventy-six ward office levies (qu gongsuo juan) and well over twohundred types of county surtaxes and levies19

Burgeoning military expenses in areas under warlord rule fueled the steadyrise in local taxes throughout the 1920s In Sichuans Lu County aside fromvarious imposts and surtaxes added to the base land tax warlord Yang Chunfangimposed a butchery supervisory tax a stamp tax and a wide variety of han-dling fees on all butchered meats Nine years after the imposition of suchsupplementary levies investigation revealed that no fewer than eighteen sepa-rate surtaxes were being imposed on butchered products in Lu County ac-counting for over a tenth of the purchase price of meat 20

At the provincial level regional military commanders seeking to exploitSichuans salt production capabilities imposed heavy exactions on salt at variousstages in the production process In addition numerous charges were added onto the base salt tax including a regulation fee a merchant protection fee a pricestabilization fee a village pacification fee and a waterway defense fee all inlarge part to meet rapidly escalating military expenses in the region Throughoutthe NanjingDecade salt taxes and their surtaxes comprised the main source ofSichuans tax revenue amounting to more than three times the total land taxcollected in 193821

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The abolition such local imposts which collectively came to be referred toas exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes (kejuan zashui) was a centralcomponent of the Northern Expeditions attempt to bring local areas under cen-tralized GMD control in the mid- to late 1920s Propagandists of the NationalRevolutionary Army issued incendiary diatribes against regional military com-manders and their taxation practices regularly portraying local imposts associ-ated with land and salt taxes as the overt attempts of various warlords at self-engrossment Warlords forceful suppression of tax protests only added fuel tothe fire In March 1927 GMD propagandists used Hankous Minguo ribao toappeal to the citizens of Henan to rise up against the Zhang Zuolin and ZhangZongchang regimes

Countrymen (tongbaomen) Now in China proper there are two forces oneis the force of the people the other is the toadying (jengxi) warlordforces Toadying warlords Zhang Zuolin and Zhang Zhongchang are rep-resentatives of the warlord forces Last year in Shandong [ZhangZhongchang] thought up a money-making scheme and added a levy of fiveyuan to every liang of silver on the land tax At that time Dezhou Wenshangand other counties because they had just been devastated by war and ban-ditry in reality were incapable of collecting [the levy] in full and weakly re-sisted inciting the rage of the Dog Meat General He immediately dispatchedseveral thousand troops and slaughtered more than a million of the inhabit-ants of Dezhou Wenshang and the other counties22

As the forces for national reintegration gathered increasing strength thepeasant impoverishment was blamed largely on abusive warlord administra-tions and the GMD made the abolition of such pernicious taxation practices acentral goal of their program for economic recovery

By 1927 three main sources of government revenue-the lijin23 the na-tionally imposed salt tax and the land tax and its surcharges-were widelyregarded as hotbeds (yuansu) of political corruption and bureaucratic abusein the popular mind24 GMD authorities targeted all three of these sources forabolition or reform in the early years of the Nanjing Decade However none ofthe GMD governments various attempts to revise the taxation system success-fully addressed the revenue crisis unfolding at sub-provincial levels

Prior to 1927 the lijin had provided an abundant fiscal resource for localadministrations precisely because it was virtually impossible for higher authori-ties to estimate the revenue it might generate At the same time however poorcentralized control over the collection process caused the lijin to fall prey tovarious abuses and created widespread popular disapproval Nationalist au-

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thorities viewed it as a brake on commercial growth and trade expansion andquickly undertook various attempts to eliminate the lijin in favor of more pro-gressive and standardized forms of taxation Beginning in 1928 the gradualphaseout of the lijin and sharp curtailment of salt tax collection caused wide-spread insolvancy among county governments already strapped by revenue shar-ing arrangements that vastly favored superordinate provincial administrations

In part to address the fiscal crisis already underway in the summer of1927 the First National Fiscal Affairs Conference of the new Nanjing govern-ment produced the Provisional Act to Delimit National and Local Incomes andthe National and Local Revenue Demarcation Act The new legislation autho-rized local administrations to tax farmland deeds and mortgages commercelivestock slaughtering and fisheries transportation and several other types oftransactions However provinces retained the right to negotiate revenue-shar-ing agreements with subordinate administrations and while thirteen types ofitemized expenditures were permitted for county budgets the laws did not oth-erwise regulate how provincial governments divided tax revenues with the coun-ties As a result county administrations faced dramatic rises in administrativeexpenses as the national government pushed through its program to diversifyand bur~aucratize county and sub-county organs but declining revenues due tocurtailment of the lijin and other sources of local tax monies Miscellarreoussurcharges to the land tax acreage levies (mujuan )25 and provisional imposts(tankuan or tanpai) began to climb sharply shortly thereafter26

The FinanceBureau originally sought to stem this rising tide by mandatingthat total land tax surcharges could not exceed the base land tax due in a givenyear and that the combined total could not exceed one percent of the marketvalue of the farmland taxed However there was no date set for the implemen-tation of this rule at the provincial level and provincial administrations were inany case logistically incapable of ensuring county compliance with such regula-tions27 The burden of compliance fell again to the counties where the exhorta-tions of central authorities and complaints of local taxpayers often fell on deafears As one resident ofZhejiangs Pujiang County commented

We have heard the governments [order] that surtaxes must not exceed thebase tax but the peasants laboring beneath the heaviness of various due tospecial situations and limitless temporary provisions bear surtaxes morethan three times the base Below are a list of the various and sundry heavyweights bearing down on the heads of the Pujiang peasantry 1) base tax 2)self-defense corps levy 3) education supplementary levy 4) highway levy5) airplane levy 6) ward office levy 7) pest control handling fee levy 8) tax

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collection fee levy 9) farmers bank levy 10) self-government supplemen-tary levy 11) police levy Altogether these acreage levies total one yuan andfive or six jiao per mu Aside from that one must add the pig slaughteringlevy brokerage levy business taxes and others Although these are not in-cluded in the land tax still in the end they are transferred onto the bodies ofthe peasants which grow poorer and feebler day by day 28

ENTREPRENEURIAL METHODS OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATIONS

Central government attempts to curtail the powers of local administrationsto impose and collect taxes without addressing the underlying root of the prob-lem-namely limited sources of county and sub-county revenue and simulta-neous increases in administrative and economic burdens-ultimately drove cash-starved local governments to devise new methods to circumvent central direc-tives Nanjings admonitions to lighten the peasant burden by eliminating extor-tionate levies and miscellaneous taxes were countered by a proliferation ofadministrative fees and the imposition of weighty fines on local residents Inmany cases as Bianco has noted local farmers were forced by local authoritiesto abandon subsistence production in favor of crops which yielded higher taxrevenues for county government such as opium29 Merchants and transportworkers faced stiff escalations in locally imposed tolls and tariffs which im-measurably slowed the shipment of products across county lines and fueledendemic price inflation on certain commodities

Often such revenues provided the primary source of funding for the stan-dard operating budgets of various local government organs including the sala-ries of their employees In the districts surrounding Shaanxis Wei County thesalaries of all public servants below the county level were funded either throughprovisional apportionments (linshi tanpai) land tax surcharges or surtaxes onthe sale of specific items3o In Wei County itself this included a staff of sevenward leaders (quzhang) the decimal unit leaders (lizhang) beneath them andat the bottom tier a layer of village headmen (cunzhang) or hamlet leaders(zhuangtou) who were in charge of tax and levy collection each of whomclaimed a cut of the revenue collected Those more closely involved in theactual collection process often benefited from a lower level of supervision andmanipulated the process to engross themselves One central government inves-tigator touring Shaanxi in 1933 commented

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When peasants hand over tax revenue it must go through the hands of thegrain chief (liangtou) hamlet chief(zhuangtou) security captain (jiazhang)village headman(cunzhang) township leader (xiangzhang) ward leader andothers before it finally arrives at the county government These handlersnaturally will receive some interest and this adds another layer to the burdenput on the peasants For example in Fengxiang County Wang Shaocun in1933 levied an irrigation lottery (jiangquan) for the entire village of fifty-sixyuan each security captain got just under six yuan and moreover each vil-lage leader gave each captain eight yuan The decimal unit leader ofQiu Vil-lage charged a rich household levy of two thousand yuan but only turnedover a thousand to the public [coffers] Suide County in 1931 and 1932 wasunable to remit its land taxes in the spring of 1933 the county administra-tion then took these two years of uncollected land tax and gave them to thetax contractors (baoliang ren) to collect in full and added another twentypercent as a handling fee for the contractors31

The result was an elebaorate process of graduated embezzlement thatpermitted the most egregious abuses to occur at the lowest levels of officialdomAs rural villagers in Sichuan ruefully noted Serving as a ranked official (guan)is not as good as being a grain inspector and being a grain inspector isnt evenas good as being a granary watchman32 The process of land tax collectionproved so lucrative in Jiangsu s Changshu County that local government postsfor tax dunning clerks were monopolistically controlled as a type offamily prop-erty which could be bought and sold or passed down from generation to gen-eration The price for such a position could range anywhere from two or threehundred yuan up to a thousand yuan or more33

Such practices while publically condemned by central authorities werelargely driven by the GMDs broad mandate to modernize the countryside Re-forms pursued by the Nanjing leadership required the mobilization of local-levelresources for their realization and the logistics of financing such operationswere most often left to the discretion of lower levels of government

For example in 1928 administrators in Nanjing exhorted local GMD partybranches to organize the rural population into baojia units for self-defense yetdelineated no particular sources of funding for this task Local practices variedwidely but central investigators in Henans Hui County noted that the first ar-ticle of the county baojia handbook stated that each unit was permitted tocollect a fee based upon one percent of the total harvest of all farmland culti-vated within its dominion at current market prices In practice county baojiachiefs collected operating fees of nine yuan per month throughout the yearrequiring the services of both an accountant and a tax collector to manage In

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nearby Deng and Nanzhao counties baojia expenses were calculated on thesay-so of the chief sometimes totaling over a hundred yuan a month and re-quiring so much labor to collect and manage that an investigator commentedthat the entire operation rivaled that of a ward office in size and scope34 Astudy of rural Hebei police found that all of the thirteen counties studied reliedupon forcibly-collected levies for their salaries equipment purchases and oper-ating budgets In at least one of these counties the police force numbered closeto a thousand men but the designated police force acreage levy was only enoughto outfit a hundred the revenue to support and train the remaining officers wasobtained through tax collection procedures of dubious legality35

Local governments during the early Nanjing Decade were thus caught ina vicious cycle the expansion of state agencies at county and sub-county levelscreated a continuing need for miscellaneous fees and levies in order to fundtheir administrative expenses yet the proliferation offees and surtaxes particu-larly on commercial transactions required an increasing number of tax officesand agents to administer Prior to 1934 when the Second Conference on Finan-cial Affairs unified local tax collection offices revenues were collected by awide variety of legal extra-legal and illegal agents often competing with oneanother for shares of increasingly scarce resources

For example a report on tax collection procedures in Zhejiangs YongjiaCounty noted that while the County Audit Bureau did manage some fees andlevies education levies were handled by county education authorities publicsecurity fees by the County Public Security Bureau (gonganju) insect man-agement and control fees by the County Insect Management Control Officeand local militia taxes (baowei mujuan) by the financial manager of the localmilitia other public debt and interest charges were collected by local publicfinance and public property committees according to their own needs and us-ing their own methods The only attempt county administrators made to controlthis process was to request that each office collecting public funds submit amonthly account to the county government and agree in principle to submit tothe investigatory procedures of the county circuit courtS36

The decentralized nature of the system virtually invited abuse Enterpris-ing citizens seeking to augment their incomes often banded together to formbogus state agencies that provided no services but collected a specific type oflevy37For example in 1934 the Henan Provincial Bureau of Finance (caizhengling) received a petition from the Shenxu Business Association asking it toinvestigate the activities of Li Zefen an accused evil gentry in YanchengCounty The associations chairman attested that Li forced the closing of the

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county cooperative society (hezuoshe) on his own authority and in its placeopened up a Progressive Association (gaijin hui) Declaring himself presi-dent of the new association Li began levying special fees against local busi-nesses and ultimately collected over 10000 yuan which he promptly pocketedCentral government investigators found no evidence that Li s Progressive As-sociation performed any community services in return38

With the 1928 curtailment of the lijin and increasing central control oversurcharges on the salt and land taxes county and sub-county administratorsbecame increasingly creative in their search for new sources of revenue Inmany locations the abolition of the lijin was followed by a surge in the numberof toll booths and toll collection sites provinces counties and even wards begancharging and collecting export duties and tariffs along major roads and water-ways In December 1933 one packet of sugar transported by boat from Zigongto Chongqing was subject to no fewer than twenty separate tariffs levies andfees in nine counties along the way ratcheting up the price by a total of overtwelve yuan39 A cargo of sundry goods transported 820 Ii from Chongqing toChengdu along minor waterways incurred one hundred yuans worth of leviesand duties encountering a tax or toll collection office on average every ten li40

Along the roadways the situation was no better county special levies officesdispatched squads of assessors (kayuan) to major checkpoints and truck stopsto collect tariffs and customs duties on goods in transit In Shaanxi such asses-sors often harassed and intimidated farmers on their way to and from markettowns arbitrarily levying tariff duties and charging road buying money (mailuqian) to anyone transporting goods41

Many county administrations and their subordinate offices sought to in-crease revenue from yet another source largely unregulated by the central gov-ernment fees and fines charged for violations of law either real or manufac-tured Opium addicts proved particularly vulnerable to such ploys In 1935Hebeis Yanshan County manager He Xiaoyi was accused of co lluding with thechief of the county public security forces (gongandui) to collect sums rangingfrom 50 to 830 yuan in fees from local opium addicts in exchange for promisesthat they could avoid arrest42 Similarly a village chiefin Hebeis Julu Countycomplained that the county Opium Suppression Office periodically demandedthat each village turn over a set monthly quota of opium addicts as part of analleged crackdown on local opium consumption Those who were rounded upwere almost invariably not drug users but nonetheless had to pay hundreds ofyuan in fines to secure their release43 The department chief of the Special TaxOffice (teshuiju juzhang) in Henans Hui County habituaHy carried a small

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cache of opium with him to plant on innocent residents whenever the opportu-nity arose he would then accuse his hapless victims of drug possession andforce them to pay heavy fines or face arrest and imprisonment 44The enterpris-ing county administrators in Shaanxi s lia County opened a local bank churningout loans with three month intervals at 25 percent interest Most of the loansmade by the bank in 1933 went either to tenant farmers who could not pay theirrent or taxes on time or to local opium addicts in need of a quick fix45

Rural villages staggered under such exactions with even the most ordi-nary transactions plagued by levies Livestock taxes proliferated until authori-ties could collect a toll at each particular stage of a farm animals life once theanimal was slaughtered individual parts of the animal could also be separatelytaxed In Zhejiangs Ruian County for example no fewer than seven levieswere collected on swine alone including a pig tax a piglet tax a suckling pig taxa sow tax a live pig tax a boar bristle tax and a hog tax among others innearby Chongde County aside from a sheep levy which was presumably im-posed on live sheep the county also collected a sheep-shearing levy a woollevy and a sheepskin levy Other Zhejiang counties and townships routinelyimposed taxes on wild game leather pork mutton and all manner of poultry andtheir eggs46At times the tax burden outweighed the benefits of even the sim-plesttransactions One farmer in Hebeis lulu County complained in 1935

The livestock sales tax is so heavy now that we cant even afford to pay itWhether you are selling or buying you have to pay tax on half of the waterbuffalos price In the spring we were still paying a twoen [sales] tax and athree tong brokerage fee on every yuan Starting in May it changed and forevery yuan we had to pay sixen of tax still three tong [brokerage fee] al-together nineen Now this old water buffalo he can be sold for thirty yuanbut Id have to pay two yuan and sevenjiao in tax and fees if I want to turnaround and spend thirty yuan for another one I have to pay another two yuanand sevenjiao Right now trading [him] in is not that important but whereis that five yuan four jiao going to come from47

POPULAR RSPONSES THE VIEW FROM BELOW

Not surprisingly aside from intensifying rural immiseration the prolifera-tion of fees taxes and levies to which residents were subjected during thisperiod led to rising social unrest and increases in various forms of collectiveaction Although Biancos caveat on the unreliability of statistical data on popu-lar protest during this period is well taken48most scholars of the Republican era

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concur that incidents of tax and rent resistance food riots and acts of banditryrose steadily through the mid-193 Os49As Perrys work has shown local secretsocieties such as the Red Spears and Big Swords frequently mobilized againstthe imposition of excessive levies and miscellaneous taxes often clashing withboth local officials and roving army troops50

Incidents of collective violence aside citizens used various methods toremonstrate against the fiscal demands of local administrations during the NanjingDecade Provincial administrations provincial and circuit court judges and theoffices of the Administrative Yuan regularly received letters of grievances fromfarmers and citizens representatives (gongmin daibiao) protesting bureau-cratic malpractice in the countryside51 In 1936 the Control Yuan received arecord number of petitions for investigation of government officials a numbernearly double that of any of the previous three years the vast majority of whichaccused county managers (xianzhang) and their underlings at the county andsub-county levels52 Viewed as a whole these records strongly suggest thatrural residents during this period organized themselves politically not merely toprotest increases in their overall tax burden but also to oppose levies and feesregarded as immoral unjust or overly intrusive Tax collection methods as wellas punishments meted out to those unable to payor in arrears were also com-mon points of contention

However one striking characteristic of popular political discourse duringthis period is the rarity with which disgruntled taxpayers criticized the centralstate Nanjing Decade protestors and petitioners alike were prompted to actionby rising exactions and endemic official malfeasance but it was the officesinstitutions and practices of local administrations which bore the brunt of theirire not the central party-state Rather rural residents seeking redress from thefiscal predation of county officials and their minions tended to see central au-thorities not as culprits or co-conspirators in the fiscal battle being waged againstthem but as potential protectors against local variants of what Thaxton andBergere have termed bureaucratic capitalists53 Thus while Bianco is prob-ably correct in asserting that peasant protestors during this period generallyviewed the state as both parasitic and alien to the social body of the village54 itis also true that many disgruntled rural residents distinguished between the moreremote but potentially benign central authorities and the far more immediate andpernicious local representatives of state power who preyed upon them Theunderlying collective image of the Nanjing Decade state in unofficial sourcesresembles a loosely organized but multi-tiered extractive machine at the locallevel with few if any links to higher levels of government Not surprisingly the

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overwhelming focus of tax protest and petitionary action during the period wasthe offices institutions and practices of local officials and their cohort

As under late imperial rule local government offices including the countyyamen and other revenue collection offices were common sites for anti-taxprotests Although acts of random and haphazard violence certainly were notrare rural residents sometimes bided their time awaiting the opportunity to strikeback at those who abused their official powers For example in the above-mentioned case of the Hui County (Henan) Special Tax Office departmentchief who apparently often planted opium on innocent taxpayers in order toblackmail them county residents waited until the convention of a sanitationmovement meeting at which point they sacked the office with such violencethat the department chief had no alternative but to flee into hiding55

Similarly in 1927 Red Spears in Shandongs Guan County surrounded thecounty seat because local officials there had raised taxes collaborated withlandlords to hasten rent collection and imposed several new levies In August1927 in nearby western Jiao County Red Spears destroyed the Nan hamletbranch office of the salt tax police (yanshui jingchadui)56 and refused to payany taxes Local Big Sword Society members joined the resisters who soonnumbered over a thousand people In October the protesters launched a sur-prise attack on the Hongshiya tax office in She Village and seized its personnelwho attempted to flee Before the army and local police suppressed the protestwell over two thousand homes had been destroyed and fifty people had died57

Popular indignation over local fiscal policy stemmed in part from the man-ner in which taxes were apportioned Not only was it common for landlordswho were legally liable for the payment of land taxes and other acreage leviesto shift the burden of tax payments onto their tenants 58 but also the proliferationof so-called shared apportionments (tanpai) and other head taxes and forcedpurchases extracted increasing revenues from the lowest strata of village soci-ety As one resident of Fuji ans Guangze County recalled

In my county under the rule of the GMD every year the taxes and levies thatwere collected included a rebellion suppression levy (kanluanjuan) a live-stock slaughter tax a conscription levy [and] a tobacco and alcohollevy The rebellion suppression levy was calculated as a supplement to thepopulation-based grain and salt decimal taxes so from every newborn infantup to every septuagenarian none could be late [in paying] The livestockslaughter tax was collected by the household regardless of whether or notyou were raising any pigs on average each household had bear the burden ofone or two pigs worth of the slaughter tax each year The tobacco and wine

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levy was also due regardless of whether or not you were in the business ofproducing or selling any and it toowascoHected by the household The con-script levy was apportioned according to the age of the draftable populationso however many potential draftees a family had thats how many pennies(fen) they paid in conscript levy59

Other burdens were similarly apportioned ranging in nature from forcedvoluntary contributions to the mandatory purchase of items controlled by gov-ernment agents In 1933 in Hebeis JuluCounty the county salt sales officesuddenly announced that contrary to previous popular practice the sale andconsumption of nitrate salt (xiao yan) was illegal but the use of crude salt (dayan) was permitted To remedy the situation the salt office ordered each vil-lage immediately to begin purchasing crude salt at the rate of three hundredjinper month or pay fines totaling the amount of the mandatory purchase (threehundred yuan) Village chiefs ordered each household to purchase a givenamount of crude salt each month whether or not they needed it for their ownuse Families were furthermore required to purchase crude salt rations even forthose family members who no longer resided in the village60

Compounding what was widely perceived to be the unjust apportionmentof the tax burden was the heavy-handed and callous manner in which taxeswere often collected In the case of acreage levies slated for county self-de-fense corps or police use tax collection was left up to the units in question insouthern Sichuan under warlord rule all county tax collection was routinelyhandled by local militia forces whose brutal intimidation and illegal confiscationof personal property ultimately led to widespread tax revolts there in 193361 Inmany areas peasants unable to pay their taxes by the specified date routinelyhad whatever salable items they owned confiscated by the collectors and weresometimes themselves arrested and imprisoned One central government inves-tigator touring rural Jiangsu in 1933 reported that in Changshu County during thetax collection season over a hundred farmers unable to pay their taxes wereimprisoned in thecountyjail 62

As Bianco noted rural residents often mobilized to protest attempts bylocal administrators to expand their tax collecting authority into previously un-regulated areas of the ruraleconomy63 For example one attempt to extend anexisting levy to cover a new category of goods led to armed conf1ict in Zhej iang sYutao County in March 1933 The residents ofShennong a hamlet in the county ssecond ward had long brewed a type of beverage in their homes for their ownconsumption using ingredients they either harvested or traded among them-selves When in early 1933 the director of the Yutao Liquor Levy Inspection

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Branch Office decided that such products were subject to the countys liquorlevy Shennong residents refused to pay and several were arrested As theyawaited trial more than a thousand of their fellow villagers marched on thecounty seat and demanded an end to harassment by county tax collectors abo-lition of the county liquor levy and immediate release of the arrested villagersOnce the group had massed at the gates of the county seat forces sent by thecounty manager permitted only five representatives inside to meet with offi-cials When the representatives reported back to the crowd that county admin-istrators maintained (falsely) that the liquor levy was a national tax over whichthey had no control the crowd became enraged and pressed toward the gatesThe troops then opened fire killing one and injuring two others64

As the Shennong protest demonstrates petitions personal accounts andpress reports from this period strongly suggest that the GMD state was notpopularly conceived as a single unified actor Even after the establishment ofthe Nanjing regime in 1927 unofficial discourse made clear distinctions be-tween central and local authorities and while the rhetoric of most anti-tax pro-tests was vehemently anti-state in nature for the most part agents and sub-county agents of the bureaucracy were perceived to be rural taxpayers pri-mary antagonists As one person commented in 1938 we are all aware thatChinas political system is weighty at the head and light at the feet the organiza-tion of the central administration is flawless those of the provincial administra-tions are okay (hai keyi) but the county administrations fall seriously short(chae yuan)65

Despite the fact that it was primarily after the establishment of the GMDregime in 1927 that exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes began to multi-ply most vigorously in the countryside overt critiques of the central governmentin rural protest were relatively rare and many of these can be traced specifi-cally to the involvement of Communist organizers For example in 1931 theAnhui provincial government under Chen Diaoyuan imposed a supplementaryshipped rice inspection levy decimal tax (jujia chuanyun mizhao juan lijin)and other assorted fees on rice transported along the Huai River Several weekslater following a confrontation between protesting boat people (chuanmin)and local authorities large-scale demonstrations against Chen and the rice in-spection levy erupted in Bangbu involving representatives of over fifty differentworkers and merchants associations in northern Anhui Communist YouthLeague activists from local middle schools organized over two thousand stu-dents to march to join the other demonstrators at the local parade grounds andattempted to lead the crowd in chanting similar slogans However when the

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Communist organizers in the crowd began chanting Defeat the Guomindangreactionaries a melee broke out and the activists barely escaped with theirlives The issue was later settled following a series of formal appeals to thecentral government66

By and large rural residents engaging in anti-tax resistance viewed thecentral government as an ally in their struggles against the incessant demandsof entrepreneurial local administrations and their agents In June of 1934 whenresidents of Hutubi County in Xinj iang could no longer tolerate the corruptionand extortion of two successive county managers the village headman (xiangyue)and a group of villagers secretly gathered to discuss the problem At the meet-ing one local herdsman later recalled he argued that the central governmenthad repeatedly stressed its determination severely to punish corrupt officialsand their venal underlings and should be taken at its word

These two county managers have engaged in various audacious and cor-rupt perversions of the law extorted the people and openly violated the newgovernments policies If someone would go to the procuracy in the countyseat to make a report the [central] government could not ignore it 67

The herdsman ultimately penned such a letter on behalf of his fellow citizensOne copy reached the Control Yuan which turned the petition over to the pro-vincial government for investigation and the county manager in question waslater executed for his crimes68

In other cases frustrated rural taxpayers sought redress from central au-thorities outside of the formal procedures of appeal and due process One Ad-ministrative Yuan investigator had just concluded his interview with a Shaanxivillage headman and had taken his leave when he was mutely accosted by aresident in the street The villager threw himself on the ground beseechinglyand thrust into his hands a paper which read

According to the order of the county government the balance due from landtaxes from 1920 1921 and 1922 must be raised from household surplus grainimmediately post haste Accordingly the villager Yuan Zuorong is to remitfive dollars (dayang yuan) someone will be dispatched immediately and itwill be turned over to the county as this is absolutely a matter of great im-portance Hereby submitted to Yuan Zuorong

Other village residents quickly gathered around and explained to the investiga-tor that the sum in question was in fact not being collected by the county gov-ernment but instead by the village headman he had just interviewed who the

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villagers alleged was trading on his authority as an agent of the county govern-ment in order to enrich himself69

Such agents were generally conceived of and described in local sources inanimalistic terms as predators who fed rapaciously on the peasants livelihoodin marked contrast to their role as father-mother officials (fumu guan) whoseduty it was to nourish and care for those under their jurisdiction 70Entrepre-neurial agents were commonly referred to as man-eating tigers or even blood-sucking vampires who treated rural villagers as if they were [merely] meatand fish [to be consumed] (yurou xiangmin) or trampled upon them likegrass (caojian renming) One group of Guangzhous Nanhai County resi-dents in 1921 posted a particularly graphic notice to protest the unendurableexactions of the local bullies who staffed their county administration avowingthat the predators had first stripped away our hair and skin and then cut awayour flesh and when our meat is exhausted they will whittle away our bones7lBrokerage licenses to collect commercial taxes or even county authorization tocollect any type of revenue at all were purportedly referred to as choice cutsof meat (feirou) that officials brokers and local notables would squabble overwith each striving to select the richest bit of fat upon which to feast 72

Particularly brazen officials were purported to have used such languagepublicly themselves in Guangxis remote Sanjiang County Han officials at thesub-county levels were said to have derisively referred to their extortive taxcollection tactics in one minority village as eating sprouts (chi miaozi) a playon the homophone for the Miao people who resided in thearea73 Even ControlYuan inspectors when submitting their reports to their superiors or filing legalsummaries of disciplinary action commonly referred to excessive and illegaltaxation methods as sucking down the fat of the people (xiaxi mingu) andperverting the law to fatten themselves (wanfa zifei)74

As the Nanjing Decade drew to a close central government officials ap-peared to be enjoying greater successes in handling the problem of burdensomelocal taxation In June 1931 the Commission of Disciplinary Action againstPublic Servants (Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjie weiyuanhui) was foundedunder the auspices of the Judicial Yuan a body which evaluated cases of ad-ministrative abuses on materials prepared by Control Yuan officials police of-ficers colleagues of the official concerned and the testimony of the accusedHowever because the Disciplinary Commission often considered the findingsof ordinary courts against civil servants in assessing punishment there wasoften a substantial lag between the filing of a case and a legal judgment againsta public servant accused of wrongdoing In 1937 a temporary decree granted

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the Control Yuan the power of rectification which greatly facilitated the pro-cess of disciplining civil officials7s However with the Japanese invasion ofnorthern China later that year the onerous burden of escalating military ex-penses forced the GMD to reverse many of its local tax and levy reductionpolicies and rural economies in particular once again felt the pinch of increasingfiscal exactions

PATTERNS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN THE REFORM DECADE

Just over fifty years later the Dengist program of decollectivization anddecentralization recreated conditions very similar to the fiscal challenges facedby local administrations during the Nanjing Decade Faced with rising expendi-ture responsibilities and revenue-sharing arrangements that vastly favoredsuperordinate levels of government county and newly-created township andvillage administrations through the 1980s and early 1990s increasingly soughtout revenue sources which were not tightly controlled by the central govern-ment or sought to shield resources from sharing with upper levels using a vari-ety of methods recreating what some have called a reform era warlordeconomy76 The need for higher revenues has been driven in large part by theincreasing expense burdens of county township and village governments whichhave assulued control over social welfare programs within their jurisdictions 77Whereas on the eve of the reform period half of all state expenditures weremade by local governluents by the period of the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1986-90) the percentage had crept up to over 60 percent 78

As during the Nanjing Decade such revenues are required largely to off-set rising administrative costs as local government organizations proliferate andbecome more specialized as well as to fund economic development projectsDespite the goal of reducing the state role in economic management adminis-trative personnel have nearly doubled under the reforms expanding 45 percentover the 1978-1990 period Such increases are at least partly due to the in-creasingly complex nature of reform period tax collection procedures whichhave required the establishment of 47000 new finance offices at the townshipleve179One village cadre recently estimated that she spent approximately sev-enty percent of her work time on tasks associated with revenue collection alone80Shaanxis remote Qingjian County with a population of 205700 people andcounty revenues of 1237 luillion yuan in 1995 employed 3710 people in gov-ernment administrative organs with each administrator requiring--on average-the remittances of fifty-five residents to support them81 One study of the 697

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individuals employed by the 41 township administrations in Sichuans Jiang anCounty discovered that while the employees base salaries averaged between60 and 80 yuan per month they also received regular subsidies benefits andperquisites that raised the actual figure to over 100 yuan per month Further-more the administrative expenses incurred by these employees including offi-cial business trips entertainment and continuing education on average addedanother 3000 yuan per employee Of these monies the study revealed fifteenpercent came from fiscal administration fees (caizheng shiye fei) thirty tothirty- five percent from retained funds (til iu) and the remaining fifty to fifty-five percent from various management fees (guanli fei) penalties or fines(fakuan) and paid service fees (youcheng fuwu fei)82

At the same time central government subsidies to local administrationshave declined markedly In Guizhou where the central government financednearly 60 percent of the provinces budgetary expenditures in the early 1980sby 1993 only 20 percent were centrally subsidized Not surprisingly the revenueshortage cut deeply into sub-provincial administrative budgets as well over thesame period the provincial administration not only ended its policy of subsidizinglocal government operations but by the early 1990s had also begun to extractrevenue from the counties in order to fund its own programs83

Caught between the cross-cutting pressures of rising expenditures anddeclining subsidies local administrators during the reform period improvised awide variety of entrepreneurial methods to increase local revenues much astheir Nanjing Decade predecessors had One method by which this was com-monly achieved was through shifting funds from budgetary (yusuannei) sourceswhich are subject to remittance to higher levels to various types of off-budgetfunds which are far less easily monitored by and not subject to sharing withhigher level authorities Off-budget revenues which include both so-calledextrabudgetary (yusuanwai) and self-raised (zichou) funds played an in-creasingly important role in local finance during the reform period From 1978 to1992 total budgetary revenue of local governments tripled but extrabudgetaryrevenues increased eleven-fold during the same period in 1978 extrabudgetaryfunds comprised only 31 percent of budgetary revenue but by 1992extrabudgetary revenue climbed to 98 percent of budgetary revenue totals84

Self-raised funds accounted for only 117 percent of total revenues availableat the township level in 1986 but rose to 20 percent of the same in 199385

The main sources of these off-budget revenues at the county and town-ship levels are various types of user fees and surcharges levied on formal taxesand public utilities including road maintenance fees education surcharges man-

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agement and planning fees and in some provinces unified levies (tongchou)collected from households by village cadres to finance a variety of social ser-vices and government projects86 In 1991 the central government authorizedthe levying of three assessments by township level cadres and the collectionof five general fees by village level cadres stipulating only that the combinedtotal not exceed five percent of the average annual income of the residents forthe previous year The three assessments included public reserve funds to beused for irrigation and afforestation work as well as the establishment of col-lective enterprises public welfare funds to provide subsidies to needy localfamilies and support local health care and administrative fees to cover cadresalaries and administrative expenses The five general fees collected at thevillage level wereto cover educational expenses family planning programswelfare payments to veterans and their families local militia training and ruralroad construction8

However with no systemic mechanism for the fiscal management of sub-county administrations in place the problem of the so-called three arbitraries(san luan)-arbitary collection of fees (luan shoufei) arbitrary levying offines (luanfakuan) and arbitrary apportionments (luan tanpai)-mushroomedin rural areas during the reform period In Hubei s Jinniu Township under thejurisdiction ofDazhi Municipality a provincial investigation into fee collection inthe township discovered that more than eighteen departments concerned withagriculture alone collected fees for more than 144 different projects from town-ship residents88 A Hubei provincial auditor investigating Suizhou and Jingmenmunicipalities found over sixty-six duplicated assessments collected from cityresidents in 199589In 1997 representatives of seventy-seven households resid-ing in Guanzi Village in Baiyangtownship in Sichuans Jiang County sued thetownship government for its collection of excessive fees and charges Some ofthe collections cited in the lawsuit included a wired broadcasting fee a tuningin fee (shoutingfei) a movie-watching fee and a mulberry grove penalty90

In a Shandong township in which the average annual income jn 1994 was1000yuan cadres in one village collected on a per capita basis a 379 yuancomprehensive planning fee a 25 yuan voluntary contribution to the roadrepair fund et 245 yuan voluntary contribution to the oil-producing crop funda total of 115yuan in fees for township office construction and road hardening70 yuan to cover the cost of excavating sand stones and earth a 10 yuan pigraising fee and a 80 yuan land leasing and sale fee In addition virtually all ofthe village residents were levied also on a per capita basis a 10 yuan fine forgrowing yellow tobacco a cash crop which local authorities maintained was

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unsuitable for cultivation in the region The combined year total of such chargesamounted to nearly 373 yuan Despite central government injunctions in 1994against such practices the following year township exactions rose to 5315yuan per resident91

Ad hoc levies and fees charged against rural enterprises by local agenciesin recent years have proven even more numerous than those lodged againstindividual taxpayers One survey of Hunan rural enterprises discovered thatover sixty different industrial administrations and organs had assessed and col-lected over one hundred types of charges from them92 a central governmentreport calculated that over 900 types of administrative fees were being col-lected on private enterprises on top of which local administrations were alsocollecting more than 1000 types of fees and funds93 In Zhejiang one-third oflocal government revenues for 1989 were traced back to the fees and sur-charges levied against rural enterprises94 That same year ajoint Chinese Acad-emy of Social Sciences (CASS) and World Bank study team surveyed the stateof the rural economy and concluded that excessive demands levied against ruralindustries by local governments were commonplace Citing the case of a firm inJiangxis Shangrao County that had been taxed more by local administratorsthan it had earned in profits the World BankCASS investigators noted thatwhat they termed fiscal predation was acting as a powerful brake on thedevelopment of the rural economy95 As one refrain now popular among themanagers of rural enterprises puts it Of heaven and earth we have no fearonly of entrepreneurial government drawing near96

Fees fines and tolls have also once again become a lucrative source oflocal government revenues and are collected by a wide variety of agents for avariety of reasons In some remote Jiangxi villages in 1996 elderly residentswere fined 5yuan for spitting on the sidewalk any attempt to argue against thepunishment was countered with the addition of an attitude penalty (taidufakuan) of 10 yuan The presence of a common housefly on the premises of arestaurant in those same villages could result in a 50 yuan fine for the owner Inat least one case officials from a local Sanitation and Epidemic PreventionStation descended upon a newly opened establishment with armed with fly-swatters and levied a separate 50 yuan fine for each housefly killed on thepremises causing the owner to shut down the restaurant that same day97 Incertain counties in Sichuan farmers can be fined by local governments forfailing to meet production targets set for the local development of supplemen-tary agricultural goods98 Local groups have also resurrected the Republicanera practice of erecting toll booths and checkpoints on highways in 1995 pro-

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

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was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 37

local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 39

53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 41

108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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In Fujians Taining County for example county managers during the earlyyears of the republic occasionally adjusted land tax rates on various pretextsretaining the additional revenue for county use or created surtaxes on remit-tances collected for higher levels In the early 1920s when provincial officalstagged several surcharges to the national salt tax to pad the provincial budgetthree prefectural administrations and the Taining county government all fol-lowed suit each creating an additional surtax Not surprisingly by 1924 theamount of the surcharges collected actually surpassed the base salt tax in TainingCounty levies were also tagged onto livestock taxes butchery taxes the sale ofluxury goods tobacco and liquor and fertilizer in addition local residents wererequired to pay monthly residence levies and rice and dry goods transportationfees IS

In 1933 an Administrative Yuan investigator carrying out research on taxcollection procedures in Guangxi reported that local government revenues weredrawn primarily from base taxes on land commodities and agricultural prod-ucts on top of which they also collected land tax surcharges business surtaxesand surtaxes on imported goods In total the investigator documented twelvetypes of national taxes being collected in Guangxi twenty types of provincialtaxes seventy-six ward office levies (qu gongsuo juan) and well over twohundred types of county surtaxes and levies19

Burgeoning military expenses in areas under warlord rule fueled the steadyrise in local taxes throughout the 1920s In Sichuans Lu County aside fromvarious imposts and surtaxes added to the base land tax warlord Yang Chunfangimposed a butchery supervisory tax a stamp tax and a wide variety of han-dling fees on all butchered meats Nine years after the imposition of suchsupplementary levies investigation revealed that no fewer than eighteen sepa-rate surtaxes were being imposed on butchered products in Lu County ac-counting for over a tenth of the purchase price of meat 20

At the provincial level regional military commanders seeking to exploitSichuans salt production capabilities imposed heavy exactions on salt at variousstages in the production process In addition numerous charges were added onto the base salt tax including a regulation fee a merchant protection fee a pricestabilization fee a village pacification fee and a waterway defense fee all inlarge part to meet rapidly escalating military expenses in the region Throughoutthe NanjingDecade salt taxes and their surtaxes comprised the main source ofSichuans tax revenue amounting to more than three times the total land taxcollected in 193821

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The abolition such local imposts which collectively came to be referred toas exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes (kejuan zashui) was a centralcomponent of the Northern Expeditions attempt to bring local areas under cen-tralized GMD control in the mid- to late 1920s Propagandists of the NationalRevolutionary Army issued incendiary diatribes against regional military com-manders and their taxation practices regularly portraying local imposts associ-ated with land and salt taxes as the overt attempts of various warlords at self-engrossment Warlords forceful suppression of tax protests only added fuel tothe fire In March 1927 GMD propagandists used Hankous Minguo ribao toappeal to the citizens of Henan to rise up against the Zhang Zuolin and ZhangZongchang regimes

Countrymen (tongbaomen) Now in China proper there are two forces oneis the force of the people the other is the toadying (jengxi) warlordforces Toadying warlords Zhang Zuolin and Zhang Zhongchang are rep-resentatives of the warlord forces Last year in Shandong [ZhangZhongchang] thought up a money-making scheme and added a levy of fiveyuan to every liang of silver on the land tax At that time Dezhou Wenshangand other counties because they had just been devastated by war and ban-ditry in reality were incapable of collecting [the levy] in full and weakly re-sisted inciting the rage of the Dog Meat General He immediately dispatchedseveral thousand troops and slaughtered more than a million of the inhabit-ants of Dezhou Wenshang and the other counties22

As the forces for national reintegration gathered increasing strength thepeasant impoverishment was blamed largely on abusive warlord administra-tions and the GMD made the abolition of such pernicious taxation practices acentral goal of their program for economic recovery

By 1927 three main sources of government revenue-the lijin23 the na-tionally imposed salt tax and the land tax and its surcharges-were widelyregarded as hotbeds (yuansu) of political corruption and bureaucratic abusein the popular mind24 GMD authorities targeted all three of these sources forabolition or reform in the early years of the Nanjing Decade However none ofthe GMD governments various attempts to revise the taxation system success-fully addressed the revenue crisis unfolding at sub-provincial levels

Prior to 1927 the lijin had provided an abundant fiscal resource for localadministrations precisely because it was virtually impossible for higher authori-ties to estimate the revenue it might generate At the same time however poorcentralized control over the collection process caused the lijin to fall prey tovarious abuses and created widespread popular disapproval Nationalist au-

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thorities viewed it as a brake on commercial growth and trade expansion andquickly undertook various attempts to eliminate the lijin in favor of more pro-gressive and standardized forms of taxation Beginning in 1928 the gradualphaseout of the lijin and sharp curtailment of salt tax collection caused wide-spread insolvancy among county governments already strapped by revenue shar-ing arrangements that vastly favored superordinate provincial administrations

In part to address the fiscal crisis already underway in the summer of1927 the First National Fiscal Affairs Conference of the new Nanjing govern-ment produced the Provisional Act to Delimit National and Local Incomes andthe National and Local Revenue Demarcation Act The new legislation autho-rized local administrations to tax farmland deeds and mortgages commercelivestock slaughtering and fisheries transportation and several other types oftransactions However provinces retained the right to negotiate revenue-shar-ing agreements with subordinate administrations and while thirteen types ofitemized expenditures were permitted for county budgets the laws did not oth-erwise regulate how provincial governments divided tax revenues with the coun-ties As a result county administrations faced dramatic rises in administrativeexpenses as the national government pushed through its program to diversifyand bur~aucratize county and sub-county organs but declining revenues due tocurtailment of the lijin and other sources of local tax monies Miscellarreoussurcharges to the land tax acreage levies (mujuan )25 and provisional imposts(tankuan or tanpai) began to climb sharply shortly thereafter26

The FinanceBureau originally sought to stem this rising tide by mandatingthat total land tax surcharges could not exceed the base land tax due in a givenyear and that the combined total could not exceed one percent of the marketvalue of the farmland taxed However there was no date set for the implemen-tation of this rule at the provincial level and provincial administrations were inany case logistically incapable of ensuring county compliance with such regula-tions27 The burden of compliance fell again to the counties where the exhorta-tions of central authorities and complaints of local taxpayers often fell on deafears As one resident ofZhejiangs Pujiang County commented

We have heard the governments [order] that surtaxes must not exceed thebase tax but the peasants laboring beneath the heaviness of various due tospecial situations and limitless temporary provisions bear surtaxes morethan three times the base Below are a list of the various and sundry heavyweights bearing down on the heads of the Pujiang peasantry 1) base tax 2)self-defense corps levy 3) education supplementary levy 4) highway levy5) airplane levy 6) ward office levy 7) pest control handling fee levy 8) tax

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collection fee levy 9) farmers bank levy 10) self-government supplemen-tary levy 11) police levy Altogether these acreage levies total one yuan andfive or six jiao per mu Aside from that one must add the pig slaughteringlevy brokerage levy business taxes and others Although these are not in-cluded in the land tax still in the end they are transferred onto the bodies ofthe peasants which grow poorer and feebler day by day 28

ENTREPRENEURIAL METHODS OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATIONS

Central government attempts to curtail the powers of local administrationsto impose and collect taxes without addressing the underlying root of the prob-lem-namely limited sources of county and sub-county revenue and simulta-neous increases in administrative and economic burdens-ultimately drove cash-starved local governments to devise new methods to circumvent central direc-tives Nanjings admonitions to lighten the peasant burden by eliminating extor-tionate levies and miscellaneous taxes were countered by a proliferation ofadministrative fees and the imposition of weighty fines on local residents Inmany cases as Bianco has noted local farmers were forced by local authoritiesto abandon subsistence production in favor of crops which yielded higher taxrevenues for county government such as opium29 Merchants and transportworkers faced stiff escalations in locally imposed tolls and tariffs which im-measurably slowed the shipment of products across county lines and fueledendemic price inflation on certain commodities

Often such revenues provided the primary source of funding for the stan-dard operating budgets of various local government organs including the sala-ries of their employees In the districts surrounding Shaanxis Wei County thesalaries of all public servants below the county level were funded either throughprovisional apportionments (linshi tanpai) land tax surcharges or surtaxes onthe sale of specific items3o In Wei County itself this included a staff of sevenward leaders (quzhang) the decimal unit leaders (lizhang) beneath them andat the bottom tier a layer of village headmen (cunzhang) or hamlet leaders(zhuangtou) who were in charge of tax and levy collection each of whomclaimed a cut of the revenue collected Those more closely involved in theactual collection process often benefited from a lower level of supervision andmanipulated the process to engross themselves One central government inves-tigator touring Shaanxi in 1933 commented

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When peasants hand over tax revenue it must go through the hands of thegrain chief (liangtou) hamlet chief(zhuangtou) security captain (jiazhang)village headman(cunzhang) township leader (xiangzhang) ward leader andothers before it finally arrives at the county government These handlersnaturally will receive some interest and this adds another layer to the burdenput on the peasants For example in Fengxiang County Wang Shaocun in1933 levied an irrigation lottery (jiangquan) for the entire village of fifty-sixyuan each security captain got just under six yuan and moreover each vil-lage leader gave each captain eight yuan The decimal unit leader ofQiu Vil-lage charged a rich household levy of two thousand yuan but only turnedover a thousand to the public [coffers] Suide County in 1931 and 1932 wasunable to remit its land taxes in the spring of 1933 the county administra-tion then took these two years of uncollected land tax and gave them to thetax contractors (baoliang ren) to collect in full and added another twentypercent as a handling fee for the contractors31

The result was an elebaorate process of graduated embezzlement thatpermitted the most egregious abuses to occur at the lowest levels of officialdomAs rural villagers in Sichuan ruefully noted Serving as a ranked official (guan)is not as good as being a grain inspector and being a grain inspector isnt evenas good as being a granary watchman32 The process of land tax collectionproved so lucrative in Jiangsu s Changshu County that local government postsfor tax dunning clerks were monopolistically controlled as a type offamily prop-erty which could be bought and sold or passed down from generation to gen-eration The price for such a position could range anywhere from two or threehundred yuan up to a thousand yuan or more33

Such practices while publically condemned by central authorities werelargely driven by the GMDs broad mandate to modernize the countryside Re-forms pursued by the Nanjing leadership required the mobilization of local-levelresources for their realization and the logistics of financing such operationswere most often left to the discretion of lower levels of government

For example in 1928 administrators in Nanjing exhorted local GMD partybranches to organize the rural population into baojia units for self-defense yetdelineated no particular sources of funding for this task Local practices variedwidely but central investigators in Henans Hui County noted that the first ar-ticle of the county baojia handbook stated that each unit was permitted tocollect a fee based upon one percent of the total harvest of all farmland culti-vated within its dominion at current market prices In practice county baojiachiefs collected operating fees of nine yuan per month throughout the yearrequiring the services of both an accountant and a tax collector to manage In

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nearby Deng and Nanzhao counties baojia expenses were calculated on thesay-so of the chief sometimes totaling over a hundred yuan a month and re-quiring so much labor to collect and manage that an investigator commentedthat the entire operation rivaled that of a ward office in size and scope34 Astudy of rural Hebei police found that all of the thirteen counties studied reliedupon forcibly-collected levies for their salaries equipment purchases and oper-ating budgets In at least one of these counties the police force numbered closeto a thousand men but the designated police force acreage levy was only enoughto outfit a hundred the revenue to support and train the remaining officers wasobtained through tax collection procedures of dubious legality35

Local governments during the early Nanjing Decade were thus caught ina vicious cycle the expansion of state agencies at county and sub-county levelscreated a continuing need for miscellaneous fees and levies in order to fundtheir administrative expenses yet the proliferation offees and surtaxes particu-larly on commercial transactions required an increasing number of tax officesand agents to administer Prior to 1934 when the Second Conference on Finan-cial Affairs unified local tax collection offices revenues were collected by awide variety of legal extra-legal and illegal agents often competing with oneanother for shares of increasingly scarce resources

For example a report on tax collection procedures in Zhejiangs YongjiaCounty noted that while the County Audit Bureau did manage some fees andlevies education levies were handled by county education authorities publicsecurity fees by the County Public Security Bureau (gonganju) insect man-agement and control fees by the County Insect Management Control Officeand local militia taxes (baowei mujuan) by the financial manager of the localmilitia other public debt and interest charges were collected by local publicfinance and public property committees according to their own needs and us-ing their own methods The only attempt county administrators made to controlthis process was to request that each office collecting public funds submit amonthly account to the county government and agree in principle to submit tothe investigatory procedures of the county circuit courtS36

The decentralized nature of the system virtually invited abuse Enterpris-ing citizens seeking to augment their incomes often banded together to formbogus state agencies that provided no services but collected a specific type oflevy37For example in 1934 the Henan Provincial Bureau of Finance (caizhengling) received a petition from the Shenxu Business Association asking it toinvestigate the activities of Li Zefen an accused evil gentry in YanchengCounty The associations chairman attested that Li forced the closing of the

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county cooperative society (hezuoshe) on his own authority and in its placeopened up a Progressive Association (gaijin hui) Declaring himself presi-dent of the new association Li began levying special fees against local busi-nesses and ultimately collected over 10000 yuan which he promptly pocketedCentral government investigators found no evidence that Li s Progressive As-sociation performed any community services in return38

With the 1928 curtailment of the lijin and increasing central control oversurcharges on the salt and land taxes county and sub-county administratorsbecame increasingly creative in their search for new sources of revenue Inmany locations the abolition of the lijin was followed by a surge in the numberof toll booths and toll collection sites provinces counties and even wards begancharging and collecting export duties and tariffs along major roads and water-ways In December 1933 one packet of sugar transported by boat from Zigongto Chongqing was subject to no fewer than twenty separate tariffs levies andfees in nine counties along the way ratcheting up the price by a total of overtwelve yuan39 A cargo of sundry goods transported 820 Ii from Chongqing toChengdu along minor waterways incurred one hundred yuans worth of leviesand duties encountering a tax or toll collection office on average every ten li40

Along the roadways the situation was no better county special levies officesdispatched squads of assessors (kayuan) to major checkpoints and truck stopsto collect tariffs and customs duties on goods in transit In Shaanxi such asses-sors often harassed and intimidated farmers on their way to and from markettowns arbitrarily levying tariff duties and charging road buying money (mailuqian) to anyone transporting goods41

Many county administrations and their subordinate offices sought to in-crease revenue from yet another source largely unregulated by the central gov-ernment fees and fines charged for violations of law either real or manufac-tured Opium addicts proved particularly vulnerable to such ploys In 1935Hebeis Yanshan County manager He Xiaoyi was accused of co lluding with thechief of the county public security forces (gongandui) to collect sums rangingfrom 50 to 830 yuan in fees from local opium addicts in exchange for promisesthat they could avoid arrest42 Similarly a village chiefin Hebeis Julu Countycomplained that the county Opium Suppression Office periodically demandedthat each village turn over a set monthly quota of opium addicts as part of analleged crackdown on local opium consumption Those who were rounded upwere almost invariably not drug users but nonetheless had to pay hundreds ofyuan in fines to secure their release43 The department chief of the Special TaxOffice (teshuiju juzhang) in Henans Hui County habituaHy carried a small

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cache of opium with him to plant on innocent residents whenever the opportu-nity arose he would then accuse his hapless victims of drug possession andforce them to pay heavy fines or face arrest and imprisonment 44The enterpris-ing county administrators in Shaanxi s lia County opened a local bank churningout loans with three month intervals at 25 percent interest Most of the loansmade by the bank in 1933 went either to tenant farmers who could not pay theirrent or taxes on time or to local opium addicts in need of a quick fix45

Rural villages staggered under such exactions with even the most ordi-nary transactions plagued by levies Livestock taxes proliferated until authori-ties could collect a toll at each particular stage of a farm animals life once theanimal was slaughtered individual parts of the animal could also be separatelytaxed In Zhejiangs Ruian County for example no fewer than seven levieswere collected on swine alone including a pig tax a piglet tax a suckling pig taxa sow tax a live pig tax a boar bristle tax and a hog tax among others innearby Chongde County aside from a sheep levy which was presumably im-posed on live sheep the county also collected a sheep-shearing levy a woollevy and a sheepskin levy Other Zhejiang counties and townships routinelyimposed taxes on wild game leather pork mutton and all manner of poultry andtheir eggs46At times the tax burden outweighed the benefits of even the sim-plesttransactions One farmer in Hebeis lulu County complained in 1935

The livestock sales tax is so heavy now that we cant even afford to pay itWhether you are selling or buying you have to pay tax on half of the waterbuffalos price In the spring we were still paying a twoen [sales] tax and athree tong brokerage fee on every yuan Starting in May it changed and forevery yuan we had to pay sixen of tax still three tong [brokerage fee] al-together nineen Now this old water buffalo he can be sold for thirty yuanbut Id have to pay two yuan and sevenjiao in tax and fees if I want to turnaround and spend thirty yuan for another one I have to pay another two yuanand sevenjiao Right now trading [him] in is not that important but whereis that five yuan four jiao going to come from47

POPULAR RSPONSES THE VIEW FROM BELOW

Not surprisingly aside from intensifying rural immiseration the prolifera-tion of fees taxes and levies to which residents were subjected during thisperiod led to rising social unrest and increases in various forms of collectiveaction Although Biancos caveat on the unreliability of statistical data on popu-lar protest during this period is well taken48most scholars of the Republican era

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concur that incidents of tax and rent resistance food riots and acts of banditryrose steadily through the mid-193 Os49As Perrys work has shown local secretsocieties such as the Red Spears and Big Swords frequently mobilized againstthe imposition of excessive levies and miscellaneous taxes often clashing withboth local officials and roving army troops50

Incidents of collective violence aside citizens used various methods toremonstrate against the fiscal demands of local administrations during the NanjingDecade Provincial administrations provincial and circuit court judges and theoffices of the Administrative Yuan regularly received letters of grievances fromfarmers and citizens representatives (gongmin daibiao) protesting bureau-cratic malpractice in the countryside51 In 1936 the Control Yuan received arecord number of petitions for investigation of government officials a numbernearly double that of any of the previous three years the vast majority of whichaccused county managers (xianzhang) and their underlings at the county andsub-county levels52 Viewed as a whole these records strongly suggest thatrural residents during this period organized themselves politically not merely toprotest increases in their overall tax burden but also to oppose levies and feesregarded as immoral unjust or overly intrusive Tax collection methods as wellas punishments meted out to those unable to payor in arrears were also com-mon points of contention

