武昌府告示。
爲 出示曉諭。酌減徵漕章程。刪除浮費。以甦民困 事。
案奉 撫憲札飭。
湖北漕務積弊。民苦浮勒。官無經制。
其取於民者厚。其交於公者微。
類皆中飽於丁船雜費。及上下衙門一切陋規。
現値 停運之時。奉 部文 “折價充餉。”
急應淸釐積弊。取中飽之資。以分上下。於國計民生均有裨益。
惟各州縣情形不同。其如何分別刪減定立章程。
應由道府大員親詣督査。以杜州縣官吏隱匿趨避。而收實效。
飭委本攝理府親詣所屬各州縣。體察情形。核其徵收兌運實費。
遵照 部案折價充餉。
其浮勒積弊太甚之州縣。酌定刪減。
並將節省兌運之費。提解充餉。
裁汰浮費實屬有益於民。有益於帑。
務須認眞督査。因地制宜。妥協議擬。
定限九月以前通稟酌辦。勿稍徇延
等因。奉此。當經轉行。遵照將徵收兌運漕糧一切費用實帳。開呈去後。
玆據崇陽縣稟賫徵收漕南米石用帳前來。

自此次定章之後。官吏丁役如敢格外多索。
一經訪聞或被告發。丁胥立拏杖斃。官則專案嚴參懲辦。
除詳明院憲一面札飭崇陽縣遵照開徵外。
合行臚列刪除浮費。剴切示諭。
爲此示。仰崇陽縣紳衿士庶人等知悉。
爾等須知 撫憲及本攝理府。體恤民艱。痛裁浮勒。酌減定價之苦衷。
按照舊章大加刪減。每石定以足錢四千文一律折收。
耗米水脚票費一倂在丙。
此外不准多索民間分文。
爾紳民亟應激發天良踴躍輸將。
務將應完本年漕糧米石。赶緊遵照此次定章年內掃數全完。
該紳民等如果不知自愛。有意抗違。定拏照例治罪。決不寬貸。
切切特示。

I.14 Proclamation by the Wuchang Prefect

A proclamation by the Wuchang prefect, from the 1866 Chongyang gazetteer, section on Food and Commodities (shihuo 食貨志, juan 4, pp. 15b-18b). Gazetteer treatises on fiscal and other systems often include the relevant documents.

In November 1857, Hubei Governor Hu Linyi memorialized the throne, requesting that the surtaxes levied on the grain-tribute tax in Hubei be reduced, in order to dispel popular resistance to payment (of the kind we have seen in these documents). He evidently intended that a portion of the remaining surtaxes be earmarked for supplies for his army, which was then fighting the Taiping Rebellion. It was a case of cleaning up the most abused sector of the tax system, in the hope of obtaining popular cooperation in tax payment. Hu's request was granted, and he was sent a "Board Communication" (bu-wen 部文) from the Board of Revenue, which authorized his actions. (Consult Reference Notes 1.6 for Hu's original memorial in his collected works.) See also William T. Rowe, "Hu Lin-i's reform of the Grain Tribute system in Hupeh, 1855-1858," Ch'ing-shih wen-t'i 10.4 (Dec. 1983), pp. 33-86.

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Glossary

武昌府 - Wuchang fu - the Wu-chang prefect

為…事 - wei…shi - "regarding the matter of . . ." (encloses a summary of the substance of the document. You can think of this as a sort of headline. The same structure is used in other kinds of document.)

曉諭 - xiaoyu - clearly order

酌減 - zhuojian - appropriately reduce

徵漕 - zhengcao - to collect grain tax

刪除 - shanchu - do away with

浮費 - fufei - excess (collection) for expenses; in essence, a surtax

甦 - su - relieve (the usual form is 蘇)

民困 - minkun - the hardships of the people

案奉 - anfeng - introduces a quotation from a document received from a higher official

撫憲 - fuxian - Governor (see Reference Notes 3.2)

札飭 - zhachi - issue an order (to a subordinate; 札 is also written 扎 or 劄; see Reference Notes 1.1b)

漕務積弊 - caowu jibi - accumulated malpractices in the tribute-grain tax system  (this phrase serves as a statement of the subject, which is then discussed in the next line)

民苦 - minku - the common people suffer from ...