However one striking characteristic of popular political discourse duringthis period is the rarity with which disgruntled taxpayers criticized the centralstate Nanjing Decade protestors and petitioners alike were prompted to actionby rising exactions and endemic official malfeasance but it was the officesinstitutions and practices of local administrations which bore the brunt of theirire not the central party-state Rather rural residents seeking redress from thefiscal predation of county officials and their minions tended to see central au-thorities not as culprits or co-conspirators in the fiscal battle being waged againstthem but as potential protectors against local variants of what Thaxton andBergere have termed bureaucratic capitalists53 Thus while Bianco is prob-ably correct in asserting that peasant protestors during this period generallyviewed the state as both parasitic and alien to the social body of the village54 itis also true that many disgruntled rural residents distinguished between the moreremote but potentially benign central authorities and the far more immediate andpernicious local representatives of state power who preyed upon them Theunderlying collective image of the Nanjing Decade state in unofficial sourcesresembles a loosely organized but multi-tiered extractive machine at the locallevel with few if any links to higher levels of government Not surprisingly the

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overwhelming focus of tax protest and petitionary action during the period wasthe offices institutions and practices of local officials and their cohort

As under late imperial rule local government offices including the countyyamen and other revenue collection offices were common sites for anti-taxprotests Although acts of random and haphazard violence certainly were notrare rural residents sometimes bided their time awaiting the opportunity to strikeback at those who abused their official powers For example in the above-mentioned case of the Hui County (Henan) Special Tax Office departmentchief who apparently often planted opium on innocent taxpayers in order toblackmail them county residents waited until the convention of a sanitationmovement meeting at which point they sacked the office with such violencethat the department chief had no alternative but to flee into hiding55

Similarly in 1927 Red Spears in Shandongs Guan County surrounded thecounty seat because local officials there had raised taxes collaborated withlandlords to hasten rent collection and imposed several new levies In August1927 in nearby western Jiao County Red Spears destroyed the Nan hamletbranch office of the salt tax police (yanshui jingchadui)56 and refused to payany taxes Local Big Sword Society members joined the resisters who soonnumbered over a thousand people In October the protesters launched a sur-prise attack on the Hongshiya tax office in She Village and seized its personnelwho attempted to flee Before the army and local police suppressed the protestwell over two thousand homes had been destroyed and fifty people had died57

Popular indignation over local fiscal policy stemmed in part from the man-ner in which taxes were apportioned Not only was it common for landlordswho were legally liable for the payment of land taxes and other acreage leviesto shift the burden of tax payments onto their tenants 58 but also the proliferationof so-called shared apportionments (tanpai) and other head taxes and forcedpurchases extracted increasing revenues from the lowest strata of village soci-ety As one resident of Fuji ans Guangze County recalled

In my county under the rule of the GMD every year the taxes and levies thatwere collected included a rebellion suppression levy (kanluanjuan) a live-stock slaughter tax a conscription levy [and] a tobacco and alcohollevy The rebellion suppression levy was calculated as a supplement to thepopulation-based grain and salt decimal taxes so from every newborn infantup to every septuagenarian none could be late [in paying] The livestockslaughter tax was collected by the household regardless of whether or notyou were raising any pigs on average each household had bear the burden ofone or two pigs worth of the slaughter tax each year The tobacco and wine

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levy was also due regardless of whether or not you were in the business ofproducing or selling any and it toowascoHected by the household The con-script levy was apportioned according to the age of the draftable populationso however many potential draftees a family had thats how many pennies(fen) they paid in conscript levy59

Other burdens were similarly apportioned ranging in nature from forcedvoluntary contributions to the mandatory purchase of items controlled by gov-ernment agents In 1933 in Hebeis JuluCounty the county salt sales officesuddenly announced that contrary to previous popular practice the sale andconsumption of nitrate salt (xiao yan) was illegal but the use of crude salt (dayan) was permitted To remedy the situation the salt office ordered each vil-lage immediately to begin purchasing crude salt at the rate of three hundredjinper month or pay fines totaling the amount of the mandatory purchase (threehundred yuan) Village chiefs ordered each household to purchase a givenamount of crude salt each month whether or not they needed it for their ownuse Families were furthermore required to purchase crude salt rations even forthose family members who no longer resided in the village60

Compounding what was widely perceived to be the unjust apportionmentof the tax burden was the heavy-handed and callous manner in which taxeswere often collected In the case of acreage levies slated for county self-de-fense corps or police use tax collection was left up to the units in question insouthern Sichuan under warlord rule all county tax collection was routinelyhandled by local militia forces whose brutal intimidation and illegal confiscationof personal property ultimately led to widespread tax revolts there in 193361 Inmany areas peasants unable to pay their taxes by the specified date routinelyhad whatever salable items they owned confiscated by the collectors and weresometimes themselves arrested and imprisoned One central government inves-tigator touring rural Jiangsu in 1933 reported that in Changshu County during thetax collection season over a hundred farmers unable to pay their taxes wereimprisoned in thecountyjail 62

As Bianco noted rural residents often mobilized to protest attempts bylocal administrators to expand their tax collecting authority into previously un-regulated areas of the ruraleconomy63 For example one attempt to extend anexisting levy to cover a new category of goods led to armed conf1ict in Zhej iang sYutao County in March 1933 The residents ofShennong a hamlet in the county ssecond ward had long brewed a type of beverage in their homes for their ownconsumption using ingredients they either harvested or traded among them-selves When in early 1933 the director of the Yutao Liquor Levy Inspection

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Branch Office decided that such products were subject to the countys liquorlevy Shennong residents refused to pay and several were arrested As theyawaited trial more than a thousand of their fellow villagers marched on thecounty seat and demanded an end to harassment by county tax collectors abo-lition of the county liquor levy and immediate release of the arrested villagersOnce the group had massed at the gates of the county seat forces sent by thecounty manager permitted only five representatives inside to meet with offi-cials When the representatives reported back to the crowd that county admin-istrators maintained (falsely) that the liquor levy was a national tax over whichthey had no control the crowd became enraged and pressed toward the gatesThe troops then opened fire killing one and injuring two others64

As the Shennong protest demonstrates petitions personal accounts andpress reports from this period strongly suggest that the GMD state was notpopularly conceived as a single unified actor Even after the establishment ofthe Nanjing regime in 1927 unofficial discourse made clear distinctions be-tween central and local authorities and while the rhetoric of most anti-tax pro-tests was vehemently anti-state in nature for the most part agents and sub-county agents of the bureaucracy were perceived to be rural taxpayers pri-mary antagonists As one person commented in 1938 we are all aware thatChinas political system is weighty at the head and light at the feet the organiza-tion of the central administration is flawless those of the provincial administra-tions are okay (hai keyi) but the county administrations fall seriously short(chae yuan)65

Despite the fact that it was primarily after the establishment of the GMDregime in 1927 that exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes began to multi-ply most vigorously in the countryside overt critiques of the central governmentin rural protest were relatively rare and many of these can be traced specifi-cally to the involvement of Communist organizers For example in 1931 theAnhui provincial government under Chen Diaoyuan imposed a supplementaryshipped rice inspection levy decimal tax (jujia chuanyun mizhao juan lijin)and other assorted fees on rice transported along the Huai River Several weekslater following a confrontation between protesting boat people (chuanmin)and local authorities large-scale demonstrations against Chen and the rice in-spection levy erupted in Bangbu involving representatives of over fifty differentworkers and merchants associations in northern Anhui Communist YouthLeague activists from local middle schools organized over two thousand stu-dents to march to join the other demonstrators at the local parade grounds andattempted to lead the crowd in chanting similar slogans However when the

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Communist organizers in the crowd began chanting Defeat the Guomindangreactionaries a melee broke out and the activists barely escaped with theirlives The issue was later settled following a series of formal appeals to thecentral government66

By and large rural residents engaging in anti-tax resistance viewed thecentral government as an ally in their struggles against the incessant demandsof entrepreneurial local administrations and their agents In June of 1934 whenresidents of Hutubi County in Xinj iang could no longer tolerate the corruptionand extortion of two successive county managers the village headman (xiangyue)and a group of villagers secretly gathered to discuss the problem At the meet-ing one local herdsman later recalled he argued that the central governmenthad repeatedly stressed its determination severely to punish corrupt officialsand their venal underlings and should be taken at its word

These two county managers have engaged in various audacious and cor-rupt perversions of the law extorted the people and openly violated the newgovernments policies If someone would go to the procuracy in the countyseat to make a report the [central] government could not ignore it 67

The herdsman ultimately penned such a letter on behalf of his fellow citizensOne copy reached the Control Yuan which turned the petition over to the pro-vincial government for investigation and the county manager in question waslater executed for his crimes68

In other cases frustrated rural taxpayers sought redress from central au-thorities outside of the formal procedures of appeal and due process One Ad-ministrative Yuan investigator had just concluded his interview with a Shaanxivillage headman and had taken his leave when he was mutely accosted by aresident in the street The villager threw himself on the ground beseechinglyand thrust into his hands a paper which read

According to the order of the county government the balance due from landtaxes from 1920 1921 and 1922 must be raised from household surplus grainimmediately post haste Accordingly the villager Yuan Zuorong is to remitfive dollars (dayang yuan) someone will be dispatched immediately and itwill be turned over to the county as this is absolutely a matter of great im-portance Hereby submitted to Yuan Zuorong

Other village residents quickly gathered around and explained to the investiga-tor that the sum in question was in fact not being collected by the county gov-ernment but instead by the village headman he had just interviewed who the

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villagers alleged was trading on his authority as an agent of the county govern-ment in order to enrich himself69

Such agents were generally conceived of and described in local sources inanimalistic terms as predators who fed rapaciously on the peasants livelihoodin marked contrast to their role as father-mother officials (fumu guan) whoseduty it was to nourish and care for those under their jurisdiction 70Entrepre-neurial agents were commonly referred to as man-eating tigers or even blood-sucking vampires who treated rural villagers as if they were [merely] meatand fish [to be consumed] (yurou xiangmin) or trampled upon them likegrass (caojian renming) One group of Guangzhous Nanhai County resi-dents in 1921 posted a particularly graphic notice to protest the unendurableexactions of the local bullies who staffed their county administration avowingthat the predators had first stripped away our hair and skin and then cut awayour flesh and when our meat is exhausted they will whittle away our bones7lBrokerage licenses to collect commercial taxes or even county authorization tocollect any type of revenue at all were purportedly referred to as choice cutsof meat (feirou) that officials brokers and local notables would squabble overwith each striving to select the richest bit of fat upon which to feast 72

Particularly brazen officials were purported to have used such languagepublicly themselves in Guangxis remote Sanjiang County Han officials at thesub-county levels were said to have derisively referred to their extortive taxcollection tactics in one minority village as eating sprouts (chi miaozi) a playon the homophone for the Miao people who resided in thearea73 Even ControlYuan inspectors when submitting their reports to their superiors or filing legalsummaries of disciplinary action commonly referred to excessive and illegaltaxation methods as sucking down the fat of the people (xiaxi mingu) andperverting the law to fatten themselves (wanfa zifei)74

As the Nanjing Decade drew to a close central government officials ap-peared to be enjoying greater successes in handling the problem of burdensomelocal taxation In June 1931 the Commission of Disciplinary Action againstPublic Servants (Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjie weiyuanhui) was foundedunder the auspices of the Judicial Yuan a body which evaluated cases of ad-ministrative abuses on materials prepared by Control Yuan officials police of-ficers colleagues of the official concerned and the testimony of the accusedHowever because the Disciplinary Commission often considered the findingsof ordinary courts against civil servants in assessing punishment there wasoften a substantial lag between the filing of a case and a legal judgment againsta public servant accused of wrongdoing In 1937 a temporary decree granted

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the Control Yuan the power of rectification which greatly facilitated the pro-cess of disciplining civil officials7s However with the Japanese invasion ofnorthern China later that year the onerous burden of escalating military ex-penses forced the GMD to reverse many of its local tax and levy reductionpolicies and rural economies in particular once again felt the pinch of increasingfiscal exactions

PATTERNS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN THE REFORM DECADE

Just over fifty years later the Dengist program of decollectivization anddecentralization recreated conditions very similar to the fiscal challenges facedby local administrations during the Nanjing Decade Faced with rising expendi-ture responsibilities and revenue-sharing arrangements that vastly favoredsuperordinate levels of government county and newly-created township andvillage administrations through the 1980s and early 1990s increasingly soughtout revenue sources which were not tightly controlled by the central govern-ment or sought to shield resources from sharing with upper levels using a vari-ety of methods recreating what some have called a reform era warlordeconomy76 The need for higher revenues has been driven in large part by theincreasing expense burdens of county township and village governments whichhave assulued control over social welfare programs within their jurisdictions 77Whereas on the eve of the reform period half of all state expenditures weremade by local governluents by the period of the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1986-90) the percentage had crept up to over 60 percent 78

As during the Nanjing Decade such revenues are required largely to off-set rising administrative costs as local government organizations proliferate andbecome more specialized as well as to fund economic development projectsDespite the goal of reducing the state role in economic management adminis-trative personnel have nearly doubled under the reforms expanding 45 percentover the 1978-1990 period Such increases are at least partly due to the in-creasingly complex nature of reform period tax collection procedures whichhave required the establishment of 47000 new finance offices at the townshipleve179One village cadre recently estimated that she spent approximately sev-enty percent of her work time on tasks associated with revenue collection alone80Shaanxis remote Qingjian County with a population of 205700 people andcounty revenues of 1237 luillion yuan in 1995 employed 3710 people in gov-ernment administrative organs with each administrator requiring--on average-the remittances of fifty-five residents to support them81 One study of the 697

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individuals employed by the 41 township administrations in Sichuans Jiang anCounty discovered that while the employees base salaries averaged between60 and 80 yuan per month they also received regular subsidies benefits andperquisites that raised the actual figure to over 100 yuan per month Further-more the administrative expenses incurred by these employees including offi-cial business trips entertainment and continuing education on average addedanother 3000 yuan per employee Of these monies the study revealed fifteenpercent came from fiscal administration fees (caizheng shiye fei) thirty tothirty- five percent from retained funds (til iu) and the remaining fifty to fifty-five percent from various management fees (guanli fei) penalties or fines(fakuan) and paid service fees (youcheng fuwu fei)82

At the same time central government subsidies to local administrationshave declined markedly In Guizhou where the central government financednearly 60 percent of the provinces budgetary expenditures in the early 1980sby 1993 only 20 percent were centrally subsidized Not surprisingly the revenueshortage cut deeply into sub-provincial administrative budgets as well over thesame period the provincial administration not only ended its policy of subsidizinglocal government operations but by the early 1990s had also begun to extractrevenue from the counties in order to fund its own programs83

Caught between the cross-cutting pressures of rising expenditures anddeclining subsidies local administrators during the reform period improvised awide variety of entrepreneurial methods to increase local revenues much astheir Nanjing Decade predecessors had One method by which this was com-monly achieved was through shifting funds from budgetary (yusuannei) sourceswhich are subject to remittance to higher levels to various types of off-budgetfunds which are far less easily monitored by and not subject to sharing withhigher level authorities Off-budget revenues which include both so-calledextrabudgetary (yusuanwai) and self-raised (zichou) funds played an in-creasingly important role in local finance during the reform period From 1978 to1992 total budgetary revenue of local governments tripled but extrabudgetaryrevenues increased eleven-fold during the same period in 1978 extrabudgetaryfunds comprised only 31 percent of budgetary revenue but by 1992extrabudgetary revenue climbed to 98 percent of budgetary revenue totals84

Self-raised funds accounted for only 117 percent of total revenues availableat the township level in 1986 but rose to 20 percent of the same in 199385

The main sources of these off-budget revenues at the county and town-ship levels are various types of user fees and surcharges levied on formal taxesand public utilities including road maintenance fees education surcharges man-

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agement and planning fees and in some provinces unified levies (tongchou)collected from households by village cadres to finance a variety of social ser-vices and government projects86 In 1991 the central government authorizedthe levying of three assessments by township level cadres and the collectionof five general fees by village level cadres stipulating only that the combinedtotal not exceed five percent of the average annual income of the residents forthe previous year The three assessments included public reserve funds to beused for irrigation and afforestation work as well as the establishment of col-lective enterprises public welfare funds to provide subsidies to needy localfamilies and support local health care and administrative fees to cover cadresalaries and administrative expenses The five general fees collected at thevillage level wereto cover educational expenses family planning programswelfare payments to veterans and their families local militia training and ruralroad construction8

However with no systemic mechanism for the fiscal management of sub-county administrations in place the problem of the so-called three arbitraries(san luan)-arbitary collection of fees (luan shoufei) arbitrary levying offines (luanfakuan) and arbitrary apportionments (luan tanpai)-mushroomedin rural areas during the reform period In Hubei s Jinniu Township under thejurisdiction ofDazhi Municipality a provincial investigation into fee collection inthe township discovered that more than eighteen departments concerned withagriculture alone collected fees for more than 144 different projects from town-ship residents88 A Hubei provincial auditor investigating Suizhou and Jingmenmunicipalities found over sixty-six duplicated assessments collected from cityresidents in 199589In 1997 representatives of seventy-seven households resid-ing in Guanzi Village in Baiyangtownship in Sichuans Jiang County sued thetownship government for its collection of excessive fees and charges Some ofthe collections cited in the lawsuit included a wired broadcasting fee a tuningin fee (shoutingfei) a movie-watching fee and a mulberry grove penalty90

In a Shandong township in which the average annual income jn 1994 was1000yuan cadres in one village collected on a per capita basis a 379 yuancomprehensive planning fee a 25 yuan voluntary contribution to the roadrepair fund et 245 yuan voluntary contribution to the oil-producing crop funda total of 115yuan in fees for township office construction and road hardening70 yuan to cover the cost of excavating sand stones and earth a 10 yuan pigraising fee and a 80 yuan land leasing and sale fee In addition virtually all ofthe village residents were levied also on a per capita basis a 10 yuan fine forgrowing yellow tobacco a cash crop which local authorities maintained was

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unsuitable for cultivation in the region The combined year total of such chargesamounted to nearly 373 yuan Despite central government injunctions in 1994against such practices the following year township exactions rose to 5315yuan per resident91

Ad hoc levies and fees charged against rural enterprises by local agenciesin recent years have proven even more numerous than those lodged againstindividual taxpayers One survey of Hunan rural enterprises discovered thatover sixty different industrial administrations and organs had assessed and col-lected over one hundred types of charges from them92 a central governmentreport calculated that over 900 types of administrative fees were being col-lected on private enterprises on top of which local administrations were alsocollecting more than 1000 types of fees and funds93 In Zhejiang one-third oflocal government revenues for 1989 were traced back to the fees and sur-charges levied against rural enterprises94 That same year ajoint Chinese Acad-emy of Social Sciences (CASS) and World Bank study team surveyed the stateof the rural economy and concluded that excessive demands levied against ruralindustries by local governments were commonplace Citing the case of a firm inJiangxis Shangrao County that had been taxed more by local administratorsthan it had earned in profits the World BankCASS investigators noted thatwhat they termed fiscal predation was acting as a powerful brake on thedevelopment of the rural economy95 As one refrain now popular among themanagers of rural enterprises puts it Of heaven and earth we have no fearonly of entrepreneurial government drawing near96

Fees fines and tolls have also once again become a lucrative source oflocal government revenues and are collected by a wide variety of agents for avariety of reasons In some remote Jiangxi villages in 1996 elderly residentswere fined 5yuan for spitting on the sidewalk any attempt to argue against thepunishment was countered with the addition of an attitude penalty (taidufakuan) of 10 yuan The presence of a common housefly on the premises of arestaurant in those same villages could result in a 50 yuan fine for the owner Inat least one case officials from a local Sanitation and Epidemic PreventionStation descended upon a newly opened establishment with armed with fly-swatters and levied a separate 50 yuan fine for each housefly killed on thepremises causing the owner to shut down the restaurant that same day97 Incertain counties in Sichuan farmers can be fined by local governments forfailing to meet production targets set for the local development of supplemen-tary agricultural goods98 Local groups have also resurrected the Republicanera practice of erecting toll booths and checkpoints on highways in 1995 pro-

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

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was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 29

By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 37

local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 41

108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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The abolition such local imposts which collectively came to be referred toas exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes (kejuan zashui) was a centralcomponent of the Northern Expeditions attempt to bring local areas under cen-tralized GMD control in the mid- to late 1920s Propagandists of the NationalRevolutionary Army issued incendiary diatribes against regional military com-manders and their taxation practices regularly portraying local imposts associ-ated with land and salt taxes as the overt attempts of various warlords at self-engrossment Warlords forceful suppression of tax protests only added fuel tothe fire In March 1927 GMD propagandists used Hankous Minguo ribao toappeal to the citizens of Henan to rise up against the Zhang Zuolin and ZhangZongchang regimes

Countrymen (tongbaomen) Now in China proper there are two forces oneis the force of the people the other is the toadying (jengxi) warlordforces Toadying warlords Zhang Zuolin and Zhang Zhongchang are rep-resentatives of the warlord forces Last year in Shandong [ZhangZhongchang] thought up a money-making scheme and added a levy of fiveyuan to every liang of silver on the land tax At that time Dezhou Wenshangand other counties because they had just been devastated by war and ban-ditry in reality were incapable of collecting [the levy] in full and weakly re-sisted inciting the rage of the Dog Meat General He immediately dispatchedseveral thousand troops and slaughtered more than a million of the inhabit-ants of Dezhou Wenshang and the other counties22

As the forces for national reintegration gathered increasing strength thepeasant impoverishment was blamed largely on abusive warlord administra-tions and the GMD made the abolition of such pernicious taxation practices acentral goal of their program for economic recovery

By 1927 three main sources of government revenue-the lijin23 the na-tionally imposed salt tax and the land tax and its surcharges-were widelyregarded as hotbeds (yuansu) of political corruption and bureaucratic abusein the popular mind24 GMD authorities targeted all three of these sources forabolition or reform in the early years of the Nanjing Decade However none ofthe GMD governments various attempts to revise the taxation system success-fully addressed the revenue crisis unfolding at sub-provincial levels

Prior to 1927 the lijin had provided an abundant fiscal resource for localadministrations precisely because it was virtually impossible for higher authori-ties to estimate the revenue it might generate At the same time however poorcentralized control over the collection process caused the lijin to fall prey tovarious abuses and created widespread popular disapproval Nationalist au-

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thorities viewed it as a brake on commercial growth and trade expansion andquickly undertook various attempts to eliminate the lijin in favor of more pro-gressive and standardized forms of taxation Beginning in 1928 the gradualphaseout of the lijin and sharp curtailment of salt tax collection caused wide-spread insolvancy among county governments already strapped by revenue shar-ing arrangements that vastly favored superordinate provincial administrations

In part to address the fiscal crisis already underway in the summer of1927 the First National Fiscal Affairs Conference of the new Nanjing govern-ment produced the Provisional Act to Delimit National and Local Incomes andthe National and Local Revenue Demarcation Act The new legislation autho-rized local administrations to tax farmland deeds and mortgages commercelivestock slaughtering and fisheries transportation and several other types oftransactions However provinces retained the right to negotiate revenue-shar-ing agreements with subordinate administrations and while thirteen types ofitemized expenditures were permitted for county budgets the laws did not oth-erwise regulate how provincial governments divided tax revenues with the coun-ties As a result county administrations faced dramatic rises in administrativeexpenses as the national government pushed through its program to diversifyand bur~aucratize county and sub-county organs but declining revenues due tocurtailment of the lijin and other sources of local tax monies Miscellarreoussurcharges to the land tax acreage levies (mujuan )25 and provisional imposts(tankuan or tanpai) began to climb sharply shortly thereafter26

The FinanceBureau originally sought to stem this rising tide by mandatingthat total land tax surcharges could not exceed the base land tax due in a givenyear and that the combined total could not exceed one percent of the marketvalue of the farmland taxed However there was no date set for the implemen-tation of this rule at the provincial level and provincial administrations were inany case logistically incapable of ensuring county compliance with such regula-tions27 The burden of compliance fell again to the counties where the exhorta-tions of central authorities and complaints of local taxpayers often fell on deafears As one resident ofZhejiangs Pujiang County commented

We have heard the governments [order] that surtaxes must not exceed thebase tax but the peasants laboring beneath the heaviness of various due tospecial situations and limitless temporary provisions bear surtaxes morethan three times the base Below are a list of the various and sundry heavyweights bearing down on the heads of the Pujiang peasantry 1) base tax 2)self-defense corps levy 3) education supplementary levy 4) highway levy5) airplane levy 6) ward office levy 7) pest control handling fee levy 8) tax

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collection fee levy 9) farmers bank levy 10) self-government supplemen-tary levy 11) police levy Altogether these acreage levies total one yuan andfive or six jiao per mu Aside from that one must add the pig slaughteringlevy brokerage levy business taxes and others Although these are not in-cluded in the land tax still in the end they are transferred onto the bodies ofthe peasants which grow poorer and feebler day by day 28

ENTREPRENEURIAL METHODS OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATIONS

Central government attempts to curtail the powers of local administrationsto impose and collect taxes without addressing the underlying root of the prob-lem-namely limited sources of county and sub-county revenue and simulta-neous increases in administrative and economic burdens-ultimately drove cash-starved local governments to devise new methods to circumvent central direc-tives Nanjings admonitions to lighten the peasant burden by eliminating extor-tionate levies and miscellaneous taxes were countered by a proliferation ofadministrative fees and the imposition of weighty fines on local residents Inmany cases as Bianco has noted local farmers were forced by local authoritiesto abandon subsistence production in favor of crops which yielded higher taxrevenues for county government such as opium29 Merchants and transportworkers faced stiff escalations in locally imposed tolls and tariffs which im-measurably slowed the shipment of products across county lines and fueledendemic price inflation on certain commodities

Often such revenues provided the primary source of funding for the stan-dard operating budgets of various local government organs including the sala-ries of their employees In the districts surrounding Shaanxis Wei County thesalaries of all public servants below the county level were funded either throughprovisional apportionments (linshi tanpai) land tax surcharges or surtaxes onthe sale of specific items3o In Wei County itself this included a staff of sevenward leaders (quzhang) the decimal unit leaders (lizhang) beneath them andat the bottom tier a layer of village headmen (cunzhang) or hamlet leaders(zhuangtou) who were in charge of tax and levy collection each of whomclaimed a cut of the revenue collected Those more closely involved in theactual collection process often benefited from a lower level of supervision andmanipulated the process to engross themselves One central government inves-tigator touring Shaanxi in 1933 commented

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When peasants hand over tax revenue it must go through the hands of thegrain chief (liangtou) hamlet chief(zhuangtou) security captain (jiazhang)village headman(cunzhang) township leader (xiangzhang) ward leader andothers before it finally arrives at the county government These handlersnaturally will receive some interest and this adds another layer to the burdenput on the peasants For example in Fengxiang County Wang Shaocun in1933 levied an irrigation lottery (jiangquan) for the entire village of fifty-sixyuan each security captain got just under six yuan and moreover each vil-lage leader gave each captain eight yuan The decimal unit leader ofQiu Vil-lage charged a rich household levy of two thousand yuan but only turnedover a thousand to the public [coffers] Suide County in 1931 and 1932 wasunable to remit its land taxes in the spring of 1933 the county administra-tion then took these two years of uncollected land tax and gave them to thetax contractors (baoliang ren) to collect in full and added another twentypercent as a handling fee for the contractors31

The result was an elebaorate process of graduated embezzlement thatpermitted the most egregious abuses to occur at the lowest levels of officialdomAs rural villagers in Sichuan ruefully noted Serving as a ranked official (guan)is not as good as being a grain inspector and being a grain inspector isnt evenas good as being a granary watchman32 The process of land tax collectionproved so lucrative in Jiangsu s Changshu County that local government postsfor tax dunning clerks were monopolistically controlled as a type offamily prop-erty which could be bought and sold or passed down from generation to gen-eration The price for such a position could range anywhere from two or threehundred yuan up to a thousand yuan or more33

Such practices while publically condemned by central authorities werelargely driven by the GMDs broad mandate to modernize the countryside Re-forms pursued by the Nanjing leadership required the mobilization of local-levelresources for their realization and the logistics of financing such operationswere most often left to the discretion of lower levels of government

For example in 1928 administrators in Nanjing exhorted local GMD partybranches to organize the rural population into baojia units for self-defense yetdelineated no particular sources of funding for this task Local practices variedwidely but central investigators in Henans Hui County noted that the first ar-ticle of the county baojia handbook stated that each unit was permitted tocollect a fee based upon one percent of the total harvest of all farmland culti-vated within its dominion at current market prices In practice county baojiachiefs collected operating fees of nine yuan per month throughout the yearrequiring the services of both an accountant and a tax collector to manage In

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nearby Deng and Nanzhao counties baojia expenses were calculated on thesay-so of the chief sometimes totaling over a hundred yuan a month and re-quiring so much labor to collect and manage that an investigator commentedthat the entire operation rivaled that of a ward office in size and scope34 Astudy of rural Hebei police found that all of the thirteen counties studied reliedupon forcibly-collected levies for their salaries equipment purchases and oper-ating budgets In at least one of these counties the police force numbered closeto a thousand men but the designated police force acreage levy was only enoughto outfit a hundred the revenue to support and train the remaining officers wasobtained through tax collection procedures of dubious legality35

Local governments during the early Nanjing Decade were thus caught ina vicious cycle the expansion of state agencies at county and sub-county levelscreated a continuing need for miscellaneous fees and levies in order to fundtheir administrative expenses yet the proliferation offees and surtaxes particu-larly on commercial transactions required an increasing number of tax officesand agents to administer Prior to 1934 when the Second Conference on Finan-cial Affairs unified local tax collection offices revenues were collected by awide variety of legal extra-legal and illegal agents often competing with oneanother for shares of increasingly scarce resources

For example a report on tax collection procedures in Zhejiangs YongjiaCounty noted that while the County Audit Bureau did manage some fees andlevies education levies were handled by county education authorities publicsecurity fees by the County Public Security Bureau (gonganju) insect man-agement and control fees by the County Insect Management Control Officeand local militia taxes (baowei mujuan) by the financial manager of the localmilitia other public debt and interest charges were collected by local publicfinance and public property committees according to their own needs and us-ing their own methods The only attempt county administrators made to controlthis process was to request that each office collecting public funds submit amonthly account to the county government and agree in principle to submit tothe investigatory procedures of the county circuit courtS36

The decentralized nature of the system virtually invited abuse Enterpris-ing citizens seeking to augment their incomes often banded together to formbogus state agencies that provided no services but collected a specific type oflevy37For example in 1934 the Henan Provincial Bureau of Finance (caizhengling) received a petition from the Shenxu Business Association asking it toinvestigate the activities of Li Zefen an accused evil gentry in YanchengCounty The associations chairman attested that Li forced the closing of the

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county cooperative society (hezuoshe) on his own authority and in its placeopened up a Progressive Association (gaijin hui) Declaring himself presi-dent of the new association Li began levying special fees against local busi-nesses and ultimately collected over 10000 yuan which he promptly pocketedCentral government investigators found no evidence that Li s Progressive As-sociation performed any community services in return38

With the 1928 curtailment of the lijin and increasing central control oversurcharges on the salt and land taxes county and sub-county administratorsbecame increasingly creative in their search for new sources of revenue Inmany locations the abolition of the lijin was followed by a surge in the numberof toll booths and toll collection sites provinces counties and even wards begancharging and collecting export duties and tariffs along major roads and water-ways In December 1933 one packet of sugar transported by boat from Zigongto Chongqing was subject to no fewer than twenty separate tariffs levies andfees in nine counties along the way ratcheting up the price by a total of overtwelve yuan39 A cargo of sundry goods transported 820 Ii from Chongqing toChengdu along minor waterways incurred one hundred yuans worth of leviesand duties encountering a tax or toll collection office on average every ten li40

Along the roadways the situation was no better county special levies officesdispatched squads of assessors (kayuan) to major checkpoints and truck stopsto collect tariffs and customs duties on goods in transit In Shaanxi such asses-sors often harassed and intimidated farmers on their way to and from markettowns arbitrarily levying tariff duties and charging road buying money (mailuqian) to anyone transporting goods41

Many county administrations and their subordinate offices sought to in-crease revenue from yet another source largely unregulated by the central gov-ernment fees and fines charged for violations of law either real or manufac-tured Opium addicts proved particularly vulnerable to such ploys In 1935Hebeis Yanshan County manager He Xiaoyi was accused of co lluding with thechief of the county public security forces (gongandui) to collect sums rangingfrom 50 to 830 yuan in fees from local opium addicts in exchange for promisesthat they could avoid arrest42 Similarly a village chiefin Hebeis Julu Countycomplained that the county Opium Suppression Office periodically demandedthat each village turn over a set monthly quota of opium addicts as part of analleged crackdown on local opium consumption Those who were rounded upwere almost invariably not drug users but nonetheless had to pay hundreds ofyuan in fines to secure their release43 The department chief of the Special TaxOffice (teshuiju juzhang) in Henans Hui County habituaHy carried a small

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cache of opium with him to plant on innocent residents whenever the opportu-nity arose he would then accuse his hapless victims of drug possession andforce them to pay heavy fines or face arrest and imprisonment 44The enterpris-ing county administrators in Shaanxi s lia County opened a local bank churningout loans with three month intervals at 25 percent interest Most of the loansmade by the bank in 1933 went either to tenant farmers who could not pay theirrent or taxes on time or to local opium addicts in need of a quick fix45

Rural villages staggered under such exactions with even the most ordi-nary transactions plagued by levies Livestock taxes proliferated until authori-ties could collect a toll at each particular stage of a farm animals life once theanimal was slaughtered individual parts of the animal could also be separatelytaxed In Zhejiangs Ruian County for example no fewer than seven levieswere collected on swine alone including a pig tax a piglet tax a suckling pig taxa sow tax a live pig tax a boar bristle tax and a hog tax among others innearby Chongde County aside from a sheep levy which was presumably im-posed on live sheep the county also collected a sheep-shearing levy a woollevy and a sheepskin levy Other Zhejiang counties and townships routinelyimposed taxes on wild game leather pork mutton and all manner of poultry andtheir eggs46At times the tax burden outweighed the benefits of even the sim-plesttransactions One farmer in Hebeis lulu County complained in 1935

The livestock sales tax is so heavy now that we cant even afford to pay itWhether you are selling or buying you have to pay tax on half of the waterbuffalos price In the spring we were still paying a twoen [sales] tax and athree tong brokerage fee on every yuan Starting in May it changed and forevery yuan we had to pay sixen of tax still three tong [brokerage fee] al-together nineen Now this old water buffalo he can be sold for thirty yuanbut Id have to pay two yuan and sevenjiao in tax and fees if I want to turnaround and spend thirty yuan for another one I have to pay another two yuanand sevenjiao Right now trading [him] in is not that important but whereis that five yuan four jiao going to come from47

POPULAR RSPONSES THE VIEW FROM BELOW

Not surprisingly aside from intensifying rural immiseration the prolifera-tion of fees taxes and levies to which residents were subjected during thisperiod led to rising social unrest and increases in various forms of collectiveaction Although Biancos caveat on the unreliability of statistical data on popu-lar protest during this period is well taken48most scholars of the Republican era

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concur that incidents of tax and rent resistance food riots and acts of banditryrose steadily through the mid-193 Os49As Perrys work has shown local secretsocieties such as the Red Spears and Big Swords frequently mobilized againstthe imposition of excessive levies and miscellaneous taxes often clashing withboth local officials and roving army troops50

Incidents of collective violence aside citizens used various methods toremonstrate against the fiscal demands of local administrations during the NanjingDecade Provincial administrations provincial and circuit court judges and theoffices of the Administrative Yuan regularly received letters of grievances fromfarmers and citizens representatives (gongmin daibiao) protesting bureau-cratic malpractice in the countryside51 In 1936 the Control Yuan received arecord number of petitions for investigation of government officials a numbernearly double that of any of the previous three years the vast majority of whichaccused county managers (xianzhang) and their underlings at the county andsub-county levels52 Viewed as a whole these records strongly suggest thatrural residents during this period organized themselves politically not merely toprotest increases in their overall tax burden but also to oppose levies and feesregarded as immoral unjust or overly intrusive Tax collection methods as wellas punishments meted out to those unable to payor in arrears were also com-mon points of contention

However one striking characteristic of popular political discourse duringthis period is the rarity with which disgruntled taxpayers criticized the centralstate Nanjing Decade protestors and petitioners alike were prompted to actionby rising exactions and endemic official malfeasance but it was the officesinstitutions and practices of local administrations which bore the brunt of theirire not the central party-state Rather rural residents seeking redress from thefiscal predation of county officials and their minions tended to see central au-thorities not as culprits or co-conspirators in the fiscal battle being waged againstthem but as potential protectors against local variants of what Thaxton andBergere have termed bureaucratic capitalists53 Thus while Bianco is prob-ably correct in asserting that peasant protestors during this period generallyviewed the state as both parasitic and alien to the social body of the village54 itis also true that many disgruntled rural residents distinguished between the moreremote but potentially benign central authorities and the far more immediate andpernicious local representatives of state power who preyed upon them Theunderlying collective image of the Nanjing Decade state in unofficial sourcesresembles a loosely organized but multi-tiered extractive machine at the locallevel with few if any links to higher levels of government Not surprisingly the

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overwhelming focus of tax protest and petitionary action during the period wasthe offices institutions and practices of local officials and their cohort

As under late imperial rule local government offices including the countyyamen and other revenue collection offices were common sites for anti-taxprotests Although acts of random and haphazard violence certainly were notrare rural residents sometimes bided their time awaiting the opportunity to strikeback at those who abused their official powers For example in the above-mentioned case of the Hui County (Henan) Special Tax Office departmentchief who apparently often planted opium on innocent taxpayers in order toblackmail them county residents waited until the convention of a sanitationmovement meeting at which point they sacked the office with such violencethat the department chief had no alternative but to flee into hiding55

Similarly in 1927 Red Spears in Shandongs Guan County surrounded thecounty seat because local officials there had raised taxes collaborated withlandlords to hasten rent collection and imposed several new levies In August1927 in nearby western Jiao County Red Spears destroyed the Nan hamletbranch office of the salt tax police (yanshui jingchadui)56 and refused to payany taxes Local Big Sword Society members joined the resisters who soonnumbered over a thousand people In October the protesters launched a sur-prise attack on the Hongshiya tax office in She Village and seized its personnelwho attempted to flee Before the army and local police suppressed the protestwell over two thousand homes had been destroyed and fifty people had died57

Popular indignation over local fiscal policy stemmed in part from the man-ner in which taxes were apportioned Not only was it common for landlordswho were legally liable for the payment of land taxes and other acreage leviesto shift the burden of tax payments onto their tenants 58 but also the proliferationof so-called shared apportionments (tanpai) and other head taxes and forcedpurchases extracted increasing revenues from the lowest strata of village soci-ety As one resident of Fuji ans Guangze County recalled

In my county under the rule of the GMD every year the taxes and levies thatwere collected included a rebellion suppression levy (kanluanjuan) a live-stock slaughter tax a conscription levy [and] a tobacco and alcohollevy The rebellion suppression levy was calculated as a supplement to thepopulation-based grain and salt decimal taxes so from every newborn infantup to every septuagenarian none could be late [in paying] The livestockslaughter tax was collected by the household regardless of whether or notyou were raising any pigs on average each household had bear the burden ofone or two pigs worth of the slaughter tax each year The tobacco and wine

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levy was also due regardless of whether or not you were in the business ofproducing or selling any and it toowascoHected by the household The con-script levy was apportioned according to the age of the draftable populationso however many potential draftees a family had thats how many pennies(fen) they paid in conscript levy59

Other burdens were similarly apportioned ranging in nature from forcedvoluntary contributions to the mandatory purchase of items controlled by gov-ernment agents In 1933 in Hebeis JuluCounty the county salt sales officesuddenly announced that contrary to previous popular practice the sale andconsumption of nitrate salt (xiao yan) was illegal but the use of crude salt (dayan) was permitted To remedy the situation the salt office ordered each vil-lage immediately to begin purchasing crude salt at the rate of three hundredjinper month or pay fines totaling the amount of the mandatory purchase (threehundred yuan) Village chiefs ordered each household to purchase a givenamount of crude salt each month whether or not they needed it for their ownuse Families were furthermore required to purchase crude salt rations even forthose family members who no longer resided in the village60

Compounding what was widely perceived to be the unjust apportionmentof the tax burden was the heavy-handed and callous manner in which taxeswere often collected In the case of acreage levies slated for county self-de-fense corps or police use tax collection was left up to the units in question insouthern Sichuan under warlord rule all county tax collection was routinelyhandled by local militia forces whose brutal intimidation and illegal confiscationof personal property ultimately led to widespread tax revolts there in 193361 Inmany areas peasants unable to pay their taxes by the specified date routinelyhad whatever salable items they owned confiscated by the collectors and weresometimes themselves arrested and imprisoned One central government inves-tigator touring rural Jiangsu in 1933 reported that in Changshu County during thetax collection season over a hundred farmers unable to pay their taxes wereimprisoned in thecountyjail 62

As Bianco noted rural residents often mobilized to protest attempts bylocal administrators to expand their tax collecting authority into previously un-regulated areas of the ruraleconomy63 For example one attempt to extend anexisting levy to cover a new category of goods led to armed conf1ict in Zhej iang sYutao County in March 1933 The residents ofShennong a hamlet in the county ssecond ward had long brewed a type of beverage in their homes for their ownconsumption using ingredients they either harvested or traded among them-selves When in early 1933 the director of the Yutao Liquor Levy Inspection

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Branch Office decided that such products were subject to the countys liquorlevy Shennong residents refused to pay and several were arrested As theyawaited trial more than a thousand of their fellow villagers marched on thecounty seat and demanded an end to harassment by county tax collectors abo-lition of the county liquor levy and immediate release of the arrested villagersOnce the group had massed at the gates of the county seat forces sent by thecounty manager permitted only five representatives inside to meet with offi-cials When the representatives reported back to the crowd that county admin-istrators maintained (falsely) that the liquor levy was a national tax over whichthey had no control the crowd became enraged and pressed toward the gatesThe troops then opened fire killing one and injuring two others64

As the Shennong protest demonstrates petitions personal accounts andpress reports from this period strongly suggest that the GMD state was notpopularly conceived as a single unified actor Even after the establishment ofthe Nanjing regime in 1927 unofficial discourse made clear distinctions be-tween central and local authorities and while the rhetoric of most anti-tax pro-tests was vehemently anti-state in nature for the most part agents and sub-county agents of the bureaucracy were perceived to be rural taxpayers pri-mary antagonists As one person commented in 1938 we are all aware thatChinas political system is weighty at the head and light at the feet the organiza-tion of the central administration is flawless those of the provincial administra-tions are okay (hai keyi) but the county administrations fall seriously short(chae yuan)65

Despite the fact that it was primarily after the establishment of the GMDregime in 1927 that exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes began to multi-ply most vigorously in the countryside overt critiques of the central governmentin rural protest were relatively rare and many of these can be traced specifi-cally to the involvement of Communist organizers For example in 1931 theAnhui provincial government under Chen Diaoyuan imposed a supplementaryshipped rice inspection levy decimal tax (jujia chuanyun mizhao juan lijin)and other assorted fees on rice transported along the Huai River Several weekslater following a confrontation between protesting boat people (chuanmin)and local authorities large-scale demonstrations against Chen and the rice in-spection levy erupted in Bangbu involving representatives of over fifty differentworkers and merchants associations in northern Anhui Communist YouthLeague activists from local middle schools organized over two thousand stu-dents to march to join the other demonstrators at the local parade grounds andattempted to lead the crowd in chanting similar slogans However when the

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Communist organizers in the crowd began chanting Defeat the Guomindangreactionaries a melee broke out and the activists barely escaped with theirlives The issue was later settled following a series of formal appeals to thecentral government66

By and large rural residents engaging in anti-tax resistance viewed thecentral government as an ally in their struggles against the incessant demandsof entrepreneurial local administrations and their agents In June of 1934 whenresidents of Hutubi County in Xinj iang could no longer tolerate the corruptionand extortion of two successive county managers the village headman (xiangyue)and a group of villagers secretly gathered to discuss the problem At the meet-ing one local herdsman later recalled he argued that the central governmenthad repeatedly stressed its determination severely to punish corrupt officialsand their venal underlings and should be taken at its word

These two county managers have engaged in various audacious and cor-rupt perversions of the law extorted the people and openly violated the newgovernments policies If someone would go to the procuracy in the countyseat to make a report the [central] government could not ignore it 67

The herdsman ultimately penned such a letter on behalf of his fellow citizensOne copy reached the Control Yuan which turned the petition over to the pro-vincial government for investigation and the county manager in question waslater executed for his crimes68

In other cases frustrated rural taxpayers sought redress from central au-thorities outside of the formal procedures of appeal and due process One Ad-ministrative Yuan investigator had just concluded his interview with a Shaanxivillage headman and had taken his leave when he was mutely accosted by aresident in the street The villager threw himself on the ground beseechinglyand thrust into his hands a paper which read

According to the order of the county government the balance due from landtaxes from 1920 1921 and 1922 must be raised from household surplus grainimmediately post haste Accordingly the villager Yuan Zuorong is to remitfive dollars (dayang yuan) someone will be dispatched immediately and itwill be turned over to the county as this is absolutely a matter of great im-portance Hereby submitted to Yuan Zuorong

Other village residents quickly gathered around and explained to the investiga-tor that the sum in question was in fact not being collected by the county gov-ernment but instead by the village headman he had just interviewed who the

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villagers alleged was trading on his authority as an agent of the county govern-ment in order to enrich himself69

Such agents were generally conceived of and described in local sources inanimalistic terms as predators who fed rapaciously on the peasants livelihoodin marked contrast to their role as father-mother officials (fumu guan) whoseduty it was to nourish and care for those under their jurisdiction 70Entrepre-neurial agents were commonly referred to as man-eating tigers or even blood-sucking vampires who treated rural villagers as if they were [merely] meatand fish [to be consumed] (yurou xiangmin) or trampled upon them likegrass (caojian renming) One group of Guangzhous Nanhai County resi-dents in 1921 posted a particularly graphic notice to protest the unendurableexactions of the local bullies who staffed their county administration avowingthat the predators had first stripped away our hair and skin and then cut awayour flesh and when our meat is exhausted they will whittle away our bones7lBrokerage licenses to collect commercial taxes or even county authorization tocollect any type of revenue at all were purportedly referred to as choice cutsof meat (feirou) that officials brokers and local notables would squabble overwith each striving to select the richest bit of fat upon which to feast 72

Particularly brazen officials were purported to have used such languagepublicly themselves in Guangxis remote Sanjiang County Han officials at thesub-county levels were said to have derisively referred to their extortive taxcollection tactics in one minority village as eating sprouts (chi miaozi) a playon the homophone for the Miao people who resided in thearea73 Even ControlYuan inspectors when submitting their reports to their superiors or filing legalsummaries of disciplinary action commonly referred to excessive and illegaltaxation methods as sucking down the fat of the people (xiaxi mingu) andperverting the law to fatten themselves (wanfa zifei)74

As the Nanjing Decade drew to a close central government officials ap-peared to be enjoying greater successes in handling the problem of burdensomelocal taxation In June 1931 the Commission of Disciplinary Action againstPublic Servants (Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjie weiyuanhui) was foundedunder the auspices of the Judicial Yuan a body which evaluated cases of ad-ministrative abuses on materials prepared by Control Yuan officials police of-ficers colleagues of the official concerned and the testimony of the accusedHowever because the Disciplinary Commission often considered the findingsof ordinary courts against civil servants in assessing punishment there wasoften a substantial lag between the filing of a case and a legal judgment againsta public servant accused of wrongdoing In 1937 a temporary decree granted

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the Control Yuan the power of rectification which greatly facilitated the pro-cess of disciplining civil officials7s However with the Japanese invasion ofnorthern China later that year the onerous burden of escalating military ex-penses forced the GMD to reverse many of its local tax and levy reductionpolicies and rural economies in particular once again felt the pinch of increasingfiscal exactions

PATTERNS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN THE REFORM DECADE

Just over fifty years later the Dengist program of decollectivization anddecentralization recreated conditions very similar to the fiscal challenges facedby local administrations during the Nanjing Decade Faced with rising expendi-ture responsibilities and revenue-sharing arrangements that vastly favoredsuperordinate levels of government county and newly-created township andvillage administrations through the 1980s and early 1990s increasingly soughtout revenue sources which were not tightly controlled by the central govern-ment or sought to shield resources from sharing with upper levels using a vari-ety of methods recreating what some have called a reform era warlordeconomy76 The need for higher revenues has been driven in large part by theincreasing expense burdens of county township and village governments whichhave assulued control over social welfare programs within their jurisdictions 77Whereas on the eve of the reform period half of all state expenditures weremade by local governluents by the period of the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1986-90) the percentage had crept up to over 60 percent 78

As during the Nanjing Decade such revenues are required largely to off-set rising administrative costs as local government organizations proliferate andbecome more specialized as well as to fund economic development projectsDespite the goal of reducing the state role in economic management adminis-trative personnel have nearly doubled under the reforms expanding 45 percentover the 1978-1990 period Such increases are at least partly due to the in-creasingly complex nature of reform period tax collection procedures whichhave required the establishment of 47000 new finance offices at the townshipleve179One village cadre recently estimated that she spent approximately sev-enty percent of her work time on tasks associated with revenue collection alone80Shaanxis remote Qingjian County with a population of 205700 people andcounty revenues of 1237 luillion yuan in 1995 employed 3710 people in gov-ernment administrative organs with each administrator requiring--on average-the remittances of fifty-five residents to support them81 One study of the 697

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individuals employed by the 41 township administrations in Sichuans Jiang anCounty discovered that while the employees base salaries averaged between60 and 80 yuan per month they also received regular subsidies benefits andperquisites that raised the actual figure to over 100 yuan per month Further-more the administrative expenses incurred by these employees including offi-cial business trips entertainment and continuing education on average addedanother 3000 yuan per employee Of these monies the study revealed fifteenpercent came from fiscal administration fees (caizheng shiye fei) thirty tothirty- five percent from retained funds (til iu) and the remaining fifty to fifty-five percent from various management fees (guanli fei) penalties or fines(fakuan) and paid service fees (youcheng fuwu fei)82

At the same time central government subsidies to local administrationshave declined markedly In Guizhou where the central government financednearly 60 percent of the provinces budgetary expenditures in the early 1980sby 1993 only 20 percent were centrally subsidized Not surprisingly the revenueshortage cut deeply into sub-provincial administrative budgets as well over thesame period the provincial administration not only ended its policy of subsidizinglocal government operations but by the early 1990s had also begun to extractrevenue from the counties in order to fund its own programs83

Caught between the cross-cutting pressures of rising expenditures anddeclining subsidies local administrators during the reform period improvised awide variety of entrepreneurial methods to increase local revenues much astheir Nanjing Decade predecessors had One method by which this was com-monly achieved was through shifting funds from budgetary (yusuannei) sourceswhich are subject to remittance to higher levels to various types of off-budgetfunds which are far less easily monitored by and not subject to sharing withhigher level authorities Off-budget revenues which include both so-calledextrabudgetary (yusuanwai) and self-raised (zichou) funds played an in-creasingly important role in local finance during the reform period From 1978 to1992 total budgetary revenue of local governments tripled but extrabudgetaryrevenues increased eleven-fold during the same period in 1978 extrabudgetaryfunds comprised only 31 percent of budgetary revenue but by 1992extrabudgetary revenue climbed to 98 percent of budgetary revenue totals84

Self-raised funds accounted for only 117 percent of total revenues availableat the township level in 1986 but rose to 20 percent of the same in 199385

The main sources of these off-budget revenues at the county and town-ship levels are various types of user fees and surcharges levied on formal taxesand public utilities including road maintenance fees education surcharges man-

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agement and planning fees and in some provinces unified levies (tongchou)collected from households by village cadres to finance a variety of social ser-vices and government projects86 In 1991 the central government authorizedthe levying of three assessments by township level cadres and the collectionof five general fees by village level cadres stipulating only that the combinedtotal not exceed five percent of the average annual income of the residents forthe previous year The three assessments included public reserve funds to beused for irrigation and afforestation work as well as the establishment of col-lective enterprises public welfare funds to provide subsidies to needy localfamilies and support local health care and administrative fees to cover cadresalaries and administrative expenses The five general fees collected at thevillage level wereto cover educational expenses family planning programswelfare payments to veterans and their families local militia training and ruralroad construction8

However with no systemic mechanism for the fiscal management of sub-county administrations in place the problem of the so-called three arbitraries(san luan)-arbitary collection of fees (luan shoufei) arbitrary levying offines (luanfakuan) and arbitrary apportionments (luan tanpai)-mushroomedin rural areas during the reform period In Hubei s Jinniu Township under thejurisdiction ofDazhi Municipality a provincial investigation into fee collection inthe township discovered that more than eighteen departments concerned withagriculture alone collected fees for more than 144 different projects from town-ship residents88 A Hubei provincial auditor investigating Suizhou and Jingmenmunicipalities found over sixty-six duplicated assessments collected from cityresidents in 199589In 1997 representatives of seventy-seven households resid-ing in Guanzi Village in Baiyangtownship in Sichuans Jiang County sued thetownship government for its collection of excessive fees and charges Some ofthe collections cited in the lawsuit included a wired broadcasting fee a tuningin fee (shoutingfei) a movie-watching fee and a mulberry grove penalty90

In a Shandong township in which the average annual income jn 1994 was1000yuan cadres in one village collected on a per capita basis a 379 yuancomprehensive planning fee a 25 yuan voluntary contribution to the roadrepair fund et 245 yuan voluntary contribution to the oil-producing crop funda total of 115yuan in fees for township office construction and road hardening70 yuan to cover the cost of excavating sand stones and earth a 10 yuan pigraising fee and a 80 yuan land leasing and sale fee In addition virtually all ofthe village residents were levied also on a per capita basis a 10 yuan fine forgrowing yellow tobacco a cash crop which local authorities maintained was

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unsuitable for cultivation in the region The combined year total of such chargesamounted to nearly 373 yuan Despite central government injunctions in 1994against such practices the following year township exactions rose to 5315yuan per resident91

Ad hoc levies and fees charged against rural enterprises by local agenciesin recent years have proven even more numerous than those lodged againstindividual taxpayers One survey of Hunan rural enterprises discovered thatover sixty different industrial administrations and organs had assessed and col-lected over one hundred types of charges from them92 a central governmentreport calculated that over 900 types of administrative fees were being col-lected on private enterprises on top of which local administrations were alsocollecting more than 1000 types of fees and funds93 In Zhejiang one-third oflocal government revenues for 1989 were traced back to the fees and sur-charges levied against rural enterprises94 That same year ajoint Chinese Acad-emy of Social Sciences (CASS) and World Bank study team surveyed the stateof the rural economy and concluded that excessive demands levied against ruralindustries by local governments were commonplace Citing the case of a firm inJiangxis Shangrao County that had been taxed more by local administratorsthan it had earned in profits the World BankCASS investigators noted thatwhat they termed fiscal predation was acting as a powerful brake on thedevelopment of the rural economy95 As one refrain now popular among themanagers of rural enterprises puts it Of heaven and earth we have no fearonly of entrepreneurial government drawing near96

Fees fines and tolls have also once again become a lucrative source oflocal government revenues and are collected by a wide variety of agents for avariety of reasons In some remote Jiangxi villages in 1996 elderly residentswere fined 5yuan for spitting on the sidewalk any attempt to argue against thepunishment was countered with the addition of an attitude penalty (taidufakuan) of 10 yuan The presence of a common housefly on the premises of arestaurant in those same villages could result in a 50 yuan fine for the owner Inat least one case officials from a local Sanitation and Epidemic PreventionStation descended upon a newly opened establishment with armed with fly-swatters and levied a separate 50 yuan fine for each housefly killed on thepremises causing the owner to shut down the restaurant that same day97 Incertain counties in Sichuan farmers can be fined by local governments forfailing to meet production targets set for the local development of supplemen-tary agricultural goods98 Local groups have also resurrected the Republicanera practice of erecting toll booths and checkpoints on highways in 1995 pro-

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

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was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 29

By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 37

local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 39

53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 41

108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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thorities viewed it as a brake on commercial growth and trade expansion andquickly undertook various attempts to eliminate the lijin in favor of more pro-gressive and standardized forms of taxation Beginning in 1928 the gradualphaseout of the lijin and sharp curtailment of salt tax collection caused wide-spread insolvancy among county governments already strapped by revenue shar-ing arrangements that vastly favored superordinate provincial administrations

In part to address the fiscal crisis already underway in the summer of1927 the First National Fiscal Affairs Conference of the new Nanjing govern-ment produced the Provisional Act to Delimit National and Local Incomes andthe National and Local Revenue Demarcation Act The new legislation autho-rized local administrations to tax farmland deeds and mortgages commercelivestock slaughtering and fisheries transportation and several other types oftransactions However provinces retained the right to negotiate revenue-shar-ing agreements with subordinate administrations and while thirteen types ofitemized expenditures were permitted for county budgets the laws did not oth-erwise regulate how provincial governments divided tax revenues with the coun-ties As a result county administrations faced dramatic rises in administrativeexpenses as the national government pushed through its program to diversifyand bur~aucratize county and sub-county organs but declining revenues due tocurtailment of the lijin and other sources of local tax monies Miscellarreoussurcharges to the land tax acreage levies (mujuan )25 and provisional imposts(tankuan or tanpai) began to climb sharply shortly thereafter26

The FinanceBureau originally sought to stem this rising tide by mandatingthat total land tax surcharges could not exceed the base land tax due in a givenyear and that the combined total could not exceed one percent of the marketvalue of the farmland taxed However there was no date set for the implemen-tation of this rule at the provincial level and provincial administrations were inany case logistically incapable of ensuring county compliance with such regula-tions27 The burden of compliance fell again to the counties where the exhorta-tions of central authorities and complaints of local taxpayers often fell on deafears As one resident ofZhejiangs Pujiang County commented

We have heard the governments [order] that surtaxes must not exceed thebase tax but the peasants laboring beneath the heaviness of various due tospecial situations and limitless temporary provisions bear surtaxes morethan three times the base Below are a list of the various and sundry heavyweights bearing down on the heads of the Pujiang peasantry 1) base tax 2)self-defense corps levy 3) education supplementary levy 4) highway levy5) airplane levy 6) ward office levy 7) pest control handling fee levy 8) tax

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collection fee levy 9) farmers bank levy 10) self-government supplemen-tary levy 11) police levy Altogether these acreage levies total one yuan andfive or six jiao per mu Aside from that one must add the pig slaughteringlevy brokerage levy business taxes and others Although these are not in-cluded in the land tax still in the end they are transferred onto the bodies ofthe peasants which grow poorer and feebler day by day 28

ENTREPRENEURIAL METHODS OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATIONS

Central government attempts to curtail the powers of local administrationsto impose and collect taxes without addressing the underlying root of the prob-lem-namely limited sources of county and sub-county revenue and simulta-neous increases in administrative and economic burdens-ultimately drove cash-starved local governments to devise new methods to circumvent central direc-tives Nanjings admonitions to lighten the peasant burden by eliminating extor-tionate levies and miscellaneous taxes were countered by a proliferation ofadministrative fees and the imposition of weighty fines on local residents Inmany cases as Bianco has noted local farmers were forced by local authoritiesto abandon subsistence production in favor of crops which yielded higher taxrevenues for county government such as opium29 Merchants and transportworkers faced stiff escalations in locally imposed tolls and tariffs which im-measurably slowed the shipment of products across county lines and fueledendemic price inflation on certain commodities

Often such revenues provided the primary source of funding for the stan-dard operating budgets of various local government organs including the sala-ries of their employees In the districts surrounding Shaanxis Wei County thesalaries of all public servants below the county level were funded either throughprovisional apportionments (linshi tanpai) land tax surcharges or surtaxes onthe sale of specific items3o In Wei County itself this included a staff of sevenward leaders (quzhang) the decimal unit leaders (lizhang) beneath them andat the bottom tier a layer of village headmen (cunzhang) or hamlet leaders(zhuangtou) who were in charge of tax and levy collection each of whomclaimed a cut of the revenue collected Those more closely involved in theactual collection process often benefited from a lower level of supervision andmanipulated the process to engross themselves One central government inves-tigator touring Shaanxi in 1933 commented

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When peasants hand over tax revenue it must go through the hands of thegrain chief (liangtou) hamlet chief(zhuangtou) security captain (jiazhang)village headman(cunzhang) township leader (xiangzhang) ward leader andothers before it finally arrives at the county government These handlersnaturally will receive some interest and this adds another layer to the burdenput on the peasants For example in Fengxiang County Wang Shaocun in1933 levied an irrigation lottery (jiangquan) for the entire village of fifty-sixyuan each security captain got just under six yuan and moreover each vil-lage leader gave each captain eight yuan The decimal unit leader ofQiu Vil-lage charged a rich household levy of two thousand yuan but only turnedover a thousand to the public [coffers] Suide County in 1931 and 1932 wasunable to remit its land taxes in the spring of 1933 the county administra-tion then took these two years of uncollected land tax and gave them to thetax contractors (baoliang ren) to collect in full and added another twentypercent as a handling fee for the contractors31

The result was an elebaorate process of graduated embezzlement thatpermitted the most egregious abuses to occur at the lowest levels of officialdomAs rural villagers in Sichuan ruefully noted Serving as a ranked official (guan)is not as good as being a grain inspector and being a grain inspector isnt evenas good as being a granary watchman32 The process of land tax collectionproved so lucrative in Jiangsu s Changshu County that local government postsfor tax dunning clerks were monopolistically controlled as a type offamily prop-erty which could be bought and sold or passed down from generation to gen-eration The price for such a position could range anywhere from two or threehundred yuan up to a thousand yuan or more33

Such practices while publically condemned by central authorities werelargely driven by the GMDs broad mandate to modernize the countryside Re-forms pursued by the Nanjing leadership required the mobilization of local-levelresources for their realization and the logistics of financing such operationswere most often left to the discretion of lower levels of government

For example in 1928 administrators in Nanjing exhorted local GMD partybranches to organize the rural population into baojia units for self-defense yetdelineated no particular sources of funding for this task Local practices variedwidely but central investigators in Henans Hui County noted that the first ar-ticle of the county baojia handbook stated that each unit was permitted tocollect a fee based upon one percent of the total harvest of all farmland culti-vated within its dominion at current market prices In practice county baojiachiefs collected operating fees of nine yuan per month throughout the yearrequiring the services of both an accountant and a tax collector to manage In

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nearby Deng and Nanzhao counties baojia expenses were calculated on thesay-so of the chief sometimes totaling over a hundred yuan a month and re-quiring so much labor to collect and manage that an investigator commentedthat the entire operation rivaled that of a ward office in size and scope34 Astudy of rural Hebei police found that all of the thirteen counties studied reliedupon forcibly-collected levies for their salaries equipment purchases and oper-ating budgets In at least one of these counties the police force numbered closeto a thousand men but the designated police force acreage levy was only enoughto outfit a hundred the revenue to support and train the remaining officers wasobtained through tax collection procedures of dubious legality35

Local governments during the early Nanjing Decade were thus caught ina vicious cycle the expansion of state agencies at county and sub-county levelscreated a continuing need for miscellaneous fees and levies in order to fundtheir administrative expenses yet the proliferation offees and surtaxes particu-larly on commercial transactions required an increasing number of tax officesand agents to administer Prior to 1934 when the Second Conference on Finan-cial Affairs unified local tax collection offices revenues were collected by awide variety of legal extra-legal and illegal agents often competing with oneanother for shares of increasingly scarce resources

For example a report on tax collection procedures in Zhejiangs YongjiaCounty noted that while the County Audit Bureau did manage some fees andlevies education levies were handled by county education authorities publicsecurity fees by the County Public Security Bureau (gonganju) insect man-agement and control fees by the County Insect Management Control Officeand local militia taxes (baowei mujuan) by the financial manager of the localmilitia other public debt and interest charges were collected by local publicfinance and public property committees according to their own needs and us-ing their own methods The only attempt county administrators made to controlthis process was to request that each office collecting public funds submit amonthly account to the county government and agree in principle to submit tothe investigatory procedures of the county circuit courtS36

The decentralized nature of the system virtually invited abuse Enterpris-ing citizens seeking to augment their incomes often banded together to formbogus state agencies that provided no services but collected a specific type oflevy37For example in 1934 the Henan Provincial Bureau of Finance (caizhengling) received a petition from the Shenxu Business Association asking it toinvestigate the activities of Li Zefen an accused evil gentry in YanchengCounty The associations chairman attested that Li forced the closing of the

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county cooperative society (hezuoshe) on his own authority and in its placeopened up a Progressive Association (gaijin hui) Declaring himself presi-dent of the new association Li began levying special fees against local busi-nesses and ultimately collected over 10000 yuan which he promptly pocketedCentral government investigators found no evidence that Li s Progressive As-sociation performed any community services in return38

With the 1928 curtailment of the lijin and increasing central control oversurcharges on the salt and land taxes county and sub-county administratorsbecame increasingly creative in their search for new sources of revenue Inmany locations the abolition of the lijin was followed by a surge in the numberof toll booths and toll collection sites provinces counties and even wards begancharging and collecting export duties and tariffs along major roads and water-ways In December 1933 one packet of sugar transported by boat from Zigongto Chongqing was subject to no fewer than twenty separate tariffs levies andfees in nine counties along the way ratcheting up the price by a total of overtwelve yuan39 A cargo of sundry goods transported 820 Ii from Chongqing toChengdu along minor waterways incurred one hundred yuans worth of leviesand duties encountering a tax or toll collection office on average every ten li40

Along the roadways the situation was no better county special levies officesdispatched squads of assessors (kayuan) to major checkpoints and truck stopsto collect tariffs and customs duties on goods in transit In Shaanxi such asses-sors often harassed and intimidated farmers on their way to and from markettowns arbitrarily levying tariff duties and charging road buying money (mailuqian) to anyone transporting goods41

Many county administrations and their subordinate offices sought to in-crease revenue from yet another source largely unregulated by the central gov-ernment fees and fines charged for violations of law either real or manufac-tured Opium addicts proved particularly vulnerable to such ploys In 1935Hebeis Yanshan County manager He Xiaoyi was accused of co lluding with thechief of the county public security forces (gongandui) to collect sums rangingfrom 50 to 830 yuan in fees from local opium addicts in exchange for promisesthat they could avoid arrest42 Similarly a village chiefin Hebeis Julu Countycomplained that the county Opium Suppression Office periodically demandedthat each village turn over a set monthly quota of opium addicts as part of analleged crackdown on local opium consumption Those who were rounded upwere almost invariably not drug users but nonetheless had to pay hundreds ofyuan in fines to secure their release43 The department chief of the Special TaxOffice (teshuiju juzhang) in Henans Hui County habituaHy carried a small

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cache of opium with him to plant on innocent residents whenever the opportu-nity arose he would then accuse his hapless victims of drug possession andforce them to pay heavy fines or face arrest and imprisonment 44The enterpris-ing county administrators in Shaanxi s lia County opened a local bank churningout loans with three month intervals at 25 percent interest Most of the loansmade by the bank in 1933 went either to tenant farmers who could not pay theirrent or taxes on time or to local opium addicts in need of a quick fix45

Rural villages staggered under such exactions with even the most ordi-nary transactions plagued by levies Livestock taxes proliferated until authori-ties could collect a toll at each particular stage of a farm animals life once theanimal was slaughtered individual parts of the animal could also be separatelytaxed In Zhejiangs Ruian County for example no fewer than seven levieswere collected on swine alone including a pig tax a piglet tax a suckling pig taxa sow tax a live pig tax a boar bristle tax and a hog tax among others innearby Chongde County aside from a sheep levy which was presumably im-posed on live sheep the county also collected a sheep-shearing levy a woollevy and a sheepskin levy Other Zhejiang counties and townships routinelyimposed taxes on wild game leather pork mutton and all manner of poultry andtheir eggs46At times the tax burden outweighed the benefits of even the sim-plesttransactions One farmer in Hebeis lulu County complained in 1935

The livestock sales tax is so heavy now that we cant even afford to pay itWhether you are selling or buying you have to pay tax on half of the waterbuffalos price In the spring we were still paying a twoen [sales] tax and athree tong brokerage fee on every yuan Starting in May it changed and forevery yuan we had to pay sixen of tax still three tong [brokerage fee] al-together nineen Now this old water buffalo he can be sold for thirty yuanbut Id have to pay two yuan and sevenjiao in tax and fees if I want to turnaround and spend thirty yuan for another one I have to pay another two yuanand sevenjiao Right now trading [him] in is not that important but whereis that five yuan four jiao going to come from47

POPULAR RSPONSES THE VIEW FROM BELOW

Not surprisingly aside from intensifying rural immiseration the prolifera-tion of fees taxes and levies to which residents were subjected during thisperiod led to rising social unrest and increases in various forms of collectiveaction Although Biancos caveat on the unreliability of statistical data on popu-lar protest during this period is well taken48most scholars of the Republican era

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concur that incidents of tax and rent resistance food riots and acts of banditryrose steadily through the mid-193 Os49As Perrys work has shown local secretsocieties such as the Red Spears and Big Swords frequently mobilized againstthe imposition of excessive levies and miscellaneous taxes often clashing withboth local officials and roving army troops50

Incidents of collective violence aside citizens used various methods toremonstrate against the fiscal demands of local administrations during the NanjingDecade Provincial administrations provincial and circuit court judges and theoffices of the Administrative Yuan regularly received letters of grievances fromfarmers and citizens representatives (gongmin daibiao) protesting bureau-cratic malpractice in the countryside51 In 1936 the Control Yuan received arecord number of petitions for investigation of government officials a numbernearly double that of any of the previous three years the vast majority of whichaccused county managers (xianzhang) and their underlings at the county andsub-county levels52 Viewed as a whole these records strongly suggest thatrural residents during this period organized themselves politically not merely toprotest increases in their overall tax burden but also to oppose levies and feesregarded as immoral unjust or overly intrusive Tax collection methods as wellas punishments meted out to those unable to payor in arrears were also com-mon points of contention

However one striking characteristic of popular political discourse duringthis period is the rarity with which disgruntled taxpayers criticized the centralstate Nanjing Decade protestors and petitioners alike were prompted to actionby rising exactions and endemic official malfeasance but it was the officesinstitutions and practices of local administrations which bore the brunt of theirire not the central party-state Rather rural residents seeking redress from thefiscal predation of county officials and their minions tended to see central au-thorities not as culprits or co-conspirators in the fiscal battle being waged againstthem but as potential protectors against local variants of what Thaxton andBergere have termed bureaucratic capitalists53 Thus while Bianco is prob-ably correct in asserting that peasant protestors during this period generallyviewed the state as both parasitic and alien to the social body of the village54 itis also true that many disgruntled rural residents distinguished between the moreremote but potentially benign central authorities and the far more immediate andpernicious local representatives of state power who preyed upon them Theunderlying collective image of the Nanjing Decade state in unofficial sourcesresembles a loosely organized but multi-tiered extractive machine at the locallevel with few if any links to higher levels of government Not surprisingly the

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overwhelming focus of tax protest and petitionary action during the period wasthe offices institutions and practices of local officials and their cohort

As under late imperial rule local government offices including the countyyamen and other revenue collection offices were common sites for anti-taxprotests Although acts of random and haphazard violence certainly were notrare rural residents sometimes bided their time awaiting the opportunity to strikeback at those who abused their official powers For example in the above-mentioned case of the Hui County (Henan) Special Tax Office departmentchief who apparently often planted opium on innocent taxpayers in order toblackmail them county residents waited until the convention of a sanitationmovement meeting at which point they sacked the office with such violencethat the department chief had no alternative but to flee into hiding55

Similarly in 1927 Red Spears in Shandongs Guan County surrounded thecounty seat because local officials there had raised taxes collaborated withlandlords to hasten rent collection and imposed several new levies In August1927 in nearby western Jiao County Red Spears destroyed the Nan hamletbranch office of the salt tax police (yanshui jingchadui)56 and refused to payany taxes Local Big Sword Society members joined the resisters who soonnumbered over a thousand people In October the protesters launched a sur-prise attack on the Hongshiya tax office in She Village and seized its personnelwho attempted to flee Before the army and local police suppressed the protestwell over two thousand homes had been destroyed and fifty people had died57

Popular indignation over local fiscal policy stemmed in part from the man-ner in which taxes were apportioned Not only was it common for landlordswho were legally liable for the payment of land taxes and other acreage leviesto shift the burden of tax payments onto their tenants 58 but also the proliferationof so-called shared apportionments (tanpai) and other head taxes and forcedpurchases extracted increasing revenues from the lowest strata of village soci-ety As one resident of Fuji ans Guangze County recalled

In my county under the rule of the GMD every year the taxes and levies thatwere collected included a rebellion suppression levy (kanluanjuan) a live-stock slaughter tax a conscription levy [and] a tobacco and alcohollevy The rebellion suppression levy was calculated as a supplement to thepopulation-based grain and salt decimal taxes so from every newborn infantup to every septuagenarian none could be late [in paying] The livestockslaughter tax was collected by the household regardless of whether or notyou were raising any pigs on average each household had bear the burden ofone or two pigs worth of the slaughter tax each year The tobacco and wine

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levy was also due regardless of whether or not you were in the business ofproducing or selling any and it toowascoHected by the household The con-script levy was apportioned according to the age of the draftable populationso however many potential draftees a family had thats how many pennies(fen) they paid in conscript levy59

Other burdens were similarly apportioned ranging in nature from forcedvoluntary contributions to the mandatory purchase of items controlled by gov-ernment agents In 1933 in Hebeis JuluCounty the county salt sales officesuddenly announced that contrary to previous popular practice the sale andconsumption of nitrate salt (xiao yan) was illegal but the use of crude salt (dayan) was permitted To remedy the situation the salt office ordered each vil-lage immediately to begin purchasing crude salt at the rate of three hundredjinper month or pay fines totaling the amount of the mandatory purchase (threehundred yuan) Village chiefs ordered each household to purchase a givenamount of crude salt each month whether or not they needed it for their ownuse Families were furthermore required to purchase crude salt rations even forthose family members who no longer resided in the village60

Compounding what was widely perceived to be the unjust apportionmentof the tax burden was the heavy-handed and callous manner in which taxeswere often collected In the case of acreage levies slated for county self-de-fense corps or police use tax collection was left up to the units in question insouthern Sichuan under warlord rule all county tax collection was routinelyhandled by local militia forces whose brutal intimidation and illegal confiscationof personal property ultimately led to widespread tax revolts there in 193361 Inmany areas peasants unable to pay their taxes by the specified date routinelyhad whatever salable items they owned confiscated by the collectors and weresometimes themselves arrested and imprisoned One central government inves-tigator touring rural Jiangsu in 1933 reported that in Changshu County during thetax collection season over a hundred farmers unable to pay their taxes wereimprisoned in thecountyjail 62

As Bianco noted rural residents often mobilized to protest attempts bylocal administrators to expand their tax collecting authority into previously un-regulated areas of the ruraleconomy63 For example one attempt to extend anexisting levy to cover a new category of goods led to armed conf1ict in Zhej iang sYutao County in March 1933 The residents ofShennong a hamlet in the county ssecond ward had long brewed a type of beverage in their homes for their ownconsumption using ingredients they either harvested or traded among them-selves When in early 1933 the director of the Yutao Liquor Levy Inspection

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Branch Office decided that such products were subject to the countys liquorlevy Shennong residents refused to pay and several were arrested As theyawaited trial more than a thousand of their fellow villagers marched on thecounty seat and demanded an end to harassment by county tax collectors abo-lition of the county liquor levy and immediate release of the arrested villagersOnce the group had massed at the gates of the county seat forces sent by thecounty manager permitted only five representatives inside to meet with offi-cials When the representatives reported back to the crowd that county admin-istrators maintained (falsely) that the liquor levy was a national tax over whichthey had no control the crowd became enraged and pressed toward the gatesThe troops then opened fire killing one and injuring two others64

As the Shennong protest demonstrates petitions personal accounts andpress reports from this period strongly suggest that the GMD state was notpopularly conceived as a single unified actor Even after the establishment ofthe Nanjing regime in 1927 unofficial discourse made clear distinctions be-tween central and local authorities and while the rhetoric of most anti-tax pro-tests was vehemently anti-state in nature for the most part agents and sub-county agents of the bureaucracy were perceived to be rural taxpayers pri-mary antagonists As one person commented in 1938 we are all aware thatChinas political system is weighty at the head and light at the feet the organiza-tion of the central administration is flawless those of the provincial administra-tions are okay (hai keyi) but the county administrations fall seriously short(chae yuan)65

Despite the fact that it was primarily after the establishment of the GMDregime in 1927 that exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes began to multi-ply most vigorously in the countryside overt critiques of the central governmentin rural protest were relatively rare and many of these can be traced specifi-cally to the involvement of Communist organizers For example in 1931 theAnhui provincial government under Chen Diaoyuan imposed a supplementaryshipped rice inspection levy decimal tax (jujia chuanyun mizhao juan lijin)and other assorted fees on rice transported along the Huai River Several weekslater following a confrontation between protesting boat people (chuanmin)and local authorities large-scale demonstrations against Chen and the rice in-spection levy erupted in Bangbu involving representatives of over fifty differentworkers and merchants associations in northern Anhui Communist YouthLeague activists from local middle schools organized over two thousand stu-dents to march to join the other demonstrators at the local parade grounds andattempted to lead the crowd in chanting similar slogans However when the

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Communist organizers in the crowd began chanting Defeat the Guomindangreactionaries a melee broke out and the activists barely escaped with theirlives The issue was later settled following a series of formal appeals to thecentral government66

By and large rural residents engaging in anti-tax resistance viewed thecentral government as an ally in their struggles against the incessant demandsof entrepreneurial local administrations and their agents In June of 1934 whenresidents of Hutubi County in Xinj iang could no longer tolerate the corruptionand extortion of two successive county managers the village headman (xiangyue)and a group of villagers secretly gathered to discuss the problem At the meet-ing one local herdsman later recalled he argued that the central governmenthad repeatedly stressed its determination severely to punish corrupt officialsand their venal underlings and should be taken at its word

These two county managers have engaged in various audacious and cor-rupt perversions of the law extorted the people and openly violated the newgovernments policies If someone would go to the procuracy in the countyseat to make a report the [central] government could not ignore it 67

The herdsman ultimately penned such a letter on behalf of his fellow citizensOne copy reached the Control Yuan which turned the petition over to the pro-vincial government for investigation and the county manager in question waslater executed for his crimes68

In other cases frustrated rural taxpayers sought redress from central au-thorities outside of the formal procedures of appeal and due process One Ad-ministrative Yuan investigator had just concluded his interview with a Shaanxivillage headman and had taken his leave when he was mutely accosted by aresident in the street The villager threw himself on the ground beseechinglyand thrust into his hands a paper which read

According to the order of the county government the balance due from landtaxes from 1920 1921 and 1922 must be raised from household surplus grainimmediately post haste Accordingly the villager Yuan Zuorong is to remitfive dollars (dayang yuan) someone will be dispatched immediately and itwill be turned over to the county as this is absolutely a matter of great im-portance Hereby submitted to Yuan Zuorong

Other village residents quickly gathered around and explained to the investiga-tor that the sum in question was in fact not being collected by the county gov-ernment but instead by the village headman he had just interviewed who the

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villagers alleged was trading on his authority as an agent of the county govern-ment in order to enrich himself69

Such agents were generally conceived of and described in local sources inanimalistic terms as predators who fed rapaciously on the peasants livelihoodin marked contrast to their role as father-mother officials (fumu guan) whoseduty it was to nourish and care for those under their jurisdiction 70Entrepre-neurial agents were commonly referred to as man-eating tigers or even blood-sucking vampires who treated rural villagers as if they were [merely] meatand fish [to be consumed] (yurou xiangmin) or trampled upon them likegrass (caojian renming) One group of Guangzhous Nanhai County resi-dents in 1921 posted a particularly graphic notice to protest the unendurableexactions of the local bullies who staffed their county administration avowingthat the predators had first stripped away our hair and skin and then cut awayour flesh and when our meat is exhausted they will whittle away our bones7lBrokerage licenses to collect commercial taxes or even county authorization tocollect any type of revenue at all were purportedly referred to as choice cutsof meat (feirou) that officials brokers and local notables would squabble overwith each striving to select the richest bit of fat upon which to feast 72

Particularly brazen officials were purported to have used such languagepublicly themselves in Guangxis remote Sanjiang County Han officials at thesub-county levels were said to have derisively referred to their extortive taxcollection tactics in one minority village as eating sprouts (chi miaozi) a playon the homophone for the Miao people who resided in thearea73 Even ControlYuan inspectors when submitting their reports to their superiors or filing legalsummaries of disciplinary action commonly referred to excessive and illegaltaxation methods as sucking down the fat of the people (xiaxi mingu) andperverting the law to fatten themselves (wanfa zifei)74

As the Nanjing Decade drew to a close central government officials ap-peared to be enjoying greater successes in handling the problem of burdensomelocal taxation In June 1931 the Commission of Disciplinary Action againstPublic Servants (Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjie weiyuanhui) was foundedunder the auspices of the Judicial Yuan a body which evaluated cases of ad-ministrative abuses on materials prepared by Control Yuan officials police of-ficers colleagues of the official concerned and the testimony of the accusedHowever because the Disciplinary Commission often considered the findingsof ordinary courts against civil servants in assessing punishment there wasoften a substantial lag between the filing of a case and a legal judgment againsta public servant accused of wrongdoing In 1937 a temporary decree granted

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the Control Yuan the power of rectification which greatly facilitated the pro-cess of disciplining civil officials7s However with the Japanese invasion ofnorthern China later that year the onerous burden of escalating military ex-penses forced the GMD to reverse many of its local tax and levy reductionpolicies and rural economies in particular once again felt the pinch of increasingfiscal exactions

PATTERNS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN THE REFORM DECADE

Just over fifty years later the Dengist program of decollectivization anddecentralization recreated conditions very similar to the fiscal challenges facedby local administrations during the Nanjing Decade Faced with rising expendi-ture responsibilities and revenue-sharing arrangements that vastly favoredsuperordinate levels of government county and newly-created township andvillage administrations through the 1980s and early 1990s increasingly soughtout revenue sources which were not tightly controlled by the central govern-ment or sought to shield resources from sharing with upper levels using a vari-ety of methods recreating what some have called a reform era warlordeconomy76 The need for higher revenues has been driven in large part by theincreasing expense burdens of county township and village governments whichhave assulued control over social welfare programs within their jurisdictions 77Whereas on the eve of the reform period half of all state expenditures weremade by local governluents by the period of the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1986-90) the percentage had crept up to over 60 percent 78

As during the Nanjing Decade such revenues are required largely to off-set rising administrative costs as local government organizations proliferate andbecome more specialized as well as to fund economic development projectsDespite the goal of reducing the state role in economic management adminis-trative personnel have nearly doubled under the reforms expanding 45 percentover the 1978-1990 period Such increases are at least partly due to the in-creasingly complex nature of reform period tax collection procedures whichhave required the establishment of 47000 new finance offices at the townshipleve179One village cadre recently estimated that she spent approximately sev-enty percent of her work time on tasks associated with revenue collection alone80Shaanxis remote Qingjian County with a population of 205700 people andcounty revenues of 1237 luillion yuan in 1995 employed 3710 people in gov-ernment administrative organs with each administrator requiring--on average-the remittances of fifty-five residents to support them81 One study of the 697

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individuals employed by the 41 township administrations in Sichuans Jiang anCounty discovered that while the employees base salaries averaged between60 and 80 yuan per month they also received regular subsidies benefits andperquisites that raised the actual figure to over 100 yuan per month Further-more the administrative expenses incurred by these employees including offi-cial business trips entertainment and continuing education on average addedanother 3000 yuan per employee Of these monies the study revealed fifteenpercent came from fiscal administration fees (caizheng shiye fei) thirty tothirty- five percent from retained funds (til iu) and the remaining fifty to fifty-five percent from various management fees (guanli fei) penalties or fines(fakuan) and paid service fees (youcheng fuwu fei)82

At the same time central government subsidies to local administrationshave declined markedly In Guizhou where the central government financednearly 60 percent of the provinces budgetary expenditures in the early 1980sby 1993 only 20 percent were centrally subsidized Not surprisingly the revenueshortage cut deeply into sub-provincial administrative budgets as well over thesame period the provincial administration not only ended its policy of subsidizinglocal government operations but by the early 1990s had also begun to extractrevenue from the counties in order to fund its own programs83

Caught between the cross-cutting pressures of rising expenditures anddeclining subsidies local administrators during the reform period improvised awide variety of entrepreneurial methods to increase local revenues much astheir Nanjing Decade predecessors had One method by which this was com-monly achieved was through shifting funds from budgetary (yusuannei) sourceswhich are subject to remittance to higher levels to various types of off-budgetfunds which are far less easily monitored by and not subject to sharing withhigher level authorities Off-budget revenues which include both so-calledextrabudgetary (yusuanwai) and self-raised (zichou) funds played an in-creasingly important role in local finance during the reform period From 1978 to1992 total budgetary revenue of local governments tripled but extrabudgetaryrevenues increased eleven-fold during the same period in 1978 extrabudgetaryfunds comprised only 31 percent of budgetary revenue but by 1992extrabudgetary revenue climbed to 98 percent of budgetary revenue totals84

Self-raised funds accounted for only 117 percent of total revenues availableat the township level in 1986 but rose to 20 percent of the same in 199385

The main sources of these off-budget revenues at the county and town-ship levels are various types of user fees and surcharges levied on formal taxesand public utilities including road maintenance fees education surcharges man-

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agement and planning fees and in some provinces unified levies (tongchou)collected from households by village cadres to finance a variety of social ser-vices and government projects86 In 1991 the central government authorizedthe levying of three assessments by township level cadres and the collectionof five general fees by village level cadres stipulating only that the combinedtotal not exceed five percent of the average annual income of the residents forthe previous year The three assessments included public reserve funds to beused for irrigation and afforestation work as well as the establishment of col-lective enterprises public welfare funds to provide subsidies to needy localfamilies and support local health care and administrative fees to cover cadresalaries and administrative expenses The five general fees collected at thevillage level wereto cover educational expenses family planning programswelfare payments to veterans and their families local militia training and ruralroad construction8

However with no systemic mechanism for the fiscal management of sub-county administrations in place the problem of the so-called three arbitraries(san luan)-arbitary collection of fees (luan shoufei) arbitrary levying offines (luanfakuan) and arbitrary apportionments (luan tanpai)-mushroomedin rural areas during the reform period In Hubei s Jinniu Township under thejurisdiction ofDazhi Municipality a provincial investigation into fee collection inthe township discovered that more than eighteen departments concerned withagriculture alone collected fees for more than 144 different projects from town-ship residents88 A Hubei provincial auditor investigating Suizhou and Jingmenmunicipalities found over sixty-six duplicated assessments collected from cityresidents in 199589In 1997 representatives of seventy-seven households resid-ing in Guanzi Village in Baiyangtownship in Sichuans Jiang County sued thetownship government for its collection of excessive fees and charges Some ofthe collections cited in the lawsuit included a wired broadcasting fee a tuningin fee (shoutingfei) a movie-watching fee and a mulberry grove penalty90

In a Shandong township in which the average annual income jn 1994 was1000yuan cadres in one village collected on a per capita basis a 379 yuancomprehensive planning fee a 25 yuan voluntary contribution to the roadrepair fund et 245 yuan voluntary contribution to the oil-producing crop funda total of 115yuan in fees for township office construction and road hardening70 yuan to cover the cost of excavating sand stones and earth a 10 yuan pigraising fee and a 80 yuan land leasing and sale fee In addition virtually all ofthe village residents were levied also on a per capita basis a 10 yuan fine forgrowing yellow tobacco a cash crop which local authorities maintained was

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unsuitable for cultivation in the region The combined year total of such chargesamounted to nearly 373 yuan Despite central government injunctions in 1994against such practices the following year township exactions rose to 5315yuan per resident91

Ad hoc levies and fees charged against rural enterprises by local agenciesin recent years have proven even more numerous than those lodged againstindividual taxpayers One survey of Hunan rural enterprises discovered thatover sixty different industrial administrations and organs had assessed and col-lected over one hundred types of charges from them92 a central governmentreport calculated that over 900 types of administrative fees were being col-lected on private enterprises on top of which local administrations were alsocollecting more than 1000 types of fees and funds93 In Zhejiang one-third oflocal government revenues for 1989 were traced back to the fees and sur-charges levied against rural enterprises94 That same year ajoint Chinese Acad-emy of Social Sciences (CASS) and World Bank study team surveyed the stateof the rural economy and concluded that excessive demands levied against ruralindustries by local governments were commonplace Citing the case of a firm inJiangxis Shangrao County that had been taxed more by local administratorsthan it had earned in profits the World BankCASS investigators noted thatwhat they termed fiscal predation was acting as a powerful brake on thedevelopment of the rural economy95 As one refrain now popular among themanagers of rural enterprises puts it Of heaven and earth we have no fearonly of entrepreneurial government drawing near96

Fees fines and tolls have also once again become a lucrative source oflocal government revenues and are collected by a wide variety of agents for avariety of reasons In some remote Jiangxi villages in 1996 elderly residentswere fined 5yuan for spitting on the sidewalk any attempt to argue against thepunishment was countered with the addition of an attitude penalty (taidufakuan) of 10 yuan The presence of a common housefly on the premises of arestaurant in those same villages could result in a 50 yuan fine for the owner Inat least one case officials from a local Sanitation and Epidemic PreventionStation descended upon a newly opened establishment with armed with fly-swatters and levied a separate 50 yuan fine for each housefly killed on thepremises causing the owner to shut down the restaurant that same day97 Incertain counties in Sichuan farmers can be fined by local governments forfailing to meet production targets set for the local development of supplemen-tary agricultural goods98 Local groups have also resurrected the Republicanera practice of erecting toll booths and checkpoints on highways in 1995 pro-

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

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was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 37

local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 39

53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 41

108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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collection fee levy 9) farmers bank levy 10) self-government supplemen-tary levy 11) police levy Altogether these acreage levies total one yuan andfive or six jiao per mu Aside from that one must add the pig slaughteringlevy brokerage levy business taxes and others Although these are not in-cluded in the land tax still in the end they are transferred onto the bodies ofthe peasants which grow poorer and feebler day by day 28

ENTREPRENEURIAL METHODS OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATIONS

Central government attempts to curtail the powers of local administrationsto impose and collect taxes without addressing the underlying root of the prob-lem-namely limited sources of county and sub-county revenue and simulta-neous increases in administrative and economic burdens-ultimately drove cash-starved local governments to devise new methods to circumvent central direc-tives Nanjings admonitions to lighten the peasant burden by eliminating extor-tionate levies and miscellaneous taxes were countered by a proliferation ofadministrative fees and the imposition of weighty fines on local residents Inmany cases as Bianco has noted local farmers were forced by local authoritiesto abandon subsistence production in favor of crops which yielded higher taxrevenues for county government such as opium29 Merchants and transportworkers faced stiff escalations in locally imposed tolls and tariffs which im-measurably slowed the shipment of products across county lines and fueledendemic price inflation on certain commodities

Often such revenues provided the primary source of funding for the stan-dard operating budgets of various local government organs including the sala-ries of their employees In the districts surrounding Shaanxis Wei County thesalaries of all public servants below the county level were funded either throughprovisional apportionments (linshi tanpai) land tax surcharges or surtaxes onthe sale of specific items3o In Wei County itself this included a staff of sevenward leaders (quzhang) the decimal unit leaders (lizhang) beneath them andat the bottom tier a layer of village headmen (cunzhang) or hamlet leaders(zhuangtou) who were in charge of tax and levy collection each of whomclaimed a cut of the revenue collected Those more closely involved in theactual collection process often benefited from a lower level of supervision andmanipulated the process to engross themselves One central government inves-tigator touring Shaanxi in 1933 commented

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 9

When peasants hand over tax revenue it must go through the hands of thegrain chief (liangtou) hamlet chief(zhuangtou) security captain (jiazhang)village headman(cunzhang) township leader (xiangzhang) ward leader andothers before it finally arrives at the county government These handlersnaturally will receive some interest and this adds another layer to the burdenput on the peasants For example in Fengxiang County Wang Shaocun in1933 levied an irrigation lottery (jiangquan) for the entire village of fifty-sixyuan each security captain got just under six yuan and moreover each vil-lage leader gave each captain eight yuan The decimal unit leader ofQiu Vil-lage charged a rich household levy of two thousand yuan but only turnedover a thousand to the public [coffers] Suide County in 1931 and 1932 wasunable to remit its land taxes in the spring of 1933 the county administra-tion then took these two years of uncollected land tax and gave them to thetax contractors (baoliang ren) to collect in full and added another twentypercent as a handling fee for the contractors31

The result was an elebaorate process of graduated embezzlement thatpermitted the most egregious abuses to occur at the lowest levels of officialdomAs rural villagers in Sichuan ruefully noted Serving as a ranked official (guan)is not as good as being a grain inspector and being a grain inspector isnt evenas good as being a granary watchman32 The process of land tax collectionproved so lucrative in Jiangsu s Changshu County that local government postsfor tax dunning clerks were monopolistically controlled as a type offamily prop-erty which could be bought and sold or passed down from generation to gen-eration The price for such a position could range anywhere from two or threehundred yuan up to a thousand yuan or more33

Such practices while publically condemned by central authorities werelargely driven by the GMDs broad mandate to modernize the countryside Re-forms pursued by the Nanjing leadership required the mobilization of local-levelresources for their realization and the logistics of financing such operationswere most often left to the discretion of lower levels of government

For example in 1928 administrators in Nanjing exhorted local GMD partybranches to organize the rural population into baojia units for self-defense yetdelineated no particular sources of funding for this task Local practices variedwidely but central investigators in Henans Hui County noted that the first ar-ticle of the county baojia handbook stated that each unit was permitted tocollect a fee based upon one percent of the total harvest of all farmland culti-vated within its dominion at current market prices In practice county baojiachiefs collected operating fees of nine yuan per month throughout the yearrequiring the services of both an accountant and a tax collector to manage In

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nearby Deng and Nanzhao counties baojia expenses were calculated on thesay-so of the chief sometimes totaling over a hundred yuan a month and re-quiring so much labor to collect and manage that an investigator commentedthat the entire operation rivaled that of a ward office in size and scope34 Astudy of rural Hebei police found that all of the thirteen counties studied reliedupon forcibly-collected levies for their salaries equipment purchases and oper-ating budgets In at least one of these counties the police force numbered closeto a thousand men but the designated police force acreage levy was only enoughto outfit a hundred the revenue to support and train the remaining officers wasobtained through tax collection procedures of dubious legality35

Local governments during the early Nanjing Decade were thus caught ina vicious cycle the expansion of state agencies at county and sub-county levelscreated a continuing need for miscellaneous fees and levies in order to fundtheir administrative expenses yet the proliferation offees and surtaxes particu-larly on commercial transactions required an increasing number of tax officesand agents to administer Prior to 1934 when the Second Conference on Finan-cial Affairs unified local tax collection offices revenues were collected by awide variety of legal extra-legal and illegal agents often competing with oneanother for shares of increasingly scarce resources

For example a report on tax collection procedures in Zhejiangs YongjiaCounty noted that while the County Audit Bureau did manage some fees andlevies education levies were handled by county education authorities publicsecurity fees by the County Public Security Bureau (gonganju) insect man-agement and control fees by the County Insect Management Control Officeand local militia taxes (baowei mujuan) by the financial manager of the localmilitia other public debt and interest charges were collected by local publicfinance and public property committees according to their own needs and us-ing their own methods The only attempt county administrators made to controlthis process was to request that each office collecting public funds submit amonthly account to the county government and agree in principle to submit tothe investigatory procedures of the county circuit courtS36

The decentralized nature of the system virtually invited abuse Enterpris-ing citizens seeking to augment their incomes often banded together to formbogus state agencies that provided no services but collected a specific type oflevy37For example in 1934 the Henan Provincial Bureau of Finance (caizhengling) received a petition from the Shenxu Business Association asking it toinvestigate the activities of Li Zefen an accused evil gentry in YanchengCounty The associations chairman attested that Li forced the closing of the

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county cooperative society (hezuoshe) on his own authority and in its placeopened up a Progressive Association (gaijin hui) Declaring himself presi-dent of the new association Li began levying special fees against local busi-nesses and ultimately collected over 10000 yuan which he promptly pocketedCentral government investigators found no evidence that Li s Progressive As-sociation performed any community services in return38

With the 1928 curtailment of the lijin and increasing central control oversurcharges on the salt and land taxes county and sub-county administratorsbecame increasingly creative in their search for new sources of revenue Inmany locations the abolition of the lijin was followed by a surge in the numberof toll booths and toll collection sites provinces counties and even wards begancharging and collecting export duties and tariffs along major roads and water-ways In December 1933 one packet of sugar transported by boat from Zigongto Chongqing was subject to no fewer than twenty separate tariffs levies andfees in nine counties along the way ratcheting up the price by a total of overtwelve yuan39 A cargo of sundry goods transported 820 Ii from Chongqing toChengdu along minor waterways incurred one hundred yuans worth of leviesand duties encountering a tax or toll collection office on average every ten li40

Along the roadways the situation was no better county special levies officesdispatched squads of assessors (kayuan) to major checkpoints and truck stopsto collect tariffs and customs duties on goods in transit In Shaanxi such asses-sors often harassed and intimidated farmers on their way to and from markettowns arbitrarily levying tariff duties and charging road buying money (mailuqian) to anyone transporting goods41

Many county administrations and their subordinate offices sought to in-crease revenue from yet another source largely unregulated by the central gov-ernment fees and fines charged for violations of law either real or manufac-tured Opium addicts proved particularly vulnerable to such ploys In 1935Hebeis Yanshan County manager He Xiaoyi was accused of co lluding with thechief of the county public security forces (gongandui) to collect sums rangingfrom 50 to 830 yuan in fees from local opium addicts in exchange for promisesthat they could avoid arrest42 Similarly a village chiefin Hebeis Julu Countycomplained that the county Opium Suppression Office periodically demandedthat each village turn over a set monthly quota of opium addicts as part of analleged crackdown on local opium consumption Those who were rounded upwere almost invariably not drug users but nonetheless had to pay hundreds ofyuan in fines to secure their release43 The department chief of the Special TaxOffice (teshuiju juzhang) in Henans Hui County habituaHy carried a small

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cache of opium with him to plant on innocent residents whenever the opportu-nity arose he would then accuse his hapless victims of drug possession andforce them to pay heavy fines or face arrest and imprisonment 44The enterpris-ing county administrators in Shaanxi s lia County opened a local bank churningout loans with three month intervals at 25 percent interest Most of the loansmade by the bank in 1933 went either to tenant farmers who could not pay theirrent or taxes on time or to local opium addicts in need of a quick fix45

Rural villages staggered under such exactions with even the most ordi-nary transactions plagued by levies Livestock taxes proliferated until authori-ties could collect a toll at each particular stage of a farm animals life once theanimal was slaughtered individual parts of the animal could also be separatelytaxed In Zhejiangs Ruian County for example no fewer than seven levieswere collected on swine alone including a pig tax a piglet tax a suckling pig taxa sow tax a live pig tax a boar bristle tax and a hog tax among others innearby Chongde County aside from a sheep levy which was presumably im-posed on live sheep the county also collected a sheep-shearing levy a woollevy and a sheepskin levy Other Zhejiang counties and townships routinelyimposed taxes on wild game leather pork mutton and all manner of poultry andtheir eggs46At times the tax burden outweighed the benefits of even the sim-plesttransactions One farmer in Hebeis lulu County complained in 1935

The livestock sales tax is so heavy now that we cant even afford to pay itWhether you are selling or buying you have to pay tax on half of the waterbuffalos price In the spring we were still paying a twoen [sales] tax and athree tong brokerage fee on every yuan Starting in May it changed and forevery yuan we had to pay sixen of tax still three tong [brokerage fee] al-together nineen Now this old water buffalo he can be sold for thirty yuanbut Id have to pay two yuan and sevenjiao in tax and fees if I want to turnaround and spend thirty yuan for another one I have to pay another two yuanand sevenjiao Right now trading [him] in is not that important but whereis that five yuan four jiao going to come from47

POPULAR RSPONSES THE VIEW FROM BELOW

Not surprisingly aside from intensifying rural immiseration the prolifera-tion of fees taxes and levies to which residents were subjected during thisperiod led to rising social unrest and increases in various forms of collectiveaction Although Biancos caveat on the unreliability of statistical data on popu-lar protest during this period is well taken48most scholars of the Republican era

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concur that incidents of tax and rent resistance food riots and acts of banditryrose steadily through the mid-193 Os49As Perrys work has shown local secretsocieties such as the Red Spears and Big Swords frequently mobilized againstthe imposition of excessive levies and miscellaneous taxes often clashing withboth local officials and roving army troops50

Incidents of collective violence aside citizens used various methods toremonstrate against the fiscal demands of local administrations during the NanjingDecade Provincial administrations provincial and circuit court judges and theoffices of the Administrative Yuan regularly received letters of grievances fromfarmers and citizens representatives (gongmin daibiao) protesting bureau-cratic malpractice in the countryside51 In 1936 the Control Yuan received arecord number of petitions for investigation of government officials a numbernearly double that of any of the previous three years the vast majority of whichaccused county managers (xianzhang) and their underlings at the county andsub-county levels52 Viewed as a whole these records strongly suggest thatrural residents during this period organized themselves politically not merely toprotest increases in their overall tax burden but also to oppose levies and feesregarded as immoral unjust or overly intrusive Tax collection methods as wellas punishments meted out to those unable to payor in arrears were also com-mon points of contention

However one striking characteristic of popular political discourse duringthis period is the rarity with which disgruntled taxpayers criticized the centralstate Nanjing Decade protestors and petitioners alike were prompted to actionby rising exactions and endemic official malfeasance but it was the officesinstitutions and practices of local administrations which bore the brunt of theirire not the central party-state Rather rural residents seeking redress from thefiscal predation of county officials and their minions tended to see central au-thorities not as culprits or co-conspirators in the fiscal battle being waged againstthem but as potential protectors against local variants of what Thaxton andBergere have termed bureaucratic capitalists53 Thus while Bianco is prob-ably correct in asserting that peasant protestors during this period generallyviewed the state as both parasitic and alien to the social body of the village54 itis also true that many disgruntled rural residents distinguished between the moreremote but potentially benign central authorities and the far more immediate andpernicious local representatives of state power who preyed upon them Theunderlying collective image of the Nanjing Decade state in unofficial sourcesresembles a loosely organized but multi-tiered extractive machine at the locallevel with few if any links to higher levels of government Not surprisingly the

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overwhelming focus of tax protest and petitionary action during the period wasthe offices institutions and practices of local officials and their cohort

As under late imperial rule local government offices including the countyyamen and other revenue collection offices were common sites for anti-taxprotests Although acts of random and haphazard violence certainly were notrare rural residents sometimes bided their time awaiting the opportunity to strikeback at those who abused their official powers For example in the above-mentioned case of the Hui County (Henan) Special Tax Office departmentchief who apparently often planted opium on innocent taxpayers in order toblackmail them county residents waited until the convention of a sanitationmovement meeting at which point they sacked the office with such violencethat the department chief had no alternative but to flee into hiding55

Similarly in 1927 Red Spears in Shandongs Guan County surrounded thecounty seat because local officials there had raised taxes collaborated withlandlords to hasten rent collection and imposed several new levies In August1927 in nearby western Jiao County Red Spears destroyed the Nan hamletbranch office of the salt tax police (yanshui jingchadui)56 and refused to payany taxes Local Big Sword Society members joined the resisters who soonnumbered over a thousand people In October the protesters launched a sur-prise attack on the Hongshiya tax office in She Village and seized its personnelwho attempted to flee Before the army and local police suppressed the protestwell over two thousand homes had been destroyed and fifty people had died57

Popular indignation over local fiscal policy stemmed in part from the man-ner in which taxes were apportioned Not only was it common for landlordswho were legally liable for the payment of land taxes and other acreage leviesto shift the burden of tax payments onto their tenants 58 but also the proliferationof so-called shared apportionments (tanpai) and other head taxes and forcedpurchases extracted increasing revenues from the lowest strata of village soci-ety As one resident of Fuji ans Guangze County recalled

In my county under the rule of the GMD every year the taxes and levies thatwere collected included a rebellion suppression levy (kanluanjuan) a live-stock slaughter tax a conscription levy [and] a tobacco and alcohollevy The rebellion suppression levy was calculated as a supplement to thepopulation-based grain and salt decimal taxes so from every newborn infantup to every septuagenarian none could be late [in paying] The livestockslaughter tax was collected by the household regardless of whether or notyou were raising any pigs on average each household had bear the burden ofone or two pigs worth of the slaughter tax each year The tobacco and wine

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levy was also due regardless of whether or not you were in the business ofproducing or selling any and it toowascoHected by the household The con-script levy was apportioned according to the age of the draftable populationso however many potential draftees a family had thats how many pennies(fen) they paid in conscript levy59

Other burdens were similarly apportioned ranging in nature from forcedvoluntary contributions to the mandatory purchase of items controlled by gov-ernment agents In 1933 in Hebeis JuluCounty the county salt sales officesuddenly announced that contrary to previous popular practice the sale andconsumption of nitrate salt (xiao yan) was illegal but the use of crude salt (dayan) was permitted To remedy the situation the salt office ordered each vil-lage immediately to begin purchasing crude salt at the rate of three hundredjinper month or pay fines totaling the amount of the mandatory purchase (threehundred yuan) Village chiefs ordered each household to purchase a givenamount of crude salt each month whether or not they needed it for their ownuse Families were furthermore required to purchase crude salt rations even forthose family members who no longer resided in the village60

Compounding what was widely perceived to be the unjust apportionmentof the tax burden was the heavy-handed and callous manner in which taxeswere often collected In the case of acreage levies slated for county self-de-fense corps or police use tax collection was left up to the units in question insouthern Sichuan under warlord rule all county tax collection was routinelyhandled by local militia forces whose brutal intimidation and illegal confiscationof personal property ultimately led to widespread tax revolts there in 193361 Inmany areas peasants unable to pay their taxes by the specified date routinelyhad whatever salable items they owned confiscated by the collectors and weresometimes themselves arrested and imprisoned One central government inves-tigator touring rural Jiangsu in 1933 reported that in Changshu County during thetax collection season over a hundred farmers unable to pay their taxes wereimprisoned in thecountyjail 62

As Bianco noted rural residents often mobilized to protest attempts bylocal administrators to expand their tax collecting authority into previously un-regulated areas of the ruraleconomy63 For example one attempt to extend anexisting levy to cover a new category of goods led to armed conf1ict in Zhej iang sYutao County in March 1933 The residents ofShennong a hamlet in the county ssecond ward had long brewed a type of beverage in their homes for their ownconsumption using ingredients they either harvested or traded among them-selves When in early 1933 the director of the Yutao Liquor Levy Inspection

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Branch Office decided that such products were subject to the countys liquorlevy Shennong residents refused to pay and several were arrested As theyawaited trial more than a thousand of their fellow villagers marched on thecounty seat and demanded an end to harassment by county tax collectors abo-lition of the county liquor levy and immediate release of the arrested villagersOnce the group had massed at the gates of the county seat forces sent by thecounty manager permitted only five representatives inside to meet with offi-cials When the representatives reported back to the crowd that county admin-istrators maintained (falsely) that the liquor levy was a national tax over whichthey had no control the crowd became enraged and pressed toward the gatesThe troops then opened fire killing one and injuring two others64

As the Shennong protest demonstrates petitions personal accounts andpress reports from this period strongly suggest that the GMD state was notpopularly conceived as a single unified actor Even after the establishment ofthe Nanjing regime in 1927 unofficial discourse made clear distinctions be-tween central and local authorities and while the rhetoric of most anti-tax pro-tests was vehemently anti-state in nature for the most part agents and sub-county agents of the bureaucracy were perceived to be rural taxpayers pri-mary antagonists As one person commented in 1938 we are all aware thatChinas political system is weighty at the head and light at the feet the organiza-tion of the central administration is flawless those of the provincial administra-tions are okay (hai keyi) but the county administrations fall seriously short(chae yuan)65

Despite the fact that it was primarily after the establishment of the GMDregime in 1927 that exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes began to multi-ply most vigorously in the countryside overt critiques of the central governmentin rural protest were relatively rare and many of these can be traced specifi-cally to the involvement of Communist organizers For example in 1931 theAnhui provincial government under Chen Diaoyuan imposed a supplementaryshipped rice inspection levy decimal tax (jujia chuanyun mizhao juan lijin)and other assorted fees on rice transported along the Huai River Several weekslater following a confrontation between protesting boat people (chuanmin)and local authorities large-scale demonstrations against Chen and the rice in-spection levy erupted in Bangbu involving representatives of over fifty differentworkers and merchants associations in northern Anhui Communist YouthLeague activists from local middle schools organized over two thousand stu-dents to march to join the other demonstrators at the local parade grounds andattempted to lead the crowd in chanting similar slogans However when the

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Communist organizers in the crowd began chanting Defeat the Guomindangreactionaries a melee broke out and the activists barely escaped with theirlives The issue was later settled following a series of formal appeals to thecentral government66

By and large rural residents engaging in anti-tax resistance viewed thecentral government as an ally in their struggles against the incessant demandsof entrepreneurial local administrations and their agents In June of 1934 whenresidents of Hutubi County in Xinj iang could no longer tolerate the corruptionand extortion of two successive county managers the village headman (xiangyue)and a group of villagers secretly gathered to discuss the problem At the meet-ing one local herdsman later recalled he argued that the central governmenthad repeatedly stressed its determination severely to punish corrupt officialsand their venal underlings and should be taken at its word

These two county managers have engaged in various audacious and cor-rupt perversions of the law extorted the people and openly violated the newgovernments policies If someone would go to the procuracy in the countyseat to make a report the [central] government could not ignore it 67

The herdsman ultimately penned such a letter on behalf of his fellow citizensOne copy reached the Control Yuan which turned the petition over to the pro-vincial government for investigation and the county manager in question waslater executed for his crimes68

In other cases frustrated rural taxpayers sought redress from central au-thorities outside of the formal procedures of appeal and due process One Ad-ministrative Yuan investigator had just concluded his interview with a Shaanxivillage headman and had taken his leave when he was mutely accosted by aresident in the street The villager threw himself on the ground beseechinglyand thrust into his hands a paper which read

According to the order of the county government the balance due from landtaxes from 1920 1921 and 1922 must be raised from household surplus grainimmediately post haste Accordingly the villager Yuan Zuorong is to remitfive dollars (dayang yuan) someone will be dispatched immediately and itwill be turned over to the county as this is absolutely a matter of great im-portance Hereby submitted to Yuan Zuorong

Other village residents quickly gathered around and explained to the investiga-tor that the sum in question was in fact not being collected by the county gov-ernment but instead by the village headman he had just interviewed who the

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villagers alleged was trading on his authority as an agent of the county govern-ment in order to enrich himself69

Such agents were generally conceived of and described in local sources inanimalistic terms as predators who fed rapaciously on the peasants livelihoodin marked contrast to their role as father-mother officials (fumu guan) whoseduty it was to nourish and care for those under their jurisdiction 70Entrepre-neurial agents were commonly referred to as man-eating tigers or even blood-sucking vampires who treated rural villagers as if they were [merely] meatand fish [to be consumed] (yurou xiangmin) or trampled upon them likegrass (caojian renming) One group of Guangzhous Nanhai County resi-dents in 1921 posted a particularly graphic notice to protest the unendurableexactions of the local bullies who staffed their county administration avowingthat the predators had first stripped away our hair and skin and then cut awayour flesh and when our meat is exhausted they will whittle away our bones7lBrokerage licenses to collect commercial taxes or even county authorization tocollect any type of revenue at all were purportedly referred to as choice cutsof meat (feirou) that officials brokers and local notables would squabble overwith each striving to select the richest bit of fat upon which to feast 72

Particularly brazen officials were purported to have used such languagepublicly themselves in Guangxis remote Sanjiang County Han officials at thesub-county levels were said to have derisively referred to their extortive taxcollection tactics in one minority village as eating sprouts (chi miaozi) a playon the homophone for the Miao people who resided in thearea73 Even ControlYuan inspectors when submitting their reports to their superiors or filing legalsummaries of disciplinary action commonly referred to excessive and illegaltaxation methods as sucking down the fat of the people (xiaxi mingu) andperverting the law to fatten themselves (wanfa zifei)74

As the Nanjing Decade drew to a close central government officials ap-peared to be enjoying greater successes in handling the problem of burdensomelocal taxation In June 1931 the Commission of Disciplinary Action againstPublic Servants (Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjie weiyuanhui) was foundedunder the auspices of the Judicial Yuan a body which evaluated cases of ad-ministrative abuses on materials prepared by Control Yuan officials police of-ficers colleagues of the official concerned and the testimony of the accusedHowever because the Disciplinary Commission often considered the findingsof ordinary courts against civil servants in assessing punishment there wasoften a substantial lag between the filing of a case and a legal judgment againsta public servant accused of wrongdoing In 1937 a temporary decree granted

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the Control Yuan the power of rectification which greatly facilitated the pro-cess of disciplining civil officials7s However with the Japanese invasion ofnorthern China later that year the onerous burden of escalating military ex-penses forced the GMD to reverse many of its local tax and levy reductionpolicies and rural economies in particular once again felt the pinch of increasingfiscal exactions

PATTERNS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN THE REFORM DECADE

Just over fifty years later the Dengist program of decollectivization anddecentralization recreated conditions very similar to the fiscal challenges facedby local administrations during the Nanjing Decade Faced with rising expendi-ture responsibilities and revenue-sharing arrangements that vastly favoredsuperordinate levels of government county and newly-created township andvillage administrations through the 1980s and early 1990s increasingly soughtout revenue sources which were not tightly controlled by the central govern-ment or sought to shield resources from sharing with upper levels using a vari-ety of methods recreating what some have called a reform era warlordeconomy76 The need for higher revenues has been driven in large part by theincreasing expense burdens of county township and village governments whichhave assulued control over social welfare programs within their jurisdictions 77Whereas on the eve of the reform period half of all state expenditures weremade by local governluents by the period of the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1986-90) the percentage had crept up to over 60 percent 78

As during the Nanjing Decade such revenues are required largely to off-set rising administrative costs as local government organizations proliferate andbecome more specialized as well as to fund economic development projectsDespite the goal of reducing the state role in economic management adminis-trative personnel have nearly doubled under the reforms expanding 45 percentover the 1978-1990 period Such increases are at least partly due to the in-creasingly complex nature of reform period tax collection procedures whichhave required the establishment of 47000 new finance offices at the townshipleve179One village cadre recently estimated that she spent approximately sev-enty percent of her work time on tasks associated with revenue collection alone80Shaanxis remote Qingjian County with a population of 205700 people andcounty revenues of 1237 luillion yuan in 1995 employed 3710 people in gov-ernment administrative organs with each administrator requiring--on average-the remittances of fifty-five residents to support them81 One study of the 697

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individuals employed by the 41 township administrations in Sichuans Jiang anCounty discovered that while the employees base salaries averaged between60 and 80 yuan per month they also received regular subsidies benefits andperquisites that raised the actual figure to over 100 yuan per month Further-more the administrative expenses incurred by these employees including offi-cial business trips entertainment and continuing education on average addedanother 3000 yuan per employee Of these monies the study revealed fifteenpercent came from fiscal administration fees (caizheng shiye fei) thirty tothirty- five percent from retained funds (til iu) and the remaining fifty to fifty-five percent from various management fees (guanli fei) penalties or fines(fakuan) and paid service fees (youcheng fuwu fei)82

At the same time central government subsidies to local administrationshave declined markedly In Guizhou where the central government financednearly 60 percent of the provinces budgetary expenditures in the early 1980sby 1993 only 20 percent were centrally subsidized Not surprisingly the revenueshortage cut deeply into sub-provincial administrative budgets as well over thesame period the provincial administration not only ended its policy of subsidizinglocal government operations but by the early 1990s had also begun to extractrevenue from the counties in order to fund its own programs83

Caught between the cross-cutting pressures of rising expenditures anddeclining subsidies local administrators during the reform period improvised awide variety of entrepreneurial methods to increase local revenues much astheir Nanjing Decade predecessors had One method by which this was com-monly achieved was through shifting funds from budgetary (yusuannei) sourceswhich are subject to remittance to higher levels to various types of off-budgetfunds which are far less easily monitored by and not subject to sharing withhigher level authorities Off-budget revenues which include both so-calledextrabudgetary (yusuanwai) and self-raised (zichou) funds played an in-creasingly important role in local finance during the reform period From 1978 to1992 total budgetary revenue of local governments tripled but extrabudgetaryrevenues increased eleven-fold during the same period in 1978 extrabudgetaryfunds comprised only 31 percent of budgetary revenue but by 1992extrabudgetary revenue climbed to 98 percent of budgetary revenue totals84

Self-raised funds accounted for only 117 percent of total revenues availableat the township level in 1986 but rose to 20 percent of the same in 199385

The main sources of these off-budget revenues at the county and town-ship levels are various types of user fees and surcharges levied on formal taxesand public utilities including road maintenance fees education surcharges man-

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agement and planning fees and in some provinces unified levies (tongchou)collected from households by village cadres to finance a variety of social ser-vices and government projects86 In 1991 the central government authorizedthe levying of three assessments by township level cadres and the collectionof five general fees by village level cadres stipulating only that the combinedtotal not exceed five percent of the average annual income of the residents forthe previous year The three assessments included public reserve funds to beused for irrigation and afforestation work as well as the establishment of col-lective enterprises public welfare funds to provide subsidies to needy localfamilies and support local health care and administrative fees to cover cadresalaries and administrative expenses The five general fees collected at thevillage level wereto cover educational expenses family planning programswelfare payments to veterans and their families local militia training and ruralroad construction8

However with no systemic mechanism for the fiscal management of sub-county administrations in place the problem of the so-called three arbitraries(san luan)-arbitary collection of fees (luan shoufei) arbitrary levying offines (luanfakuan) and arbitrary apportionments (luan tanpai)-mushroomedin rural areas during the reform period In Hubei s Jinniu Township under thejurisdiction ofDazhi Municipality a provincial investigation into fee collection inthe township discovered that more than eighteen departments concerned withagriculture alone collected fees for more than 144 different projects from town-ship residents88 A Hubei provincial auditor investigating Suizhou and Jingmenmunicipalities found over sixty-six duplicated assessments collected from cityresidents in 199589In 1997 representatives of seventy-seven households resid-ing in Guanzi Village in Baiyangtownship in Sichuans Jiang County sued thetownship government for its collection of excessive fees and charges Some ofthe collections cited in the lawsuit included a wired broadcasting fee a tuningin fee (shoutingfei) a movie-watching fee and a mulberry grove penalty90

In a Shandong township in which the average annual income jn 1994 was1000yuan cadres in one village collected on a per capita basis a 379 yuancomprehensive planning fee a 25 yuan voluntary contribution to the roadrepair fund et 245 yuan voluntary contribution to the oil-producing crop funda total of 115yuan in fees for township office construction and road hardening70 yuan to cover the cost of excavating sand stones and earth a 10 yuan pigraising fee and a 80 yuan land leasing and sale fee In addition virtually all ofthe village residents were levied also on a per capita basis a 10 yuan fine forgrowing yellow tobacco a cash crop which local authorities maintained was

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unsuitable for cultivation in the region The combined year total of such chargesamounted to nearly 373 yuan Despite central government injunctions in 1994against such practices the following year township exactions rose to 5315yuan per resident91

Ad hoc levies and fees charged against rural enterprises by local agenciesin recent years have proven even more numerous than those lodged againstindividual taxpayers One survey of Hunan rural enterprises discovered thatover sixty different industrial administrations and organs had assessed and col-lected over one hundred types of charges from them92 a central governmentreport calculated that over 900 types of administrative fees were being col-lected on private enterprises on top of which local administrations were alsocollecting more than 1000 types of fees and funds93 In Zhejiang one-third oflocal government revenues for 1989 were traced back to the fees and sur-charges levied against rural enterprises94 That same year ajoint Chinese Acad-emy of Social Sciences (CASS) and World Bank study team surveyed the stateof the rural economy and concluded that excessive demands levied against ruralindustries by local governments were commonplace Citing the case of a firm inJiangxis Shangrao County that had been taxed more by local administratorsthan it had earned in profits the World BankCASS investigators noted thatwhat they termed fiscal predation was acting as a powerful brake on thedevelopment of the rural economy95 As one refrain now popular among themanagers of rural enterprises puts it Of heaven and earth we have no fearonly of entrepreneurial government drawing near96

Fees fines and tolls have also once again become a lucrative source oflocal government revenues and are collected by a wide variety of agents for avariety of reasons In some remote Jiangxi villages in 1996 elderly residentswere fined 5yuan for spitting on the sidewalk any attempt to argue against thepunishment was countered with the addition of an attitude penalty (taidufakuan) of 10 yuan The presence of a common housefly on the premises of arestaurant in those same villages could result in a 50 yuan fine for the owner Inat least one case officials from a local Sanitation and Epidemic PreventionStation descended upon a newly opened establishment with armed with fly-swatters and levied a separate 50 yuan fine for each housefly killed on thepremises causing the owner to shut down the restaurant that same day97 Incertain counties in Sichuan farmers can be fined by local governments forfailing to meet production targets set for the local development of supplemen-tary agricultural goods98 Local groups have also resurrected the Republicanera practice of erecting toll booths and checkpoints on highways in 1995 pro-

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

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was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 37

local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 39

53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 41

108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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When peasants hand over tax revenue it must go through the hands of thegrain chief (liangtou) hamlet chief(zhuangtou) security captain (jiazhang)village headman(cunzhang) township leader (xiangzhang) ward leader andothers before it finally arrives at the county government These handlersnaturally will receive some interest and this adds another layer to the burdenput on the peasants For example in Fengxiang County Wang Shaocun in1933 levied an irrigation lottery (jiangquan) for the entire village of fifty-sixyuan each security captain got just under six yuan and moreover each vil-lage leader gave each captain eight yuan The decimal unit leader ofQiu Vil-lage charged a rich household levy of two thousand yuan but only turnedover a thousand to the public [coffers] Suide County in 1931 and 1932 wasunable to remit its land taxes in the spring of 1933 the county administra-tion then took these two years of uncollected land tax and gave them to thetax contractors (baoliang ren) to collect in full and added another twentypercent as a handling fee for the contractors31

The result was an elebaorate process of graduated embezzlement thatpermitted the most egregious abuses to occur at the lowest levels of officialdomAs rural villagers in Sichuan ruefully noted Serving as a ranked official (guan)is not as good as being a grain inspector and being a grain inspector isnt evenas good as being a granary watchman32 The process of land tax collectionproved so lucrative in Jiangsu s Changshu County that local government postsfor tax dunning clerks were monopolistically controlled as a type offamily prop-erty which could be bought and sold or passed down from generation to gen-eration The price for such a position could range anywhere from two or threehundred yuan up to a thousand yuan or more33

Such practices while publically condemned by central authorities werelargely driven by the GMDs broad mandate to modernize the countryside Re-forms pursued by the Nanjing leadership required the mobilization of local-levelresources for their realization and the logistics of financing such operationswere most often left to the discretion of lower levels of government

For example in 1928 administrators in Nanjing exhorted local GMD partybranches to organize the rural population into baojia units for self-defense yetdelineated no particular sources of funding for this task Local practices variedwidely but central investigators in Henans Hui County noted that the first ar-ticle of the county baojia handbook stated that each unit was permitted tocollect a fee based upon one percent of the total harvest of all farmland culti-vated within its dominion at current market prices In practice county baojiachiefs collected operating fees of nine yuan per month throughout the yearrequiring the services of both an accountant and a tax collector to manage In

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nearby Deng and Nanzhao counties baojia expenses were calculated on thesay-so of the chief sometimes totaling over a hundred yuan a month and re-quiring so much labor to collect and manage that an investigator commentedthat the entire operation rivaled that of a ward office in size and scope34 Astudy of rural Hebei police found that all of the thirteen counties studied reliedupon forcibly-collected levies for their salaries equipment purchases and oper-ating budgets In at least one of these counties the police force numbered closeto a thousand men but the designated police force acreage levy was only enoughto outfit a hundred the revenue to support and train the remaining officers wasobtained through tax collection procedures of dubious legality35

Local governments during the early Nanjing Decade were thus caught ina vicious cycle the expansion of state agencies at county and sub-county levelscreated a continuing need for miscellaneous fees and levies in order to fundtheir administrative expenses yet the proliferation offees and surtaxes particu-larly on commercial transactions required an increasing number of tax officesand agents to administer Prior to 1934 when the Second Conference on Finan-cial Affairs unified local tax collection offices revenues were collected by awide variety of legal extra-legal and illegal agents often competing with oneanother for shares of increasingly scarce resources

For example a report on tax collection procedures in Zhejiangs YongjiaCounty noted that while the County Audit Bureau did manage some fees andlevies education levies were handled by county education authorities publicsecurity fees by the County Public Security Bureau (gonganju) insect man-agement and control fees by the County Insect Management Control Officeand local militia taxes (baowei mujuan) by the financial manager of the localmilitia other public debt and interest charges were collected by local publicfinance and public property committees according to their own needs and us-ing their own methods The only attempt county administrators made to controlthis process was to request that each office collecting public funds submit amonthly account to the county government and agree in principle to submit tothe investigatory procedures of the county circuit courtS36

The decentralized nature of the system virtually invited abuse Enterpris-ing citizens seeking to augment their incomes often banded together to formbogus state agencies that provided no services but collected a specific type oflevy37For example in 1934 the Henan Provincial Bureau of Finance (caizhengling) received a petition from the Shenxu Business Association asking it toinvestigate the activities of Li Zefen an accused evil gentry in YanchengCounty The associations chairman attested that Li forced the closing of the

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county cooperative society (hezuoshe) on his own authority and in its placeopened up a Progressive Association (gaijin hui) Declaring himself presi-dent of the new association Li began levying special fees against local busi-nesses and ultimately collected over 10000 yuan which he promptly pocketedCentral government investigators found no evidence that Li s Progressive As-sociation performed any community services in return38

With the 1928 curtailment of the lijin and increasing central control oversurcharges on the salt and land taxes county and sub-county administratorsbecame increasingly creative in their search for new sources of revenue Inmany locations the abolition of the lijin was followed by a surge in the numberof toll booths and toll collection sites provinces counties and even wards begancharging and collecting export duties and tariffs along major roads and water-ways In December 1933 one packet of sugar transported by boat from Zigongto Chongqing was subject to no fewer than twenty separate tariffs levies andfees in nine counties along the way ratcheting up the price by a total of overtwelve yuan39 A cargo of sundry goods transported 820 Ii from Chongqing toChengdu along minor waterways incurred one hundred yuans worth of leviesand duties encountering a tax or toll collection office on average every ten li40

Along the roadways the situation was no better county special levies officesdispatched squads of assessors (kayuan) to major checkpoints and truck stopsto collect tariffs and customs duties on goods in transit In Shaanxi such asses-sors often harassed and intimidated farmers on their way to and from markettowns arbitrarily levying tariff duties and charging road buying money (mailuqian) to anyone transporting goods41

Many county administrations and their subordinate offices sought to in-crease revenue from yet another source largely unregulated by the central gov-ernment fees and fines charged for violations of law either real or manufac-tured Opium addicts proved particularly vulnerable to such ploys In 1935Hebeis Yanshan County manager He Xiaoyi was accused of co lluding with thechief of the county public security forces (gongandui) to collect sums rangingfrom 50 to 830 yuan in fees from local opium addicts in exchange for promisesthat they could avoid arrest42 Similarly a village chiefin Hebeis Julu Countycomplained that the county Opium Suppression Office periodically demandedthat each village turn over a set monthly quota of opium addicts as part of analleged crackdown on local opium consumption Those who were rounded upwere almost invariably not drug users but nonetheless had to pay hundreds ofyuan in fines to secure their release43 The department chief of the Special TaxOffice (teshuiju juzhang) in Henans Hui County habituaHy carried a small

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cache of opium with him to plant on innocent residents whenever the opportu-nity arose he would then accuse his hapless victims of drug possession andforce them to pay heavy fines or face arrest and imprisonment 44The enterpris-ing county administrators in Shaanxi s lia County opened a local bank churningout loans with three month intervals at 25 percent interest Most of the loansmade by the bank in 1933 went either to tenant farmers who could not pay theirrent or taxes on time or to local opium addicts in need of a quick fix45

Rural villages staggered under such exactions with even the most ordi-nary transactions plagued by levies Livestock taxes proliferated until authori-ties could collect a toll at each particular stage of a farm animals life once theanimal was slaughtered individual parts of the animal could also be separatelytaxed In Zhejiangs Ruian County for example no fewer than seven levieswere collected on swine alone including a pig tax a piglet tax a suckling pig taxa sow tax a live pig tax a boar bristle tax and a hog tax among others innearby Chongde County aside from a sheep levy which was presumably im-posed on live sheep the county also collected a sheep-shearing levy a woollevy and a sheepskin levy Other Zhejiang counties and townships routinelyimposed taxes on wild game leather pork mutton and all manner of poultry andtheir eggs46At times the tax burden outweighed the benefits of even the sim-plesttransactions One farmer in Hebeis lulu County complained in 1935

The livestock sales tax is so heavy now that we cant even afford to pay itWhether you are selling or buying you have to pay tax on half of the waterbuffalos price In the spring we were still paying a twoen [sales] tax and athree tong brokerage fee on every yuan Starting in May it changed and forevery yuan we had to pay sixen of tax still three tong [brokerage fee] al-together nineen Now this old water buffalo he can be sold for thirty yuanbut Id have to pay two yuan and sevenjiao in tax and fees if I want to turnaround and spend thirty yuan for another one I have to pay another two yuanand sevenjiao Right now trading [him] in is not that important but whereis that five yuan four jiao going to come from47

POPULAR RSPONSES THE VIEW FROM BELOW

Not surprisingly aside from intensifying rural immiseration the prolifera-tion of fees taxes and levies to which residents were subjected during thisperiod led to rising social unrest and increases in various forms of collectiveaction Although Biancos caveat on the unreliability of statistical data on popu-lar protest during this period is well taken48most scholars of the Republican era

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concur that incidents of tax and rent resistance food riots and acts of banditryrose steadily through the mid-193 Os49As Perrys work has shown local secretsocieties such as the Red Spears and Big Swords frequently mobilized againstthe imposition of excessive levies and miscellaneous taxes often clashing withboth local officials and roving army troops50

Incidents of collective violence aside citizens used various methods toremonstrate against the fiscal demands of local administrations during the NanjingDecade Provincial administrations provincial and circuit court judges and theoffices of the Administrative Yuan regularly received letters of grievances fromfarmers and citizens representatives (gongmin daibiao) protesting bureau-cratic malpractice in the countryside51 In 1936 the Control Yuan received arecord number of petitions for investigation of government officials a numbernearly double that of any of the previous three years the vast majority of whichaccused county managers (xianzhang) and their underlings at the county andsub-county levels52 Viewed as a whole these records strongly suggest thatrural residents during this period organized themselves politically not merely toprotest increases in their overall tax burden but also to oppose levies and feesregarded as immoral unjust or overly intrusive Tax collection methods as wellas punishments meted out to those unable to payor in arrears were also com-mon points of contention

However one striking characteristic of popular political discourse duringthis period is the rarity with which disgruntled taxpayers criticized the centralstate Nanjing Decade protestors and petitioners alike were prompted to actionby rising exactions and endemic official malfeasance but it was the officesinstitutions and practices of local administrations which bore the brunt of theirire not the central party-state Rather rural residents seeking redress from thefiscal predation of county officials and their minions tended to see central au-thorities not as culprits or co-conspirators in the fiscal battle being waged againstthem but as potential protectors against local variants of what Thaxton andBergere have termed bureaucratic capitalists53 Thus while Bianco is prob-ably correct in asserting that peasant protestors during this period generallyviewed the state as both parasitic and alien to the social body of the village54 itis also true that many disgruntled rural residents distinguished between the moreremote but potentially benign central authorities and the far more immediate andpernicious local representatives of state power who preyed upon them Theunderlying collective image of the Nanjing Decade state in unofficial sourcesresembles a loosely organized but multi-tiered extractive machine at the locallevel with few if any links to higher levels of government Not surprisingly the

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overwhelming focus of tax protest and petitionary action during the period wasthe offices institutions and practices of local officials and their cohort

As under late imperial rule local government offices including the countyyamen and other revenue collection offices were common sites for anti-taxprotests Although acts of random and haphazard violence certainly were notrare rural residents sometimes bided their time awaiting the opportunity to strikeback at those who abused their official powers For example in the above-mentioned case of the Hui County (Henan) Special Tax Office departmentchief who apparently often planted opium on innocent taxpayers in order toblackmail them county residents waited until the convention of a sanitationmovement meeting at which point they sacked the office with such violencethat the department chief had no alternative but to flee into hiding55

Similarly in 1927 Red Spears in Shandongs Guan County surrounded thecounty seat because local officials there had raised taxes collaborated withlandlords to hasten rent collection and imposed several new levies In August1927 in nearby western Jiao County Red Spears destroyed the Nan hamletbranch office of the salt tax police (yanshui jingchadui)56 and refused to payany taxes Local Big Sword Society members joined the resisters who soonnumbered over a thousand people In October the protesters launched a sur-prise attack on the Hongshiya tax office in She Village and seized its personnelwho attempted to flee Before the army and local police suppressed the protestwell over two thousand homes had been destroyed and fifty people had died57

Popular indignation over local fiscal policy stemmed in part from the man-ner in which taxes were apportioned Not only was it common for landlordswho were legally liable for the payment of land taxes and other acreage leviesto shift the burden of tax payments onto their tenants 58 but also the proliferationof so-called shared apportionments (tanpai) and other head taxes and forcedpurchases extracted increasing revenues from the lowest strata of village soci-ety As one resident of Fuji ans Guangze County recalled

In my county under the rule of the GMD every year the taxes and levies thatwere collected included a rebellion suppression levy (kanluanjuan) a live-stock slaughter tax a conscription levy [and] a tobacco and alcohollevy The rebellion suppression levy was calculated as a supplement to thepopulation-based grain and salt decimal taxes so from every newborn infantup to every septuagenarian none could be late [in paying] The livestockslaughter tax was collected by the household regardless of whether or notyou were raising any pigs on average each household had bear the burden ofone or two pigs worth of the slaughter tax each year The tobacco and wine

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levy was also due regardless of whether or not you were in the business ofproducing or selling any and it toowascoHected by the household The con-script levy was apportioned according to the age of the draftable populationso however many potential draftees a family had thats how many pennies(fen) they paid in conscript levy59

Other burdens were similarly apportioned ranging in nature from forcedvoluntary contributions to the mandatory purchase of items controlled by gov-ernment agents In 1933 in Hebeis JuluCounty the county salt sales officesuddenly announced that contrary to previous popular practice the sale andconsumption of nitrate salt (xiao yan) was illegal but the use of crude salt (dayan) was permitted To remedy the situation the salt office ordered each vil-lage immediately to begin purchasing crude salt at the rate of three hundredjinper month or pay fines totaling the amount of the mandatory purchase (threehundred yuan) Village chiefs ordered each household to purchase a givenamount of crude salt each month whether or not they needed it for their ownuse Families were furthermore required to purchase crude salt rations even forthose family members who no longer resided in the village60

Compounding what was widely perceived to be the unjust apportionmentof the tax burden was the heavy-handed and callous manner in which taxeswere often collected In the case of acreage levies slated for county self-de-fense corps or police use tax collection was left up to the units in question insouthern Sichuan under warlord rule all county tax collection was routinelyhandled by local militia forces whose brutal intimidation and illegal confiscationof personal property ultimately led to widespread tax revolts there in 193361 Inmany areas peasants unable to pay their taxes by the specified date routinelyhad whatever salable items they owned confiscated by the collectors and weresometimes themselves arrested and imprisoned One central government inves-tigator touring rural Jiangsu in 1933 reported that in Changshu County during thetax collection season over a hundred farmers unable to pay their taxes wereimprisoned in thecountyjail 62

As Bianco noted rural residents often mobilized to protest attempts bylocal administrators to expand their tax collecting authority into previously un-regulated areas of the ruraleconomy63 For example one attempt to extend anexisting levy to cover a new category of goods led to armed conf1ict in Zhej iang sYutao County in March 1933 The residents ofShennong a hamlet in the county ssecond ward had long brewed a type of beverage in their homes for their ownconsumption using ingredients they either harvested or traded among them-selves When in early 1933 the director of the Yutao Liquor Levy Inspection

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Branch Office decided that such products were subject to the countys liquorlevy Shennong residents refused to pay and several were arrested As theyawaited trial more than a thousand of their fellow villagers marched on thecounty seat and demanded an end to harassment by county tax collectors abo-lition of the county liquor levy and immediate release of the arrested villagersOnce the group had massed at the gates of the county seat forces sent by thecounty manager permitted only five representatives inside to meet with offi-cials When the representatives reported back to the crowd that county admin-istrators maintained (falsely) that the liquor levy was a national tax over whichthey had no control the crowd became enraged and pressed toward the gatesThe troops then opened fire killing one and injuring two others64

As the Shennong protest demonstrates petitions personal accounts andpress reports from this period strongly suggest that the GMD state was notpopularly conceived as a single unified actor Even after the establishment ofthe Nanjing regime in 1927 unofficial discourse made clear distinctions be-tween central and local authorities and while the rhetoric of most anti-tax pro-tests was vehemently anti-state in nature for the most part agents and sub-county agents of the bureaucracy were perceived to be rural taxpayers pri-mary antagonists As one person commented in 1938 we are all aware thatChinas political system is weighty at the head and light at the feet the organiza-tion of the central administration is flawless those of the provincial administra-tions are okay (hai keyi) but the county administrations fall seriously short(chae yuan)65

Despite the fact that it was primarily after the establishment of the GMDregime in 1927 that exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes began to multi-ply most vigorously in the countryside overt critiques of the central governmentin rural protest were relatively rare and many of these can be traced specifi-cally to the involvement of Communist organizers For example in 1931 theAnhui provincial government under Chen Diaoyuan imposed a supplementaryshipped rice inspection levy decimal tax (jujia chuanyun mizhao juan lijin)and other assorted fees on rice transported along the Huai River Several weekslater following a confrontation between protesting boat people (chuanmin)and local authorities large-scale demonstrations against Chen and the rice in-spection levy erupted in Bangbu involving representatives of over fifty differentworkers and merchants associations in northern Anhui Communist YouthLeague activists from local middle schools organized over two thousand stu-dents to march to join the other demonstrators at the local parade grounds andattempted to lead the crowd in chanting similar slogans However when the

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Communist organizers in the crowd began chanting Defeat the Guomindangreactionaries a melee broke out and the activists barely escaped with theirlives The issue was later settled following a series of formal appeals to thecentral government66

By and large rural residents engaging in anti-tax resistance viewed thecentral government as an ally in their struggles against the incessant demandsof entrepreneurial local administrations and their agents In June of 1934 whenresidents of Hutubi County in Xinj iang could no longer tolerate the corruptionand extortion of two successive county managers the village headman (xiangyue)and a group of villagers secretly gathered to discuss the problem At the meet-ing one local herdsman later recalled he argued that the central governmenthad repeatedly stressed its determination severely to punish corrupt officialsand their venal underlings and should be taken at its word

These two county managers have engaged in various audacious and cor-rupt perversions of the law extorted the people and openly violated the newgovernments policies If someone would go to the procuracy in the countyseat to make a report the [central] government could not ignore it 67

The herdsman ultimately penned such a letter on behalf of his fellow citizensOne copy reached the Control Yuan which turned the petition over to the pro-vincial government for investigation and the county manager in question waslater executed for his crimes68

In other cases frustrated rural taxpayers sought redress from central au-thorities outside of the formal procedures of appeal and due process One Ad-ministrative Yuan investigator had just concluded his interview with a Shaanxivillage headman and had taken his leave when he was mutely accosted by aresident in the street The villager threw himself on the ground beseechinglyand thrust into his hands a paper which read

According to the order of the county government the balance due from landtaxes from 1920 1921 and 1922 must be raised from household surplus grainimmediately post haste Accordingly the villager Yuan Zuorong is to remitfive dollars (dayang yuan) someone will be dispatched immediately and itwill be turned over to the county as this is absolutely a matter of great im-portance Hereby submitted to Yuan Zuorong

Other village residents quickly gathered around and explained to the investiga-tor that the sum in question was in fact not being collected by the county gov-ernment but instead by the village headman he had just interviewed who the

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villagers alleged was trading on his authority as an agent of the county govern-ment in order to enrich himself69

Such agents were generally conceived of and described in local sources inanimalistic terms as predators who fed rapaciously on the peasants livelihoodin marked contrast to their role as father-mother officials (fumu guan) whoseduty it was to nourish and care for those under their jurisdiction 70Entrepre-neurial agents were commonly referred to as man-eating tigers or even blood-sucking vampires who treated rural villagers as if they were [merely] meatand fish [to be consumed] (yurou xiangmin) or trampled upon them likegrass (caojian renming) One group of Guangzhous Nanhai County resi-dents in 1921 posted a particularly graphic notice to protest the unendurableexactions of the local bullies who staffed their county administration avowingthat the predators had first stripped away our hair and skin and then cut awayour flesh and when our meat is exhausted they will whittle away our bones7lBrokerage licenses to collect commercial taxes or even county authorization tocollect any type of revenue at all were purportedly referred to as choice cutsof meat (feirou) that officials brokers and local notables would squabble overwith each striving to select the richest bit of fat upon which to feast 72

Particularly brazen officials were purported to have used such languagepublicly themselves in Guangxis remote Sanjiang County Han officials at thesub-county levels were said to have derisively referred to their extortive taxcollection tactics in one minority village as eating sprouts (chi miaozi) a playon the homophone for the Miao people who resided in thearea73 Even ControlYuan inspectors when submitting their reports to their superiors or filing legalsummaries of disciplinary action commonly referred to excessive and illegaltaxation methods as sucking down the fat of the people (xiaxi mingu) andperverting the law to fatten themselves (wanfa zifei)74

As the Nanjing Decade drew to a close central government officials ap-peared to be enjoying greater successes in handling the problem of burdensomelocal taxation In June 1931 the Commission of Disciplinary Action againstPublic Servants (Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjie weiyuanhui) was foundedunder the auspices of the Judicial Yuan a body which evaluated cases of ad-ministrative abuses on materials prepared by Control Yuan officials police of-ficers colleagues of the official concerned and the testimony of the accusedHowever because the Disciplinary Commission often considered the findingsof ordinary courts against civil servants in assessing punishment there wasoften a substantial lag between the filing of a case and a legal judgment againsta public servant accused of wrongdoing In 1937 a temporary decree granted

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the Control Yuan the power of rectification which greatly facilitated the pro-cess of disciplining civil officials7s However with the Japanese invasion ofnorthern China later that year the onerous burden of escalating military ex-penses forced the GMD to reverse many of its local tax and levy reductionpolicies and rural economies in particular once again felt the pinch of increasingfiscal exactions

PATTERNS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN THE REFORM DECADE

Just over fifty years later the Dengist program of decollectivization anddecentralization recreated conditions very similar to the fiscal challenges facedby local administrations during the Nanjing Decade Faced with rising expendi-ture responsibilities and revenue-sharing arrangements that vastly favoredsuperordinate levels of government county and newly-created township andvillage administrations through the 1980s and early 1990s increasingly soughtout revenue sources which were not tightly controlled by the central govern-ment or sought to shield resources from sharing with upper levels using a vari-ety of methods recreating what some have called a reform era warlordeconomy76 The need for higher revenues has been driven in large part by theincreasing expense burdens of county township and village governments whichhave assulued control over social welfare programs within their jurisdictions 77Whereas on the eve of the reform period half of all state expenditures weremade by local governluents by the period of the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1986-90) the percentage had crept up to over 60 percent 78

As during the Nanjing Decade such revenues are required largely to off-set rising administrative costs as local government organizations proliferate andbecome more specialized as well as to fund economic development projectsDespite the goal of reducing the state role in economic management adminis-trative personnel have nearly doubled under the reforms expanding 45 percentover the 1978-1990 period Such increases are at least partly due to the in-creasingly complex nature of reform period tax collection procedures whichhave required the establishment of 47000 new finance offices at the townshipleve179One village cadre recently estimated that she spent approximately sev-enty percent of her work time on tasks associated with revenue collection alone80Shaanxis remote Qingjian County with a population of 205700 people andcounty revenues of 1237 luillion yuan in 1995 employed 3710 people in gov-ernment administrative organs with each administrator requiring--on average-the remittances of fifty-five residents to support them81 One study of the 697

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individuals employed by the 41 township administrations in Sichuans Jiang anCounty discovered that while the employees base salaries averaged between60 and 80 yuan per month they also received regular subsidies benefits andperquisites that raised the actual figure to over 100 yuan per month Further-more the administrative expenses incurred by these employees including offi-cial business trips entertainment and continuing education on average addedanother 3000 yuan per employee Of these monies the study revealed fifteenpercent came from fiscal administration fees (caizheng shiye fei) thirty tothirty- five percent from retained funds (til iu) and the remaining fifty to fifty-five percent from various management fees (guanli fei) penalties or fines(fakuan) and paid service fees (youcheng fuwu fei)82

At the same time central government subsidies to local administrationshave declined markedly In Guizhou where the central government financednearly 60 percent of the provinces budgetary expenditures in the early 1980sby 1993 only 20 percent were centrally subsidized Not surprisingly the revenueshortage cut deeply into sub-provincial administrative budgets as well over thesame period the provincial administration not only ended its policy of subsidizinglocal government operations but by the early 1990s had also begun to extractrevenue from the counties in order to fund its own programs83

Caught between the cross-cutting pressures of rising expenditures anddeclining subsidies local administrators during the reform period improvised awide variety of entrepreneurial methods to increase local revenues much astheir Nanjing Decade predecessors had One method by which this was com-monly achieved was through shifting funds from budgetary (yusuannei) sourceswhich are subject to remittance to higher levels to various types of off-budgetfunds which are far less easily monitored by and not subject to sharing withhigher level authorities Off-budget revenues which include both so-calledextrabudgetary (yusuanwai) and self-raised (zichou) funds played an in-creasingly important role in local finance during the reform period From 1978 to1992 total budgetary revenue of local governments tripled but extrabudgetaryrevenues increased eleven-fold during the same period in 1978 extrabudgetaryfunds comprised only 31 percent of budgetary revenue but by 1992extrabudgetary revenue climbed to 98 percent of budgetary revenue totals84

Self-raised funds accounted for only 117 percent of total revenues availableat the township level in 1986 but rose to 20 percent of the same in 199385

The main sources of these off-budget revenues at the county and town-ship levels are various types of user fees and surcharges levied on formal taxesand public utilities including road maintenance fees education surcharges man-

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agement and planning fees and in some provinces unified levies (tongchou)collected from households by village cadres to finance a variety of social ser-vices and government projects86 In 1991 the central government authorizedthe levying of three assessments by township level cadres and the collectionof five general fees by village level cadres stipulating only that the combinedtotal not exceed five percent of the average annual income of the residents forthe previous year The three assessments included public reserve funds to beused for irrigation and afforestation work as well as the establishment of col-lective enterprises public welfare funds to provide subsidies to needy localfamilies and support local health care and administrative fees to cover cadresalaries and administrative expenses The five general fees collected at thevillage level wereto cover educational expenses family planning programswelfare payments to veterans and their families local militia training and ruralroad construction8

However with no systemic mechanism for the fiscal management of sub-county administrations in place the problem of the so-called three arbitraries(san luan)-arbitary collection of fees (luan shoufei) arbitrary levying offines (luanfakuan) and arbitrary apportionments (luan tanpai)-mushroomedin rural areas during the reform period In Hubei s Jinniu Township under thejurisdiction ofDazhi Municipality a provincial investigation into fee collection inthe township discovered that more than eighteen departments concerned withagriculture alone collected fees for more than 144 different projects from town-ship residents88 A Hubei provincial auditor investigating Suizhou and Jingmenmunicipalities found over sixty-six duplicated assessments collected from cityresidents in 199589In 1997 representatives of seventy-seven households resid-ing in Guanzi Village in Baiyangtownship in Sichuans Jiang County sued thetownship government for its collection of excessive fees and charges Some ofthe collections cited in the lawsuit included a wired broadcasting fee a tuningin fee (shoutingfei) a movie-watching fee and a mulberry grove penalty90

In a Shandong township in which the average annual income jn 1994 was1000yuan cadres in one village collected on a per capita basis a 379 yuancomprehensive planning fee a 25 yuan voluntary contribution to the roadrepair fund et 245 yuan voluntary contribution to the oil-producing crop funda total of 115yuan in fees for township office construction and road hardening70 yuan to cover the cost of excavating sand stones and earth a 10 yuan pigraising fee and a 80 yuan land leasing and sale fee In addition virtually all ofthe village residents were levied also on a per capita basis a 10 yuan fine forgrowing yellow tobacco a cash crop which local authorities maintained was

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unsuitable for cultivation in the region The combined year total of such chargesamounted to nearly 373 yuan Despite central government injunctions in 1994against such practices the following year township exactions rose to 5315yuan per resident91

Ad hoc levies and fees charged against rural enterprises by local agenciesin recent years have proven even more numerous than those lodged againstindividual taxpayers One survey of Hunan rural enterprises discovered thatover sixty different industrial administrations and organs had assessed and col-lected over one hundred types of charges from them92 a central governmentreport calculated that over 900 types of administrative fees were being col-lected on private enterprises on top of which local administrations were alsocollecting more than 1000 types of fees and funds93 In Zhejiang one-third oflocal government revenues for 1989 were traced back to the fees and sur-charges levied against rural enterprises94 That same year ajoint Chinese Acad-emy of Social Sciences (CASS) and World Bank study team surveyed the stateof the rural economy and concluded that excessive demands levied against ruralindustries by local governments were commonplace Citing the case of a firm inJiangxis Shangrao County that had been taxed more by local administratorsthan it had earned in profits the World BankCASS investigators noted thatwhat they termed fiscal predation was acting as a powerful brake on thedevelopment of the rural economy95 As one refrain now popular among themanagers of rural enterprises puts it Of heaven and earth we have no fearonly of entrepreneurial government drawing near96

Fees fines and tolls have also once again become a lucrative source oflocal government revenues and are collected by a wide variety of agents for avariety of reasons In some remote Jiangxi villages in 1996 elderly residentswere fined 5yuan for spitting on the sidewalk any attempt to argue against thepunishment was countered with the addition of an attitude penalty (taidufakuan) of 10 yuan The presence of a common housefly on the premises of arestaurant in those same villages could result in a 50 yuan fine for the owner Inat least one case officials from a local Sanitation and Epidemic PreventionStation descended upon a newly opened establishment with armed with fly-swatters and levied a separate 50 yuan fine for each housefly killed on thepremises causing the owner to shut down the restaurant that same day97 Incertain counties in Sichuan farmers can be fined by local governments forfailing to meet production targets set for the local development of supplemen-tary agricultural goods98 Local groups have also resurrected the Republicanera practice of erecting toll booths and checkpoints on highways in 1995 pro-

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

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was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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nearby Deng and Nanzhao counties baojia expenses were calculated on thesay-so of the chief sometimes totaling over a hundred yuan a month and re-quiring so much labor to collect and manage that an investigator commentedthat the entire operation rivaled that of a ward office in size and scope34 Astudy of rural Hebei police found that all of the thirteen counties studied reliedupon forcibly-collected levies for their salaries equipment purchases and oper-ating budgets In at least one of these counties the police force numbered closeto a thousand men but the designated police force acreage levy was only enoughto outfit a hundred the revenue to support and train the remaining officers wasobtained through tax collection procedures of dubious legality35

Local governments during the early Nanjing Decade were thus caught ina vicious cycle the expansion of state agencies at county and sub-county levelscreated a continuing need for miscellaneous fees and levies in order to fundtheir administrative expenses yet the proliferation offees and surtaxes particu-larly on commercial transactions required an increasing number of tax officesand agents to administer Prior to 1934 when the Second Conference on Finan-cial Affairs unified local tax collection offices revenues were collected by awide variety of legal extra-legal and illegal agents often competing with oneanother for shares of increasingly scarce resources

For example a report on tax collection procedures in Zhejiangs YongjiaCounty noted that while the County Audit Bureau did manage some fees andlevies education levies were handled by county education authorities publicsecurity fees by the County Public Security Bureau (gonganju) insect man-agement and control fees by the County Insect Management Control Officeand local militia taxes (baowei mujuan) by the financial manager of the localmilitia other public debt and interest charges were collected by local publicfinance and public property committees according to their own needs and us-ing their own methods The only attempt county administrators made to controlthis process was to request that each office collecting public funds submit amonthly account to the county government and agree in principle to submit tothe investigatory procedures of the county circuit courtS36

The decentralized nature of the system virtually invited abuse Enterpris-ing citizens seeking to augment their incomes often banded together to formbogus state agencies that provided no services but collected a specific type oflevy37For example in 1934 the Henan Provincial Bureau of Finance (caizhengling) received a petition from the Shenxu Business Association asking it toinvestigate the activities of Li Zefen an accused evil gentry in YanchengCounty The associations chairman attested that Li forced the closing of the

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county cooperative society (hezuoshe) on his own authority and in its placeopened up a Progressive Association (gaijin hui) Declaring himself presi-dent of the new association Li began levying special fees against local busi-nesses and ultimately collected over 10000 yuan which he promptly pocketedCentral government investigators found no evidence that Li s Progressive As-sociation performed any community services in return38

With the 1928 curtailment of the lijin and increasing central control oversurcharges on the salt and land taxes county and sub-county administratorsbecame increasingly creative in their search for new sources of revenue Inmany locations the abolition of the lijin was followed by a surge in the numberof toll booths and toll collection sites provinces counties and even wards begancharging and collecting export duties and tariffs along major roads and water-ways In December 1933 one packet of sugar transported by boat from Zigongto Chongqing was subject to no fewer than twenty separate tariffs levies andfees in nine counties along the way ratcheting up the price by a total of overtwelve yuan39 A cargo of sundry goods transported 820 Ii from Chongqing toChengdu along minor waterways incurred one hundred yuans worth of leviesand duties encountering a tax or toll collection office on average every ten li40

Along the roadways the situation was no better county special levies officesdispatched squads of assessors (kayuan) to major checkpoints and truck stopsto collect tariffs and customs duties on goods in transit In Shaanxi such asses-sors often harassed and intimidated farmers on their way to and from markettowns arbitrarily levying tariff duties and charging road buying money (mailuqian) to anyone transporting goods41

Many county administrations and their subordinate offices sought to in-crease revenue from yet another source largely unregulated by the central gov-ernment fees and fines charged for violations of law either real or manufac-tured Opium addicts proved particularly vulnerable to such ploys In 1935Hebeis Yanshan County manager He Xiaoyi was accused of co lluding with thechief of the county public security forces (gongandui) to collect sums rangingfrom 50 to 830 yuan in fees from local opium addicts in exchange for promisesthat they could avoid arrest42 Similarly a village chiefin Hebeis Julu Countycomplained that the county Opium Suppression Office periodically demandedthat each village turn over a set monthly quota of opium addicts as part of analleged crackdown on local opium consumption Those who were rounded upwere almost invariably not drug users but nonetheless had to pay hundreds ofyuan in fines to secure their release43 The department chief of the Special TaxOffice (teshuiju juzhang) in Henans Hui County habituaHy carried a small

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cache of opium with him to plant on innocent residents whenever the opportu-nity arose he would then accuse his hapless victims of drug possession andforce them to pay heavy fines or face arrest and imprisonment 44The enterpris-ing county administrators in Shaanxi s lia County opened a local bank churningout loans with three month intervals at 25 percent interest Most of the loansmade by the bank in 1933 went either to tenant farmers who could not pay theirrent or taxes on time or to local opium addicts in need of a quick fix45

Rural villages staggered under such exactions with even the most ordi-nary transactions plagued by levies Livestock taxes proliferated until authori-ties could collect a toll at each particular stage of a farm animals life once theanimal was slaughtered individual parts of the animal could also be separatelytaxed In Zhejiangs Ruian County for example no fewer than seven levieswere collected on swine alone including a pig tax a piglet tax a suckling pig taxa sow tax a live pig tax a boar bristle tax and a hog tax among others innearby Chongde County aside from a sheep levy which was presumably im-posed on live sheep the county also collected a sheep-shearing levy a woollevy and a sheepskin levy Other Zhejiang counties and townships routinelyimposed taxes on wild game leather pork mutton and all manner of poultry andtheir eggs46At times the tax burden outweighed the benefits of even the sim-plesttransactions One farmer in Hebeis lulu County complained in 1935

The livestock sales tax is so heavy now that we cant even afford to pay itWhether you are selling or buying you have to pay tax on half of the waterbuffalos price In the spring we were still paying a twoen [sales] tax and athree tong brokerage fee on every yuan Starting in May it changed and forevery yuan we had to pay sixen of tax still three tong [brokerage fee] al-together nineen Now this old water buffalo he can be sold for thirty yuanbut Id have to pay two yuan and sevenjiao in tax and fees if I want to turnaround and spend thirty yuan for another one I have to pay another two yuanand sevenjiao Right now trading [him] in is not that important but whereis that five yuan four jiao going to come from47

POPULAR RSPONSES THE VIEW FROM BELOW

Not surprisingly aside from intensifying rural immiseration the prolifera-tion of fees taxes and levies to which residents were subjected during thisperiod led to rising social unrest and increases in various forms of collectiveaction Although Biancos caveat on the unreliability of statistical data on popu-lar protest during this period is well taken48most scholars of the Republican era

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concur that incidents of tax and rent resistance food riots and acts of banditryrose steadily through the mid-193 Os49As Perrys work has shown local secretsocieties such as the Red Spears and Big Swords frequently mobilized againstthe imposition of excessive levies and miscellaneous taxes often clashing withboth local officials and roving army troops50

Incidents of collective violence aside citizens used various methods toremonstrate against the fiscal demands of local administrations during the NanjingDecade Provincial administrations provincial and circuit court judges and theoffices of the Administrative Yuan regularly received letters of grievances fromfarmers and citizens representatives (gongmin daibiao) protesting bureau-cratic malpractice in the countryside51 In 1936 the Control Yuan received arecord number of petitions for investigation of government officials a numbernearly double that of any of the previous three years the vast majority of whichaccused county managers (xianzhang) and their underlings at the county andsub-county levels52 Viewed as a whole these records strongly suggest thatrural residents during this period organized themselves politically not merely toprotest increases in their overall tax burden but also to oppose levies and feesregarded as immoral unjust or overly intrusive Tax collection methods as wellas punishments meted out to those unable to payor in arrears were also com-mon points of contention

However one striking characteristic of popular political discourse duringthis period is the rarity with which disgruntled taxpayers criticized the centralstate Nanjing Decade protestors and petitioners alike were prompted to actionby rising exactions and endemic official malfeasance but it was the officesinstitutions and practices of local administrations which bore the brunt of theirire not the central party-state Rather rural residents seeking redress from thefiscal predation of county officials and their minions tended to see central au-thorities not as culprits or co-conspirators in the fiscal battle being waged againstthem but as potential protectors against local variants of what Thaxton andBergere have termed bureaucratic capitalists53 Thus while Bianco is prob-ably correct in asserting that peasant protestors during this period generallyviewed the state as both parasitic and alien to the social body of the village54 itis also true that many disgruntled rural residents distinguished between the moreremote but potentially benign central authorities and the far more immediate andpernicious local representatives of state power who preyed upon them Theunderlying collective image of the Nanjing Decade state in unofficial sourcesresembles a loosely organized but multi-tiered extractive machine at the locallevel with few if any links to higher levels of government Not surprisingly the

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overwhelming focus of tax protest and petitionary action during the period wasthe offices institutions and practices of local officials and their cohort

As under late imperial rule local government offices including the countyyamen and other revenue collection offices were common sites for anti-taxprotests Although acts of random and haphazard violence certainly were notrare rural residents sometimes bided their time awaiting the opportunity to strikeback at those who abused their official powers For example in the above-mentioned case of the Hui County (Henan) Special Tax Office departmentchief who apparently often planted opium on innocent taxpayers in order toblackmail them county residents waited until the convention of a sanitationmovement meeting at which point they sacked the office with such violencethat the department chief had no alternative but to flee into hiding55

Similarly in 1927 Red Spears in Shandongs Guan County surrounded thecounty seat because local officials there had raised taxes collaborated withlandlords to hasten rent collection and imposed several new levies In August1927 in nearby western Jiao County Red Spears destroyed the Nan hamletbranch office of the salt tax police (yanshui jingchadui)56 and refused to payany taxes Local Big Sword Society members joined the resisters who soonnumbered over a thousand people In October the protesters launched a sur-prise attack on the Hongshiya tax office in She Village and seized its personnelwho attempted to flee Before the army and local police suppressed the protestwell over two thousand homes had been destroyed and fifty people had died57

Popular indignation over local fiscal policy stemmed in part from the man-ner in which taxes were apportioned Not only was it common for landlordswho were legally liable for the payment of land taxes and other acreage leviesto shift the burden of tax payments onto their tenants 58 but also the proliferationof so-called shared apportionments (tanpai) and other head taxes and forcedpurchases extracted increasing revenues from the lowest strata of village soci-ety As one resident of Fuji ans Guangze County recalled

In my county under the rule of the GMD every year the taxes and levies thatwere collected included a rebellion suppression levy (kanluanjuan) a live-stock slaughter tax a conscription levy [and] a tobacco and alcohollevy The rebellion suppression levy was calculated as a supplement to thepopulation-based grain and salt decimal taxes so from every newborn infantup to every septuagenarian none could be late [in paying] The livestockslaughter tax was collected by the household regardless of whether or notyou were raising any pigs on average each household had bear the burden ofone or two pigs worth of the slaughter tax each year The tobacco and wine

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levy was also due regardless of whether or not you were in the business ofproducing or selling any and it toowascoHected by the household The con-script levy was apportioned according to the age of the draftable populationso however many potential draftees a family had thats how many pennies(fen) they paid in conscript levy59

Other burdens were similarly apportioned ranging in nature from forcedvoluntary contributions to the mandatory purchase of items controlled by gov-ernment agents In 1933 in Hebeis JuluCounty the county salt sales officesuddenly announced that contrary to previous popular practice the sale andconsumption of nitrate salt (xiao yan) was illegal but the use of crude salt (dayan) was permitted To remedy the situation the salt office ordered each vil-lage immediately to begin purchasing crude salt at the rate of three hundredjinper month or pay fines totaling the amount of the mandatory purchase (threehundred yuan) Village chiefs ordered each household to purchase a givenamount of crude salt each month whether or not they needed it for their ownuse Families were furthermore required to purchase crude salt rations even forthose family members who no longer resided in the village60

Compounding what was widely perceived to be the unjust apportionmentof the tax burden was the heavy-handed and callous manner in which taxeswere often collected In the case of acreage levies slated for county self-de-fense corps or police use tax collection was left up to the units in question insouthern Sichuan under warlord rule all county tax collection was routinelyhandled by local militia forces whose brutal intimidation and illegal confiscationof personal property ultimately led to widespread tax revolts there in 193361 Inmany areas peasants unable to pay their taxes by the specified date routinelyhad whatever salable items they owned confiscated by the collectors and weresometimes themselves arrested and imprisoned One central government inves-tigator touring rural Jiangsu in 1933 reported that in Changshu County during thetax collection season over a hundred farmers unable to pay their taxes wereimprisoned in thecountyjail 62

As Bianco noted rural residents often mobilized to protest attempts bylocal administrators to expand their tax collecting authority into previously un-regulated areas of the ruraleconomy63 For example one attempt to extend anexisting levy to cover a new category of goods led to armed conf1ict in Zhej iang sYutao County in March 1933 The residents ofShennong a hamlet in the county ssecond ward had long brewed a type of beverage in their homes for their ownconsumption using ingredients they either harvested or traded among them-selves When in early 1933 the director of the Yutao Liquor Levy Inspection

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Branch Office decided that such products were subject to the countys liquorlevy Shennong residents refused to pay and several were arrested As theyawaited trial more than a thousand of their fellow villagers marched on thecounty seat and demanded an end to harassment by county tax collectors abo-lition of the county liquor levy and immediate release of the arrested villagersOnce the group had massed at the gates of the county seat forces sent by thecounty manager permitted only five representatives inside to meet with offi-cials When the representatives reported back to the crowd that county admin-istrators maintained (falsely) that the liquor levy was a national tax over whichthey had no control the crowd became enraged and pressed toward the gatesThe troops then opened fire killing one and injuring two others64

As the Shennong protest demonstrates petitions personal accounts andpress reports from this period strongly suggest that the GMD state was notpopularly conceived as a single unified actor Even after the establishment ofthe Nanjing regime in 1927 unofficial discourse made clear distinctions be-tween central and local authorities and while the rhetoric of most anti-tax pro-tests was vehemently anti-state in nature for the most part agents and sub-county agents of the bureaucracy were perceived to be rural taxpayers pri-mary antagonists As one person commented in 1938 we are all aware thatChinas political system is weighty at the head and light at the feet the organiza-tion of the central administration is flawless those of the provincial administra-tions are okay (hai keyi) but the county administrations fall seriously short(chae yuan)65

Despite the fact that it was primarily after the establishment of the GMDregime in 1927 that exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes began to multi-ply most vigorously in the countryside overt critiques of the central governmentin rural protest were relatively rare and many of these can be traced specifi-cally to the involvement of Communist organizers For example in 1931 theAnhui provincial government under Chen Diaoyuan imposed a supplementaryshipped rice inspection levy decimal tax (jujia chuanyun mizhao juan lijin)and other assorted fees on rice transported along the Huai River Several weekslater following a confrontation between protesting boat people (chuanmin)and local authorities large-scale demonstrations against Chen and the rice in-spection levy erupted in Bangbu involving representatives of over fifty differentworkers and merchants associations in northern Anhui Communist YouthLeague activists from local middle schools organized over two thousand stu-dents to march to join the other demonstrators at the local parade grounds andattempted to lead the crowd in chanting similar slogans However when the

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Communist organizers in the crowd began chanting Defeat the Guomindangreactionaries a melee broke out and the activists barely escaped with theirlives The issue was later settled following a series of formal appeals to thecentral government66

By and large rural residents engaging in anti-tax resistance viewed thecentral government as an ally in their struggles against the incessant demandsof entrepreneurial local administrations and their agents In June of 1934 whenresidents of Hutubi County in Xinj iang could no longer tolerate the corruptionand extortion of two successive county managers the village headman (xiangyue)and a group of villagers secretly gathered to discuss the problem At the meet-ing one local herdsman later recalled he argued that the central governmenthad repeatedly stressed its determination severely to punish corrupt officialsand their venal underlings and should be taken at its word

These two county managers have engaged in various audacious and cor-rupt perversions of the law extorted the people and openly violated the newgovernments policies If someone would go to the procuracy in the countyseat to make a report the [central] government could not ignore it 67

The herdsman ultimately penned such a letter on behalf of his fellow citizensOne copy reached the Control Yuan which turned the petition over to the pro-vincial government for investigation and the county manager in question waslater executed for his crimes68

In other cases frustrated rural taxpayers sought redress from central au-thorities outside of the formal procedures of appeal and due process One Ad-ministrative Yuan investigator had just concluded his interview with a Shaanxivillage headman and had taken his leave when he was mutely accosted by aresident in the street The villager threw himself on the ground beseechinglyand thrust into his hands a paper which read

According to the order of the county government the balance due from landtaxes from 1920 1921 and 1922 must be raised from household surplus grainimmediately post haste Accordingly the villager Yuan Zuorong is to remitfive dollars (dayang yuan) someone will be dispatched immediately and itwill be turned over to the county as this is absolutely a matter of great im-portance Hereby submitted to Yuan Zuorong

Other village residents quickly gathered around and explained to the investiga-tor that the sum in question was in fact not being collected by the county gov-ernment but instead by the village headman he had just interviewed who the

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villagers alleged was trading on his authority as an agent of the county govern-ment in order to enrich himself69

Such agents were generally conceived of and described in local sources inanimalistic terms as predators who fed rapaciously on the peasants livelihoodin marked contrast to their role as father-mother officials (fumu guan) whoseduty it was to nourish and care for those under their jurisdiction 70Entrepre-neurial agents were commonly referred to as man-eating tigers or even blood-sucking vampires who treated rural villagers as if they were [merely] meatand fish [to be consumed] (yurou xiangmin) or trampled upon them likegrass (caojian renming) One group of Guangzhous Nanhai County resi-dents in 1921 posted a particularly graphic notice to protest the unendurableexactions of the local bullies who staffed their county administration avowingthat the predators had first stripped away our hair and skin and then cut awayour flesh and when our meat is exhausted they will whittle away our bones7lBrokerage licenses to collect commercial taxes or even county authorization tocollect any type of revenue at all were purportedly referred to as choice cutsof meat (feirou) that officials brokers and local notables would squabble overwith each striving to select the richest bit of fat upon which to feast 72

Particularly brazen officials were purported to have used such languagepublicly themselves in Guangxis remote Sanjiang County Han officials at thesub-county levels were said to have derisively referred to their extortive taxcollection tactics in one minority village as eating sprouts (chi miaozi) a playon the homophone for the Miao people who resided in thearea73 Even ControlYuan inspectors when submitting their reports to their superiors or filing legalsummaries of disciplinary action commonly referred to excessive and illegaltaxation methods as sucking down the fat of the people (xiaxi mingu) andperverting the law to fatten themselves (wanfa zifei)74

As the Nanjing Decade drew to a close central government officials ap-peared to be enjoying greater successes in handling the problem of burdensomelocal taxation In June 1931 the Commission of Disciplinary Action againstPublic Servants (Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjie weiyuanhui) was foundedunder the auspices of the Judicial Yuan a body which evaluated cases of ad-ministrative abuses on materials prepared by Control Yuan officials police of-ficers colleagues of the official concerned and the testimony of the accusedHowever because the Disciplinary Commission often considered the findingsof ordinary courts against civil servants in assessing punishment there wasoften a substantial lag between the filing of a case and a legal judgment againsta public servant accused of wrongdoing In 1937 a temporary decree granted

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the Control Yuan the power of rectification which greatly facilitated the pro-cess of disciplining civil officials7s However with the Japanese invasion ofnorthern China later that year the onerous burden of escalating military ex-penses forced the GMD to reverse many of its local tax and levy reductionpolicies and rural economies in particular once again felt the pinch of increasingfiscal exactions

PATTERNS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN THE REFORM DECADE

Just over fifty years later the Dengist program of decollectivization anddecentralization recreated conditions very similar to the fiscal challenges facedby local administrations during the Nanjing Decade Faced with rising expendi-ture responsibilities and revenue-sharing arrangements that vastly favoredsuperordinate levels of government county and newly-created township andvillage administrations through the 1980s and early 1990s increasingly soughtout revenue sources which were not tightly controlled by the central govern-ment or sought to shield resources from sharing with upper levels using a vari-ety of methods recreating what some have called a reform era warlordeconomy76 The need for higher revenues has been driven in large part by theincreasing expense burdens of county township and village governments whichhave assulued control over social welfare programs within their jurisdictions 77Whereas on the eve of the reform period half of all state expenditures weremade by local governluents by the period of the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1986-90) the percentage had crept up to over 60 percent 78

As during the Nanjing Decade such revenues are required largely to off-set rising administrative costs as local government organizations proliferate andbecome more specialized as well as to fund economic development projectsDespite the goal of reducing the state role in economic management adminis-trative personnel have nearly doubled under the reforms expanding 45 percentover the 1978-1990 period Such increases are at least partly due to the in-creasingly complex nature of reform period tax collection procedures whichhave required the establishment of 47000 new finance offices at the townshipleve179One village cadre recently estimated that she spent approximately sev-enty percent of her work time on tasks associated with revenue collection alone80Shaanxis remote Qingjian County with a population of 205700 people andcounty revenues of 1237 luillion yuan in 1995 employed 3710 people in gov-ernment administrative organs with each administrator requiring--on average-the remittances of fifty-five residents to support them81 One study of the 697

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individuals employed by the 41 township administrations in Sichuans Jiang anCounty discovered that while the employees base salaries averaged between60 and 80 yuan per month they also received regular subsidies benefits andperquisites that raised the actual figure to over 100 yuan per month Further-more the administrative expenses incurred by these employees including offi-cial business trips entertainment and continuing education on average addedanother 3000 yuan per employee Of these monies the study revealed fifteenpercent came from fiscal administration fees (caizheng shiye fei) thirty tothirty- five percent from retained funds (til iu) and the remaining fifty to fifty-five percent from various management fees (guanli fei) penalties or fines(fakuan) and paid service fees (youcheng fuwu fei)82

At the same time central government subsidies to local administrationshave declined markedly In Guizhou where the central government financednearly 60 percent of the provinces budgetary expenditures in the early 1980sby 1993 only 20 percent were centrally subsidized Not surprisingly the revenueshortage cut deeply into sub-provincial administrative budgets as well over thesame period the provincial administration not only ended its policy of subsidizinglocal government operations but by the early 1990s had also begun to extractrevenue from the counties in order to fund its own programs83

Caught between the cross-cutting pressures of rising expenditures anddeclining subsidies local administrators during the reform period improvised awide variety of entrepreneurial methods to increase local revenues much astheir Nanjing Decade predecessors had One method by which this was com-monly achieved was through shifting funds from budgetary (yusuannei) sourceswhich are subject to remittance to higher levels to various types of off-budgetfunds which are far less easily monitored by and not subject to sharing withhigher level authorities Off-budget revenues which include both so-calledextrabudgetary (yusuanwai) and self-raised (zichou) funds played an in-creasingly important role in local finance during the reform period From 1978 to1992 total budgetary revenue of local governments tripled but extrabudgetaryrevenues increased eleven-fold during the same period in 1978 extrabudgetaryfunds comprised only 31 percent of budgetary revenue but by 1992extrabudgetary revenue climbed to 98 percent of budgetary revenue totals84

Self-raised funds accounted for only 117 percent of total revenues availableat the township level in 1986 but rose to 20 percent of the same in 199385

The main sources of these off-budget revenues at the county and town-ship levels are various types of user fees and surcharges levied on formal taxesand public utilities including road maintenance fees education surcharges man-

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agement and planning fees and in some provinces unified levies (tongchou)collected from households by village cadres to finance a variety of social ser-vices and government projects86 In 1991 the central government authorizedthe levying of three assessments by township level cadres and the collectionof five general fees by village level cadres stipulating only that the combinedtotal not exceed five percent of the average annual income of the residents forthe previous year The three assessments included public reserve funds to beused for irrigation and afforestation work as well as the establishment of col-lective enterprises public welfare funds to provide subsidies to needy localfamilies and support local health care and administrative fees to cover cadresalaries and administrative expenses The five general fees collected at thevillage level wereto cover educational expenses family planning programswelfare payments to veterans and their families local militia training and ruralroad construction8

However with no systemic mechanism for the fiscal management of sub-county administrations in place the problem of the so-called three arbitraries(san luan)-arbitary collection of fees (luan shoufei) arbitrary levying offines (luanfakuan) and arbitrary apportionments (luan tanpai)-mushroomedin rural areas during the reform period In Hubei s Jinniu Township under thejurisdiction ofDazhi Municipality a provincial investigation into fee collection inthe township discovered that more than eighteen departments concerned withagriculture alone collected fees for more than 144 different projects from town-ship residents88 A Hubei provincial auditor investigating Suizhou and Jingmenmunicipalities found over sixty-six duplicated assessments collected from cityresidents in 199589In 1997 representatives of seventy-seven households resid-ing in Guanzi Village in Baiyangtownship in Sichuans Jiang County sued thetownship government for its collection of excessive fees and charges Some ofthe collections cited in the lawsuit included a wired broadcasting fee a tuningin fee (shoutingfei) a movie-watching fee and a mulberry grove penalty90

In a Shandong township in which the average annual income jn 1994 was1000yuan cadres in one village collected on a per capita basis a 379 yuancomprehensive planning fee a 25 yuan voluntary contribution to the roadrepair fund et 245 yuan voluntary contribution to the oil-producing crop funda total of 115yuan in fees for township office construction and road hardening70 yuan to cover the cost of excavating sand stones and earth a 10 yuan pigraising fee and a 80 yuan land leasing and sale fee In addition virtually all ofthe village residents were levied also on a per capita basis a 10 yuan fine forgrowing yellow tobacco a cash crop which local authorities maintained was

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unsuitable for cultivation in the region The combined year total of such chargesamounted to nearly 373 yuan Despite central government injunctions in 1994against such practices the following year township exactions rose to 5315yuan per resident91

Ad hoc levies and fees charged against rural enterprises by local agenciesin recent years have proven even more numerous than those lodged againstindividual taxpayers One survey of Hunan rural enterprises discovered thatover sixty different industrial administrations and organs had assessed and col-lected over one hundred types of charges from them92 a central governmentreport calculated that over 900 types of administrative fees were being col-lected on private enterprises on top of which local administrations were alsocollecting more than 1000 types of fees and funds93 In Zhejiang one-third oflocal government revenues for 1989 were traced back to the fees and sur-charges levied against rural enterprises94 That same year ajoint Chinese Acad-emy of Social Sciences (CASS) and World Bank study team surveyed the stateof the rural economy and concluded that excessive demands levied against ruralindustries by local governments were commonplace Citing the case of a firm inJiangxis Shangrao County that had been taxed more by local administratorsthan it had earned in profits the World BankCASS investigators noted thatwhat they termed fiscal predation was acting as a powerful brake on thedevelopment of the rural economy95 As one refrain now popular among themanagers of rural enterprises puts it Of heaven and earth we have no fearonly of entrepreneurial government drawing near96

Fees fines and tolls have also once again become a lucrative source oflocal government revenues and are collected by a wide variety of agents for avariety of reasons In some remote Jiangxi villages in 1996 elderly residentswere fined 5yuan for spitting on the sidewalk any attempt to argue against thepunishment was countered with the addition of an attitude penalty (taidufakuan) of 10 yuan The presence of a common housefly on the premises of arestaurant in those same villages could result in a 50 yuan fine for the owner Inat least one case officials from a local Sanitation and Epidemic PreventionStation descended upon a newly opened establishment with armed with fly-swatters and levied a separate 50 yuan fine for each housefly killed on thepremises causing the owner to shut down the restaurant that same day97 Incertain counties in Sichuan farmers can be fined by local governments forfailing to meet production targets set for the local development of supplemen-tary agricultural goods98 Local groups have also resurrected the Republicanera practice of erecting toll booths and checkpoints on highways in 1995 pro-

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

C-

was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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county cooperative society (hezuoshe) on his own authority and in its placeopened up a Progressive Association (gaijin hui) Declaring himself presi-dent of the new association Li began levying special fees against local busi-nesses and ultimately collected over 10000 yuan which he promptly pocketedCentral government investigators found no evidence that Li s Progressive As-sociation performed any community services in return38

With the 1928 curtailment of the lijin and increasing central control oversurcharges on the salt and land taxes county and sub-county administratorsbecame increasingly creative in their search for new sources of revenue Inmany locations the abolition of the lijin was followed by a surge in the numberof toll booths and toll collection sites provinces counties and even wards begancharging and collecting export duties and tariffs along major roads and water-ways In December 1933 one packet of sugar transported by boat from Zigongto Chongqing was subject to no fewer than twenty separate tariffs levies andfees in nine counties along the way ratcheting up the price by a total of overtwelve yuan39 A cargo of sundry goods transported 820 Ii from Chongqing toChengdu along minor waterways incurred one hundred yuans worth of leviesand duties encountering a tax or toll collection office on average every ten li40

Along the roadways the situation was no better county special levies officesdispatched squads of assessors (kayuan) to major checkpoints and truck stopsto collect tariffs and customs duties on goods in transit In Shaanxi such asses-sors often harassed and intimidated farmers on their way to and from markettowns arbitrarily levying tariff duties and charging road buying money (mailuqian) to anyone transporting goods41

Many county administrations and their subordinate offices sought to in-crease revenue from yet another source largely unregulated by the central gov-ernment fees and fines charged for violations of law either real or manufac-tured Opium addicts proved particularly vulnerable to such ploys In 1935Hebeis Yanshan County manager He Xiaoyi was accused of co lluding with thechief of the county public security forces (gongandui) to collect sums rangingfrom 50 to 830 yuan in fees from local opium addicts in exchange for promisesthat they could avoid arrest42 Similarly a village chiefin Hebeis Julu Countycomplained that the county Opium Suppression Office periodically demandedthat each village turn over a set monthly quota of opium addicts as part of analleged crackdown on local opium consumption Those who were rounded upwere almost invariably not drug users but nonetheless had to pay hundreds ofyuan in fines to secure their release43 The department chief of the Special TaxOffice (teshuiju juzhang) in Henans Hui County habituaHy carried a small

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cache of opium with him to plant on innocent residents whenever the opportu-nity arose he would then accuse his hapless victims of drug possession andforce them to pay heavy fines or face arrest and imprisonment 44The enterpris-ing county administrators in Shaanxi s lia County opened a local bank churningout loans with three month intervals at 25 percent interest Most of the loansmade by the bank in 1933 went either to tenant farmers who could not pay theirrent or taxes on time or to local opium addicts in need of a quick fix45

Rural villages staggered under such exactions with even the most ordi-nary transactions plagued by levies Livestock taxes proliferated until authori-ties could collect a toll at each particular stage of a farm animals life once theanimal was slaughtered individual parts of the animal could also be separatelytaxed In Zhejiangs Ruian County for example no fewer than seven levieswere collected on swine alone including a pig tax a piglet tax a suckling pig taxa sow tax a live pig tax a boar bristle tax and a hog tax among others innearby Chongde County aside from a sheep levy which was presumably im-posed on live sheep the county also collected a sheep-shearing levy a woollevy and a sheepskin levy Other Zhejiang counties and townships routinelyimposed taxes on wild game leather pork mutton and all manner of poultry andtheir eggs46At times the tax burden outweighed the benefits of even the sim-plesttransactions One farmer in Hebeis lulu County complained in 1935

The livestock sales tax is so heavy now that we cant even afford to pay itWhether you are selling or buying you have to pay tax on half of the waterbuffalos price In the spring we were still paying a twoen [sales] tax and athree tong brokerage fee on every yuan Starting in May it changed and forevery yuan we had to pay sixen of tax still three tong [brokerage fee] al-together nineen Now this old water buffalo he can be sold for thirty yuanbut Id have to pay two yuan and sevenjiao in tax and fees if I want to turnaround and spend thirty yuan for another one I have to pay another two yuanand sevenjiao Right now trading [him] in is not that important but whereis that five yuan four jiao going to come from47

POPULAR RSPONSES THE VIEW FROM BELOW

Not surprisingly aside from intensifying rural immiseration the prolifera-tion of fees taxes and levies to which residents were subjected during thisperiod led to rising social unrest and increases in various forms of collectiveaction Although Biancos caveat on the unreliability of statistical data on popu-lar protest during this period is well taken48most scholars of the Republican era

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concur that incidents of tax and rent resistance food riots and acts of banditryrose steadily through the mid-193 Os49As Perrys work has shown local secretsocieties such as the Red Spears and Big Swords frequently mobilized againstthe imposition of excessive levies and miscellaneous taxes often clashing withboth local officials and roving army troops50

Incidents of collective violence aside citizens used various methods toremonstrate against the fiscal demands of local administrations during the NanjingDecade Provincial administrations provincial and circuit court judges and theoffices of the Administrative Yuan regularly received letters of grievances fromfarmers and citizens representatives (gongmin daibiao) protesting bureau-cratic malpractice in the countryside51 In 1936 the Control Yuan received arecord number of petitions for investigation of government officials a numbernearly double that of any of the previous three years the vast majority of whichaccused county managers (xianzhang) and their underlings at the county andsub-county levels52 Viewed as a whole these records strongly suggest thatrural residents during this period organized themselves politically not merely toprotest increases in their overall tax burden but also to oppose levies and feesregarded as immoral unjust or overly intrusive Tax collection methods as wellas punishments meted out to those unable to payor in arrears were also com-mon points of contention

However one striking characteristic of popular political discourse duringthis period is the rarity with which disgruntled taxpayers criticized the centralstate Nanjing Decade protestors and petitioners alike were prompted to actionby rising exactions and endemic official malfeasance but it was the officesinstitutions and practices of local administrations which bore the brunt of theirire not the central party-state Rather rural residents seeking redress from thefiscal predation of county officials and their minions tended to see central au-thorities not as culprits or co-conspirators in the fiscal battle being waged againstthem but as potential protectors against local variants of what Thaxton andBergere have termed bureaucratic capitalists53 Thus while Bianco is prob-ably correct in asserting that peasant protestors during this period generallyviewed the state as both parasitic and alien to the social body of the village54 itis also true that many disgruntled rural residents distinguished between the moreremote but potentially benign central authorities and the far more immediate andpernicious local representatives of state power who preyed upon them Theunderlying collective image of the Nanjing Decade state in unofficial sourcesresembles a loosely organized but multi-tiered extractive machine at the locallevel with few if any links to higher levels of government Not surprisingly the

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overwhelming focus of tax protest and petitionary action during the period wasthe offices institutions and practices of local officials and their cohort

As under late imperial rule local government offices including the countyyamen and other revenue collection offices were common sites for anti-taxprotests Although acts of random and haphazard violence certainly were notrare rural residents sometimes bided their time awaiting the opportunity to strikeback at those who abused their official powers For example in the above-mentioned case of the Hui County (Henan) Special Tax Office departmentchief who apparently often planted opium on innocent taxpayers in order toblackmail them county residents waited until the convention of a sanitationmovement meeting at which point they sacked the office with such violencethat the department chief had no alternative but to flee into hiding55

Similarly in 1927 Red Spears in Shandongs Guan County surrounded thecounty seat because local officials there had raised taxes collaborated withlandlords to hasten rent collection and imposed several new levies In August1927 in nearby western Jiao County Red Spears destroyed the Nan hamletbranch office of the salt tax police (yanshui jingchadui)56 and refused to payany taxes Local Big Sword Society members joined the resisters who soonnumbered over a thousand people In October the protesters launched a sur-prise attack on the Hongshiya tax office in She Village and seized its personnelwho attempted to flee Before the army and local police suppressed the protestwell over two thousand homes had been destroyed and fifty people had died57

Popular indignation over local fiscal policy stemmed in part from the man-ner in which taxes were apportioned Not only was it common for landlordswho were legally liable for the payment of land taxes and other acreage leviesto shift the burden of tax payments onto their tenants 58 but also the proliferationof so-called shared apportionments (tanpai) and other head taxes and forcedpurchases extracted increasing revenues from the lowest strata of village soci-ety As one resident of Fuji ans Guangze County recalled

In my county under the rule of the GMD every year the taxes and levies thatwere collected included a rebellion suppression levy (kanluanjuan) a live-stock slaughter tax a conscription levy [and] a tobacco and alcohollevy The rebellion suppression levy was calculated as a supplement to thepopulation-based grain and salt decimal taxes so from every newborn infantup to every septuagenarian none could be late [in paying] The livestockslaughter tax was collected by the household regardless of whether or notyou were raising any pigs on average each household had bear the burden ofone or two pigs worth of the slaughter tax each year The tobacco and wine

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levy was also due regardless of whether or not you were in the business ofproducing or selling any and it toowascoHected by the household The con-script levy was apportioned according to the age of the draftable populationso however many potential draftees a family had thats how many pennies(fen) they paid in conscript levy59

Other burdens were similarly apportioned ranging in nature from forcedvoluntary contributions to the mandatory purchase of items controlled by gov-ernment agents In 1933 in Hebeis JuluCounty the county salt sales officesuddenly announced that contrary to previous popular practice the sale andconsumption of nitrate salt (xiao yan) was illegal but the use of crude salt (dayan) was permitted To remedy the situation the salt office ordered each vil-lage immediately to begin purchasing crude salt at the rate of three hundredjinper month or pay fines totaling the amount of the mandatory purchase (threehundred yuan) Village chiefs ordered each household to purchase a givenamount of crude salt each month whether or not they needed it for their ownuse Families were furthermore required to purchase crude salt rations even forthose family members who no longer resided in the village60

Compounding what was widely perceived to be the unjust apportionmentof the tax burden was the heavy-handed and callous manner in which taxeswere often collected In the case of acreage levies slated for county self-de-fense corps or police use tax collection was left up to the units in question insouthern Sichuan under warlord rule all county tax collection was routinelyhandled by local militia forces whose brutal intimidation and illegal confiscationof personal property ultimately led to widespread tax revolts there in 193361 Inmany areas peasants unable to pay their taxes by the specified date routinelyhad whatever salable items they owned confiscated by the collectors and weresometimes themselves arrested and imprisoned One central government inves-tigator touring rural Jiangsu in 1933 reported that in Changshu County during thetax collection season over a hundred farmers unable to pay their taxes wereimprisoned in thecountyjail 62

As Bianco noted rural residents often mobilized to protest attempts bylocal administrators to expand their tax collecting authority into previously un-regulated areas of the ruraleconomy63 For example one attempt to extend anexisting levy to cover a new category of goods led to armed conf1ict in Zhej iang sYutao County in March 1933 The residents ofShennong a hamlet in the county ssecond ward had long brewed a type of beverage in their homes for their ownconsumption using ingredients they either harvested or traded among them-selves When in early 1933 the director of the Yutao Liquor Levy Inspection

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Branch Office decided that such products were subject to the countys liquorlevy Shennong residents refused to pay and several were arrested As theyawaited trial more than a thousand of their fellow villagers marched on thecounty seat and demanded an end to harassment by county tax collectors abo-lition of the county liquor levy and immediate release of the arrested villagersOnce the group had massed at the gates of the county seat forces sent by thecounty manager permitted only five representatives inside to meet with offi-cials When the representatives reported back to the crowd that county admin-istrators maintained (falsely) that the liquor levy was a national tax over whichthey had no control the crowd became enraged and pressed toward the gatesThe troops then opened fire killing one and injuring two others64

As the Shennong protest demonstrates petitions personal accounts andpress reports from this period strongly suggest that the GMD state was notpopularly conceived as a single unified actor Even after the establishment ofthe Nanjing regime in 1927 unofficial discourse made clear distinctions be-tween central and local authorities and while the rhetoric of most anti-tax pro-tests was vehemently anti-state in nature for the most part agents and sub-county agents of the bureaucracy were perceived to be rural taxpayers pri-mary antagonists As one person commented in 1938 we are all aware thatChinas political system is weighty at the head and light at the feet the organiza-tion of the central administration is flawless those of the provincial administra-tions are okay (hai keyi) but the county administrations fall seriously short(chae yuan)65

Despite the fact that it was primarily after the establishment of the GMDregime in 1927 that exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes began to multi-ply most vigorously in the countryside overt critiques of the central governmentin rural protest were relatively rare and many of these can be traced specifi-cally to the involvement of Communist organizers For example in 1931 theAnhui provincial government under Chen Diaoyuan imposed a supplementaryshipped rice inspection levy decimal tax (jujia chuanyun mizhao juan lijin)and other assorted fees on rice transported along the Huai River Several weekslater following a confrontation between protesting boat people (chuanmin)and local authorities large-scale demonstrations against Chen and the rice in-spection levy erupted in Bangbu involving representatives of over fifty differentworkers and merchants associations in northern Anhui Communist YouthLeague activists from local middle schools organized over two thousand stu-dents to march to join the other demonstrators at the local parade grounds andattempted to lead the crowd in chanting similar slogans However when the

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Communist organizers in the crowd began chanting Defeat the Guomindangreactionaries a melee broke out and the activists barely escaped with theirlives The issue was later settled following a series of formal appeals to thecentral government66

By and large rural residents engaging in anti-tax resistance viewed thecentral government as an ally in their struggles against the incessant demandsof entrepreneurial local administrations and their agents In June of 1934 whenresidents of Hutubi County in Xinj iang could no longer tolerate the corruptionand extortion of two successive county managers the village headman (xiangyue)and a group of villagers secretly gathered to discuss the problem At the meet-ing one local herdsman later recalled he argued that the central governmenthad repeatedly stressed its determination severely to punish corrupt officialsand their venal underlings and should be taken at its word

These two county managers have engaged in various audacious and cor-rupt perversions of the law extorted the people and openly violated the newgovernments policies If someone would go to the procuracy in the countyseat to make a report the [central] government could not ignore it 67

The herdsman ultimately penned such a letter on behalf of his fellow citizensOne copy reached the Control Yuan which turned the petition over to the pro-vincial government for investigation and the county manager in question waslater executed for his crimes68

In other cases frustrated rural taxpayers sought redress from central au-thorities outside of the formal procedures of appeal and due process One Ad-ministrative Yuan investigator had just concluded his interview with a Shaanxivillage headman and had taken his leave when he was mutely accosted by aresident in the street The villager threw himself on the ground beseechinglyand thrust into his hands a paper which read

According to the order of the county government the balance due from landtaxes from 1920 1921 and 1922 must be raised from household surplus grainimmediately post haste Accordingly the villager Yuan Zuorong is to remitfive dollars (dayang yuan) someone will be dispatched immediately and itwill be turned over to the county as this is absolutely a matter of great im-portance Hereby submitted to Yuan Zuorong

Other village residents quickly gathered around and explained to the investiga-tor that the sum in question was in fact not being collected by the county gov-ernment but instead by the village headman he had just interviewed who the

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villagers alleged was trading on his authority as an agent of the county govern-ment in order to enrich himself69

Such agents were generally conceived of and described in local sources inanimalistic terms as predators who fed rapaciously on the peasants livelihoodin marked contrast to their role as father-mother officials (fumu guan) whoseduty it was to nourish and care for those under their jurisdiction 70Entrepre-neurial agents were commonly referred to as man-eating tigers or even blood-sucking vampires who treated rural villagers as if they were [merely] meatand fish [to be consumed] (yurou xiangmin) or trampled upon them likegrass (caojian renming) One group of Guangzhous Nanhai County resi-dents in 1921 posted a particularly graphic notice to protest the unendurableexactions of the local bullies who staffed their county administration avowingthat the predators had first stripped away our hair and skin and then cut awayour flesh and when our meat is exhausted they will whittle away our bones7lBrokerage licenses to collect commercial taxes or even county authorization tocollect any type of revenue at all were purportedly referred to as choice cutsof meat (feirou) that officials brokers and local notables would squabble overwith each striving to select the richest bit of fat upon which to feast 72

Particularly brazen officials were purported to have used such languagepublicly themselves in Guangxis remote Sanjiang County Han officials at thesub-county levels were said to have derisively referred to their extortive taxcollection tactics in one minority village as eating sprouts (chi miaozi) a playon the homophone for the Miao people who resided in thearea73 Even ControlYuan inspectors when submitting their reports to their superiors or filing legalsummaries of disciplinary action commonly referred to excessive and illegaltaxation methods as sucking down the fat of the people (xiaxi mingu) andperverting the law to fatten themselves (wanfa zifei)74

As the Nanjing Decade drew to a close central government officials ap-peared to be enjoying greater successes in handling the problem of burdensomelocal taxation In June 1931 the Commission of Disciplinary Action againstPublic Servants (Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjie weiyuanhui) was foundedunder the auspices of the Judicial Yuan a body which evaluated cases of ad-ministrative abuses on materials prepared by Control Yuan officials police of-ficers colleagues of the official concerned and the testimony of the accusedHowever because the Disciplinary Commission often considered the findingsof ordinary courts against civil servants in assessing punishment there wasoften a substantial lag between the filing of a case and a legal judgment againsta public servant accused of wrongdoing In 1937 a temporary decree granted

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the Control Yuan the power of rectification which greatly facilitated the pro-cess of disciplining civil officials7s However with the Japanese invasion ofnorthern China later that year the onerous burden of escalating military ex-penses forced the GMD to reverse many of its local tax and levy reductionpolicies and rural economies in particular once again felt the pinch of increasingfiscal exactions

PATTERNS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN THE REFORM DECADE

Just over fifty years later the Dengist program of decollectivization anddecentralization recreated conditions very similar to the fiscal challenges facedby local administrations during the Nanjing Decade Faced with rising expendi-ture responsibilities and revenue-sharing arrangements that vastly favoredsuperordinate levels of government county and newly-created township andvillage administrations through the 1980s and early 1990s increasingly soughtout revenue sources which were not tightly controlled by the central govern-ment or sought to shield resources from sharing with upper levels using a vari-ety of methods recreating what some have called a reform era warlordeconomy76 The need for higher revenues has been driven in large part by theincreasing expense burdens of county township and village governments whichhave assulued control over social welfare programs within their jurisdictions 77Whereas on the eve of the reform period half of all state expenditures weremade by local governluents by the period of the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1986-90) the percentage had crept up to over 60 percent 78

As during the Nanjing Decade such revenues are required largely to off-set rising administrative costs as local government organizations proliferate andbecome more specialized as well as to fund economic development projectsDespite the goal of reducing the state role in economic management adminis-trative personnel have nearly doubled under the reforms expanding 45 percentover the 1978-1990 period Such increases are at least partly due to the in-creasingly complex nature of reform period tax collection procedures whichhave required the establishment of 47000 new finance offices at the townshipleve179One village cadre recently estimated that she spent approximately sev-enty percent of her work time on tasks associated with revenue collection alone80Shaanxis remote Qingjian County with a population of 205700 people andcounty revenues of 1237 luillion yuan in 1995 employed 3710 people in gov-ernment administrative organs with each administrator requiring--on average-the remittances of fifty-five residents to support them81 One study of the 697

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individuals employed by the 41 township administrations in Sichuans Jiang anCounty discovered that while the employees base salaries averaged between60 and 80 yuan per month they also received regular subsidies benefits andperquisites that raised the actual figure to over 100 yuan per month Further-more the administrative expenses incurred by these employees including offi-cial business trips entertainment and continuing education on average addedanother 3000 yuan per employee Of these monies the study revealed fifteenpercent came from fiscal administration fees (caizheng shiye fei) thirty tothirty- five percent from retained funds (til iu) and the remaining fifty to fifty-five percent from various management fees (guanli fei) penalties or fines(fakuan) and paid service fees (youcheng fuwu fei)82

At the same time central government subsidies to local administrationshave declined markedly In Guizhou where the central government financednearly 60 percent of the provinces budgetary expenditures in the early 1980sby 1993 only 20 percent were centrally subsidized Not surprisingly the revenueshortage cut deeply into sub-provincial administrative budgets as well over thesame period the provincial administration not only ended its policy of subsidizinglocal government operations but by the early 1990s had also begun to extractrevenue from the counties in order to fund its own programs83

Caught between the cross-cutting pressures of rising expenditures anddeclining subsidies local administrators during the reform period improvised awide variety of entrepreneurial methods to increase local revenues much astheir Nanjing Decade predecessors had One method by which this was com-monly achieved was through shifting funds from budgetary (yusuannei) sourceswhich are subject to remittance to higher levels to various types of off-budgetfunds which are far less easily monitored by and not subject to sharing withhigher level authorities Off-budget revenues which include both so-calledextrabudgetary (yusuanwai) and self-raised (zichou) funds played an in-creasingly important role in local finance during the reform period From 1978 to1992 total budgetary revenue of local governments tripled but extrabudgetaryrevenues increased eleven-fold during the same period in 1978 extrabudgetaryfunds comprised only 31 percent of budgetary revenue but by 1992extrabudgetary revenue climbed to 98 percent of budgetary revenue totals84

Self-raised funds accounted for only 117 percent of total revenues availableat the township level in 1986 but rose to 20 percent of the same in 199385

The main sources of these off-budget revenues at the county and town-ship levels are various types of user fees and surcharges levied on formal taxesand public utilities including road maintenance fees education surcharges man-

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agement and planning fees and in some provinces unified levies (tongchou)collected from households by village cadres to finance a variety of social ser-vices and government projects86 In 1991 the central government authorizedthe levying of three assessments by township level cadres and the collectionof five general fees by village level cadres stipulating only that the combinedtotal not exceed five percent of the average annual income of the residents forthe previous year The three assessments included public reserve funds to beused for irrigation and afforestation work as well as the establishment of col-lective enterprises public welfare funds to provide subsidies to needy localfamilies and support local health care and administrative fees to cover cadresalaries and administrative expenses The five general fees collected at thevillage level wereto cover educational expenses family planning programswelfare payments to veterans and their families local militia training and ruralroad construction8

However with no systemic mechanism for the fiscal management of sub-county administrations in place the problem of the so-called three arbitraries(san luan)-arbitary collection of fees (luan shoufei) arbitrary levying offines (luanfakuan) and arbitrary apportionments (luan tanpai)-mushroomedin rural areas during the reform period In Hubei s Jinniu Township under thejurisdiction ofDazhi Municipality a provincial investigation into fee collection inthe township discovered that more than eighteen departments concerned withagriculture alone collected fees for more than 144 different projects from town-ship residents88 A Hubei provincial auditor investigating Suizhou and Jingmenmunicipalities found over sixty-six duplicated assessments collected from cityresidents in 199589In 1997 representatives of seventy-seven households resid-ing in Guanzi Village in Baiyangtownship in Sichuans Jiang County sued thetownship government for its collection of excessive fees and charges Some ofthe collections cited in the lawsuit included a wired broadcasting fee a tuningin fee (shoutingfei) a movie-watching fee and a mulberry grove penalty90

In a Shandong township in which the average annual income jn 1994 was1000yuan cadres in one village collected on a per capita basis a 379 yuancomprehensive planning fee a 25 yuan voluntary contribution to the roadrepair fund et 245 yuan voluntary contribution to the oil-producing crop funda total of 115yuan in fees for township office construction and road hardening70 yuan to cover the cost of excavating sand stones and earth a 10 yuan pigraising fee and a 80 yuan land leasing and sale fee In addition virtually all ofthe village residents were levied also on a per capita basis a 10 yuan fine forgrowing yellow tobacco a cash crop which local authorities maintained was

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unsuitable for cultivation in the region The combined year total of such chargesamounted to nearly 373 yuan Despite central government injunctions in 1994against such practices the following year township exactions rose to 5315yuan per resident91

Ad hoc levies and fees charged against rural enterprises by local agenciesin recent years have proven even more numerous than those lodged againstindividual taxpayers One survey of Hunan rural enterprises discovered thatover sixty different industrial administrations and organs had assessed and col-lected over one hundred types of charges from them92 a central governmentreport calculated that over 900 types of administrative fees were being col-lected on private enterprises on top of which local administrations were alsocollecting more than 1000 types of fees and funds93 In Zhejiang one-third oflocal government revenues for 1989 were traced back to the fees and sur-charges levied against rural enterprises94 That same year ajoint Chinese Acad-emy of Social Sciences (CASS) and World Bank study team surveyed the stateof the rural economy and concluded that excessive demands levied against ruralindustries by local governments were commonplace Citing the case of a firm inJiangxis Shangrao County that had been taxed more by local administratorsthan it had earned in profits the World BankCASS investigators noted thatwhat they termed fiscal predation was acting as a powerful brake on thedevelopment of the rural economy95 As one refrain now popular among themanagers of rural enterprises puts it Of heaven and earth we have no fearonly of entrepreneurial government drawing near96

Fees fines and tolls have also once again become a lucrative source oflocal government revenues and are collected by a wide variety of agents for avariety of reasons In some remote Jiangxi villages in 1996 elderly residentswere fined 5yuan for spitting on the sidewalk any attempt to argue against thepunishment was countered with the addition of an attitude penalty (taidufakuan) of 10 yuan The presence of a common housefly on the premises of arestaurant in those same villages could result in a 50 yuan fine for the owner Inat least one case officials from a local Sanitation and Epidemic PreventionStation descended upon a newly opened establishment with armed with fly-swatters and levied a separate 50 yuan fine for each housefly killed on thepremises causing the owner to shut down the restaurant that same day97 Incertain counties in Sichuan farmers can be fined by local governments forfailing to meet production targets set for the local development of supplemen-tary agricultural goods98 Local groups have also resurrected the Republicanera practice of erecting toll booths and checkpoints on highways in 1995 pro-

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

C-

was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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cache of opium with him to plant on innocent residents whenever the opportu-nity arose he would then accuse his hapless victims of drug possession andforce them to pay heavy fines or face arrest and imprisonment 44The enterpris-ing county administrators in Shaanxi s lia County opened a local bank churningout loans with three month intervals at 25 percent interest Most of the loansmade by the bank in 1933 went either to tenant farmers who could not pay theirrent or taxes on time or to local opium addicts in need of a quick fix45

Rural villages staggered under such exactions with even the most ordi-nary transactions plagued by levies Livestock taxes proliferated until authori-ties could collect a toll at each particular stage of a farm animals life once theanimal was slaughtered individual parts of the animal could also be separatelytaxed In Zhejiangs Ruian County for example no fewer than seven levieswere collected on swine alone including a pig tax a piglet tax a suckling pig taxa sow tax a live pig tax a boar bristle tax and a hog tax among others innearby Chongde County aside from a sheep levy which was presumably im-posed on live sheep the county also collected a sheep-shearing levy a woollevy and a sheepskin levy Other Zhejiang counties and townships routinelyimposed taxes on wild game leather pork mutton and all manner of poultry andtheir eggs46At times the tax burden outweighed the benefits of even the sim-plesttransactions One farmer in Hebeis lulu County complained in 1935

The livestock sales tax is so heavy now that we cant even afford to pay itWhether you are selling or buying you have to pay tax on half of the waterbuffalos price In the spring we were still paying a twoen [sales] tax and athree tong brokerage fee on every yuan Starting in May it changed and forevery yuan we had to pay sixen of tax still three tong [brokerage fee] al-together nineen Now this old water buffalo he can be sold for thirty yuanbut Id have to pay two yuan and sevenjiao in tax and fees if I want to turnaround and spend thirty yuan for another one I have to pay another two yuanand sevenjiao Right now trading [him] in is not that important but whereis that five yuan four jiao going to come from47

POPULAR RSPONSES THE VIEW FROM BELOW

Not surprisingly aside from intensifying rural immiseration the prolifera-tion of fees taxes and levies to which residents were subjected during thisperiod led to rising social unrest and increases in various forms of collectiveaction Although Biancos caveat on the unreliability of statistical data on popu-lar protest during this period is well taken48most scholars of the Republican era

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concur that incidents of tax and rent resistance food riots and acts of banditryrose steadily through the mid-193 Os49As Perrys work has shown local secretsocieties such as the Red Spears and Big Swords frequently mobilized againstthe imposition of excessive levies and miscellaneous taxes often clashing withboth local officials and roving army troops50

Incidents of collective violence aside citizens used various methods toremonstrate against the fiscal demands of local administrations during the NanjingDecade Provincial administrations provincial and circuit court judges and theoffices of the Administrative Yuan regularly received letters of grievances fromfarmers and citizens representatives (gongmin daibiao) protesting bureau-cratic malpractice in the countryside51 In 1936 the Control Yuan received arecord number of petitions for investigation of government officials a numbernearly double that of any of the previous three years the vast majority of whichaccused county managers (xianzhang) and their underlings at the county andsub-county levels52 Viewed as a whole these records strongly suggest thatrural residents during this period organized themselves politically not merely toprotest increases in their overall tax burden but also to oppose levies and feesregarded as immoral unjust or overly intrusive Tax collection methods as wellas punishments meted out to those unable to payor in arrears were also com-mon points of contention

However one striking characteristic of popular political discourse duringthis period is the rarity with which disgruntled taxpayers criticized the centralstate Nanjing Decade protestors and petitioners alike were prompted to actionby rising exactions and endemic official malfeasance but it was the officesinstitutions and practices of local administrations which bore the brunt of theirire not the central party-state Rather rural residents seeking redress from thefiscal predation of county officials and their minions tended to see central au-thorities not as culprits or co-conspirators in the fiscal battle being waged againstthem but as potential protectors against local variants of what Thaxton andBergere have termed bureaucratic capitalists53 Thus while Bianco is prob-ably correct in asserting that peasant protestors during this period generallyviewed the state as both parasitic and alien to the social body of the village54 itis also true that many disgruntled rural residents distinguished between the moreremote but potentially benign central authorities and the far more immediate andpernicious local representatives of state power who preyed upon them Theunderlying collective image of the Nanjing Decade state in unofficial sourcesresembles a loosely organized but multi-tiered extractive machine at the locallevel with few if any links to higher levels of government Not surprisingly the

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overwhelming focus of tax protest and petitionary action during the period wasthe offices institutions and practices of local officials and their cohort

As under late imperial rule local government offices including the countyyamen and other revenue collection offices were common sites for anti-taxprotests Although acts of random and haphazard violence certainly were notrare rural residents sometimes bided their time awaiting the opportunity to strikeback at those who abused their official powers For example in the above-mentioned case of the Hui County (Henan) Special Tax Office departmentchief who apparently often planted opium on innocent taxpayers in order toblackmail them county residents waited until the convention of a sanitationmovement meeting at which point they sacked the office with such violencethat the department chief had no alternative but to flee into hiding55

Similarly in 1927 Red Spears in Shandongs Guan County surrounded thecounty seat because local officials there had raised taxes collaborated withlandlords to hasten rent collection and imposed several new levies In August1927 in nearby western Jiao County Red Spears destroyed the Nan hamletbranch office of the salt tax police (yanshui jingchadui)56 and refused to payany taxes Local Big Sword Society members joined the resisters who soonnumbered over a thousand people In October the protesters launched a sur-prise attack on the Hongshiya tax office in She Village and seized its personnelwho attempted to flee Before the army and local police suppressed the protestwell over two thousand homes had been destroyed and fifty people had died57

Popular indignation over local fiscal policy stemmed in part from the man-ner in which taxes were apportioned Not only was it common for landlordswho were legally liable for the payment of land taxes and other acreage leviesto shift the burden of tax payments onto their tenants 58 but also the proliferationof so-called shared apportionments (tanpai) and other head taxes and forcedpurchases extracted increasing revenues from the lowest strata of village soci-ety As one resident of Fuji ans Guangze County recalled

In my county under the rule of the GMD every year the taxes and levies thatwere collected included a rebellion suppression levy (kanluanjuan) a live-stock slaughter tax a conscription levy [and] a tobacco and alcohollevy The rebellion suppression levy was calculated as a supplement to thepopulation-based grain and salt decimal taxes so from every newborn infantup to every septuagenarian none could be late [in paying] The livestockslaughter tax was collected by the household regardless of whether or notyou were raising any pigs on average each household had bear the burden ofone or two pigs worth of the slaughter tax each year The tobacco and wine

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levy was also due regardless of whether or not you were in the business ofproducing or selling any and it toowascoHected by the household The con-script levy was apportioned according to the age of the draftable populationso however many potential draftees a family had thats how many pennies(fen) they paid in conscript levy59

Other burdens were similarly apportioned ranging in nature from forcedvoluntary contributions to the mandatory purchase of items controlled by gov-ernment agents In 1933 in Hebeis JuluCounty the county salt sales officesuddenly announced that contrary to previous popular practice the sale andconsumption of nitrate salt (xiao yan) was illegal but the use of crude salt (dayan) was permitted To remedy the situation the salt office ordered each vil-lage immediately to begin purchasing crude salt at the rate of three hundredjinper month or pay fines totaling the amount of the mandatory purchase (threehundred yuan) Village chiefs ordered each household to purchase a givenamount of crude salt each month whether or not they needed it for their ownuse Families were furthermore required to purchase crude salt rations even forthose family members who no longer resided in the village60

Compounding what was widely perceived to be the unjust apportionmentof the tax burden was the heavy-handed and callous manner in which taxeswere often collected In the case of acreage levies slated for county self-de-fense corps or police use tax collection was left up to the units in question insouthern Sichuan under warlord rule all county tax collection was routinelyhandled by local militia forces whose brutal intimidation and illegal confiscationof personal property ultimately led to widespread tax revolts there in 193361 Inmany areas peasants unable to pay their taxes by the specified date routinelyhad whatever salable items they owned confiscated by the collectors and weresometimes themselves arrested and imprisoned One central government inves-tigator touring rural Jiangsu in 1933 reported that in Changshu County during thetax collection season over a hundred farmers unable to pay their taxes wereimprisoned in thecountyjail 62

As Bianco noted rural residents often mobilized to protest attempts bylocal administrators to expand their tax collecting authority into previously un-regulated areas of the ruraleconomy63 For example one attempt to extend anexisting levy to cover a new category of goods led to armed conf1ict in Zhej iang sYutao County in March 1933 The residents ofShennong a hamlet in the county ssecond ward had long brewed a type of beverage in their homes for their ownconsumption using ingredients they either harvested or traded among them-selves When in early 1933 the director of the Yutao Liquor Levy Inspection

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Branch Office decided that such products were subject to the countys liquorlevy Shennong residents refused to pay and several were arrested As theyawaited trial more than a thousand of their fellow villagers marched on thecounty seat and demanded an end to harassment by county tax collectors abo-lition of the county liquor levy and immediate release of the arrested villagersOnce the group had massed at the gates of the county seat forces sent by thecounty manager permitted only five representatives inside to meet with offi-cials When the representatives reported back to the crowd that county admin-istrators maintained (falsely) that the liquor levy was a national tax over whichthey had no control the crowd became enraged and pressed toward the gatesThe troops then opened fire killing one and injuring two others64

As the Shennong protest demonstrates petitions personal accounts andpress reports from this period strongly suggest that the GMD state was notpopularly conceived as a single unified actor Even after the establishment ofthe Nanjing regime in 1927 unofficial discourse made clear distinctions be-tween central and local authorities and while the rhetoric of most anti-tax pro-tests was vehemently anti-state in nature for the most part agents and sub-county agents of the bureaucracy were perceived to be rural taxpayers pri-mary antagonists As one person commented in 1938 we are all aware thatChinas political system is weighty at the head and light at the feet the organiza-tion of the central administration is flawless those of the provincial administra-tions are okay (hai keyi) but the county administrations fall seriously short(chae yuan)65

Despite the fact that it was primarily after the establishment of the GMDregime in 1927 that exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes began to multi-ply most vigorously in the countryside overt critiques of the central governmentin rural protest were relatively rare and many of these can be traced specifi-cally to the involvement of Communist organizers For example in 1931 theAnhui provincial government under Chen Diaoyuan imposed a supplementaryshipped rice inspection levy decimal tax (jujia chuanyun mizhao juan lijin)and other assorted fees on rice transported along the Huai River Several weekslater following a confrontation between protesting boat people (chuanmin)and local authorities large-scale demonstrations against Chen and the rice in-spection levy erupted in Bangbu involving representatives of over fifty differentworkers and merchants associations in northern Anhui Communist YouthLeague activists from local middle schools organized over two thousand stu-dents to march to join the other demonstrators at the local parade grounds andattempted to lead the crowd in chanting similar slogans However when the

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Communist organizers in the crowd began chanting Defeat the Guomindangreactionaries a melee broke out and the activists barely escaped with theirlives The issue was later settled following a series of formal appeals to thecentral government66

By and large rural residents engaging in anti-tax resistance viewed thecentral government as an ally in their struggles against the incessant demandsof entrepreneurial local administrations and their agents In June of 1934 whenresidents of Hutubi County in Xinj iang could no longer tolerate the corruptionand extortion of two successive county managers the village headman (xiangyue)and a group of villagers secretly gathered to discuss the problem At the meet-ing one local herdsman later recalled he argued that the central governmenthad repeatedly stressed its determination severely to punish corrupt officialsand their venal underlings and should be taken at its word

These two county managers have engaged in various audacious and cor-rupt perversions of the law extorted the people and openly violated the newgovernments policies If someone would go to the procuracy in the countyseat to make a report the [central] government could not ignore it 67

The herdsman ultimately penned such a letter on behalf of his fellow citizensOne copy reached the Control Yuan which turned the petition over to the pro-vincial government for investigation and the county manager in question waslater executed for his crimes68

In other cases frustrated rural taxpayers sought redress from central au-thorities outside of the formal procedures of appeal and due process One Ad-ministrative Yuan investigator had just concluded his interview with a Shaanxivillage headman and had taken his leave when he was mutely accosted by aresident in the street The villager threw himself on the ground beseechinglyand thrust into his hands a paper which read

According to the order of the county government the balance due from landtaxes from 1920 1921 and 1922 must be raised from household surplus grainimmediately post haste Accordingly the villager Yuan Zuorong is to remitfive dollars (dayang yuan) someone will be dispatched immediately and itwill be turned over to the county as this is absolutely a matter of great im-portance Hereby submitted to Yuan Zuorong

Other village residents quickly gathered around and explained to the investiga-tor that the sum in question was in fact not being collected by the county gov-ernment but instead by the village headman he had just interviewed who the

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villagers alleged was trading on his authority as an agent of the county govern-ment in order to enrich himself69

Such agents were generally conceived of and described in local sources inanimalistic terms as predators who fed rapaciously on the peasants livelihoodin marked contrast to their role as father-mother officials (fumu guan) whoseduty it was to nourish and care for those under their jurisdiction 70Entrepre-neurial agents were commonly referred to as man-eating tigers or even blood-sucking vampires who treated rural villagers as if they were [merely] meatand fish [to be consumed] (yurou xiangmin) or trampled upon them likegrass (caojian renming) One group of Guangzhous Nanhai County resi-dents in 1921 posted a particularly graphic notice to protest the unendurableexactions of the local bullies who staffed their county administration avowingthat the predators had first stripped away our hair and skin and then cut awayour flesh and when our meat is exhausted they will whittle away our bones7lBrokerage licenses to collect commercial taxes or even county authorization tocollect any type of revenue at all were purportedly referred to as choice cutsof meat (feirou) that officials brokers and local notables would squabble overwith each striving to select the richest bit of fat upon which to feast 72

Particularly brazen officials were purported to have used such languagepublicly themselves in Guangxis remote Sanjiang County Han officials at thesub-county levels were said to have derisively referred to their extortive taxcollection tactics in one minority village as eating sprouts (chi miaozi) a playon the homophone for the Miao people who resided in thearea73 Even ControlYuan inspectors when submitting their reports to their superiors or filing legalsummaries of disciplinary action commonly referred to excessive and illegaltaxation methods as sucking down the fat of the people (xiaxi mingu) andperverting the law to fatten themselves (wanfa zifei)74

As the Nanjing Decade drew to a close central government officials ap-peared to be enjoying greater successes in handling the problem of burdensomelocal taxation In June 1931 the Commission of Disciplinary Action againstPublic Servants (Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjie weiyuanhui) was foundedunder the auspices of the Judicial Yuan a body which evaluated cases of ad-ministrative abuses on materials prepared by Control Yuan officials police of-ficers colleagues of the official concerned and the testimony of the accusedHowever because the Disciplinary Commission often considered the findingsof ordinary courts against civil servants in assessing punishment there wasoften a substantial lag between the filing of a case and a legal judgment againsta public servant accused of wrongdoing In 1937 a temporary decree granted

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the Control Yuan the power of rectification which greatly facilitated the pro-cess of disciplining civil officials7s However with the Japanese invasion ofnorthern China later that year the onerous burden of escalating military ex-penses forced the GMD to reverse many of its local tax and levy reductionpolicies and rural economies in particular once again felt the pinch of increasingfiscal exactions

PATTERNS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN THE REFORM DECADE

Just over fifty years later the Dengist program of decollectivization anddecentralization recreated conditions very similar to the fiscal challenges facedby local administrations during the Nanjing Decade Faced with rising expendi-ture responsibilities and revenue-sharing arrangements that vastly favoredsuperordinate levels of government county and newly-created township andvillage administrations through the 1980s and early 1990s increasingly soughtout revenue sources which were not tightly controlled by the central govern-ment or sought to shield resources from sharing with upper levels using a vari-ety of methods recreating what some have called a reform era warlordeconomy76 The need for higher revenues has been driven in large part by theincreasing expense burdens of county township and village governments whichhave assulued control over social welfare programs within their jurisdictions 77Whereas on the eve of the reform period half of all state expenditures weremade by local governluents by the period of the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1986-90) the percentage had crept up to over 60 percent 78

As during the Nanjing Decade such revenues are required largely to off-set rising administrative costs as local government organizations proliferate andbecome more specialized as well as to fund economic development projectsDespite the goal of reducing the state role in economic management adminis-trative personnel have nearly doubled under the reforms expanding 45 percentover the 1978-1990 period Such increases are at least partly due to the in-creasingly complex nature of reform period tax collection procedures whichhave required the establishment of 47000 new finance offices at the townshipleve179One village cadre recently estimated that she spent approximately sev-enty percent of her work time on tasks associated with revenue collection alone80Shaanxis remote Qingjian County with a population of 205700 people andcounty revenues of 1237 luillion yuan in 1995 employed 3710 people in gov-ernment administrative organs with each administrator requiring--on average-the remittances of fifty-five residents to support them81 One study of the 697

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individuals employed by the 41 township administrations in Sichuans Jiang anCounty discovered that while the employees base salaries averaged between60 and 80 yuan per month they also received regular subsidies benefits andperquisites that raised the actual figure to over 100 yuan per month Further-more the administrative expenses incurred by these employees including offi-cial business trips entertainment and continuing education on average addedanother 3000 yuan per employee Of these monies the study revealed fifteenpercent came from fiscal administration fees (caizheng shiye fei) thirty tothirty- five percent from retained funds (til iu) and the remaining fifty to fifty-five percent from various management fees (guanli fei) penalties or fines(fakuan) and paid service fees (youcheng fuwu fei)82

At the same time central government subsidies to local administrationshave declined markedly In Guizhou where the central government financednearly 60 percent of the provinces budgetary expenditures in the early 1980sby 1993 only 20 percent were centrally subsidized Not surprisingly the revenueshortage cut deeply into sub-provincial administrative budgets as well over thesame period the provincial administration not only ended its policy of subsidizinglocal government operations but by the early 1990s had also begun to extractrevenue from the counties in order to fund its own programs83

Caught between the cross-cutting pressures of rising expenditures anddeclining subsidies local administrators during the reform period improvised awide variety of entrepreneurial methods to increase local revenues much astheir Nanjing Decade predecessors had One method by which this was com-monly achieved was through shifting funds from budgetary (yusuannei) sourceswhich are subject to remittance to higher levels to various types of off-budgetfunds which are far less easily monitored by and not subject to sharing withhigher level authorities Off-budget revenues which include both so-calledextrabudgetary (yusuanwai) and self-raised (zichou) funds played an in-creasingly important role in local finance during the reform period From 1978 to1992 total budgetary revenue of local governments tripled but extrabudgetaryrevenues increased eleven-fold during the same period in 1978 extrabudgetaryfunds comprised only 31 percent of budgetary revenue but by 1992extrabudgetary revenue climbed to 98 percent of budgetary revenue totals84

Self-raised funds accounted for only 117 percent of total revenues availableat the township level in 1986 but rose to 20 percent of the same in 199385

The main sources of these off-budget revenues at the county and town-ship levels are various types of user fees and surcharges levied on formal taxesand public utilities including road maintenance fees education surcharges man-

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agement and planning fees and in some provinces unified levies (tongchou)collected from households by village cadres to finance a variety of social ser-vices and government projects86 In 1991 the central government authorizedthe levying of three assessments by township level cadres and the collectionof five general fees by village level cadres stipulating only that the combinedtotal not exceed five percent of the average annual income of the residents forthe previous year The three assessments included public reserve funds to beused for irrigation and afforestation work as well as the establishment of col-lective enterprises public welfare funds to provide subsidies to needy localfamilies and support local health care and administrative fees to cover cadresalaries and administrative expenses The five general fees collected at thevillage level wereto cover educational expenses family planning programswelfare payments to veterans and their families local militia training and ruralroad construction8

However with no systemic mechanism for the fiscal management of sub-county administrations in place the problem of the so-called three arbitraries(san luan)-arbitary collection of fees (luan shoufei) arbitrary levying offines (luanfakuan) and arbitrary apportionments (luan tanpai)-mushroomedin rural areas during the reform period In Hubei s Jinniu Township under thejurisdiction ofDazhi Municipality a provincial investigation into fee collection inthe township discovered that more than eighteen departments concerned withagriculture alone collected fees for more than 144 different projects from town-ship residents88 A Hubei provincial auditor investigating Suizhou and Jingmenmunicipalities found over sixty-six duplicated assessments collected from cityresidents in 199589In 1997 representatives of seventy-seven households resid-ing in Guanzi Village in Baiyangtownship in Sichuans Jiang County sued thetownship government for its collection of excessive fees and charges Some ofthe collections cited in the lawsuit included a wired broadcasting fee a tuningin fee (shoutingfei) a movie-watching fee and a mulberry grove penalty90

In a Shandong township in which the average annual income jn 1994 was1000yuan cadres in one village collected on a per capita basis a 379 yuancomprehensive planning fee a 25 yuan voluntary contribution to the roadrepair fund et 245 yuan voluntary contribution to the oil-producing crop funda total of 115yuan in fees for township office construction and road hardening70 yuan to cover the cost of excavating sand stones and earth a 10 yuan pigraising fee and a 80 yuan land leasing and sale fee In addition virtually all ofthe village residents were levied also on a per capita basis a 10 yuan fine forgrowing yellow tobacco a cash crop which local authorities maintained was

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unsuitable for cultivation in the region The combined year total of such chargesamounted to nearly 373 yuan Despite central government injunctions in 1994against such practices the following year township exactions rose to 5315yuan per resident91

Ad hoc levies and fees charged against rural enterprises by local agenciesin recent years have proven even more numerous than those lodged againstindividual taxpayers One survey of Hunan rural enterprises discovered thatover sixty different industrial administrations and organs had assessed and col-lected over one hundred types of charges from them92 a central governmentreport calculated that over 900 types of administrative fees were being col-lected on private enterprises on top of which local administrations were alsocollecting more than 1000 types of fees and funds93 In Zhejiang one-third oflocal government revenues for 1989 were traced back to the fees and sur-charges levied against rural enterprises94 That same year ajoint Chinese Acad-emy of Social Sciences (CASS) and World Bank study team surveyed the stateof the rural economy and concluded that excessive demands levied against ruralindustries by local governments were commonplace Citing the case of a firm inJiangxis Shangrao County that had been taxed more by local administratorsthan it had earned in profits the World BankCASS investigators noted thatwhat they termed fiscal predation was acting as a powerful brake on thedevelopment of the rural economy95 As one refrain now popular among themanagers of rural enterprises puts it Of heaven and earth we have no fearonly of entrepreneurial government drawing near96

Fees fines and tolls have also once again become a lucrative source oflocal government revenues and are collected by a wide variety of agents for avariety of reasons In some remote Jiangxi villages in 1996 elderly residentswere fined 5yuan for spitting on the sidewalk any attempt to argue against thepunishment was countered with the addition of an attitude penalty (taidufakuan) of 10 yuan The presence of a common housefly on the premises of arestaurant in those same villages could result in a 50 yuan fine for the owner Inat least one case officials from a local Sanitation and Epidemic PreventionStation descended upon a newly opened establishment with armed with fly-swatters and levied a separate 50 yuan fine for each housefly killed on thepremises causing the owner to shut down the restaurant that same day97 Incertain counties in Sichuan farmers can be fined by local governments forfailing to meet production targets set for the local development of supplemen-tary agricultural goods98 Local groups have also resurrected the Republicanera practice of erecting toll booths and checkpoints on highways in 1995 pro-

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

C-

was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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concur that incidents of tax and rent resistance food riots and acts of banditryrose steadily through the mid-193 Os49As Perrys work has shown local secretsocieties such as the Red Spears and Big Swords frequently mobilized againstthe imposition of excessive levies and miscellaneous taxes often clashing withboth local officials and roving army troops50

Incidents of collective violence aside citizens used various methods toremonstrate against the fiscal demands of local administrations during the NanjingDecade Provincial administrations provincial and circuit court judges and theoffices of the Administrative Yuan regularly received letters of grievances fromfarmers and citizens representatives (gongmin daibiao) protesting bureau-cratic malpractice in the countryside51 In 1936 the Control Yuan received arecord number of petitions for investigation of government officials a numbernearly double that of any of the previous three years the vast majority of whichaccused county managers (xianzhang) and their underlings at the county andsub-county levels52 Viewed as a whole these records strongly suggest thatrural residents during this period organized themselves politically not merely toprotest increases in their overall tax burden but also to oppose levies and feesregarded as immoral unjust or overly intrusive Tax collection methods as wellas punishments meted out to those unable to payor in arrears were also com-mon points of contention

However one striking characteristic of popular political discourse duringthis period is the rarity with which disgruntled taxpayers criticized the centralstate Nanjing Decade protestors and petitioners alike were prompted to actionby rising exactions and endemic official malfeasance but it was the officesinstitutions and practices of local administrations which bore the brunt of theirire not the central party-state Rather rural residents seeking redress from thefiscal predation of county officials and their minions tended to see central au-thorities not as culprits or co-conspirators in the fiscal battle being waged againstthem but as potential protectors against local variants of what Thaxton andBergere have termed bureaucratic capitalists53 Thus while Bianco is prob-ably correct in asserting that peasant protestors during this period generallyviewed the state as both parasitic and alien to the social body of the village54 itis also true that many disgruntled rural residents distinguished between the moreremote but potentially benign central authorities and the far more immediate andpernicious local representatives of state power who preyed upon them Theunderlying collective image of the Nanjing Decade state in unofficial sourcesresembles a loosely organized but multi-tiered extractive machine at the locallevel with few if any links to higher levels of government Not surprisingly the

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overwhelming focus of tax protest and petitionary action during the period wasthe offices institutions and practices of local officials and their cohort

As under late imperial rule local government offices including the countyyamen and other revenue collection offices were common sites for anti-taxprotests Although acts of random and haphazard violence certainly were notrare rural residents sometimes bided their time awaiting the opportunity to strikeback at those who abused their official powers For example in the above-mentioned case of the Hui County (Henan) Special Tax Office departmentchief who apparently often planted opium on innocent taxpayers in order toblackmail them county residents waited until the convention of a sanitationmovement meeting at which point they sacked the office with such violencethat the department chief had no alternative but to flee into hiding55

Similarly in 1927 Red Spears in Shandongs Guan County surrounded thecounty seat because local officials there had raised taxes collaborated withlandlords to hasten rent collection and imposed several new levies In August1927 in nearby western Jiao County Red Spears destroyed the Nan hamletbranch office of the salt tax police (yanshui jingchadui)56 and refused to payany taxes Local Big Sword Society members joined the resisters who soonnumbered over a thousand people In October the protesters launched a sur-prise attack on the Hongshiya tax office in She Village and seized its personnelwho attempted to flee Before the army and local police suppressed the protestwell over two thousand homes had been destroyed and fifty people had died57

Popular indignation over local fiscal policy stemmed in part from the man-ner in which taxes were apportioned Not only was it common for landlordswho were legally liable for the payment of land taxes and other acreage leviesto shift the burden of tax payments onto their tenants 58 but also the proliferationof so-called shared apportionments (tanpai) and other head taxes and forcedpurchases extracted increasing revenues from the lowest strata of village soci-ety As one resident of Fuji ans Guangze County recalled

In my county under the rule of the GMD every year the taxes and levies thatwere collected included a rebellion suppression levy (kanluanjuan) a live-stock slaughter tax a conscription levy [and] a tobacco and alcohollevy The rebellion suppression levy was calculated as a supplement to thepopulation-based grain and salt decimal taxes so from every newborn infantup to every septuagenarian none could be late [in paying] The livestockslaughter tax was collected by the household regardless of whether or notyou were raising any pigs on average each household had bear the burden ofone or two pigs worth of the slaughter tax each year The tobacco and wine

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levy was also due regardless of whether or not you were in the business ofproducing or selling any and it toowascoHected by the household The con-script levy was apportioned according to the age of the draftable populationso however many potential draftees a family had thats how many pennies(fen) they paid in conscript levy59

Other burdens were similarly apportioned ranging in nature from forcedvoluntary contributions to the mandatory purchase of items controlled by gov-ernment agents In 1933 in Hebeis JuluCounty the county salt sales officesuddenly announced that contrary to previous popular practice the sale andconsumption of nitrate salt (xiao yan) was illegal but the use of crude salt (dayan) was permitted To remedy the situation the salt office ordered each vil-lage immediately to begin purchasing crude salt at the rate of three hundredjinper month or pay fines totaling the amount of the mandatory purchase (threehundred yuan) Village chiefs ordered each household to purchase a givenamount of crude salt each month whether or not they needed it for their ownuse Families were furthermore required to purchase crude salt rations even forthose family members who no longer resided in the village60

Compounding what was widely perceived to be the unjust apportionmentof the tax burden was the heavy-handed and callous manner in which taxeswere often collected In the case of acreage levies slated for county self-de-fense corps or police use tax collection was left up to the units in question insouthern Sichuan under warlord rule all county tax collection was routinelyhandled by local militia forces whose brutal intimidation and illegal confiscationof personal property ultimately led to widespread tax revolts there in 193361 Inmany areas peasants unable to pay their taxes by the specified date routinelyhad whatever salable items they owned confiscated by the collectors and weresometimes themselves arrested and imprisoned One central government inves-tigator touring rural Jiangsu in 1933 reported that in Changshu County during thetax collection season over a hundred farmers unable to pay their taxes wereimprisoned in thecountyjail 62

As Bianco noted rural residents often mobilized to protest attempts bylocal administrators to expand their tax collecting authority into previously un-regulated areas of the ruraleconomy63 For example one attempt to extend anexisting levy to cover a new category of goods led to armed conf1ict in Zhej iang sYutao County in March 1933 The residents ofShennong a hamlet in the county ssecond ward had long brewed a type of beverage in their homes for their ownconsumption using ingredients they either harvested or traded among them-selves When in early 1933 the director of the Yutao Liquor Levy Inspection

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Branch Office decided that such products were subject to the countys liquorlevy Shennong residents refused to pay and several were arrested As theyawaited trial more than a thousand of their fellow villagers marched on thecounty seat and demanded an end to harassment by county tax collectors abo-lition of the county liquor levy and immediate release of the arrested villagersOnce the group had massed at the gates of the county seat forces sent by thecounty manager permitted only five representatives inside to meet with offi-cials When the representatives reported back to the crowd that county admin-istrators maintained (falsely) that the liquor levy was a national tax over whichthey had no control the crowd became enraged and pressed toward the gatesThe troops then opened fire killing one and injuring two others64

As the Shennong protest demonstrates petitions personal accounts andpress reports from this period strongly suggest that the GMD state was notpopularly conceived as a single unified actor Even after the establishment ofthe Nanjing regime in 1927 unofficial discourse made clear distinctions be-tween central and local authorities and while the rhetoric of most anti-tax pro-tests was vehemently anti-state in nature for the most part agents and sub-county agents of the bureaucracy were perceived to be rural taxpayers pri-mary antagonists As one person commented in 1938 we are all aware thatChinas political system is weighty at the head and light at the feet the organiza-tion of the central administration is flawless those of the provincial administra-tions are okay (hai keyi) but the county administrations fall seriously short(chae yuan)65

Despite the fact that it was primarily after the establishment of the GMDregime in 1927 that exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes began to multi-ply most vigorously in the countryside overt critiques of the central governmentin rural protest were relatively rare and many of these can be traced specifi-cally to the involvement of Communist organizers For example in 1931 theAnhui provincial government under Chen Diaoyuan imposed a supplementaryshipped rice inspection levy decimal tax (jujia chuanyun mizhao juan lijin)and other assorted fees on rice transported along the Huai River Several weekslater following a confrontation between protesting boat people (chuanmin)and local authorities large-scale demonstrations against Chen and the rice in-spection levy erupted in Bangbu involving representatives of over fifty differentworkers and merchants associations in northern Anhui Communist YouthLeague activists from local middle schools organized over two thousand stu-dents to march to join the other demonstrators at the local parade grounds andattempted to lead the crowd in chanting similar slogans However when the

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Communist organizers in the crowd began chanting Defeat the Guomindangreactionaries a melee broke out and the activists barely escaped with theirlives The issue was later settled following a series of formal appeals to thecentral government66

By and large rural residents engaging in anti-tax resistance viewed thecentral government as an ally in their struggles against the incessant demandsof entrepreneurial local administrations and their agents In June of 1934 whenresidents of Hutubi County in Xinj iang could no longer tolerate the corruptionand extortion of two successive county managers the village headman (xiangyue)and a group of villagers secretly gathered to discuss the problem At the meet-ing one local herdsman later recalled he argued that the central governmenthad repeatedly stressed its determination severely to punish corrupt officialsand their venal underlings and should be taken at its word

These two county managers have engaged in various audacious and cor-rupt perversions of the law extorted the people and openly violated the newgovernments policies If someone would go to the procuracy in the countyseat to make a report the [central] government could not ignore it 67

The herdsman ultimately penned such a letter on behalf of his fellow citizensOne copy reached the Control Yuan which turned the petition over to the pro-vincial government for investigation and the county manager in question waslater executed for his crimes68

In other cases frustrated rural taxpayers sought redress from central au-thorities outside of the formal procedures of appeal and due process One Ad-ministrative Yuan investigator had just concluded his interview with a Shaanxivillage headman and had taken his leave when he was mutely accosted by aresident in the street The villager threw himself on the ground beseechinglyand thrust into his hands a paper which read

According to the order of the county government the balance due from landtaxes from 1920 1921 and 1922 must be raised from household surplus grainimmediately post haste Accordingly the villager Yuan Zuorong is to remitfive dollars (dayang yuan) someone will be dispatched immediately and itwill be turned over to the county as this is absolutely a matter of great im-portance Hereby submitted to Yuan Zuorong

Other village residents quickly gathered around and explained to the investiga-tor that the sum in question was in fact not being collected by the county gov-ernment but instead by the village headman he had just interviewed who the

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villagers alleged was trading on his authority as an agent of the county govern-ment in order to enrich himself69

Such agents were generally conceived of and described in local sources inanimalistic terms as predators who fed rapaciously on the peasants livelihoodin marked contrast to their role as father-mother officials (fumu guan) whoseduty it was to nourish and care for those under their jurisdiction 70Entrepre-neurial agents were commonly referred to as man-eating tigers or even blood-sucking vampires who treated rural villagers as if they were [merely] meatand fish [to be consumed] (yurou xiangmin) or trampled upon them likegrass (caojian renming) One group of Guangzhous Nanhai County resi-dents in 1921 posted a particularly graphic notice to protest the unendurableexactions of the local bullies who staffed their county administration avowingthat the predators had first stripped away our hair and skin and then cut awayour flesh and when our meat is exhausted they will whittle away our bones7lBrokerage licenses to collect commercial taxes or even county authorization tocollect any type of revenue at all were purportedly referred to as choice cutsof meat (feirou) that officials brokers and local notables would squabble overwith each striving to select the richest bit of fat upon which to feast 72

Particularly brazen officials were purported to have used such languagepublicly themselves in Guangxis remote Sanjiang County Han officials at thesub-county levels were said to have derisively referred to their extortive taxcollection tactics in one minority village as eating sprouts (chi miaozi) a playon the homophone for the Miao people who resided in thearea73 Even ControlYuan inspectors when submitting their reports to their superiors or filing legalsummaries of disciplinary action commonly referred to excessive and illegaltaxation methods as sucking down the fat of the people (xiaxi mingu) andperverting the law to fatten themselves (wanfa zifei)74

As the Nanjing Decade drew to a close central government officials ap-peared to be enjoying greater successes in handling the problem of burdensomelocal taxation In June 1931 the Commission of Disciplinary Action againstPublic Servants (Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjie weiyuanhui) was foundedunder the auspices of the Judicial Yuan a body which evaluated cases of ad-ministrative abuses on materials prepared by Control Yuan officials police of-ficers colleagues of the official concerned and the testimony of the accusedHowever because the Disciplinary Commission often considered the findingsof ordinary courts against civil servants in assessing punishment there wasoften a substantial lag between the filing of a case and a legal judgment againsta public servant accused of wrongdoing In 1937 a temporary decree granted

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the Control Yuan the power of rectification which greatly facilitated the pro-cess of disciplining civil officials7s However with the Japanese invasion ofnorthern China later that year the onerous burden of escalating military ex-penses forced the GMD to reverse many of its local tax and levy reductionpolicies and rural economies in particular once again felt the pinch of increasingfiscal exactions

PATTERNS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN THE REFORM DECADE

Just over fifty years later the Dengist program of decollectivization anddecentralization recreated conditions very similar to the fiscal challenges facedby local administrations during the Nanjing Decade Faced with rising expendi-ture responsibilities and revenue-sharing arrangements that vastly favoredsuperordinate levels of government county and newly-created township andvillage administrations through the 1980s and early 1990s increasingly soughtout revenue sources which were not tightly controlled by the central govern-ment or sought to shield resources from sharing with upper levels using a vari-ety of methods recreating what some have called a reform era warlordeconomy76 The need for higher revenues has been driven in large part by theincreasing expense burdens of county township and village governments whichhave assulued control over social welfare programs within their jurisdictions 77Whereas on the eve of the reform period half of all state expenditures weremade by local governluents by the period of the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1986-90) the percentage had crept up to over 60 percent 78

As during the Nanjing Decade such revenues are required largely to off-set rising administrative costs as local government organizations proliferate andbecome more specialized as well as to fund economic development projectsDespite the goal of reducing the state role in economic management adminis-trative personnel have nearly doubled under the reforms expanding 45 percentover the 1978-1990 period Such increases are at least partly due to the in-creasingly complex nature of reform period tax collection procedures whichhave required the establishment of 47000 new finance offices at the townshipleve179One village cadre recently estimated that she spent approximately sev-enty percent of her work time on tasks associated with revenue collection alone80Shaanxis remote Qingjian County with a population of 205700 people andcounty revenues of 1237 luillion yuan in 1995 employed 3710 people in gov-ernment administrative organs with each administrator requiring--on average-the remittances of fifty-five residents to support them81 One study of the 697

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individuals employed by the 41 township administrations in Sichuans Jiang anCounty discovered that while the employees base salaries averaged between60 and 80 yuan per month they also received regular subsidies benefits andperquisites that raised the actual figure to over 100 yuan per month Further-more the administrative expenses incurred by these employees including offi-cial business trips entertainment and continuing education on average addedanother 3000 yuan per employee Of these monies the study revealed fifteenpercent came from fiscal administration fees (caizheng shiye fei) thirty tothirty- five percent from retained funds (til iu) and the remaining fifty to fifty-five percent from various management fees (guanli fei) penalties or fines(fakuan) and paid service fees (youcheng fuwu fei)82

At the same time central government subsidies to local administrationshave declined markedly In Guizhou where the central government financednearly 60 percent of the provinces budgetary expenditures in the early 1980sby 1993 only 20 percent were centrally subsidized Not surprisingly the revenueshortage cut deeply into sub-provincial administrative budgets as well over thesame period the provincial administration not only ended its policy of subsidizinglocal government operations but by the early 1990s had also begun to extractrevenue from the counties in order to fund its own programs83

Caught between the cross-cutting pressures of rising expenditures anddeclining subsidies local administrators during the reform period improvised awide variety of entrepreneurial methods to increase local revenues much astheir Nanjing Decade predecessors had One method by which this was com-monly achieved was through shifting funds from budgetary (yusuannei) sourceswhich are subject to remittance to higher levels to various types of off-budgetfunds which are far less easily monitored by and not subject to sharing withhigher level authorities Off-budget revenues which include both so-calledextrabudgetary (yusuanwai) and self-raised (zichou) funds played an in-creasingly important role in local finance during the reform period From 1978 to1992 total budgetary revenue of local governments tripled but extrabudgetaryrevenues increased eleven-fold during the same period in 1978 extrabudgetaryfunds comprised only 31 percent of budgetary revenue but by 1992extrabudgetary revenue climbed to 98 percent of budgetary revenue totals84

Self-raised funds accounted for only 117 percent of total revenues availableat the township level in 1986 but rose to 20 percent of the same in 199385

The main sources of these off-budget revenues at the county and town-ship levels are various types of user fees and surcharges levied on formal taxesand public utilities including road maintenance fees education surcharges man-

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agement and planning fees and in some provinces unified levies (tongchou)collected from households by village cadres to finance a variety of social ser-vices and government projects86 In 1991 the central government authorizedthe levying of three assessments by township level cadres and the collectionof five general fees by village level cadres stipulating only that the combinedtotal not exceed five percent of the average annual income of the residents forthe previous year The three assessments included public reserve funds to beused for irrigation and afforestation work as well as the establishment of col-lective enterprises public welfare funds to provide subsidies to needy localfamilies and support local health care and administrative fees to cover cadresalaries and administrative expenses The five general fees collected at thevillage level wereto cover educational expenses family planning programswelfare payments to veterans and their families local militia training and ruralroad construction8

However with no systemic mechanism for the fiscal management of sub-county administrations in place the problem of the so-called three arbitraries(san luan)-arbitary collection of fees (luan shoufei) arbitrary levying offines (luanfakuan) and arbitrary apportionments (luan tanpai)-mushroomedin rural areas during the reform period In Hubei s Jinniu Township under thejurisdiction ofDazhi Municipality a provincial investigation into fee collection inthe township discovered that more than eighteen departments concerned withagriculture alone collected fees for more than 144 different projects from town-ship residents88 A Hubei provincial auditor investigating Suizhou and Jingmenmunicipalities found over sixty-six duplicated assessments collected from cityresidents in 199589In 1997 representatives of seventy-seven households resid-ing in Guanzi Village in Baiyangtownship in Sichuans Jiang County sued thetownship government for its collection of excessive fees and charges Some ofthe collections cited in the lawsuit included a wired broadcasting fee a tuningin fee (shoutingfei) a movie-watching fee and a mulberry grove penalty90

In a Shandong township in which the average annual income jn 1994 was1000yuan cadres in one village collected on a per capita basis a 379 yuancomprehensive planning fee a 25 yuan voluntary contribution to the roadrepair fund et 245 yuan voluntary contribution to the oil-producing crop funda total of 115yuan in fees for township office construction and road hardening70 yuan to cover the cost of excavating sand stones and earth a 10 yuan pigraising fee and a 80 yuan land leasing and sale fee In addition virtually all ofthe village residents were levied also on a per capita basis a 10 yuan fine forgrowing yellow tobacco a cash crop which local authorities maintained was

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unsuitable for cultivation in the region The combined year total of such chargesamounted to nearly 373 yuan Despite central government injunctions in 1994against such practices the following year township exactions rose to 5315yuan per resident91

Ad hoc levies and fees charged against rural enterprises by local agenciesin recent years have proven even more numerous than those lodged againstindividual taxpayers One survey of Hunan rural enterprises discovered thatover sixty different industrial administrations and organs had assessed and col-lected over one hundred types of charges from them92 a central governmentreport calculated that over 900 types of administrative fees were being col-lected on private enterprises on top of which local administrations were alsocollecting more than 1000 types of fees and funds93 In Zhejiang one-third oflocal government revenues for 1989 were traced back to the fees and sur-charges levied against rural enterprises94 That same year ajoint Chinese Acad-emy of Social Sciences (CASS) and World Bank study team surveyed the stateof the rural economy and concluded that excessive demands levied against ruralindustries by local governments were commonplace Citing the case of a firm inJiangxis Shangrao County that had been taxed more by local administratorsthan it had earned in profits the World BankCASS investigators noted thatwhat they termed fiscal predation was acting as a powerful brake on thedevelopment of the rural economy95 As one refrain now popular among themanagers of rural enterprises puts it Of heaven and earth we have no fearonly of entrepreneurial government drawing near96

Fees fines and tolls have also once again become a lucrative source oflocal government revenues and are collected by a wide variety of agents for avariety of reasons In some remote Jiangxi villages in 1996 elderly residentswere fined 5yuan for spitting on the sidewalk any attempt to argue against thepunishment was countered with the addition of an attitude penalty (taidufakuan) of 10 yuan The presence of a common housefly on the premises of arestaurant in those same villages could result in a 50 yuan fine for the owner Inat least one case officials from a local Sanitation and Epidemic PreventionStation descended upon a newly opened establishment with armed with fly-swatters and levied a separate 50 yuan fine for each housefly killed on thepremises causing the owner to shut down the restaurant that same day97 Incertain counties in Sichuan farmers can be fined by local governments forfailing to meet production targets set for the local development of supplemen-tary agricultural goods98 Local groups have also resurrected the Republicanera practice of erecting toll booths and checkpoints on highways in 1995 pro-

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

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was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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overwhelming focus of tax protest and petitionary action during the period wasthe offices institutions and practices of local officials and their cohort

As under late imperial rule local government offices including the countyyamen and other revenue collection offices were common sites for anti-taxprotests Although acts of random and haphazard violence certainly were notrare rural residents sometimes bided their time awaiting the opportunity to strikeback at those who abused their official powers For example in the above-mentioned case of the Hui County (Henan) Special Tax Office departmentchief who apparently often planted opium on innocent taxpayers in order toblackmail them county residents waited until the convention of a sanitationmovement meeting at which point they sacked the office with such violencethat the department chief had no alternative but to flee into hiding55

Similarly in 1927 Red Spears in Shandongs Guan County surrounded thecounty seat because local officials there had raised taxes collaborated withlandlords to hasten rent collection and imposed several new levies In August1927 in nearby western Jiao County Red Spears destroyed the Nan hamletbranch office of the salt tax police (yanshui jingchadui)56 and refused to payany taxes Local Big Sword Society members joined the resisters who soonnumbered over a thousand people In October the protesters launched a sur-prise attack on the Hongshiya tax office in She Village and seized its personnelwho attempted to flee Before the army and local police suppressed the protestwell over two thousand homes had been destroyed and fifty people had died57

Popular indignation over local fiscal policy stemmed in part from the man-ner in which taxes were apportioned Not only was it common for landlordswho were legally liable for the payment of land taxes and other acreage leviesto shift the burden of tax payments onto their tenants 58 but also the proliferationof so-called shared apportionments (tanpai) and other head taxes and forcedpurchases extracted increasing revenues from the lowest strata of village soci-ety As one resident of Fuji ans Guangze County recalled

In my county under the rule of the GMD every year the taxes and levies thatwere collected included a rebellion suppression levy (kanluanjuan) a live-stock slaughter tax a conscription levy [and] a tobacco and alcohollevy The rebellion suppression levy was calculated as a supplement to thepopulation-based grain and salt decimal taxes so from every newborn infantup to every septuagenarian none could be late [in paying] The livestockslaughter tax was collected by the household regardless of whether or notyou were raising any pigs on average each household had bear the burden ofone or two pigs worth of the slaughter tax each year The tobacco and wine

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levy was also due regardless of whether or not you were in the business ofproducing or selling any and it toowascoHected by the household The con-script levy was apportioned according to the age of the draftable populationso however many potential draftees a family had thats how many pennies(fen) they paid in conscript levy59

Other burdens were similarly apportioned ranging in nature from forcedvoluntary contributions to the mandatory purchase of items controlled by gov-ernment agents In 1933 in Hebeis JuluCounty the county salt sales officesuddenly announced that contrary to previous popular practice the sale andconsumption of nitrate salt (xiao yan) was illegal but the use of crude salt (dayan) was permitted To remedy the situation the salt office ordered each vil-lage immediately to begin purchasing crude salt at the rate of three hundredjinper month or pay fines totaling the amount of the mandatory purchase (threehundred yuan) Village chiefs ordered each household to purchase a givenamount of crude salt each month whether or not they needed it for their ownuse Families were furthermore required to purchase crude salt rations even forthose family members who no longer resided in the village60

Compounding what was widely perceived to be the unjust apportionmentof the tax burden was the heavy-handed and callous manner in which taxeswere often collected In the case of acreage levies slated for county self-de-fense corps or police use tax collection was left up to the units in question insouthern Sichuan under warlord rule all county tax collection was routinelyhandled by local militia forces whose brutal intimidation and illegal confiscationof personal property ultimately led to widespread tax revolts there in 193361 Inmany areas peasants unable to pay their taxes by the specified date routinelyhad whatever salable items they owned confiscated by the collectors and weresometimes themselves arrested and imprisoned One central government inves-tigator touring rural Jiangsu in 1933 reported that in Changshu County during thetax collection season over a hundred farmers unable to pay their taxes wereimprisoned in thecountyjail 62

As Bianco noted rural residents often mobilized to protest attempts bylocal administrators to expand their tax collecting authority into previously un-regulated areas of the ruraleconomy63 For example one attempt to extend anexisting levy to cover a new category of goods led to armed conf1ict in Zhej iang sYutao County in March 1933 The residents ofShennong a hamlet in the county ssecond ward had long brewed a type of beverage in their homes for their ownconsumption using ingredients they either harvested or traded among them-selves When in early 1933 the director of the Yutao Liquor Levy Inspection

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Branch Office decided that such products were subject to the countys liquorlevy Shennong residents refused to pay and several were arrested As theyawaited trial more than a thousand of their fellow villagers marched on thecounty seat and demanded an end to harassment by county tax collectors abo-lition of the county liquor levy and immediate release of the arrested villagersOnce the group had massed at the gates of the county seat forces sent by thecounty manager permitted only five representatives inside to meet with offi-cials When the representatives reported back to the crowd that county admin-istrators maintained (falsely) that the liquor levy was a national tax over whichthey had no control the crowd became enraged and pressed toward the gatesThe troops then opened fire killing one and injuring two others64

As the Shennong protest demonstrates petitions personal accounts andpress reports from this period strongly suggest that the GMD state was notpopularly conceived as a single unified actor Even after the establishment ofthe Nanjing regime in 1927 unofficial discourse made clear distinctions be-tween central and local authorities and while the rhetoric of most anti-tax pro-tests was vehemently anti-state in nature for the most part agents and sub-county agents of the bureaucracy were perceived to be rural taxpayers pri-mary antagonists As one person commented in 1938 we are all aware thatChinas political system is weighty at the head and light at the feet the organiza-tion of the central administration is flawless those of the provincial administra-tions are okay (hai keyi) but the county administrations fall seriously short(chae yuan)65

Despite the fact that it was primarily after the establishment of the GMDregime in 1927 that exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes began to multi-ply most vigorously in the countryside overt critiques of the central governmentin rural protest were relatively rare and many of these can be traced specifi-cally to the involvement of Communist organizers For example in 1931 theAnhui provincial government under Chen Diaoyuan imposed a supplementaryshipped rice inspection levy decimal tax (jujia chuanyun mizhao juan lijin)and other assorted fees on rice transported along the Huai River Several weekslater following a confrontation between protesting boat people (chuanmin)and local authorities large-scale demonstrations against Chen and the rice in-spection levy erupted in Bangbu involving representatives of over fifty differentworkers and merchants associations in northern Anhui Communist YouthLeague activists from local middle schools organized over two thousand stu-dents to march to join the other demonstrators at the local parade grounds andattempted to lead the crowd in chanting similar slogans However when the

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Communist organizers in the crowd began chanting Defeat the Guomindangreactionaries a melee broke out and the activists barely escaped with theirlives The issue was later settled following a series of formal appeals to thecentral government66

By and large rural residents engaging in anti-tax resistance viewed thecentral government as an ally in their struggles against the incessant demandsof entrepreneurial local administrations and their agents In June of 1934 whenresidents of Hutubi County in Xinj iang could no longer tolerate the corruptionand extortion of two successive county managers the village headman (xiangyue)and a group of villagers secretly gathered to discuss the problem At the meet-ing one local herdsman later recalled he argued that the central governmenthad repeatedly stressed its determination severely to punish corrupt officialsand their venal underlings and should be taken at its word

These two county managers have engaged in various audacious and cor-rupt perversions of the law extorted the people and openly violated the newgovernments policies If someone would go to the procuracy in the countyseat to make a report the [central] government could not ignore it 67

The herdsman ultimately penned such a letter on behalf of his fellow citizensOne copy reached the Control Yuan which turned the petition over to the pro-vincial government for investigation and the county manager in question waslater executed for his crimes68

In other cases frustrated rural taxpayers sought redress from central au-thorities outside of the formal procedures of appeal and due process One Ad-ministrative Yuan investigator had just concluded his interview with a Shaanxivillage headman and had taken his leave when he was mutely accosted by aresident in the street The villager threw himself on the ground beseechinglyand thrust into his hands a paper which read

According to the order of the county government the balance due from landtaxes from 1920 1921 and 1922 must be raised from household surplus grainimmediately post haste Accordingly the villager Yuan Zuorong is to remitfive dollars (dayang yuan) someone will be dispatched immediately and itwill be turned over to the county as this is absolutely a matter of great im-portance Hereby submitted to Yuan Zuorong

Other village residents quickly gathered around and explained to the investiga-tor that the sum in question was in fact not being collected by the county gov-ernment but instead by the village headman he had just interviewed who the

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villagers alleged was trading on his authority as an agent of the county govern-ment in order to enrich himself69

Such agents were generally conceived of and described in local sources inanimalistic terms as predators who fed rapaciously on the peasants livelihoodin marked contrast to their role as father-mother officials (fumu guan) whoseduty it was to nourish and care for those under their jurisdiction 70Entrepre-neurial agents were commonly referred to as man-eating tigers or even blood-sucking vampires who treated rural villagers as if they were [merely] meatand fish [to be consumed] (yurou xiangmin) or trampled upon them likegrass (caojian renming) One group of Guangzhous Nanhai County resi-dents in 1921 posted a particularly graphic notice to protest the unendurableexactions of the local bullies who staffed their county administration avowingthat the predators had first stripped away our hair and skin and then cut awayour flesh and when our meat is exhausted they will whittle away our bones7lBrokerage licenses to collect commercial taxes or even county authorization tocollect any type of revenue at all were purportedly referred to as choice cutsof meat (feirou) that officials brokers and local notables would squabble overwith each striving to select the richest bit of fat upon which to feast 72

Particularly brazen officials were purported to have used such languagepublicly themselves in Guangxis remote Sanjiang County Han officials at thesub-county levels were said to have derisively referred to their extortive taxcollection tactics in one minority village as eating sprouts (chi miaozi) a playon the homophone for the Miao people who resided in thearea73 Even ControlYuan inspectors when submitting their reports to their superiors or filing legalsummaries of disciplinary action commonly referred to excessive and illegaltaxation methods as sucking down the fat of the people (xiaxi mingu) andperverting the law to fatten themselves (wanfa zifei)74

As the Nanjing Decade drew to a close central government officials ap-peared to be enjoying greater successes in handling the problem of burdensomelocal taxation In June 1931 the Commission of Disciplinary Action againstPublic Servants (Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjie weiyuanhui) was foundedunder the auspices of the Judicial Yuan a body which evaluated cases of ad-ministrative abuses on materials prepared by Control Yuan officials police of-ficers colleagues of the official concerned and the testimony of the accusedHowever because the Disciplinary Commission often considered the findingsof ordinary courts against civil servants in assessing punishment there wasoften a substantial lag between the filing of a case and a legal judgment againsta public servant accused of wrongdoing In 1937 a temporary decree granted

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the Control Yuan the power of rectification which greatly facilitated the pro-cess of disciplining civil officials7s However with the Japanese invasion ofnorthern China later that year the onerous burden of escalating military ex-penses forced the GMD to reverse many of its local tax and levy reductionpolicies and rural economies in particular once again felt the pinch of increasingfiscal exactions

PATTERNS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN THE REFORM DECADE

Just over fifty years later the Dengist program of decollectivization anddecentralization recreated conditions very similar to the fiscal challenges facedby local administrations during the Nanjing Decade Faced with rising expendi-ture responsibilities and revenue-sharing arrangements that vastly favoredsuperordinate levels of government county and newly-created township andvillage administrations through the 1980s and early 1990s increasingly soughtout revenue sources which were not tightly controlled by the central govern-ment or sought to shield resources from sharing with upper levels using a vari-ety of methods recreating what some have called a reform era warlordeconomy76 The need for higher revenues has been driven in large part by theincreasing expense burdens of county township and village governments whichhave assulued control over social welfare programs within their jurisdictions 77Whereas on the eve of the reform period half of all state expenditures weremade by local governluents by the period of the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1986-90) the percentage had crept up to over 60 percent 78

As during the Nanjing Decade such revenues are required largely to off-set rising administrative costs as local government organizations proliferate andbecome more specialized as well as to fund economic development projectsDespite the goal of reducing the state role in economic management adminis-trative personnel have nearly doubled under the reforms expanding 45 percentover the 1978-1990 period Such increases are at least partly due to the in-creasingly complex nature of reform period tax collection procedures whichhave required the establishment of 47000 new finance offices at the townshipleve179One village cadre recently estimated that she spent approximately sev-enty percent of her work time on tasks associated with revenue collection alone80Shaanxis remote Qingjian County with a population of 205700 people andcounty revenues of 1237 luillion yuan in 1995 employed 3710 people in gov-ernment administrative organs with each administrator requiring--on average-the remittances of fifty-five residents to support them81 One study of the 697

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individuals employed by the 41 township administrations in Sichuans Jiang anCounty discovered that while the employees base salaries averaged between60 and 80 yuan per month they also received regular subsidies benefits andperquisites that raised the actual figure to over 100 yuan per month Further-more the administrative expenses incurred by these employees including offi-cial business trips entertainment and continuing education on average addedanother 3000 yuan per employee Of these monies the study revealed fifteenpercent came from fiscal administration fees (caizheng shiye fei) thirty tothirty- five percent from retained funds (til iu) and the remaining fifty to fifty-five percent from various management fees (guanli fei) penalties or fines(fakuan) and paid service fees (youcheng fuwu fei)82

At the same time central government subsidies to local administrationshave declined markedly In Guizhou where the central government financednearly 60 percent of the provinces budgetary expenditures in the early 1980sby 1993 only 20 percent were centrally subsidized Not surprisingly the revenueshortage cut deeply into sub-provincial administrative budgets as well over thesame period the provincial administration not only ended its policy of subsidizinglocal government operations but by the early 1990s had also begun to extractrevenue from the counties in order to fund its own programs83

Caught between the cross-cutting pressures of rising expenditures anddeclining subsidies local administrators during the reform period improvised awide variety of entrepreneurial methods to increase local revenues much astheir Nanjing Decade predecessors had One method by which this was com-monly achieved was through shifting funds from budgetary (yusuannei) sourceswhich are subject to remittance to higher levels to various types of off-budgetfunds which are far less easily monitored by and not subject to sharing withhigher level authorities Off-budget revenues which include both so-calledextrabudgetary (yusuanwai) and self-raised (zichou) funds played an in-creasingly important role in local finance during the reform period From 1978 to1992 total budgetary revenue of local governments tripled but extrabudgetaryrevenues increased eleven-fold during the same period in 1978 extrabudgetaryfunds comprised only 31 percent of budgetary revenue but by 1992extrabudgetary revenue climbed to 98 percent of budgetary revenue totals84

Self-raised funds accounted for only 117 percent of total revenues availableat the township level in 1986 but rose to 20 percent of the same in 199385

The main sources of these off-budget revenues at the county and town-ship levels are various types of user fees and surcharges levied on formal taxesand public utilities including road maintenance fees education surcharges man-

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agement and planning fees and in some provinces unified levies (tongchou)collected from households by village cadres to finance a variety of social ser-vices and government projects86 In 1991 the central government authorizedthe levying of three assessments by township level cadres and the collectionof five general fees by village level cadres stipulating only that the combinedtotal not exceed five percent of the average annual income of the residents forthe previous year The three assessments included public reserve funds to beused for irrigation and afforestation work as well as the establishment of col-lective enterprises public welfare funds to provide subsidies to needy localfamilies and support local health care and administrative fees to cover cadresalaries and administrative expenses The five general fees collected at thevillage level wereto cover educational expenses family planning programswelfare payments to veterans and their families local militia training and ruralroad construction8

However with no systemic mechanism for the fiscal management of sub-county administrations in place the problem of the so-called three arbitraries(san luan)-arbitary collection of fees (luan shoufei) arbitrary levying offines (luanfakuan) and arbitrary apportionments (luan tanpai)-mushroomedin rural areas during the reform period In Hubei s Jinniu Township under thejurisdiction ofDazhi Municipality a provincial investigation into fee collection inthe township discovered that more than eighteen departments concerned withagriculture alone collected fees for more than 144 different projects from town-ship residents88 A Hubei provincial auditor investigating Suizhou and Jingmenmunicipalities found over sixty-six duplicated assessments collected from cityresidents in 199589In 1997 representatives of seventy-seven households resid-ing in Guanzi Village in Baiyangtownship in Sichuans Jiang County sued thetownship government for its collection of excessive fees and charges Some ofthe collections cited in the lawsuit included a wired broadcasting fee a tuningin fee (shoutingfei) a movie-watching fee and a mulberry grove penalty90

In a Shandong township in which the average annual income jn 1994 was1000yuan cadres in one village collected on a per capita basis a 379 yuancomprehensive planning fee a 25 yuan voluntary contribution to the roadrepair fund et 245 yuan voluntary contribution to the oil-producing crop funda total of 115yuan in fees for township office construction and road hardening70 yuan to cover the cost of excavating sand stones and earth a 10 yuan pigraising fee and a 80 yuan land leasing and sale fee In addition virtually all ofthe village residents were levied also on a per capita basis a 10 yuan fine forgrowing yellow tobacco a cash crop which local authorities maintained was

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unsuitable for cultivation in the region The combined year total of such chargesamounted to nearly 373 yuan Despite central government injunctions in 1994against such practices the following year township exactions rose to 5315yuan per resident91

Ad hoc levies and fees charged against rural enterprises by local agenciesin recent years have proven even more numerous than those lodged againstindividual taxpayers One survey of Hunan rural enterprises discovered thatover sixty different industrial administrations and organs had assessed and col-lected over one hundred types of charges from them92 a central governmentreport calculated that over 900 types of administrative fees were being col-lected on private enterprises on top of which local administrations were alsocollecting more than 1000 types of fees and funds93 In Zhejiang one-third oflocal government revenues for 1989 were traced back to the fees and sur-charges levied against rural enterprises94 That same year ajoint Chinese Acad-emy of Social Sciences (CASS) and World Bank study team surveyed the stateof the rural economy and concluded that excessive demands levied against ruralindustries by local governments were commonplace Citing the case of a firm inJiangxis Shangrao County that had been taxed more by local administratorsthan it had earned in profits the World BankCASS investigators noted thatwhat they termed fiscal predation was acting as a powerful brake on thedevelopment of the rural economy95 As one refrain now popular among themanagers of rural enterprises puts it Of heaven and earth we have no fearonly of entrepreneurial government drawing near96

Fees fines and tolls have also once again become a lucrative source oflocal government revenues and are collected by a wide variety of agents for avariety of reasons In some remote Jiangxi villages in 1996 elderly residentswere fined 5yuan for spitting on the sidewalk any attempt to argue against thepunishment was countered with the addition of an attitude penalty (taidufakuan) of 10 yuan The presence of a common housefly on the premises of arestaurant in those same villages could result in a 50 yuan fine for the owner Inat least one case officials from a local Sanitation and Epidemic PreventionStation descended upon a newly opened establishment with armed with fly-swatters and levied a separate 50 yuan fine for each housefly killed on thepremises causing the owner to shut down the restaurant that same day97 Incertain counties in Sichuan farmers can be fined by local governments forfailing to meet production targets set for the local development of supplemen-tary agricultural goods98 Local groups have also resurrected the Republicanera practice of erecting toll booths and checkpoints on highways in 1995 pro-

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

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was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 37

local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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levy was also due regardless of whether or not you were in the business ofproducing or selling any and it toowascoHected by the household The con-script levy was apportioned according to the age of the draftable populationso however many potential draftees a family had thats how many pennies(fen) they paid in conscript levy59

Other burdens were similarly apportioned ranging in nature from forcedvoluntary contributions to the mandatory purchase of items controlled by gov-ernment agents In 1933 in Hebeis JuluCounty the county salt sales officesuddenly announced that contrary to previous popular practice the sale andconsumption of nitrate salt (xiao yan) was illegal but the use of crude salt (dayan) was permitted To remedy the situation the salt office ordered each vil-lage immediately to begin purchasing crude salt at the rate of three hundredjinper month or pay fines totaling the amount of the mandatory purchase (threehundred yuan) Village chiefs ordered each household to purchase a givenamount of crude salt each month whether or not they needed it for their ownuse Families were furthermore required to purchase crude salt rations even forthose family members who no longer resided in the village60

Compounding what was widely perceived to be the unjust apportionmentof the tax burden was the heavy-handed and callous manner in which taxeswere often collected In the case of acreage levies slated for county self-de-fense corps or police use tax collection was left up to the units in question insouthern Sichuan under warlord rule all county tax collection was routinelyhandled by local militia forces whose brutal intimidation and illegal confiscationof personal property ultimately led to widespread tax revolts there in 193361 Inmany areas peasants unable to pay their taxes by the specified date routinelyhad whatever salable items they owned confiscated by the collectors and weresometimes themselves arrested and imprisoned One central government inves-tigator touring rural Jiangsu in 1933 reported that in Changshu County during thetax collection season over a hundred farmers unable to pay their taxes wereimprisoned in thecountyjail 62

As Bianco noted rural residents often mobilized to protest attempts bylocal administrators to expand their tax collecting authority into previously un-regulated areas of the ruraleconomy63 For example one attempt to extend anexisting levy to cover a new category of goods led to armed conf1ict in Zhej iang sYutao County in March 1933 The residents ofShennong a hamlet in the county ssecond ward had long brewed a type of beverage in their homes for their ownconsumption using ingredients they either harvested or traded among them-selves When in early 1933 the director of the Yutao Liquor Levy Inspection

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Branch Office decided that such products were subject to the countys liquorlevy Shennong residents refused to pay and several were arrested As theyawaited trial more than a thousand of their fellow villagers marched on thecounty seat and demanded an end to harassment by county tax collectors abo-lition of the county liquor levy and immediate release of the arrested villagersOnce the group had massed at the gates of the county seat forces sent by thecounty manager permitted only five representatives inside to meet with offi-cials When the representatives reported back to the crowd that county admin-istrators maintained (falsely) that the liquor levy was a national tax over whichthey had no control the crowd became enraged and pressed toward the gatesThe troops then opened fire killing one and injuring two others64

As the Shennong protest demonstrates petitions personal accounts andpress reports from this period strongly suggest that the GMD state was notpopularly conceived as a single unified actor Even after the establishment ofthe Nanjing regime in 1927 unofficial discourse made clear distinctions be-tween central and local authorities and while the rhetoric of most anti-tax pro-tests was vehemently anti-state in nature for the most part agents and sub-county agents of the bureaucracy were perceived to be rural taxpayers pri-mary antagonists As one person commented in 1938 we are all aware thatChinas political system is weighty at the head and light at the feet the organiza-tion of the central administration is flawless those of the provincial administra-tions are okay (hai keyi) but the county administrations fall seriously short(chae yuan)65

Despite the fact that it was primarily after the establishment of the GMDregime in 1927 that exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes began to multi-ply most vigorously in the countryside overt critiques of the central governmentin rural protest were relatively rare and many of these can be traced specifi-cally to the involvement of Communist organizers For example in 1931 theAnhui provincial government under Chen Diaoyuan imposed a supplementaryshipped rice inspection levy decimal tax (jujia chuanyun mizhao juan lijin)and other assorted fees on rice transported along the Huai River Several weekslater following a confrontation between protesting boat people (chuanmin)and local authorities large-scale demonstrations against Chen and the rice in-spection levy erupted in Bangbu involving representatives of over fifty differentworkers and merchants associations in northern Anhui Communist YouthLeague activists from local middle schools organized over two thousand stu-dents to march to join the other demonstrators at the local parade grounds andattempted to lead the crowd in chanting similar slogans However when the

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Communist organizers in the crowd began chanting Defeat the Guomindangreactionaries a melee broke out and the activists barely escaped with theirlives The issue was later settled following a series of formal appeals to thecentral government66

By and large rural residents engaging in anti-tax resistance viewed thecentral government as an ally in their struggles against the incessant demandsof entrepreneurial local administrations and their agents In June of 1934 whenresidents of Hutubi County in Xinj iang could no longer tolerate the corruptionand extortion of two successive county managers the village headman (xiangyue)and a group of villagers secretly gathered to discuss the problem At the meet-ing one local herdsman later recalled he argued that the central governmenthad repeatedly stressed its determination severely to punish corrupt officialsand their venal underlings and should be taken at its word

These two county managers have engaged in various audacious and cor-rupt perversions of the law extorted the people and openly violated the newgovernments policies If someone would go to the procuracy in the countyseat to make a report the [central] government could not ignore it 67

The herdsman ultimately penned such a letter on behalf of his fellow citizensOne copy reached the Control Yuan which turned the petition over to the pro-vincial government for investigation and the county manager in question waslater executed for his crimes68

In other cases frustrated rural taxpayers sought redress from central au-thorities outside of the formal procedures of appeal and due process One Ad-ministrative Yuan investigator had just concluded his interview with a Shaanxivillage headman and had taken his leave when he was mutely accosted by aresident in the street The villager threw himself on the ground beseechinglyand thrust into his hands a paper which read

According to the order of the county government the balance due from landtaxes from 1920 1921 and 1922 must be raised from household surplus grainimmediately post haste Accordingly the villager Yuan Zuorong is to remitfive dollars (dayang yuan) someone will be dispatched immediately and itwill be turned over to the county as this is absolutely a matter of great im-portance Hereby submitted to Yuan Zuorong

Other village residents quickly gathered around and explained to the investiga-tor that the sum in question was in fact not being collected by the county gov-ernment but instead by the village headman he had just interviewed who the

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villagers alleged was trading on his authority as an agent of the county govern-ment in order to enrich himself69

Such agents were generally conceived of and described in local sources inanimalistic terms as predators who fed rapaciously on the peasants livelihoodin marked contrast to their role as father-mother officials (fumu guan) whoseduty it was to nourish and care for those under their jurisdiction 70Entrepre-neurial agents were commonly referred to as man-eating tigers or even blood-sucking vampires who treated rural villagers as if they were [merely] meatand fish [to be consumed] (yurou xiangmin) or trampled upon them likegrass (caojian renming) One group of Guangzhous Nanhai County resi-dents in 1921 posted a particularly graphic notice to protest the unendurableexactions of the local bullies who staffed their county administration avowingthat the predators had first stripped away our hair and skin and then cut awayour flesh and when our meat is exhausted they will whittle away our bones7lBrokerage licenses to collect commercial taxes or even county authorization tocollect any type of revenue at all were purportedly referred to as choice cutsof meat (feirou) that officials brokers and local notables would squabble overwith each striving to select the richest bit of fat upon which to feast 72

Particularly brazen officials were purported to have used such languagepublicly themselves in Guangxis remote Sanjiang County Han officials at thesub-county levels were said to have derisively referred to their extortive taxcollection tactics in one minority village as eating sprouts (chi miaozi) a playon the homophone for the Miao people who resided in thearea73 Even ControlYuan inspectors when submitting their reports to their superiors or filing legalsummaries of disciplinary action commonly referred to excessive and illegaltaxation methods as sucking down the fat of the people (xiaxi mingu) andperverting the law to fatten themselves (wanfa zifei)74

As the Nanjing Decade drew to a close central government officials ap-peared to be enjoying greater successes in handling the problem of burdensomelocal taxation In June 1931 the Commission of Disciplinary Action againstPublic Servants (Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjie weiyuanhui) was foundedunder the auspices of the Judicial Yuan a body which evaluated cases of ad-ministrative abuses on materials prepared by Control Yuan officials police of-ficers colleagues of the official concerned and the testimony of the accusedHowever because the Disciplinary Commission often considered the findingsof ordinary courts against civil servants in assessing punishment there wasoften a substantial lag between the filing of a case and a legal judgment againsta public servant accused of wrongdoing In 1937 a temporary decree granted

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the Control Yuan the power of rectification which greatly facilitated the pro-cess of disciplining civil officials7s However with the Japanese invasion ofnorthern China later that year the onerous burden of escalating military ex-penses forced the GMD to reverse many of its local tax and levy reductionpolicies and rural economies in particular once again felt the pinch of increasingfiscal exactions

PATTERNS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN THE REFORM DECADE

Just over fifty years later the Dengist program of decollectivization anddecentralization recreated conditions very similar to the fiscal challenges facedby local administrations during the Nanjing Decade Faced with rising expendi-ture responsibilities and revenue-sharing arrangements that vastly favoredsuperordinate levels of government county and newly-created township andvillage administrations through the 1980s and early 1990s increasingly soughtout revenue sources which were not tightly controlled by the central govern-ment or sought to shield resources from sharing with upper levels using a vari-ety of methods recreating what some have called a reform era warlordeconomy76 The need for higher revenues has been driven in large part by theincreasing expense burdens of county township and village governments whichhave assulued control over social welfare programs within their jurisdictions 77Whereas on the eve of the reform period half of all state expenditures weremade by local governluents by the period of the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1986-90) the percentage had crept up to over 60 percent 78

As during the Nanjing Decade such revenues are required largely to off-set rising administrative costs as local government organizations proliferate andbecome more specialized as well as to fund economic development projectsDespite the goal of reducing the state role in economic management adminis-trative personnel have nearly doubled under the reforms expanding 45 percentover the 1978-1990 period Such increases are at least partly due to the in-creasingly complex nature of reform period tax collection procedures whichhave required the establishment of 47000 new finance offices at the townshipleve179One village cadre recently estimated that she spent approximately sev-enty percent of her work time on tasks associated with revenue collection alone80Shaanxis remote Qingjian County with a population of 205700 people andcounty revenues of 1237 luillion yuan in 1995 employed 3710 people in gov-ernment administrative organs with each administrator requiring--on average-the remittances of fifty-five residents to support them81 One study of the 697

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individuals employed by the 41 township administrations in Sichuans Jiang anCounty discovered that while the employees base salaries averaged between60 and 80 yuan per month they also received regular subsidies benefits andperquisites that raised the actual figure to over 100 yuan per month Further-more the administrative expenses incurred by these employees including offi-cial business trips entertainment and continuing education on average addedanother 3000 yuan per employee Of these monies the study revealed fifteenpercent came from fiscal administration fees (caizheng shiye fei) thirty tothirty- five percent from retained funds (til iu) and the remaining fifty to fifty-five percent from various management fees (guanli fei) penalties or fines(fakuan) and paid service fees (youcheng fuwu fei)82

At the same time central government subsidies to local administrationshave declined markedly In Guizhou where the central government financednearly 60 percent of the provinces budgetary expenditures in the early 1980sby 1993 only 20 percent were centrally subsidized Not surprisingly the revenueshortage cut deeply into sub-provincial administrative budgets as well over thesame period the provincial administration not only ended its policy of subsidizinglocal government operations but by the early 1990s had also begun to extractrevenue from the counties in order to fund its own programs83

Caught between the cross-cutting pressures of rising expenditures anddeclining subsidies local administrators during the reform period improvised awide variety of entrepreneurial methods to increase local revenues much astheir Nanjing Decade predecessors had One method by which this was com-monly achieved was through shifting funds from budgetary (yusuannei) sourceswhich are subject to remittance to higher levels to various types of off-budgetfunds which are far less easily monitored by and not subject to sharing withhigher level authorities Off-budget revenues which include both so-calledextrabudgetary (yusuanwai) and self-raised (zichou) funds played an in-creasingly important role in local finance during the reform period From 1978 to1992 total budgetary revenue of local governments tripled but extrabudgetaryrevenues increased eleven-fold during the same period in 1978 extrabudgetaryfunds comprised only 31 percent of budgetary revenue but by 1992extrabudgetary revenue climbed to 98 percent of budgetary revenue totals84

Self-raised funds accounted for only 117 percent of total revenues availableat the township level in 1986 but rose to 20 percent of the same in 199385

The main sources of these off-budget revenues at the county and town-ship levels are various types of user fees and surcharges levied on formal taxesand public utilities including road maintenance fees education surcharges man-

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agement and planning fees and in some provinces unified levies (tongchou)collected from households by village cadres to finance a variety of social ser-vices and government projects86 In 1991 the central government authorizedthe levying of three assessments by township level cadres and the collectionof five general fees by village level cadres stipulating only that the combinedtotal not exceed five percent of the average annual income of the residents forthe previous year The three assessments included public reserve funds to beused for irrigation and afforestation work as well as the establishment of col-lective enterprises public welfare funds to provide subsidies to needy localfamilies and support local health care and administrative fees to cover cadresalaries and administrative expenses The five general fees collected at thevillage level wereto cover educational expenses family planning programswelfare payments to veterans and their families local militia training and ruralroad construction8

However with no systemic mechanism for the fiscal management of sub-county administrations in place the problem of the so-called three arbitraries(san luan)-arbitary collection of fees (luan shoufei) arbitrary levying offines (luanfakuan) and arbitrary apportionments (luan tanpai)-mushroomedin rural areas during the reform period In Hubei s Jinniu Township under thejurisdiction ofDazhi Municipality a provincial investigation into fee collection inthe township discovered that more than eighteen departments concerned withagriculture alone collected fees for more than 144 different projects from town-ship residents88 A Hubei provincial auditor investigating Suizhou and Jingmenmunicipalities found over sixty-six duplicated assessments collected from cityresidents in 199589In 1997 representatives of seventy-seven households resid-ing in Guanzi Village in Baiyangtownship in Sichuans Jiang County sued thetownship government for its collection of excessive fees and charges Some ofthe collections cited in the lawsuit included a wired broadcasting fee a tuningin fee (shoutingfei) a movie-watching fee and a mulberry grove penalty90

In a Shandong township in which the average annual income jn 1994 was1000yuan cadres in one village collected on a per capita basis a 379 yuancomprehensive planning fee a 25 yuan voluntary contribution to the roadrepair fund et 245 yuan voluntary contribution to the oil-producing crop funda total of 115yuan in fees for township office construction and road hardening70 yuan to cover the cost of excavating sand stones and earth a 10 yuan pigraising fee and a 80 yuan land leasing and sale fee In addition virtually all ofthe village residents were levied also on a per capita basis a 10 yuan fine forgrowing yellow tobacco a cash crop which local authorities maintained was

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unsuitable for cultivation in the region The combined year total of such chargesamounted to nearly 373 yuan Despite central government injunctions in 1994against such practices the following year township exactions rose to 5315yuan per resident91

Ad hoc levies and fees charged against rural enterprises by local agenciesin recent years have proven even more numerous than those lodged againstindividual taxpayers One survey of Hunan rural enterprises discovered thatover sixty different industrial administrations and organs had assessed and col-lected over one hundred types of charges from them92 a central governmentreport calculated that over 900 types of administrative fees were being col-lected on private enterprises on top of which local administrations were alsocollecting more than 1000 types of fees and funds93 In Zhejiang one-third oflocal government revenues for 1989 were traced back to the fees and sur-charges levied against rural enterprises94 That same year ajoint Chinese Acad-emy of Social Sciences (CASS) and World Bank study team surveyed the stateof the rural economy and concluded that excessive demands levied against ruralindustries by local governments were commonplace Citing the case of a firm inJiangxis Shangrao County that had been taxed more by local administratorsthan it had earned in profits the World BankCASS investigators noted thatwhat they termed fiscal predation was acting as a powerful brake on thedevelopment of the rural economy95 As one refrain now popular among themanagers of rural enterprises puts it Of heaven and earth we have no fearonly of entrepreneurial government drawing near96

Fees fines and tolls have also once again become a lucrative source oflocal government revenues and are collected by a wide variety of agents for avariety of reasons In some remote Jiangxi villages in 1996 elderly residentswere fined 5yuan for spitting on the sidewalk any attempt to argue against thepunishment was countered with the addition of an attitude penalty (taidufakuan) of 10 yuan The presence of a common housefly on the premises of arestaurant in those same villages could result in a 50 yuan fine for the owner Inat least one case officials from a local Sanitation and Epidemic PreventionStation descended upon a newly opened establishment with armed with fly-swatters and levied a separate 50 yuan fine for each housefly killed on thepremises causing the owner to shut down the restaurant that same day97 Incertain counties in Sichuan farmers can be fined by local governments forfailing to meet production targets set for the local development of supplemen-tary agricultural goods98 Local groups have also resurrected the Republicanera practice of erecting toll booths and checkpoints on highways in 1995 pro-

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

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was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 29

By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 37

local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 41

108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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Branch Office decided that such products were subject to the countys liquorlevy Shennong residents refused to pay and several were arrested As theyawaited trial more than a thousand of their fellow villagers marched on thecounty seat and demanded an end to harassment by county tax collectors abo-lition of the county liquor levy and immediate release of the arrested villagersOnce the group had massed at the gates of the county seat forces sent by thecounty manager permitted only five representatives inside to meet with offi-cials When the representatives reported back to the crowd that county admin-istrators maintained (falsely) that the liquor levy was a national tax over whichthey had no control the crowd became enraged and pressed toward the gatesThe troops then opened fire killing one and injuring two others64

As the Shennong protest demonstrates petitions personal accounts andpress reports from this period strongly suggest that the GMD state was notpopularly conceived as a single unified actor Even after the establishment ofthe Nanjing regime in 1927 unofficial discourse made clear distinctions be-tween central and local authorities and while the rhetoric of most anti-tax pro-tests was vehemently anti-state in nature for the most part agents and sub-county agents of the bureaucracy were perceived to be rural taxpayers pri-mary antagonists As one person commented in 1938 we are all aware thatChinas political system is weighty at the head and light at the feet the organiza-tion of the central administration is flawless those of the provincial administra-tions are okay (hai keyi) but the county administrations fall seriously short(chae yuan)65

Despite the fact that it was primarily after the establishment of the GMDregime in 1927 that exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes began to multi-ply most vigorously in the countryside overt critiques of the central governmentin rural protest were relatively rare and many of these can be traced specifi-cally to the involvement of Communist organizers For example in 1931 theAnhui provincial government under Chen Diaoyuan imposed a supplementaryshipped rice inspection levy decimal tax (jujia chuanyun mizhao juan lijin)and other assorted fees on rice transported along the Huai River Several weekslater following a confrontation between protesting boat people (chuanmin)and local authorities large-scale demonstrations against Chen and the rice in-spection levy erupted in Bangbu involving representatives of over fifty differentworkers and merchants associations in northern Anhui Communist YouthLeague activists from local middle schools organized over two thousand stu-dents to march to join the other demonstrators at the local parade grounds andattempted to lead the crowd in chanting similar slogans However when the

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Communist organizers in the crowd began chanting Defeat the Guomindangreactionaries a melee broke out and the activists barely escaped with theirlives The issue was later settled following a series of formal appeals to thecentral government66

By and large rural residents engaging in anti-tax resistance viewed thecentral government as an ally in their struggles against the incessant demandsof entrepreneurial local administrations and their agents In June of 1934 whenresidents of Hutubi County in Xinj iang could no longer tolerate the corruptionand extortion of two successive county managers the village headman (xiangyue)and a group of villagers secretly gathered to discuss the problem At the meet-ing one local herdsman later recalled he argued that the central governmenthad repeatedly stressed its determination severely to punish corrupt officialsand their venal underlings and should be taken at its word

These two county managers have engaged in various audacious and cor-rupt perversions of the law extorted the people and openly violated the newgovernments policies If someone would go to the procuracy in the countyseat to make a report the [central] government could not ignore it 67

The herdsman ultimately penned such a letter on behalf of his fellow citizensOne copy reached the Control Yuan which turned the petition over to the pro-vincial government for investigation and the county manager in question waslater executed for his crimes68

In other cases frustrated rural taxpayers sought redress from central au-thorities outside of the formal procedures of appeal and due process One Ad-ministrative Yuan investigator had just concluded his interview with a Shaanxivillage headman and had taken his leave when he was mutely accosted by aresident in the street The villager threw himself on the ground beseechinglyand thrust into his hands a paper which read

According to the order of the county government the balance due from landtaxes from 1920 1921 and 1922 must be raised from household surplus grainimmediately post haste Accordingly the villager Yuan Zuorong is to remitfive dollars (dayang yuan) someone will be dispatched immediately and itwill be turned over to the county as this is absolutely a matter of great im-portance Hereby submitted to Yuan Zuorong

Other village residents quickly gathered around and explained to the investiga-tor that the sum in question was in fact not being collected by the county gov-ernment but instead by the village headman he had just interviewed who the

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villagers alleged was trading on his authority as an agent of the county govern-ment in order to enrich himself69

Such agents were generally conceived of and described in local sources inanimalistic terms as predators who fed rapaciously on the peasants livelihoodin marked contrast to their role as father-mother officials (fumu guan) whoseduty it was to nourish and care for those under their jurisdiction 70Entrepre-neurial agents were commonly referred to as man-eating tigers or even blood-sucking vampires who treated rural villagers as if they were [merely] meatand fish [to be consumed] (yurou xiangmin) or trampled upon them likegrass (caojian renming) One group of Guangzhous Nanhai County resi-dents in 1921 posted a particularly graphic notice to protest the unendurableexactions of the local bullies who staffed their county administration avowingthat the predators had first stripped away our hair and skin and then cut awayour flesh and when our meat is exhausted they will whittle away our bones7lBrokerage licenses to collect commercial taxes or even county authorization tocollect any type of revenue at all were purportedly referred to as choice cutsof meat (feirou) that officials brokers and local notables would squabble overwith each striving to select the richest bit of fat upon which to feast 72

Particularly brazen officials were purported to have used such languagepublicly themselves in Guangxis remote Sanjiang County Han officials at thesub-county levels were said to have derisively referred to their extortive taxcollection tactics in one minority village as eating sprouts (chi miaozi) a playon the homophone for the Miao people who resided in thearea73 Even ControlYuan inspectors when submitting their reports to their superiors or filing legalsummaries of disciplinary action commonly referred to excessive and illegaltaxation methods as sucking down the fat of the people (xiaxi mingu) andperverting the law to fatten themselves (wanfa zifei)74

As the Nanjing Decade drew to a close central government officials ap-peared to be enjoying greater successes in handling the problem of burdensomelocal taxation In June 1931 the Commission of Disciplinary Action againstPublic Servants (Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjie weiyuanhui) was foundedunder the auspices of the Judicial Yuan a body which evaluated cases of ad-ministrative abuses on materials prepared by Control Yuan officials police of-ficers colleagues of the official concerned and the testimony of the accusedHowever because the Disciplinary Commission often considered the findingsof ordinary courts against civil servants in assessing punishment there wasoften a substantial lag between the filing of a case and a legal judgment againsta public servant accused of wrongdoing In 1937 a temporary decree granted

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the Control Yuan the power of rectification which greatly facilitated the pro-cess of disciplining civil officials7s However with the Japanese invasion ofnorthern China later that year the onerous burden of escalating military ex-penses forced the GMD to reverse many of its local tax and levy reductionpolicies and rural economies in particular once again felt the pinch of increasingfiscal exactions

PATTERNS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN THE REFORM DECADE

Just over fifty years later the Dengist program of decollectivization anddecentralization recreated conditions very similar to the fiscal challenges facedby local administrations during the Nanjing Decade Faced with rising expendi-ture responsibilities and revenue-sharing arrangements that vastly favoredsuperordinate levels of government county and newly-created township andvillage administrations through the 1980s and early 1990s increasingly soughtout revenue sources which were not tightly controlled by the central govern-ment or sought to shield resources from sharing with upper levels using a vari-ety of methods recreating what some have called a reform era warlordeconomy76 The need for higher revenues has been driven in large part by theincreasing expense burdens of county township and village governments whichhave assulued control over social welfare programs within their jurisdictions 77Whereas on the eve of the reform period half of all state expenditures weremade by local governluents by the period of the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1986-90) the percentage had crept up to over 60 percent 78

As during the Nanjing Decade such revenues are required largely to off-set rising administrative costs as local government organizations proliferate andbecome more specialized as well as to fund economic development projectsDespite the goal of reducing the state role in economic management adminis-trative personnel have nearly doubled under the reforms expanding 45 percentover the 1978-1990 period Such increases are at least partly due to the in-creasingly complex nature of reform period tax collection procedures whichhave required the establishment of 47000 new finance offices at the townshipleve179One village cadre recently estimated that she spent approximately sev-enty percent of her work time on tasks associated with revenue collection alone80Shaanxis remote Qingjian County with a population of 205700 people andcounty revenues of 1237 luillion yuan in 1995 employed 3710 people in gov-ernment administrative organs with each administrator requiring--on average-the remittances of fifty-five residents to support them81 One study of the 697

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individuals employed by the 41 township administrations in Sichuans Jiang anCounty discovered that while the employees base salaries averaged between60 and 80 yuan per month they also received regular subsidies benefits andperquisites that raised the actual figure to over 100 yuan per month Further-more the administrative expenses incurred by these employees including offi-cial business trips entertainment and continuing education on average addedanother 3000 yuan per employee Of these monies the study revealed fifteenpercent came from fiscal administration fees (caizheng shiye fei) thirty tothirty- five percent from retained funds (til iu) and the remaining fifty to fifty-five percent from various management fees (guanli fei) penalties or fines(fakuan) and paid service fees (youcheng fuwu fei)82

At the same time central government subsidies to local administrationshave declined markedly In Guizhou where the central government financednearly 60 percent of the provinces budgetary expenditures in the early 1980sby 1993 only 20 percent were centrally subsidized Not surprisingly the revenueshortage cut deeply into sub-provincial administrative budgets as well over thesame period the provincial administration not only ended its policy of subsidizinglocal government operations but by the early 1990s had also begun to extractrevenue from the counties in order to fund its own programs83

Caught between the cross-cutting pressures of rising expenditures anddeclining subsidies local administrators during the reform period improvised awide variety of entrepreneurial methods to increase local revenues much astheir Nanjing Decade predecessors had One method by which this was com-monly achieved was through shifting funds from budgetary (yusuannei) sourceswhich are subject to remittance to higher levels to various types of off-budgetfunds which are far less easily monitored by and not subject to sharing withhigher level authorities Off-budget revenues which include both so-calledextrabudgetary (yusuanwai) and self-raised (zichou) funds played an in-creasingly important role in local finance during the reform period From 1978 to1992 total budgetary revenue of local governments tripled but extrabudgetaryrevenues increased eleven-fold during the same period in 1978 extrabudgetaryfunds comprised only 31 percent of budgetary revenue but by 1992extrabudgetary revenue climbed to 98 percent of budgetary revenue totals84

Self-raised funds accounted for only 117 percent of total revenues availableat the township level in 1986 but rose to 20 percent of the same in 199385

The main sources of these off-budget revenues at the county and town-ship levels are various types of user fees and surcharges levied on formal taxesand public utilities including road maintenance fees education surcharges man-

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agement and planning fees and in some provinces unified levies (tongchou)collected from households by village cadres to finance a variety of social ser-vices and government projects86 In 1991 the central government authorizedthe levying of three assessments by township level cadres and the collectionof five general fees by village level cadres stipulating only that the combinedtotal not exceed five percent of the average annual income of the residents forthe previous year The three assessments included public reserve funds to beused for irrigation and afforestation work as well as the establishment of col-lective enterprises public welfare funds to provide subsidies to needy localfamilies and support local health care and administrative fees to cover cadresalaries and administrative expenses The five general fees collected at thevillage level wereto cover educational expenses family planning programswelfare payments to veterans and their families local militia training and ruralroad construction8

However with no systemic mechanism for the fiscal management of sub-county administrations in place the problem of the so-called three arbitraries(san luan)-arbitary collection of fees (luan shoufei) arbitrary levying offines (luanfakuan) and arbitrary apportionments (luan tanpai)-mushroomedin rural areas during the reform period In Hubei s Jinniu Township under thejurisdiction ofDazhi Municipality a provincial investigation into fee collection inthe township discovered that more than eighteen departments concerned withagriculture alone collected fees for more than 144 different projects from town-ship residents88 A Hubei provincial auditor investigating Suizhou and Jingmenmunicipalities found over sixty-six duplicated assessments collected from cityresidents in 199589In 1997 representatives of seventy-seven households resid-ing in Guanzi Village in Baiyangtownship in Sichuans Jiang County sued thetownship government for its collection of excessive fees and charges Some ofthe collections cited in the lawsuit included a wired broadcasting fee a tuningin fee (shoutingfei) a movie-watching fee and a mulberry grove penalty90

In a Shandong township in which the average annual income jn 1994 was1000yuan cadres in one village collected on a per capita basis a 379 yuancomprehensive planning fee a 25 yuan voluntary contribution to the roadrepair fund et 245 yuan voluntary contribution to the oil-producing crop funda total of 115yuan in fees for township office construction and road hardening70 yuan to cover the cost of excavating sand stones and earth a 10 yuan pigraising fee and a 80 yuan land leasing and sale fee In addition virtually all ofthe village residents were levied also on a per capita basis a 10 yuan fine forgrowing yellow tobacco a cash crop which local authorities maintained was

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unsuitable for cultivation in the region The combined year total of such chargesamounted to nearly 373 yuan Despite central government injunctions in 1994against such practices the following year township exactions rose to 5315yuan per resident91

Ad hoc levies and fees charged against rural enterprises by local agenciesin recent years have proven even more numerous than those lodged againstindividual taxpayers One survey of Hunan rural enterprises discovered thatover sixty different industrial administrations and organs had assessed and col-lected over one hundred types of charges from them92 a central governmentreport calculated that over 900 types of administrative fees were being col-lected on private enterprises on top of which local administrations were alsocollecting more than 1000 types of fees and funds93 In Zhejiang one-third oflocal government revenues for 1989 were traced back to the fees and sur-charges levied against rural enterprises94 That same year ajoint Chinese Acad-emy of Social Sciences (CASS) and World Bank study team surveyed the stateof the rural economy and concluded that excessive demands levied against ruralindustries by local governments were commonplace Citing the case of a firm inJiangxis Shangrao County that had been taxed more by local administratorsthan it had earned in profits the World BankCASS investigators noted thatwhat they termed fiscal predation was acting as a powerful brake on thedevelopment of the rural economy95 As one refrain now popular among themanagers of rural enterprises puts it Of heaven and earth we have no fearonly of entrepreneurial government drawing near96

Fees fines and tolls have also once again become a lucrative source oflocal government revenues and are collected by a wide variety of agents for avariety of reasons In some remote Jiangxi villages in 1996 elderly residentswere fined 5yuan for spitting on the sidewalk any attempt to argue against thepunishment was countered with the addition of an attitude penalty (taidufakuan) of 10 yuan The presence of a common housefly on the premises of arestaurant in those same villages could result in a 50 yuan fine for the owner Inat least one case officials from a local Sanitation and Epidemic PreventionStation descended upon a newly opened establishment with armed with fly-swatters and levied a separate 50 yuan fine for each housefly killed on thepremises causing the owner to shut down the restaurant that same day97 Incertain counties in Sichuan farmers can be fined by local governments forfailing to meet production targets set for the local development of supplemen-tary agricultural goods98 Local groups have also resurrected the Republicanera practice of erecting toll booths and checkpoints on highways in 1995 pro-

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

C-

was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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Communist organizers in the crowd began chanting Defeat the Guomindangreactionaries a melee broke out and the activists barely escaped with theirlives The issue was later settled following a series of formal appeals to thecentral government66

By and large rural residents engaging in anti-tax resistance viewed thecentral government as an ally in their struggles against the incessant demandsof entrepreneurial local administrations and their agents In June of 1934 whenresidents of Hutubi County in Xinj iang could no longer tolerate the corruptionand extortion of two successive county managers the village headman (xiangyue)and a group of villagers secretly gathered to discuss the problem At the meet-ing one local herdsman later recalled he argued that the central governmenthad repeatedly stressed its determination severely to punish corrupt officialsand their venal underlings and should be taken at its word

These two county managers have engaged in various audacious and cor-rupt perversions of the law extorted the people and openly violated the newgovernments policies If someone would go to the procuracy in the countyseat to make a report the [central] government could not ignore it 67

The herdsman ultimately penned such a letter on behalf of his fellow citizensOne copy reached the Control Yuan which turned the petition over to the pro-vincial government for investigation and the county manager in question waslater executed for his crimes68

In other cases frustrated rural taxpayers sought redress from central au-thorities outside of the formal procedures of appeal and due process One Ad-ministrative Yuan investigator had just concluded his interview with a Shaanxivillage headman and had taken his leave when he was mutely accosted by aresident in the street The villager threw himself on the ground beseechinglyand thrust into his hands a paper which read

According to the order of the county government the balance due from landtaxes from 1920 1921 and 1922 must be raised from household surplus grainimmediately post haste Accordingly the villager Yuan Zuorong is to remitfive dollars (dayang yuan) someone will be dispatched immediately and itwill be turned over to the county as this is absolutely a matter of great im-portance Hereby submitted to Yuan Zuorong

Other village residents quickly gathered around and explained to the investiga-tor that the sum in question was in fact not being collected by the county gov-ernment but instead by the village headman he had just interviewed who the

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villagers alleged was trading on his authority as an agent of the county govern-ment in order to enrich himself69

Such agents were generally conceived of and described in local sources inanimalistic terms as predators who fed rapaciously on the peasants livelihoodin marked contrast to their role as father-mother officials (fumu guan) whoseduty it was to nourish and care for those under their jurisdiction 70Entrepre-neurial agents were commonly referred to as man-eating tigers or even blood-sucking vampires who treated rural villagers as if they were [merely] meatand fish [to be consumed] (yurou xiangmin) or trampled upon them likegrass (caojian renming) One group of Guangzhous Nanhai County resi-dents in 1921 posted a particularly graphic notice to protest the unendurableexactions of the local bullies who staffed their county administration avowingthat the predators had first stripped away our hair and skin and then cut awayour flesh and when our meat is exhausted they will whittle away our bones7lBrokerage licenses to collect commercial taxes or even county authorization tocollect any type of revenue at all were purportedly referred to as choice cutsof meat (feirou) that officials brokers and local notables would squabble overwith each striving to select the richest bit of fat upon which to feast 72

Particularly brazen officials were purported to have used such languagepublicly themselves in Guangxis remote Sanjiang County Han officials at thesub-county levels were said to have derisively referred to their extortive taxcollection tactics in one minority village as eating sprouts (chi miaozi) a playon the homophone for the Miao people who resided in thearea73 Even ControlYuan inspectors when submitting their reports to their superiors or filing legalsummaries of disciplinary action commonly referred to excessive and illegaltaxation methods as sucking down the fat of the people (xiaxi mingu) andperverting the law to fatten themselves (wanfa zifei)74

As the Nanjing Decade drew to a close central government officials ap-peared to be enjoying greater successes in handling the problem of burdensomelocal taxation In June 1931 the Commission of Disciplinary Action againstPublic Servants (Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjie weiyuanhui) was foundedunder the auspices of the Judicial Yuan a body which evaluated cases of ad-ministrative abuses on materials prepared by Control Yuan officials police of-ficers colleagues of the official concerned and the testimony of the accusedHowever because the Disciplinary Commission often considered the findingsof ordinary courts against civil servants in assessing punishment there wasoften a substantial lag between the filing of a case and a legal judgment againsta public servant accused of wrongdoing In 1937 a temporary decree granted

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the Control Yuan the power of rectification which greatly facilitated the pro-cess of disciplining civil officials7s However with the Japanese invasion ofnorthern China later that year the onerous burden of escalating military ex-penses forced the GMD to reverse many of its local tax and levy reductionpolicies and rural economies in particular once again felt the pinch of increasingfiscal exactions

PATTERNS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN THE REFORM DECADE

Just over fifty years later the Dengist program of decollectivization anddecentralization recreated conditions very similar to the fiscal challenges facedby local administrations during the Nanjing Decade Faced with rising expendi-ture responsibilities and revenue-sharing arrangements that vastly favoredsuperordinate levels of government county and newly-created township andvillage administrations through the 1980s and early 1990s increasingly soughtout revenue sources which were not tightly controlled by the central govern-ment or sought to shield resources from sharing with upper levels using a vari-ety of methods recreating what some have called a reform era warlordeconomy76 The need for higher revenues has been driven in large part by theincreasing expense burdens of county township and village governments whichhave assulued control over social welfare programs within their jurisdictions 77Whereas on the eve of the reform period half of all state expenditures weremade by local governluents by the period of the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1986-90) the percentage had crept up to over 60 percent 78

As during the Nanjing Decade such revenues are required largely to off-set rising administrative costs as local government organizations proliferate andbecome more specialized as well as to fund economic development projectsDespite the goal of reducing the state role in economic management adminis-trative personnel have nearly doubled under the reforms expanding 45 percentover the 1978-1990 period Such increases are at least partly due to the in-creasingly complex nature of reform period tax collection procedures whichhave required the establishment of 47000 new finance offices at the townshipleve179One village cadre recently estimated that she spent approximately sev-enty percent of her work time on tasks associated with revenue collection alone80Shaanxis remote Qingjian County with a population of 205700 people andcounty revenues of 1237 luillion yuan in 1995 employed 3710 people in gov-ernment administrative organs with each administrator requiring--on average-the remittances of fifty-five residents to support them81 One study of the 697

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individuals employed by the 41 township administrations in Sichuans Jiang anCounty discovered that while the employees base salaries averaged between60 and 80 yuan per month they also received regular subsidies benefits andperquisites that raised the actual figure to over 100 yuan per month Further-more the administrative expenses incurred by these employees including offi-cial business trips entertainment and continuing education on average addedanother 3000 yuan per employee Of these monies the study revealed fifteenpercent came from fiscal administration fees (caizheng shiye fei) thirty tothirty- five percent from retained funds (til iu) and the remaining fifty to fifty-five percent from various management fees (guanli fei) penalties or fines(fakuan) and paid service fees (youcheng fuwu fei)82

At the same time central government subsidies to local administrationshave declined markedly In Guizhou where the central government financednearly 60 percent of the provinces budgetary expenditures in the early 1980sby 1993 only 20 percent were centrally subsidized Not surprisingly the revenueshortage cut deeply into sub-provincial administrative budgets as well over thesame period the provincial administration not only ended its policy of subsidizinglocal government operations but by the early 1990s had also begun to extractrevenue from the counties in order to fund its own programs83

Caught between the cross-cutting pressures of rising expenditures anddeclining subsidies local administrators during the reform period improvised awide variety of entrepreneurial methods to increase local revenues much astheir Nanjing Decade predecessors had One method by which this was com-monly achieved was through shifting funds from budgetary (yusuannei) sourceswhich are subject to remittance to higher levels to various types of off-budgetfunds which are far less easily monitored by and not subject to sharing withhigher level authorities Off-budget revenues which include both so-calledextrabudgetary (yusuanwai) and self-raised (zichou) funds played an in-creasingly important role in local finance during the reform period From 1978 to1992 total budgetary revenue of local governments tripled but extrabudgetaryrevenues increased eleven-fold during the same period in 1978 extrabudgetaryfunds comprised only 31 percent of budgetary revenue but by 1992extrabudgetary revenue climbed to 98 percent of budgetary revenue totals84

Self-raised funds accounted for only 117 percent of total revenues availableat the township level in 1986 but rose to 20 percent of the same in 199385

The main sources of these off-budget revenues at the county and town-ship levels are various types of user fees and surcharges levied on formal taxesand public utilities including road maintenance fees education surcharges man-

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agement and planning fees and in some provinces unified levies (tongchou)collected from households by village cadres to finance a variety of social ser-vices and government projects86 In 1991 the central government authorizedthe levying of three assessments by township level cadres and the collectionof five general fees by village level cadres stipulating only that the combinedtotal not exceed five percent of the average annual income of the residents forthe previous year The three assessments included public reserve funds to beused for irrigation and afforestation work as well as the establishment of col-lective enterprises public welfare funds to provide subsidies to needy localfamilies and support local health care and administrative fees to cover cadresalaries and administrative expenses The five general fees collected at thevillage level wereto cover educational expenses family planning programswelfare payments to veterans and their families local militia training and ruralroad construction8

However with no systemic mechanism for the fiscal management of sub-county administrations in place the problem of the so-called three arbitraries(san luan)-arbitary collection of fees (luan shoufei) arbitrary levying offines (luanfakuan) and arbitrary apportionments (luan tanpai)-mushroomedin rural areas during the reform period In Hubei s Jinniu Township under thejurisdiction ofDazhi Municipality a provincial investigation into fee collection inthe township discovered that more than eighteen departments concerned withagriculture alone collected fees for more than 144 different projects from town-ship residents88 A Hubei provincial auditor investigating Suizhou and Jingmenmunicipalities found over sixty-six duplicated assessments collected from cityresidents in 199589In 1997 representatives of seventy-seven households resid-ing in Guanzi Village in Baiyangtownship in Sichuans Jiang County sued thetownship government for its collection of excessive fees and charges Some ofthe collections cited in the lawsuit included a wired broadcasting fee a tuningin fee (shoutingfei) a movie-watching fee and a mulberry grove penalty90

In a Shandong township in which the average annual income jn 1994 was1000yuan cadres in one village collected on a per capita basis a 379 yuancomprehensive planning fee a 25 yuan voluntary contribution to the roadrepair fund et 245 yuan voluntary contribution to the oil-producing crop funda total of 115yuan in fees for township office construction and road hardening70 yuan to cover the cost of excavating sand stones and earth a 10 yuan pigraising fee and a 80 yuan land leasing and sale fee In addition virtually all ofthe village residents were levied also on a per capita basis a 10 yuan fine forgrowing yellow tobacco a cash crop which local authorities maintained was

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unsuitable for cultivation in the region The combined year total of such chargesamounted to nearly 373 yuan Despite central government injunctions in 1994against such practices the following year township exactions rose to 5315yuan per resident91

Ad hoc levies and fees charged against rural enterprises by local agenciesin recent years have proven even more numerous than those lodged againstindividual taxpayers One survey of Hunan rural enterprises discovered thatover sixty different industrial administrations and organs had assessed and col-lected over one hundred types of charges from them92 a central governmentreport calculated that over 900 types of administrative fees were being col-lected on private enterprises on top of which local administrations were alsocollecting more than 1000 types of fees and funds93 In Zhejiang one-third oflocal government revenues for 1989 were traced back to the fees and sur-charges levied against rural enterprises94 That same year ajoint Chinese Acad-emy of Social Sciences (CASS) and World Bank study team surveyed the stateof the rural economy and concluded that excessive demands levied against ruralindustries by local governments were commonplace Citing the case of a firm inJiangxis Shangrao County that had been taxed more by local administratorsthan it had earned in profits the World BankCASS investigators noted thatwhat they termed fiscal predation was acting as a powerful brake on thedevelopment of the rural economy95 As one refrain now popular among themanagers of rural enterprises puts it Of heaven and earth we have no fearonly of entrepreneurial government drawing near96

Fees fines and tolls have also once again become a lucrative source oflocal government revenues and are collected by a wide variety of agents for avariety of reasons In some remote Jiangxi villages in 1996 elderly residentswere fined 5yuan for spitting on the sidewalk any attempt to argue against thepunishment was countered with the addition of an attitude penalty (taidufakuan) of 10 yuan The presence of a common housefly on the premises of arestaurant in those same villages could result in a 50 yuan fine for the owner Inat least one case officials from a local Sanitation and Epidemic PreventionStation descended upon a newly opened establishment with armed with fly-swatters and levied a separate 50 yuan fine for each housefly killed on thepremises causing the owner to shut down the restaurant that same day97 Incertain counties in Sichuan farmers can be fined by local governments forfailing to meet production targets set for the local development of supplemen-tary agricultural goods98 Local groups have also resurrected the Republicanera practice of erecting toll booths and checkpoints on highways in 1995 pro-

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

C-

was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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villagers alleged was trading on his authority as an agent of the county govern-ment in order to enrich himself69

Such agents were generally conceived of and described in local sources inanimalistic terms as predators who fed rapaciously on the peasants livelihoodin marked contrast to their role as father-mother officials (fumu guan) whoseduty it was to nourish and care for those under their jurisdiction 70Entrepre-neurial agents were commonly referred to as man-eating tigers or even blood-sucking vampires who treated rural villagers as if they were [merely] meatand fish [to be consumed] (yurou xiangmin) or trampled upon them likegrass (caojian renming) One group of Guangzhous Nanhai County resi-dents in 1921 posted a particularly graphic notice to protest the unendurableexactions of the local bullies who staffed their county administration avowingthat the predators had first stripped away our hair and skin and then cut awayour flesh and when our meat is exhausted they will whittle away our bones7lBrokerage licenses to collect commercial taxes or even county authorization tocollect any type of revenue at all were purportedly referred to as choice cutsof meat (feirou) that officials brokers and local notables would squabble overwith each striving to select the richest bit of fat upon which to feast 72

Particularly brazen officials were purported to have used such languagepublicly themselves in Guangxis remote Sanjiang County Han officials at thesub-county levels were said to have derisively referred to their extortive taxcollection tactics in one minority village as eating sprouts (chi miaozi) a playon the homophone for the Miao people who resided in thearea73 Even ControlYuan inspectors when submitting their reports to their superiors or filing legalsummaries of disciplinary action commonly referred to excessive and illegaltaxation methods as sucking down the fat of the people (xiaxi mingu) andperverting the law to fatten themselves (wanfa zifei)74

As the Nanjing Decade drew to a close central government officials ap-peared to be enjoying greater successes in handling the problem of burdensomelocal taxation In June 1931 the Commission of Disciplinary Action againstPublic Servants (Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjie weiyuanhui) was foundedunder the auspices of the Judicial Yuan a body which evaluated cases of ad-ministrative abuses on materials prepared by Control Yuan officials police of-ficers colleagues of the official concerned and the testimony of the accusedHowever because the Disciplinary Commission often considered the findingsof ordinary courts against civil servants in assessing punishment there wasoften a substantial lag between the filing of a case and a legal judgment againsta public servant accused of wrongdoing In 1937 a temporary decree granted

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the Control Yuan the power of rectification which greatly facilitated the pro-cess of disciplining civil officials7s However with the Japanese invasion ofnorthern China later that year the onerous burden of escalating military ex-penses forced the GMD to reverse many of its local tax and levy reductionpolicies and rural economies in particular once again felt the pinch of increasingfiscal exactions

PATTERNS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN THE REFORM DECADE

Just over fifty years later the Dengist program of decollectivization anddecentralization recreated conditions very similar to the fiscal challenges facedby local administrations during the Nanjing Decade Faced with rising expendi-ture responsibilities and revenue-sharing arrangements that vastly favoredsuperordinate levels of government county and newly-created township andvillage administrations through the 1980s and early 1990s increasingly soughtout revenue sources which were not tightly controlled by the central govern-ment or sought to shield resources from sharing with upper levels using a vari-ety of methods recreating what some have called a reform era warlordeconomy76 The need for higher revenues has been driven in large part by theincreasing expense burdens of county township and village governments whichhave assulued control over social welfare programs within their jurisdictions 77Whereas on the eve of the reform period half of all state expenditures weremade by local governluents by the period of the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1986-90) the percentage had crept up to over 60 percent 78

As during the Nanjing Decade such revenues are required largely to off-set rising administrative costs as local government organizations proliferate andbecome more specialized as well as to fund economic development projectsDespite the goal of reducing the state role in economic management adminis-trative personnel have nearly doubled under the reforms expanding 45 percentover the 1978-1990 period Such increases are at least partly due to the in-creasingly complex nature of reform period tax collection procedures whichhave required the establishment of 47000 new finance offices at the townshipleve179One village cadre recently estimated that she spent approximately sev-enty percent of her work time on tasks associated with revenue collection alone80Shaanxis remote Qingjian County with a population of 205700 people andcounty revenues of 1237 luillion yuan in 1995 employed 3710 people in gov-ernment administrative organs with each administrator requiring--on average-the remittances of fifty-five residents to support them81 One study of the 697

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individuals employed by the 41 township administrations in Sichuans Jiang anCounty discovered that while the employees base salaries averaged between60 and 80 yuan per month they also received regular subsidies benefits andperquisites that raised the actual figure to over 100 yuan per month Further-more the administrative expenses incurred by these employees including offi-cial business trips entertainment and continuing education on average addedanother 3000 yuan per employee Of these monies the study revealed fifteenpercent came from fiscal administration fees (caizheng shiye fei) thirty tothirty- five percent from retained funds (til iu) and the remaining fifty to fifty-five percent from various management fees (guanli fei) penalties or fines(fakuan) and paid service fees (youcheng fuwu fei)82

At the same time central government subsidies to local administrationshave declined markedly In Guizhou where the central government financednearly 60 percent of the provinces budgetary expenditures in the early 1980sby 1993 only 20 percent were centrally subsidized Not surprisingly the revenueshortage cut deeply into sub-provincial administrative budgets as well over thesame period the provincial administration not only ended its policy of subsidizinglocal government operations but by the early 1990s had also begun to extractrevenue from the counties in order to fund its own programs83

Caught between the cross-cutting pressures of rising expenditures anddeclining subsidies local administrators during the reform period improvised awide variety of entrepreneurial methods to increase local revenues much astheir Nanjing Decade predecessors had One method by which this was com-monly achieved was through shifting funds from budgetary (yusuannei) sourceswhich are subject to remittance to higher levels to various types of off-budgetfunds which are far less easily monitored by and not subject to sharing withhigher level authorities Off-budget revenues which include both so-calledextrabudgetary (yusuanwai) and self-raised (zichou) funds played an in-creasingly important role in local finance during the reform period From 1978 to1992 total budgetary revenue of local governments tripled but extrabudgetaryrevenues increased eleven-fold during the same period in 1978 extrabudgetaryfunds comprised only 31 percent of budgetary revenue but by 1992extrabudgetary revenue climbed to 98 percent of budgetary revenue totals84

Self-raised funds accounted for only 117 percent of total revenues availableat the township level in 1986 but rose to 20 percent of the same in 199385

The main sources of these off-budget revenues at the county and town-ship levels are various types of user fees and surcharges levied on formal taxesand public utilities including road maintenance fees education surcharges man-

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agement and planning fees and in some provinces unified levies (tongchou)collected from households by village cadres to finance a variety of social ser-vices and government projects86 In 1991 the central government authorizedthe levying of three assessments by township level cadres and the collectionof five general fees by village level cadres stipulating only that the combinedtotal not exceed five percent of the average annual income of the residents forthe previous year The three assessments included public reserve funds to beused for irrigation and afforestation work as well as the establishment of col-lective enterprises public welfare funds to provide subsidies to needy localfamilies and support local health care and administrative fees to cover cadresalaries and administrative expenses The five general fees collected at thevillage level wereto cover educational expenses family planning programswelfare payments to veterans and their families local militia training and ruralroad construction8

However with no systemic mechanism for the fiscal management of sub-county administrations in place the problem of the so-called three arbitraries(san luan)-arbitary collection of fees (luan shoufei) arbitrary levying offines (luanfakuan) and arbitrary apportionments (luan tanpai)-mushroomedin rural areas during the reform period In Hubei s Jinniu Township under thejurisdiction ofDazhi Municipality a provincial investigation into fee collection inthe township discovered that more than eighteen departments concerned withagriculture alone collected fees for more than 144 different projects from town-ship residents88 A Hubei provincial auditor investigating Suizhou and Jingmenmunicipalities found over sixty-six duplicated assessments collected from cityresidents in 199589In 1997 representatives of seventy-seven households resid-ing in Guanzi Village in Baiyangtownship in Sichuans Jiang County sued thetownship government for its collection of excessive fees and charges Some ofthe collections cited in the lawsuit included a wired broadcasting fee a tuningin fee (shoutingfei) a movie-watching fee and a mulberry grove penalty90

In a Shandong township in which the average annual income jn 1994 was1000yuan cadres in one village collected on a per capita basis a 379 yuancomprehensive planning fee a 25 yuan voluntary contribution to the roadrepair fund et 245 yuan voluntary contribution to the oil-producing crop funda total of 115yuan in fees for township office construction and road hardening70 yuan to cover the cost of excavating sand stones and earth a 10 yuan pigraising fee and a 80 yuan land leasing and sale fee In addition virtually all ofthe village residents were levied also on a per capita basis a 10 yuan fine forgrowing yellow tobacco a cash crop which local authorities maintained was

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unsuitable for cultivation in the region The combined year total of such chargesamounted to nearly 373 yuan Despite central government injunctions in 1994against such practices the following year township exactions rose to 5315yuan per resident91

Ad hoc levies and fees charged against rural enterprises by local agenciesin recent years have proven even more numerous than those lodged againstindividual taxpayers One survey of Hunan rural enterprises discovered thatover sixty different industrial administrations and organs had assessed and col-lected over one hundred types of charges from them92 a central governmentreport calculated that over 900 types of administrative fees were being col-lected on private enterprises on top of which local administrations were alsocollecting more than 1000 types of fees and funds93 In Zhejiang one-third oflocal government revenues for 1989 were traced back to the fees and sur-charges levied against rural enterprises94 That same year ajoint Chinese Acad-emy of Social Sciences (CASS) and World Bank study team surveyed the stateof the rural economy and concluded that excessive demands levied against ruralindustries by local governments were commonplace Citing the case of a firm inJiangxis Shangrao County that had been taxed more by local administratorsthan it had earned in profits the World BankCASS investigators noted thatwhat they termed fiscal predation was acting as a powerful brake on thedevelopment of the rural economy95 As one refrain now popular among themanagers of rural enterprises puts it Of heaven and earth we have no fearonly of entrepreneurial government drawing near96

Fees fines and tolls have also once again become a lucrative source oflocal government revenues and are collected by a wide variety of agents for avariety of reasons In some remote Jiangxi villages in 1996 elderly residentswere fined 5yuan for spitting on the sidewalk any attempt to argue against thepunishment was countered with the addition of an attitude penalty (taidufakuan) of 10 yuan The presence of a common housefly on the premises of arestaurant in those same villages could result in a 50 yuan fine for the owner Inat least one case officials from a local Sanitation and Epidemic PreventionStation descended upon a newly opened establishment with armed with fly-swatters and levied a separate 50 yuan fine for each housefly killed on thepremises causing the owner to shut down the restaurant that same day97 Incertain counties in Sichuan farmers can be fined by local governments forfailing to meet production targets set for the local development of supplemen-tary agricultural goods98 Local groups have also resurrected the Republicanera practice of erecting toll booths and checkpoints on highways in 1995 pro-

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

C-

was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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the Control Yuan the power of rectification which greatly facilitated the pro-cess of disciplining civil officials7s However with the Japanese invasion ofnorthern China later that year the onerous burden of escalating military ex-penses forced the GMD to reverse many of its local tax and levy reductionpolicies and rural economies in particular once again felt the pinch of increasingfiscal exactions

PATTERNS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN THE REFORM DECADE

Just over fifty years later the Dengist program of decollectivization anddecentralization recreated conditions very similar to the fiscal challenges facedby local administrations during the Nanjing Decade Faced with rising expendi-ture responsibilities and revenue-sharing arrangements that vastly favoredsuperordinate levels of government county and newly-created township andvillage administrations through the 1980s and early 1990s increasingly soughtout revenue sources which were not tightly controlled by the central govern-ment or sought to shield resources from sharing with upper levels using a vari-ety of methods recreating what some have called a reform era warlordeconomy76 The need for higher revenues has been driven in large part by theincreasing expense burdens of county township and village governments whichhave assulued control over social welfare programs within their jurisdictions 77Whereas on the eve of the reform period half of all state expenditures weremade by local governluents by the period of the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1986-90) the percentage had crept up to over 60 percent 78

As during the Nanjing Decade such revenues are required largely to off-set rising administrative costs as local government organizations proliferate andbecome more specialized as well as to fund economic development projectsDespite the goal of reducing the state role in economic management adminis-trative personnel have nearly doubled under the reforms expanding 45 percentover the 1978-1990 period Such increases are at least partly due to the in-creasingly complex nature of reform period tax collection procedures whichhave required the establishment of 47000 new finance offices at the townshipleve179One village cadre recently estimated that she spent approximately sev-enty percent of her work time on tasks associated with revenue collection alone80Shaanxis remote Qingjian County with a population of 205700 people andcounty revenues of 1237 luillion yuan in 1995 employed 3710 people in gov-ernment administrative organs with each administrator requiring--on average-the remittances of fifty-five residents to support them81 One study of the 697

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individuals employed by the 41 township administrations in Sichuans Jiang anCounty discovered that while the employees base salaries averaged between60 and 80 yuan per month they also received regular subsidies benefits andperquisites that raised the actual figure to over 100 yuan per month Further-more the administrative expenses incurred by these employees including offi-cial business trips entertainment and continuing education on average addedanother 3000 yuan per employee Of these monies the study revealed fifteenpercent came from fiscal administration fees (caizheng shiye fei) thirty tothirty- five percent from retained funds (til iu) and the remaining fifty to fifty-five percent from various management fees (guanli fei) penalties or fines(fakuan) and paid service fees (youcheng fuwu fei)82

At the same time central government subsidies to local administrationshave declined markedly In Guizhou where the central government financednearly 60 percent of the provinces budgetary expenditures in the early 1980sby 1993 only 20 percent were centrally subsidized Not surprisingly the revenueshortage cut deeply into sub-provincial administrative budgets as well over thesame period the provincial administration not only ended its policy of subsidizinglocal government operations but by the early 1990s had also begun to extractrevenue from the counties in order to fund its own programs83

Caught between the cross-cutting pressures of rising expenditures anddeclining subsidies local administrators during the reform period improvised awide variety of entrepreneurial methods to increase local revenues much astheir Nanjing Decade predecessors had One method by which this was com-monly achieved was through shifting funds from budgetary (yusuannei) sourceswhich are subject to remittance to higher levels to various types of off-budgetfunds which are far less easily monitored by and not subject to sharing withhigher level authorities Off-budget revenues which include both so-calledextrabudgetary (yusuanwai) and self-raised (zichou) funds played an in-creasingly important role in local finance during the reform period From 1978 to1992 total budgetary revenue of local governments tripled but extrabudgetaryrevenues increased eleven-fold during the same period in 1978 extrabudgetaryfunds comprised only 31 percent of budgetary revenue but by 1992extrabudgetary revenue climbed to 98 percent of budgetary revenue totals84

Self-raised funds accounted for only 117 percent of total revenues availableat the township level in 1986 but rose to 20 percent of the same in 199385

The main sources of these off-budget revenues at the county and town-ship levels are various types of user fees and surcharges levied on formal taxesand public utilities including road maintenance fees education surcharges man-

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agement and planning fees and in some provinces unified levies (tongchou)collected from households by village cadres to finance a variety of social ser-vices and government projects86 In 1991 the central government authorizedthe levying of three assessments by township level cadres and the collectionof five general fees by village level cadres stipulating only that the combinedtotal not exceed five percent of the average annual income of the residents forthe previous year The three assessments included public reserve funds to beused for irrigation and afforestation work as well as the establishment of col-lective enterprises public welfare funds to provide subsidies to needy localfamilies and support local health care and administrative fees to cover cadresalaries and administrative expenses The five general fees collected at thevillage level wereto cover educational expenses family planning programswelfare payments to veterans and their families local militia training and ruralroad construction8

However with no systemic mechanism for the fiscal management of sub-county administrations in place the problem of the so-called three arbitraries(san luan)-arbitary collection of fees (luan shoufei) arbitrary levying offines (luanfakuan) and arbitrary apportionments (luan tanpai)-mushroomedin rural areas during the reform period In Hubei s Jinniu Township under thejurisdiction ofDazhi Municipality a provincial investigation into fee collection inthe township discovered that more than eighteen departments concerned withagriculture alone collected fees for more than 144 different projects from town-ship residents88 A Hubei provincial auditor investigating Suizhou and Jingmenmunicipalities found over sixty-six duplicated assessments collected from cityresidents in 199589In 1997 representatives of seventy-seven households resid-ing in Guanzi Village in Baiyangtownship in Sichuans Jiang County sued thetownship government for its collection of excessive fees and charges Some ofthe collections cited in the lawsuit included a wired broadcasting fee a tuningin fee (shoutingfei) a movie-watching fee and a mulberry grove penalty90

In a Shandong township in which the average annual income jn 1994 was1000yuan cadres in one village collected on a per capita basis a 379 yuancomprehensive planning fee a 25 yuan voluntary contribution to the roadrepair fund et 245 yuan voluntary contribution to the oil-producing crop funda total of 115yuan in fees for township office construction and road hardening70 yuan to cover the cost of excavating sand stones and earth a 10 yuan pigraising fee and a 80 yuan land leasing and sale fee In addition virtually all ofthe village residents were levied also on a per capita basis a 10 yuan fine forgrowing yellow tobacco a cash crop which local authorities maintained was

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unsuitable for cultivation in the region The combined year total of such chargesamounted to nearly 373 yuan Despite central government injunctions in 1994against such practices the following year township exactions rose to 5315yuan per resident91

Ad hoc levies and fees charged against rural enterprises by local agenciesin recent years have proven even more numerous than those lodged againstindividual taxpayers One survey of Hunan rural enterprises discovered thatover sixty different industrial administrations and organs had assessed and col-lected over one hundred types of charges from them92 a central governmentreport calculated that over 900 types of administrative fees were being col-lected on private enterprises on top of which local administrations were alsocollecting more than 1000 types of fees and funds93 In Zhejiang one-third oflocal government revenues for 1989 were traced back to the fees and sur-charges levied against rural enterprises94 That same year ajoint Chinese Acad-emy of Social Sciences (CASS) and World Bank study team surveyed the stateof the rural economy and concluded that excessive demands levied against ruralindustries by local governments were commonplace Citing the case of a firm inJiangxis Shangrao County that had been taxed more by local administratorsthan it had earned in profits the World BankCASS investigators noted thatwhat they termed fiscal predation was acting as a powerful brake on thedevelopment of the rural economy95 As one refrain now popular among themanagers of rural enterprises puts it Of heaven and earth we have no fearonly of entrepreneurial government drawing near96

Fees fines and tolls have also once again become a lucrative source oflocal government revenues and are collected by a wide variety of agents for avariety of reasons In some remote Jiangxi villages in 1996 elderly residentswere fined 5yuan for spitting on the sidewalk any attempt to argue against thepunishment was countered with the addition of an attitude penalty (taidufakuan) of 10 yuan The presence of a common housefly on the premises of arestaurant in those same villages could result in a 50 yuan fine for the owner Inat least one case officials from a local Sanitation and Epidemic PreventionStation descended upon a newly opened establishment with armed with fly-swatters and levied a separate 50 yuan fine for each housefly killed on thepremises causing the owner to shut down the restaurant that same day97 Incertain counties in Sichuan farmers can be fined by local governments forfailing to meet production targets set for the local development of supplemen-tary agricultural goods98 Local groups have also resurrected the Republicanera practice of erecting toll booths and checkpoints on highways in 1995 pro-

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

C-

was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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individuals employed by the 41 township administrations in Sichuans Jiang anCounty discovered that while the employees base salaries averaged between60 and 80 yuan per month they also received regular subsidies benefits andperquisites that raised the actual figure to over 100 yuan per month Further-more the administrative expenses incurred by these employees including offi-cial business trips entertainment and continuing education on average addedanother 3000 yuan per employee Of these monies the study revealed fifteenpercent came from fiscal administration fees (caizheng shiye fei) thirty tothirty- five percent from retained funds (til iu) and the remaining fifty to fifty-five percent from various management fees (guanli fei) penalties or fines(fakuan) and paid service fees (youcheng fuwu fei)82

At the same time central government subsidies to local administrationshave declined markedly In Guizhou where the central government financednearly 60 percent of the provinces budgetary expenditures in the early 1980sby 1993 only 20 percent were centrally subsidized Not surprisingly the revenueshortage cut deeply into sub-provincial administrative budgets as well over thesame period the provincial administration not only ended its policy of subsidizinglocal government operations but by the early 1990s had also begun to extractrevenue from the counties in order to fund its own programs83

Caught between the cross-cutting pressures of rising expenditures anddeclining subsidies local administrators during the reform period improvised awide variety of entrepreneurial methods to increase local revenues much astheir Nanjing Decade predecessors had One method by which this was com-monly achieved was through shifting funds from budgetary (yusuannei) sourceswhich are subject to remittance to higher levels to various types of off-budgetfunds which are far less easily monitored by and not subject to sharing withhigher level authorities Off-budget revenues which include both so-calledextrabudgetary (yusuanwai) and self-raised (zichou) funds played an in-creasingly important role in local finance during the reform period From 1978 to1992 total budgetary revenue of local governments tripled but extrabudgetaryrevenues increased eleven-fold during the same period in 1978 extrabudgetaryfunds comprised only 31 percent of budgetary revenue but by 1992extrabudgetary revenue climbed to 98 percent of budgetary revenue totals84

Self-raised funds accounted for only 117 percent of total revenues availableat the township level in 1986 but rose to 20 percent of the same in 199385

The main sources of these off-budget revenues at the county and town-ship levels are various types of user fees and surcharges levied on formal taxesand public utilities including road maintenance fees education surcharges man-

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agement and planning fees and in some provinces unified levies (tongchou)collected from households by village cadres to finance a variety of social ser-vices and government projects86 In 1991 the central government authorizedthe levying of three assessments by township level cadres and the collectionof five general fees by village level cadres stipulating only that the combinedtotal not exceed five percent of the average annual income of the residents forthe previous year The three assessments included public reserve funds to beused for irrigation and afforestation work as well as the establishment of col-lective enterprises public welfare funds to provide subsidies to needy localfamilies and support local health care and administrative fees to cover cadresalaries and administrative expenses The five general fees collected at thevillage level wereto cover educational expenses family planning programswelfare payments to veterans and their families local militia training and ruralroad construction8

However with no systemic mechanism for the fiscal management of sub-county administrations in place the problem of the so-called three arbitraries(san luan)-arbitary collection of fees (luan shoufei) arbitrary levying offines (luanfakuan) and arbitrary apportionments (luan tanpai)-mushroomedin rural areas during the reform period In Hubei s Jinniu Township under thejurisdiction ofDazhi Municipality a provincial investigation into fee collection inthe township discovered that more than eighteen departments concerned withagriculture alone collected fees for more than 144 different projects from town-ship residents88 A Hubei provincial auditor investigating Suizhou and Jingmenmunicipalities found over sixty-six duplicated assessments collected from cityresidents in 199589In 1997 representatives of seventy-seven households resid-ing in Guanzi Village in Baiyangtownship in Sichuans Jiang County sued thetownship government for its collection of excessive fees and charges Some ofthe collections cited in the lawsuit included a wired broadcasting fee a tuningin fee (shoutingfei) a movie-watching fee and a mulberry grove penalty90

In a Shandong township in which the average annual income jn 1994 was1000yuan cadres in one village collected on a per capita basis a 379 yuancomprehensive planning fee a 25 yuan voluntary contribution to the roadrepair fund et 245 yuan voluntary contribution to the oil-producing crop funda total of 115yuan in fees for township office construction and road hardening70 yuan to cover the cost of excavating sand stones and earth a 10 yuan pigraising fee and a 80 yuan land leasing and sale fee In addition virtually all ofthe village residents were levied also on a per capita basis a 10 yuan fine forgrowing yellow tobacco a cash crop which local authorities maintained was

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unsuitable for cultivation in the region The combined year total of such chargesamounted to nearly 373 yuan Despite central government injunctions in 1994against such practices the following year township exactions rose to 5315yuan per resident91

Ad hoc levies and fees charged against rural enterprises by local agenciesin recent years have proven even more numerous than those lodged againstindividual taxpayers One survey of Hunan rural enterprises discovered thatover sixty different industrial administrations and organs had assessed and col-lected over one hundred types of charges from them92 a central governmentreport calculated that over 900 types of administrative fees were being col-lected on private enterprises on top of which local administrations were alsocollecting more than 1000 types of fees and funds93 In Zhejiang one-third oflocal government revenues for 1989 were traced back to the fees and sur-charges levied against rural enterprises94 That same year ajoint Chinese Acad-emy of Social Sciences (CASS) and World Bank study team surveyed the stateof the rural economy and concluded that excessive demands levied against ruralindustries by local governments were commonplace Citing the case of a firm inJiangxis Shangrao County that had been taxed more by local administratorsthan it had earned in profits the World BankCASS investigators noted thatwhat they termed fiscal predation was acting as a powerful brake on thedevelopment of the rural economy95 As one refrain now popular among themanagers of rural enterprises puts it Of heaven and earth we have no fearonly of entrepreneurial government drawing near96

Fees fines and tolls have also once again become a lucrative source oflocal government revenues and are collected by a wide variety of agents for avariety of reasons In some remote Jiangxi villages in 1996 elderly residentswere fined 5yuan for spitting on the sidewalk any attempt to argue against thepunishment was countered with the addition of an attitude penalty (taidufakuan) of 10 yuan The presence of a common housefly on the premises of arestaurant in those same villages could result in a 50 yuan fine for the owner Inat least one case officials from a local Sanitation and Epidemic PreventionStation descended upon a newly opened establishment with armed with fly-swatters and levied a separate 50 yuan fine for each housefly killed on thepremises causing the owner to shut down the restaurant that same day97 Incertain counties in Sichuan farmers can be fined by local governments forfailing to meet production targets set for the local development of supplemen-tary agricultural goods98 Local groups have also resurrected the Republicanera practice of erecting toll booths and checkpoints on highways in 1995 pro-

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

C-

was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 29

By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 37

local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 41

108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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agement and planning fees and in some provinces unified levies (tongchou)collected from households by village cadres to finance a variety of social ser-vices and government projects86 In 1991 the central government authorizedthe levying of three assessments by township level cadres and the collectionof five general fees by village level cadres stipulating only that the combinedtotal not exceed five percent of the average annual income of the residents forthe previous year The three assessments included public reserve funds to beused for irrigation and afforestation work as well as the establishment of col-lective enterprises public welfare funds to provide subsidies to needy localfamilies and support local health care and administrative fees to cover cadresalaries and administrative expenses The five general fees collected at thevillage level wereto cover educational expenses family planning programswelfare payments to veterans and their families local militia training and ruralroad construction8

However with no systemic mechanism for the fiscal management of sub-county administrations in place the problem of the so-called three arbitraries(san luan)-arbitary collection of fees (luan shoufei) arbitrary levying offines (luanfakuan) and arbitrary apportionments (luan tanpai)-mushroomedin rural areas during the reform period In Hubei s Jinniu Township under thejurisdiction ofDazhi Municipality a provincial investigation into fee collection inthe township discovered that more than eighteen departments concerned withagriculture alone collected fees for more than 144 different projects from town-ship residents88 A Hubei provincial auditor investigating Suizhou and Jingmenmunicipalities found over sixty-six duplicated assessments collected from cityresidents in 199589In 1997 representatives of seventy-seven households resid-ing in Guanzi Village in Baiyangtownship in Sichuans Jiang County sued thetownship government for its collection of excessive fees and charges Some ofthe collections cited in the lawsuit included a wired broadcasting fee a tuningin fee (shoutingfei) a movie-watching fee and a mulberry grove penalty90

In a Shandong township in which the average annual income jn 1994 was1000yuan cadres in one village collected on a per capita basis a 379 yuancomprehensive planning fee a 25 yuan voluntary contribution to the roadrepair fund et 245 yuan voluntary contribution to the oil-producing crop funda total of 115yuan in fees for township office construction and road hardening70 yuan to cover the cost of excavating sand stones and earth a 10 yuan pigraising fee and a 80 yuan land leasing and sale fee In addition virtually all ofthe village residents were levied also on a per capita basis a 10 yuan fine forgrowing yellow tobacco a cash crop which local authorities maintained was

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unsuitable for cultivation in the region The combined year total of such chargesamounted to nearly 373 yuan Despite central government injunctions in 1994against such practices the following year township exactions rose to 5315yuan per resident91

Ad hoc levies and fees charged against rural enterprises by local agenciesin recent years have proven even more numerous than those lodged againstindividual taxpayers One survey of Hunan rural enterprises discovered thatover sixty different industrial administrations and organs had assessed and col-lected over one hundred types of charges from them92 a central governmentreport calculated that over 900 types of administrative fees were being col-lected on private enterprises on top of which local administrations were alsocollecting more than 1000 types of fees and funds93 In Zhejiang one-third oflocal government revenues for 1989 were traced back to the fees and sur-charges levied against rural enterprises94 That same year ajoint Chinese Acad-emy of Social Sciences (CASS) and World Bank study team surveyed the stateof the rural economy and concluded that excessive demands levied against ruralindustries by local governments were commonplace Citing the case of a firm inJiangxis Shangrao County that had been taxed more by local administratorsthan it had earned in profits the World BankCASS investigators noted thatwhat they termed fiscal predation was acting as a powerful brake on thedevelopment of the rural economy95 As one refrain now popular among themanagers of rural enterprises puts it Of heaven and earth we have no fearonly of entrepreneurial government drawing near96

Fees fines and tolls have also once again become a lucrative source oflocal government revenues and are collected by a wide variety of agents for avariety of reasons In some remote Jiangxi villages in 1996 elderly residentswere fined 5yuan for spitting on the sidewalk any attempt to argue against thepunishment was countered with the addition of an attitude penalty (taidufakuan) of 10 yuan The presence of a common housefly on the premises of arestaurant in those same villages could result in a 50 yuan fine for the owner Inat least one case officials from a local Sanitation and Epidemic PreventionStation descended upon a newly opened establishment with armed with fly-swatters and levied a separate 50 yuan fine for each housefly killed on thepremises causing the owner to shut down the restaurant that same day97 Incertain counties in Sichuan farmers can be fined by local governments forfailing to meet production targets set for the local development of supplemen-tary agricultural goods98 Local groups have also resurrected the Republicanera practice of erecting toll booths and checkpoints on highways in 1995 pro-

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

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was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 37

local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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unsuitable for cultivation in the region The combined year total of such chargesamounted to nearly 373 yuan Despite central government injunctions in 1994against such practices the following year township exactions rose to 5315yuan per resident91

Ad hoc levies and fees charged against rural enterprises by local agenciesin recent years have proven even more numerous than those lodged againstindividual taxpayers One survey of Hunan rural enterprises discovered thatover sixty different industrial administrations and organs had assessed and col-lected over one hundred types of charges from them92 a central governmentreport calculated that over 900 types of administrative fees were being col-lected on private enterprises on top of which local administrations were alsocollecting more than 1000 types of fees and funds93 In Zhejiang one-third oflocal government revenues for 1989 were traced back to the fees and sur-charges levied against rural enterprises94 That same year ajoint Chinese Acad-emy of Social Sciences (CASS) and World Bank study team surveyed the stateof the rural economy and concluded that excessive demands levied against ruralindustries by local governments were commonplace Citing the case of a firm inJiangxis Shangrao County that had been taxed more by local administratorsthan it had earned in profits the World BankCASS investigators noted thatwhat they termed fiscal predation was acting as a powerful brake on thedevelopment of the rural economy95 As one refrain now popular among themanagers of rural enterprises puts it Of heaven and earth we have no fearonly of entrepreneurial government drawing near96

Fees fines and tolls have also once again become a lucrative source oflocal government revenues and are collected by a wide variety of agents for avariety of reasons In some remote Jiangxi villages in 1996 elderly residentswere fined 5yuan for spitting on the sidewalk any attempt to argue against thepunishment was countered with the addition of an attitude penalty (taidufakuan) of 10 yuan The presence of a common housefly on the premises of arestaurant in those same villages could result in a 50 yuan fine for the owner Inat least one case officials from a local Sanitation and Epidemic PreventionStation descended upon a newly opened establishment with armed with fly-swatters and levied a separate 50 yuan fine for each housefly killed on thepremises causing the owner to shut down the restaurant that same day97 Incertain counties in Sichuan farmers can be fined by local governments forfailing to meet production targets set for the local development of supplemen-tary agricultural goods98 Local groups have also resurrected the Republicanera practice of erecting toll booths and checkpoints on highways in 1995 pro-

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

C-

was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 25

Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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vincial authorities in Henan alone investigated 1209 cases of illegal toll collec-tion on public roads involving 693 culprits99

Fees and fines proved to be such a lucrative business for sub-county de-partments and agencies in Hubei s Hanzhou County that local enterprise own-ers were apparently told they could be granted an informal tax exemption pro-vided they first remitted certain fees to particular departments Eventually theHanzhou County administration was forced to issue a circular warning subcountypersonnel that when taxes and fees come into contlict with each other wewant taxes first fees later and to suppress fees to protect taxes and notsqueeze out taxes in favor of fees and because of fees delimit taxes 100 A1996 investigation into township and village enterprises which had fallen intoarrears on formal tax payments in Anhuis Huaibei municipality revealed thatbusinesses there had paid 265 times the amount of official taxes due in fees tovarious departments and local agenciesIOI

Official tax collecting agents also levy late charges and penalties on tax-payers unable to make prompt payment Their ability to both tax and fine givesthem nearly unchecked power within theirjurisdictions and reports of abuseand harassment by local tax agents are common In one such case Ma Fuxiaoa farmer in Ningxias Zhongning County attempted to sell some timber at thelocal bazaar He was approached by a county tax office official who accusedhim of selling timber without a license and then asked to borrow 500 yuanfrom him When Ma refused the official levied a heavy tax on the timber Mahanded over approxilnately half of the total amount due on the spot with thebalance to be remitted after the sale Several days later the tax official returnedto the bazaar inebriated and demanded that Ma immediately pay the remainingtax Protracted argument punctuated by sporadic beatings and rending of cloth-ing ensued during which Ma accused Wang of persecuting him because hehadnt agreed to lend him the 500 yuan Although intercession by the directorof the tax office temporarily ended the confrontation Ma didnt escape un-scathed Despite visiting the tax office to present a sincere self-criticism he

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was eventually ordered to pay not only the remaining tax on the unsold timberbut also a 200 yuan fine for having defamed Wang When Ma refused to paytax office agents harassed hiln daily forbade him to sell timber in the countyand confiscated a color television set from his home102

Entrepreneurial local officials in the reform era have also attempted tomobilize a wide variety of county township and village resources in the pursuitof revenues relying on local public security forces to assist in the process ofdebt tax and fine collection as their Republican predecessors did The resur-

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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gence of such practices prompted the Ministry of Public Security to issue acircular warning against the illegal use of such measures in the service of localeconomic interests

Public security and procuratorial organs in some locales while handling casesinvolving economic disputes discriminately protect local economic interests(difang jingji liyi) and exceed the scope of their legal authority They havetaken cases belonging to the category of economic disputes and handled theminstead under the rubric of economic crimes and employed illegal methodsof detention against those concerned in order to help certain work units orindividuals in the collection of debts These illegal and contradisciplinary (weifaweiji) methods seriously infringe on citizens personal freedoms and destroythe normal functioning of social order and economic order Public securityorgans peoples procuracies and peoples courts in all locations should placesufficient emphasis on the adoption of effective measures to prevent andrectify this problem103

The increased involvement of police officers local self-defense and mili-tary groups in local revenue collection has led to rising tax-related violence inthe countryside For example in November 1995 the Party branch secretaryand Shenzhai Village leader in Anhui s Funan County led armed members of thevillage joint defense force to the home of a local resident who had failed to payhis comprehensive planning fees on time When the taxpayer again could notpay up the village leader ordered the defense forces to seize whatever grainthey could find in lieu of payment when the taxpayer and an elderly relativetried to stop them one was shot and the other beaten to death104

The increasing burden of local taxes and miscellaneous levies has sparkeda growing new wave of collective protest from taxpayers in recent years Cen-tral government statistics record 14176 incidents of violent tax resistance from1987 to 1991 including 1916 attacks against tax collection agencies and a totalof 12671 assaults against tax collectors In 1992 incidents of violent tax resis-tance totaled 2744 in 1993 the number rose to 2967 One series of violentattacks on tax officials erupted in 1991-92 in the so-called Zhejiang Village inBeijings Fengtai district including one in which a hundred Wenzhou peopleviciously beat five tax collectors and destroyed a car As one Beijing MunicipalTax Bureau security officer later commented When even ones immediatepersonal safety is not guaranteed how can we even talk about normal tax col-lection and administration 105 In November of 1997 six National Tax Officeagents in Henans Xinxiang County were brutally attacked and badly beaten byemployees when they tried to conduct an on-site audit of the Xinye Collective

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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Company 106 As a result of this and other similar incidents around the countrythe National Tax Administration established 441 taxation security offices in1993 and is exploring the possibility of creating both taxation police and aspecialized taxation judicial system107

Large-scale acts of mass resistance have also occurred perhaps the best-known example of which transpired in Sichuans Renshou County in 1993 whentens of thousands of farmers protesting exorbitant taxes and fees shut down thecounty seat for several weeks Even more recently in July-August 1997200000rural residents of 87 townships in 15 counties in Jiangxi staged protests againstthe central government practice of issuing IOUs in lieu of cash for mandatorygrain procurement as well as against county authorities for increasing taxesand miscellaneous levies On 30-31 July in Pengze County 5000 peasants laidsiege to the county government office with hand tractors shouting Attack thecounty feudal lords (dadao xianguan laoye) and Down with the countyrulers and local tyrants (dadao xianguan diba) When public security forcessought to quell the disturbance the protesters resisted with farm implementshunting rifles and even stones resulting in nearly 150 casualties on both sidesLianhua and Taihe County farmers in some cases joined by township and vil-lage cadres convened a mass rally to accuse the new evil tyrants and newlandlords of crimes Two thousand Lianhua residents charged county and localparty cadres with a list of over fifty trespasses and claimed that their armedrebellion would incite the third great peasant revolution against the state follow-ing the 1949 liberation and land reform In nearby Xiushui county protesters setfire to township government offices and seized local cadres as hostages and inYongfeng public security officers opened fire on demonstrators who destroyedthe county administrative building with homemade explosive devices At thesame time protests against the alleged misdirection of provincial funds designedfor local grain purchases resulted in widespread rioting in eight neighboringcounties in Hubei involving an estimated 200000 Hubei taxpayers In sometownships and villages protesters announced the establishment of autonomouspeasant governance committees or autonomous peasant governments108

As the foregoing cases demonstrate 109while aggrieved taxpayers duringthe reform era certainly distinguish between village township and county offi-cials and the central government the extent to which they perceive the internalcoherence of the state as an unified actor distinguishes them from rural taxpay-ers during the Nanjing Decade Letters of petition personal accounts and im-ages in the press during the contemporary period have tended to stress thestrength of the linkages between central and local authorities and implicitly

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 37

local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 39

53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 41

108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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raise questions about the role of central authorities in the current crisis While agood deal of frustration has indeed been directed against township and villagecadres many commentaries have recently suggested that local state represen-tatives bear an inordinate measure of blame for the rising peasant tax burdenFor example as one reporter noted in 1993 with respect to a lawsuit filed byAnfu villagers in Sichuans Nanchong County

This year the Central Party Committee and National Administrative Yuan(Guowuyuan) have sturdily grasped the problem of alleviating the peasantburden but the other side to this was the problem of the excessively heavyburden of the peasants Why couldnt the Central Party Committee and Na-tional Administrative Yuan truly grasp this for a while and then arrive ateffective solutions This type of if the dragon doesnt nod his head theheavens wont rain phenomenon in itself demonstrates that our country lacksa certain type of self-regulating social structure

Most of the peasants burden does emerge in the form of decisionspassing through the township and village administrations but if we take theintensifying burdens that the peasants face and lay all the blame on the low-est levels of government in this manner [this is] rather too unjust Abovethere are a thousand threads but below only one needle and all of thosethreads have to be woven through that one needle As one level of govern-ment the township and village administrations must directly execute the or-ders of the two superordinate levels at the same time they receive orderscoming from every department in all directions Whatever is stressed by theupper levels the lower levels must not fail to carry out Whatever road thegods choose no differences of opinion can be brooked I 10

As a group of Xincheng Township leaders in Hebei s Huolu County told oneinvestigative reporter the problem of the peasant burden manifests itself on thelower levels but its roots lie with the departments in the upper levels of thegovernment I II Farmers in ShawanjiaHamlet in Sichuans Leshan municipalityderisively complained to another reporter that imperial rations-national taxes(huangliang guoshui) had to be paid to whatever dynasty was in power andremittances in the reform era were no different an attitude which the reporterdescribed as endemic among those with whom he spokeI12

Reform era taxpayers tend to be fairly knowledgeable about central gov-ernment regulations concerning the rural tax burden In April 1993 prior to thelarge-scale collective protests in Sichuan Hebei village residents were able tocite the latest legislation in detail when asked about central government regula-tions concerning the peasant tax burden The loudspeakers in the village broad-

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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cast it one noted Solneone accused the village of haphazardly collectingfees and the village broadcast said that their fee collections had not surpassed[the legal] 5 percent [lilnit] Another resident commented Now the centralgovernment cares for us peasants we know the General Secretary was talkingabout it on the TV the Prelnier talked about it as well we all saw it If thepolicies of the top could reach down here without falling apart (bu zou yang) 5percent should be possible to achieve113

However contemporary taxpayers are equally aware that the actual mea-sures undertaken have not been particularly effective and have often respondedwith derision and disgust For example in the mid-1990s when the central andprovincial governments issued clarity cards (mingbai ka) to peasants delin-eating their tax burdens rural taxpayers pointed out that it was the tax collectionagents and not the taxpayers who needed to be made clear about nationalregulations the cards did little to curb the overcollection of taxes Some ruralresidents even argued that the cards made the situation worse by allowing localauthorities to formalize previously gray taxes and fees by recording them onthe cards114When invitation cards serving a similar purpose were issued torural enterprise managers to encourage them to discuss their tax burden withlocal officials the company managers derisively noted First they give you acard (ka) then they take (na) [the money] away in the end everythings justokay This is what we call karaoke 115

Instead of disorganized parasites frenetically feeding on the rural economylocal administrations and their agents are more often portrayed in reform erasources as powerful imperial envoys and even supernatural beings who mustbe appeased with constant offerings from those residing in their jurisdictionsOperating between the higher reaches of the state and the mundane realminhabited by taxpayers local officials are collectively described as the onethousand Buddhas (qian fo) who repeatedly thrust their hands forward toreceive peasant remittances and their offices as the temples which housethem116As one reporter noted with respect to a municipality in Sichuan

There are two hundred and twelve administrative and professional fees in-cluding twenty three central government and fifty six provincial level exac-tions overseen and managed by sixteen departments 1t really is a case ofone thousand hands ten thousand hands stretchingmiddot out toward the peas-ants the peasants are the flesh of a Tang Dynasty monk and everyone whowants to can cOlne by and take a bitel17

Looking beyond the thousands of hands reaching into peasant pocketsfrom local agencies more recent discussion in the press has centered on the

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 29

By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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hidden dimensions of the peasant burden the roots of which lie with centralgovernment authorities Whereas Nanjing Decade rural residents in many ar-eas faced exactions from local landowners in the form of exorbitant rents re-form era farmers instead feel the pinch of mandatory grain procurement to thecentral state at prices below market levels and for which they are not alwayspaid in cash at the point of sale In addition materials required by farmers foruse in agricultural production-such as fertilizers pesticides and plastic sheet-ing-have risen in price in recent years in some areas by as much as 200percent Thus caught between the rising cost of agricultural inputs on the onehand and artificially low grain prices on the other farmers in Sichuan ruefullypoint out that grain prices rise in increments of yuan chemical fertilizer inincrements of a hundred yuan plastic film in increments a thousand yuan andfarm machinery in increments often thousandyuan118 Recently rural resi-dents have taken to posting sardonic commentaries on the doors to their homesto express their dissatisfaction One example seen in recent years in villages inHubei Hunan Anhui Hebei and Jilin takes the form of a traditional ironiccouplet (duilian) hung around the doorways of peasant homes along one ver-tical doorpost hangs I will not buy expensive chemical fertilizers on the fac-ing doorpost I will not sell grain at a low price and Please Governmentforgive us along the horizontal portal 119

CONCLUSION SHIFTING IMAGES OF THE CHINESE STATE

The more markedly cynical view of central state power during the Dengistperiod clearly has its roots in the political economy of rural reform As Perrynoted of the waves of rural violence that erupted during the early 1950s andagain in the early 1980s specific state policies during the reform era have shapedrural collective action in profound ways 120One legacy of centralized state plan-ning in the countryside has been rapidly rising anger over the recent misman-agement of grain procurement funds and the seeming inability of central offi-

cials to solve the peasant burden problem121tensions which are only exacer-bated by popular memories of the profoundly tragic consequences of misman-agement during the Great Leap Forward period122Such frustrations are ech-oed in the shifting power relationships between rural residents and cadres notedby other scholars as a result of reform policies but differ from them in thedegree to which they implicate and involve higher level and specifically centralgovernment authorities 123

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 29

By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 37

local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 39

53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 41

108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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By contrast the GMD state in 1927 took control of a rural landscaperavaged by the expansionist designs of various regional warlords fractured po-litical structures and endemic fiscal instability Despite the fact that the extentand nature of rural immiseration in the 1920s and 1930s was more severe thanthe issues facing most rural residents in the contemporary period popular sourcesfrom that period generally convey a sense of optimism and hope with respect tothe new central state For Nanjing Decade rural residents the central govern-ment under GMD control represented not only an attractive alternative to re-gional warlordism but also a potentially powerful ally in their struggles againstthe fractious local forces which had assumed power in the vacuum created bythe collapse of the Qing and the failures of early Republican period leaders

The post-Mao period on the other hand has been characterized by acalculated and deliberate withdrawal of the redistributive functions of the cen-tral state in the rural economy Rural taxpayers are fairly well-informed aboutthe scope of central government efforts to address their increasing economicburdens at the same time they are equally awaremiddot of the inefficacy of suchmeasures which appear to have considerably heightened their growing skepti-cism Unlike Nanjing Decade sources which generally express a considerabledegree of faith in the ability of the central government to intervene to protectrural taxpayers from the egregious abuses of local officials contemporary dis-cussions of the problem underscore a deepening cleavage between the variousinstruments of state authority on the one hand and private citizens on the otherLocal officials who are perceived to be uncaring or unmoved by the plight ofrural taxpayers are depicted as the local envoys of the imperial throne servingfirst and foremost the interests of the distant party-state apparatus in Beij ingand ignoring the welfare of the farmers residing in their jurisdictions

Despite the massive upheavals in the decades since Lin Yutang describedthe local state of the Republican era as a banyan tree besieged by parasitessurprising similarities in popular discourse do endure The extractive machineryof the reform era state viewed from the bottom up is often described as agrowing privileged class of entrepreneurial civil servants living off the productsof peasant labor with little sense of accountability for those whom they suppos-edly serve At the saIne time while incidents of collective action among ruraltaxpayers certainly appearmiddotto be growing in both frequency and intensity thedirect targets of recent violence have generally been particularly egregious of-fenders of national regulations on the peasant burden and not the central gov-ernment per se The tnain point of contention for these protesters is the ac-

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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countability of state agents both to local taxpayers as well as to the law As onefrustrated rural taxpayer commented in 1993

You farm you hand over the grain our ancestors and forefathers did the sameNow we pay money according to national regulations this is the way it shouldbe [on this matter] we have no [dissenting] opinion What dissatisfies us mostis what falls outside the national regulations We pay what they say to paythey say how much and thats how much we pay there shouldjust be a limitthats all Aside from that when we pay up what are they using it for is itpossible for them to let us know a little bit124

Thus while both resentment over the lack of government accountability andfrustration caused by the withdrawal of the central state are increasingly wide-spread both trends represent a marked shift in popular notions of citizenshippolitical participation and the legitimate exercise of authority Whereas Repub-lican era rural taxpayers generally did not perceive the central government asan institution accountable to its citizenry rural residents in the reform era expectmore from the central authorities in Beij ing

Patricia Thornton teaches political science at Trinity College Hart-ford CT

Notes

1 The research for this article was completed during the authors tenure as an AnWang Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research atHarvard University The author wishes to thank the faculty administration and staffof Fairbank Center for their support as well as the staffs of East Asian ResourceCenter and Harvard- Yenching libraries for their assistance I am also grateful toStephen Averill Paul Cohen Merle Goldman Guo Xiaolin Nancy Hearst PhilipKuhn Elizabeth Perry Elizabeth Remick Robert Ross and an anonymous reviewerfor their comments on earlier versions of this essay This article is dedicated to theloving memory of Teresa A Padavano

2Lin Yutang My Country and My People (New York Reynal and Hitchcock 1935)pp 189 192-93

3 Letter to the editor by Zhang Wang Renmin ribao 14 June 1996 p 10

4 Elizabeth J Remick Big Plans Empty Pockets Local Exactions in Republicanand Post-Mao China in this issue of Twentieth-Century China

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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5 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements in John K Fairbank and AlbertFeuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republican China1912-1949 Part 2) p 305

6 Kevin J OBrien Rightful Resistance World Politics 491 (1996) pp 31-55Kevin J OBrien and Lianjiang Li The Politics of Lodging Complaints in RuralChina The China Quarterly 143 (September 1995) pp 756-83

7 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrien Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contem-porary China Modern China 22 1 (January 1996) pp 28-61

8 Lu Xiaobo has recently discussed the shifting roles of the reform era state in termsof a transition from a redistributive-mobilization state to a regulatory-develop-mental state Lu Xiaobo The Politics of Peasant Burden in Reform China TheJournal of Peasant Studies 25 1 (October 1997) pp 113-138 However since inthe popular perspective the possible developmental goals of the central state donot offset widespread resentment over the states extractive strategies at the locallevel Iwill not focus on that dimension of the current transformation

9 Bernhardts research on land taxes in Jiangsu reflects a dramatic rise in per-muland taxes after 1927 due to the imposition of additional levies and surchargesKathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance The Lower Yangzi Re-gion 1840-1950 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1992) pp 208-09 Forsimilar statistics on Guangdong see Chen Hansheng Feng Fengyi eds Jiefangqian de dizhu yu nongmin Huanan nongcun weiji yanjiu [Landlords and tenantsbefore Liberation research into the crisis in Huanan s rural villages] (Beijing Xinhuashuju 1984) p 89

IOZ0U Fang Zhongguo tianfu fujia de zhonglei [Types of surcharges on Chinasland tax] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany] 31 14 (July 1934) p 312

II Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi [Perspectives on Chinas ruraleconomy] (Shanghai Zhongguo yanjiu shudian chuban 1936) pp 226-27 DongRuzhou Zhongguo nongcun bengkui ji qi jiuji fangfa [The collapse of Chinascountryside and some methods of economic recovery] Jianguo yuekan [Nation-building monthly] 84 (April 1933) p 6

12 The distinction between a levy (juan) and a tax (shui) is not always clear inRepublican-era materials However in general taxes were imposts authorized bythe central Ministry of Finance (Caizheng bu) and their collection was overseenby its subordinate bureaus Levies were imposts authorized and collected by 10-cal (provincial municipal or county) adtninistrations Shen Lansheng Jiangnan

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 41

108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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caizheng luncong [Collected essays on Jiangnans fiscal administration] (Shang-hai Jinglun chubanshe 1943) p 40

13 Philip Kuhn Local Taxation and Finance in Republican China in Susan MannJones ed Political Leadership and Social Change at the Local Level in Chinafrom 1850 to the Present (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1979) pp 100-136 Philip Kuhn The Development of Local Government in John K Fairbankand Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol 13 (Republi-can China 1912-1949 Part 2) (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)pp 329-420

14 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng [Local county fiscal administration] (ChongqingShangwu yinshu guan 1945) p 1

15 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao [Report on extortive levies and miscella-neous taxes] Nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui huibao [Rural Village RevitalizationCommittee bulletin] no 12 (May 1934) p 5

16 Peng Yuxin Xian difang caizheng p 2

17 It is important to note that provincial authorities from the fall of the Qing throughthe early years of the Republican era increasingly withheld tax revenue targetedfor the central government as well Hans J Van de Ven Public Finance and theRise of Warlord ism Modern Asian Studies 304 (1996) p 846

18 Yang Chunhua Minguo shiqi Taining xian shuishou jiankuang [Brief summaryof the tax collection situation in Taining county during the Republican period] inFujian sheng Taining xian weiyuanhui ed Taining wenshi ziliao vol 4 (1986)pp 63-66 Salt tax revenue was the property of the central government and tech-nically speaking local administrations were prohibited from placing surcharges onthe salt tax However this practice was commonplace during the Republican eraand such surtaxes escalated rapidly after 1928 In Jiangxi in 1934 twenty-onecounties regularly imposed such surcharges on the national salt tax Zhu QihanZhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 273 275-76

19 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Guangxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Guangxi] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu 1935) p 259

20 Fan Xinmin Minguo shiqi Lu zhou juanshui gaikuang [Survey of levies andtaxes in Lu department during the Republican period] in Luzhou wenshi ziliao vol19 (1991) pp 1-3

21 Du Lingyun and Peng Huizhong Sichuan ziliujing yanshui de lileduo zhan [Preda-tory struggles for Sichuans artesian well salt taxes] in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 37

local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 39

53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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banshang huiyi chuanguo weiyuanhui ed [Sichuan1wenshi ziliao xuanji (BeijingZhongguo wenshi chubanshe 1988) pp 188 199

22 Minguo ribao (Hankou) 1March 1927 reprinted in Zeng Guangxing and WangQuanying Beidai zhanzheng zai Henan [The Northern Expedition in Henan] Henanshizhi ziliao vol 7 (1984-85) pp 279-280

23 As Mann notes The term lijin means literally a one-thousandth unit of cur-rency but its practical meaning in the lijin tax was a tariff or surcharge of onepercent (not a tenth of a percent)-or more-on the value of commercial goodsSusan Mann Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy 1750-1950 (StanfordStanford University Press 1987) p 95

24 Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 5

25 See Prasenjit Duara Culture Power and the State Rural North China 1900-1942 (Stanford Stanford University Press 1988) pp 78-9 Provincial tax collec-tion bureaus established guidelines for mujuan In Hubei in 1933 one such list ofregulations for levying mujuan issued by the Hubei provincial tax administration[caizhengbu] fixed the rate of mujuan and furthermore specified that the purposeof each mujuan levy imposed must be clearly stated by public proclamation alongwith the pre-approved dates of collection and an expiration date Hubei provincialtax administration report Baoan jingfei zecheng [Rules and regulations for publicsecurity expenditures] dated 30 April 1933 in the archives of the Yu-E-Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siling bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial central bandit exterminationheadquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case 795-265

26 He Taoyuan Lun tianfu fujia [A discussion of land tax surcharges] Dulipinglun[Independent commentator] 89 (25 February 1934) p 6 Cf Peng Yuxin Xiandifang caizheng pp 2-3

27 Land registers were kept in the county tax bureau offices and provincial au-thorities were generally unaware of precisely how much tax was legally due in eachcounty Furthermore although base land tax was levied according to the acreageof farmland (mu) surtaxes were often levied by the silver tael (liang) or unit ofpapermiddot currency (yuan) some were apportioned not on the basis of landholdingsbut per individual taxpayer The wide variety of units utilized even within a singlelocale made it almost certain that provincial authorities would be unable effectivelyto monitor land surtaxes collected in the counties Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao pp 5-6

28 Ying Moru Zhejiang Pujiang de nongmin shenghuo [The lives of farmers inPujiang in Zhejiang] Zhongguo nongcun 12 (1935)

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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29 Lucien Bianco Peasant Uprisings Against Poppy Tax Collection in Su Xian andLingbi (Anhui) in 1932 Republican China 21 1 (November 1995) pp 93-128

30 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Shaanxi sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural Shaanxi hereafter XZY -Shaanxi] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) pp 145-46

31XZY-Shaanxi p 156

32 Nongmin lei ji gedi qiangzhengjunliang canju [Peasants tears a record of thecalamity of local forced exactions of military rations] (1947) p 40

33 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Jiangsu sheng nongcun diaocha[Investigation of rural liangsu hereafter XZY-Jiangsu] (Shanghai Shangwuyinshu 1934) p 83 cf Li Zuozhou Zhongzhong fudanxia de Fengyang nongmin[The Fengyang peasantry beneath their weighty burden] Zhongguo nongcun 19(1935) p 72

34 Xingzhengyuan nongcun fuxing weiyuanhui Henan sheng nongcun diaocha [In-vestigation of rural Henan hereafter XZY-Henan] (Shanghai Shangwu yinshu1934) p 74

35 Zeng Tiao undated and untitled report cited by Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashuibaogao p 21

36 Su ling ed Minguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti ziliao [Informationon the land problem on the Chinese mainland in the 1930s] (Taibei Chengwenchubanshe 1977) vol 5 pp 25-67

37 Sun Xiaocun Zhongguo tianfu de zhengshou [The collection Chinese land taxes]Zhongguo nongcun (chuangkan hao) [Chinese rural villages (first issue)] pp 22-23

38 Petition of Tahe village Shenxu Business Association [Shengxu tongye hui] toHenan Provincial Bureau of Finance dated 21 September 1934 in the archives ofthe Yu-E- Wan sanshengjiaofei zong siting bu [Henan-Hubei-Anhui provincial cen-tral bandit extermination headquarters] (Second Historical Archives Nanjing) Case795-222

39 Xu Dixin luanshui jizhong yu nongcunjingji zi meiluo [The heaviness of lev-ies and taxes and the insolvency of the village economy] Zhongguo nongcun wenti[Problems of Chinas villages] (1935) pp 53-54

40 Guonei yaowen [Domestic news headlines] Yinhang zhoubao 17 20 (30 April1933) p 9

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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41Sun Xiaocun Kejuan zashui baogao p 231

35

42Jianchayuan dang an [Archive of the Control Yuan] (Second Historical ArchivesNanjing) Case file 08-843 dated 5 February 1938

43Chen Tisi Xiangju riji [Diary of rural life] Dongfang zazhi [Eastern miscel-lany] 32 18 (Sept 1935) p 101

44 XZY-Henan p 96

45 XZY-Shaanxi p 175

46Zhu Qihan Zhongguo nongcun jingjide xiushi pp 280-283

47Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

48Lucien Bianco Peasant Movelnents pp 270-73

49Ibid Kathryn Bernhardt Rents Taxes and Peasant Resistance pp 216-17 Eliza-beth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China (Stanford Stanford Uni-versity Press 1980) Philip Billingsley Bandits in Republican China (StanfordStanford University Press 1988) Sidney Gatnble North China Villages SocialPolitical and Economic Activities before 1933 (Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress 1963)

50Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 177-180

51Many of these letters which were often processed by the Commission of Dis-ciplinary Action Against Public Servants [Zhongyang gongwuyuan chengjieweiyuanhui] have been preserved in the archive of the Administrative Yuan inNanjing I am grateful to Julia Strauss for originally directing me to this source

52Fu Qixue [Fu Chi-hsileh] et aI Zhonghua minguo jianchayuan zhi yanjiu [Astudy of the Control Yuan of the Republic of China] (Taibei Qingshui yinshuazhuang 1967) pp 220-26

53Ralph Thaxton Salt of the Earth The Political Origins of Peasant Protest andCommunist Revolution in China (Berkeley University of California Press 1997)pp 39-40 Marie-Claire Bergere The Chinese Bourgeoisie 1911-1937 in JohnKing Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker eds The Cambridge History of China vol12 (Republican China 1912-1949 Part 1) (London Cambridge University Press1983) pp722-825

54Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 305

55 XZY-Henan p 96

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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56 As Thaxton demonstrates the salt tax police were widely feared throughout thenorth Chinese countryside where they were seen as the primary enforcers of theNationalists overly zealous collection of salt tax revenue See R-alph Thaxton State-making and State Terror the Formation of the Revenue Police and Origins of Col-lective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican period Theory andSociety 12 (1990) pp 335-376

57 Lu Yuwenzi Zhongguo de nongmin yundong [The peasant movement in China]Cunzhi [Village rule] 24 (December 1931) p 9 XZY-Jiangsu p 6

58 XZY-Jiangsu p 8

59 Yuan Shuxian Liietan Guomindang zhengfu zhi kejuan zashui [A brief descrip-tion of the GMD governments exorbitant taxes and levies] Fujian Guangze wenshiziliao 4 (1986) p 67-68

60 Chen Tisi Xiangju riji p 100

61 Shishi xinbao 16 June 1933 as cited by Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao [Materials on modern Chinese agricultural history] vol 3 (1927-37) (BeijingSanlian shudian 1957) p 1016

62 XZY-Jiangsu p 83

63 Lucien Bianco Peasant Movements p 303

64 Shishi xinbao 2 April 1933 as cited in Zhang Youyi Zhongguo jindai nongyeshiziliao p 1016

65 Fu Min Guizhou xianzheng kunan zhengjie yujianquan tujing [The crux of thedifficulties in Guizhou s county administrations and the road to its solution] Jianguopinglun [Nation-building commentary] June 1938 p43

66 Li Weizhong Fandui fujia mizhaojuan tanhe junfa Chen Diaoyun [Resist thesupplementary rice inspection levy impeach warlord Chen Diaoyun] Huaiyuan xianwenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Jingtu chunchiu [Jingtu spring and autumn](Hefei Zhengshi chubanshe 1989) pp 88-91 For a few other noteworthy ex-ceptions see Elizabeth Perry Rebels and Revolutionaries pp 176 182

67 Xu Taihe Chujue tanguan Xu Wenlin de shimo [The execution of corrupt of-ficial Xu Wen lin from beginning to end] Xinjiang Hutubixian weiyuanhui wenshiziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui ed Hutubi wenshi ziliao vol 1 (1984) p 36

68 A similar dynamic is evident with respect to the role of litigation specialists in thelate Qing As Melissa Macauley shows the involvement of litigation specialists in

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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local matters had two important albeit sometimes contradictory effects in the lateimperial era First they strengthened the hand of the local elites with respect to thecentral state particularly with respect to tax resistance Second litigation special-ists also enabled traditionally disenfranchised elements to bring their grievances intoformal arenas of state power instead of relegating them to the informal arenas ofconflict resolution where they rarely prevailed against powerful local elites SeeThe Civil Reprobate Pettifoggers Property and Litigation in Late Imperial China1723-1850 (PhD diss University of California Berkeley 1993) I am gratefulto Paul Cohen for pointing out these similarities to me

69 XZY-Shaanxi p 167

70 See for example the description contained in a letter sent by a resident of HenansYancheng County to the Control Yuan regarding County Manager Liu Junma Let-ter of petition dated 13 November 1931 in JCYSL vol 2 Case 64 p 436

71 Guangzhou nongmin yundongjiangxisuo jiuzhijinianguan bian ed Guangdongnongmin yundong ziliao xuanbian [Selected information on the Guangdong peas-ant movement] (Beijing Renmin chubanshe 1986) pp 533-34

72He Tianzong Minguo shiqi de fenzangshi shuijuan [Sharing the spoils fromtaxes and levies during the Republican era] Guangdongsheng Zhongshanshi weiyuanhui wens hi weiyuanhui ed Zhongshan wenshi [Historical materials fromZhongshan] vols 1-3 (1989) p 30

73 Hou Zhouhua and Gun Linde Sanjiang Gaoshan cun Miaomin kanghengdouzheng shimo [The anti-tax struggle of the Miao people of Sanjiang Gaoshanvillage from beginning to end] Guangxiqu zhengquan zhengban wenshi ziliaoweiyuanhui ed Guangxi wenshi ziliao xuanji vol 22 (1988) p 22

74 See for example Yu Junxian ed Guomin zhengfu jianchayuan shilu [The veri-table records of the Control Yuan hereafter abbreviated as JCYSLJ vol 2 Case77 pp 522-23 Case 64 p 434

75Chien Tuan-sheng The Government and Politics oChina (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 1950) pp 259 273

76 Li Xiaolan Yusuanwai zijin de huigui yichang fazijiceng de gaige [The recov-ery of extrabudgetary funds an extraordinary method of basic-level reform] Difangcaizheng [Local Finance] 1996 no 1 pp 25-27 Translated by Guo Xiaolin Chi-nese Economic Studies 294 (July-August 1996) pp 53-56

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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42 Twentieth-Century China

120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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77 Christine P Wong Christopher Heady and Wing T Woo Fiscal Managementand Economic Reform in the Peoples Republic oChina (Hong Kong OxfordUniversity Press 1995) p 114

78 Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1993 [China Statistical Yearbook 1993] (BeijingZhongguo tongji chubanshe 1993) p 229

79 Wong et aI p 121

80 Zhu Jiang Dangqian nongmin you san pa [Currently peasants have threefears ] Diaojiu shijie [Investigation world] (April 1993) p 91

81 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun fudan wenti taojiu [An investigation into the ruralvillage burden problem in China] Jing baa [The Mirror] (February 1997) p 34

82 Zhang Tiejun Xiang zhengfuli de qinchai dachen [The imperial envoys inthe village government] Diaoyan shijie [Investigation world] 1993 no 1 p 77cf Guo Xiaolin Guest Editors Introduction Chinese Economic Studies 294(July-August 1996) p 9

83 Christine P Wong Financing Local Government in the Peoples Republic 0China (Hong Kong Oxford University Press 1997) p 30

84 Zhongguo tongji zhaiyao 1994 [Statistical Survey of China 1994] as cited byChung Jae Ho Beijing Confronting the Provinces The 1994 Tax-sharing Reformand its Implications for Central-Provincial Relations in China China InformationIX 23 (Winter 1995) pp 8-9

85 Wong Financing Local Government p 59

86 Ibid p 200-03

87 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

88 Zhao Hongsong Shou rno shen [Dont extend your hand ] Hubei ribao15 July 1995 p 6

89 Ibid

90 Gao Xianggui and Li Jianlin Nongmin zhuanggao xiangzhengfu fayuan yifapan shengsu [Rural residents file a complaint against township government courtsadjudicate successful suit in accordance with the law] Sichuan jazhi baa [SichuanLegal Daily] 10 June 1997 p 1

91 The 1995 comprehensive planning fee totaled 585 yuan education fundraisingefforts required 158yuan a new developtnent zone construction fee was levied at

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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53 yuan an electric cable fee 18 yuan money to build a new spur road around thecity 45 yuan township hospitality fee 3 yuan money to build a wall at the cementplant 10 yuan pig-raising fee 15 yuan and land lease and sale fee 150 yuan Thetownship furthermore not only raised the fine for growing yellow tobacco 20 yuanbut also forced peasants to buy insurance at 28 yuan per person Township resi-dents seeking to get married were each required to pay 800 yuan for a marriagecertificate Zhou Ze N ongmin fudan mianmian guan [The peasant burden seenfrom all sides] Fazhi ribao [Legal Daily] 21 May 1996 p 7

92 Li Yenxue Jiejue qiye fudan zhong wenti ke burong huan [Solving the problemof enterprise burdens cannot be relaxed] Xiangzhen qiye [Township and VillageEnterprises] 1989 no 6 p 13

93 Common charges aside from rental income on collective land and property usedby such enterprises include utility fees (for water and electricity) commercialmanagement fees mandatory life insurance for all employees security fees (zhianjei) sanitation fees quarantine fees (jianyi jei) planned production fees (jishengjei) temporary resident population fees quality control fees and flood preventionfees Li Peichun Feiji shui yige chendiandiande huati [Fees squeezing out taxesa weighty topic of conversation] Jiangsujazhi bao [Jiangsu Legal Daily] 12 August1997 p 3

94 Zai zhili zhengdun zhong yao zhengque duidai xiangzhen qiye [While regulat-ing rectification deal correctly with rural enterprises] Nongcun gongzuo tongxun[Rural village work bulletin] 1989 no 4 p 5

95World Bank China-Rural Industry Report(1989) No 8047--eHA as cited byAnthony J Ody Rural Enterprise Development in China 1986-90 (WashingtonD C World Bank 1992) p 16 For examples of the types of exorbitant feescharged to rural enterprises in Jiangxi see Zhou Jinhongs summary of the petitionfiled by fifty small enterprises against the Pingxiang municipal tax branch office inAnyuan diqu xiao yaomei kuang wei fei suo lei [Small coal pit and mine inAnyuan area burdened by fees] Zhanggua shuiwu baa [China taxation news]15 August 1997 p 1

96 Tian bu pa di bu pa jiu pa zhengfu jiguan gongsihua Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan [The rejected right to refuse appor-tionments] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 26

97Yang Zhej ing Gongmin q ing shuxi zhebu fa [Citizens please familiarize your-selves with this regulation] Jiangxi ribao 20 September 1996 p 1

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98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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42 Twentieth-Century China

120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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40 Twentieth-Century China

98 Wang Xingbin Nongmin fudan xiushi [Perspectives on the peasant burden]Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 14

99 Henan Discipline Inspection Commission Report Henan ribao 27 December1995 pp 1-2 (FBIS-CHI-96-Q 19)

100 Liu Zhongchu and Liu Zhixiong Hanzhou xian zhengfu mingling yao xianshuihoufei bu de yifei jishui [Hanzhou County government order we want firsttaxes then fees and not squeeze out taxes in favor of fees] Zhongguo shuiwubao [China Taxation News] 8 September 1997 p 1

101 An Min Huaibeishi feiji shui qiye bu ken zhongfu-xiangzhen qiye huyu zaizhizhi san luan [Huaibei city fees squeeze out taxes enterprises cant endurethe burden-township and village enterprises appeal crack down again on the threearbitraries] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China Taxation News] 6 October 1997 p 2

102 Lu Bingchi and Feng Jun Ma Fuxiao bufu Yingnan diqu xingzheng gongshushuiwuju shuishou xingzheng chufa an [The case of Ma Fuxiao s refusal to paythe Yingnan District Administrative Office Tax Authority tax collectionadministrators fine] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin and Zhongguorenmin daxue faxueyuan eds Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan [Essential overviewof adjudicated cases in China] (Beijing Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe 1992)pp 1233-37

103 Public Security Bureau Peoples Procuracy and Peoples Courts Circular Con-cerning Cases of Illegal Detention in Commercial and Trade Activities [Guanyuzai shangye maoyi huodongzhong fasheng feife jujin anjiande tongbao] 8 Sep-tember 1990 as cited by Liu Tianxing and Xu Lingyun Guo Debing bufu XinjiangJinghexian gonganju shourong shencha jueding an [The case of Guo Debingsrefusal to comply with the Xinjiang Jinghe County Public Security Offices deten-tion for investigation] in Zhongguo gaoji faguan peixun zhongxin et aI edsZhongguo shenpan anti yaolan pp 1178-79

104 Qian xiao [Advance guard] November 1996 pp 26-27

105 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou-weihu nide zunyan [Chinas tax collectors-safeguard your dignity] Jingji ribao 12 October 1994 p 3

106 Yan Chunlin Henan fasheng yiqi exing baoli kangju shuishou xiancha an [Avicious and violent case of resistance to tax collection and investigation occurs inHenan] Zhongguo shuiwu bao [China taxation news] 8 December 1997 p 1

107 Peng Jun Zhongguo shuishou p 3

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108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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42 Twentieth-Century China

120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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Beneath the Banyan Tree 41

108 Vue Shan Gan-Ewushi wan nongmin baodong [Five hundred thousand peas-ants violently rebel in Jiangxi and Hubei] Zheng ming 239 (September 1997) pp21-23

109 For a summary of anti-tax uprisings in the mid-1990s as well as documentationon numerous cases of suicide by rural taxpayers unable to meet their tax burdenssee Zhang Chenchang Dalu nongmin fudan yu nongmin saodong guan lianxingzhi yanjiu [Research into the mainland Chinese peasant burden and their upris-ings] Zhongguo dalu yanjiu 401 (January 1997) pp 46-60

110 MaPi Jian nongmin fudan ye xuyao zonghe zhili [Alleviatingthe peasant burdenalso requires centralized control] Sichuan ribao 2 August 1993 p 3

111 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun chuanhu shuo fudan [At large in thevillages talking about the burden] Banyue tan 25 May 1993 p 18

112 Wang Daqiang Huangliang guoshui yingdangjiao-Leshan shijia nongzhennongmin fangtan lu [Imperial rations national taxes should be paid-a recordof my visit with the peasants of Leshan municipalitys rural Jia hamlet] Sichuanribao 2 September 1993 p 5

113 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun pp 18-19

114 Van Lude Nongmin fudan mingbai ka weihe bu mingbai [How is it that thepeasant burden clarity cards are not clear] Jiangxi ribao 12 September 1996p 7 Ye gei ganbu faben fudan ka [Send the cadres their own burden cards too]Jiangxi ribao 20 June 1996 p 7

115 Xianka houna zaihou OK-zhei jiu jiao (ka la OK Wen Boqi ZhangChunbao Bei jujuede jujue tanpai quan p 26

116 Zhao Hongsong Shou mo shen [Dont extend your hand ] p 6

117 Sun GongH Sichuan nongcun shikuang diaocha-keshui meng ru hu [Surveyof the actual situation in rural villages in Sichuan-exorbitant taxes as fierce astigers] Dangdai yuekan [Current age] 44 (November 1994) pp 80-81

118 Shi Yong Zhongguo nongcun p 33

119 Lu Xueyi Chongxin renshi nongmin wenti shinianlai Zhonggou nongmin debianhua [Rethinking the Chinese peasantry ten years of transformation] Shehuixueyanjiu [Studies in Sociology] in Peng Yusheng ed Chinese Law and Govern-ment (Social Stratification in Rural China) 281 (January-February 1995) pp 78-79

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42 Twentieth-Century China

120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19

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42 Twentieth-Century China

120 Elizabeth Perry Rural Violence in Socialist China The China Quarterly 103(September 1985) pp 414-40 See also Elizabeth Perry Rural Collective Vio-lence in Elizabeth Perry and Christine Wong eds The Political Economy ofReform in Post-Mao China (Cambridge Harvard University Press 1995) pp 175-92

121 The problem of mislnanaged grain procurement funds which has not been solvedentirely peaked in 1992 when the central government distributed IOU notices (calledwhite slips by the farmers who received them) in lieu of cash payment for grainFarmers who received such slips were nonetheless required to pay their taxes andpay cash for their farming equipment fertilizers and pesticides See AndrewWedeman Stealing from the Farmers Institutional Corruption and the IOU Cri-sis The China Quarterly 152 (December 1997) pp 802-838

122 Memories of the Great Leap Forward period and of the widespread famines thatresulted from mismanagement of the unified purchase system are unquestionablyrelated to the greater degree of cynicism among contemporary farmers and ruralresidents For an incisive analysis of the unified purchase system and its historicalantecedents see Philip Kuhns forthcoming Maost Agriculture and the Old Re-gime Marie-Claire Bergere and William Kirby eds Chinas Mid-century Transi-tions Continuity and Change 1945-1955 (volume in preparation for HarvardContemporary China Series)

123 Van Yunxiang Everyday Power Relations Changes in a North China Villagein Andrew G Walder ed The Waning othe Communist State (Berkeley Univer-sity of California Press 1995) pp 215-241 Li Lianjiang and Kevin J OBrienVillagers and Popular Resistance pp 28~ 1 Edward Friedman Paul G Pickowiczand Mark Selden Chinese VillageSocialist State (New Haven Yale University Press1991) p xv

124 Wang Yuexin and Shi Xuejun Zou cun p19