浮勒 - fule - superfluous (levies) and extortionate (practices)

經制 - jingzhi - controlled system

其取于民者 - qi quyu min zhe - that which is taken from the people...

厚 - hou - great

微 - wei - little

類皆 - leijie - most of it is...

中飽 - zhongbao - embezzle (the term comes from Han Feizi, where the 中 represents greedy officials who enrich themselves, in opposition to 上 treasury and 下 peasants being impoverished)

丁船 - dingchuan - soldiers and boats (in the grain-transport service)

雜費 - zafei - (exactions for) miscellaneous expenses

陋規 - lougui - customary fees (lit. objectionable practices) (possibly used here in the term's special meaning of 'bribe')

現值 - xianzhi - now is the time of...

停運 - tingyun - transport has stopped (transport via the Grand Canal has stopped because of the Taiping Rebellion)

部文 - buwen - communication from the Board (of Revenue) (sent to Hu Linyi on order from the throne, after Hu's memorial on the subject had been approved)

折價充餉 - zhejia chongxiang - commute the payments and use them for supplying the army (this is a paraphrase or quote from the Board's communication)

清釐 - qingli - clear up

以分上下 - yifen shangxia - to distribute it between superior and inferior (this perfectly expresses Hu's purpose: not only to reduce the surtaxes, but to clear up who gets how much)

國計 - guoji - the dynasty's fiscal situation, the national economy

裨益 - biyi - advantage

州 - zhou - department (Hucker; 178): "a coordinating agency responsible for several Districts" (xian)

刪減 - shanjian - eliminate and reduce

道府大員 - daofu dayuan - high officials of the circuits and prefectures (i.e., taotais and prefects)

親詣 - qinyi - personally go

督查 - ducha - supervise and investigate

以杜 - yidu - in order to prevent...

隱匿 - yinni - conceal (e.g., bad practices)

趨避 - qubi - short for 趨利避害, to simultaneously chase advantage and avoid misfortune

而收實效 - ershou shixiao - and get real results (er-shou is parallel to yi-du in the previous line)

飭委 - chiwei - order (somebody to do something)

本攝理府 - ben sheli fu - this prefect, serving on interim appointment (the Wu-chang prefect referring to himself; he is substituting this phrase for the general "dao-fu da-yuan" that probably designated the addressees in the original text. The direct quote then resumes.)

所屬 - suoshu - those...under his jurisdiction

體察 - ticha - investigate thoroughly

核 - he - investigate, examine

兌運實費 - duiyun shifei - the actual amounts levied for transport expenses

遵照 - zunzhao - in respectful accord with...

部案 - bu'an - the case (decided by) the Board (of Revenue)

太甚 - taishen - excessive

酌定 - zhuoding - determine

節省 - jiesheng - saved

題解 - tijie - remit

裁汰 - caitai - eliminate

實屬 - shishu - really is ...

帑 - tang - imperial treasury (notice that this was respectfully elevated)

務須 - wuxu - (you) must

認真 - renzhen - conscientiously

因地制宜 - yindi zhiyi - adapt measures to the locality

妥協 - tuoxie - appropriately

議擬 - yini - recommend

通稟 - tongbing - submit a report

勿稍侚延 - wushao xunyan - do not procrastinate in the least (a common injunction)

等因 - dengyin (signpost: closes the quote from Hu's order)

奉此 - fengci - (a respectful close-quote) (compare qin-ci 欽此. The Wu-chang prefect now resumes.)

當經 - dangjing - immediately (upon receiving the order, we immediately...)

轉行 - zhuanxing - forwarded

遵照將...開呈 - zunzhao jiang...kaicheng - (ordering that) in compliance (with the governor's order), ...be reported (to me)

去後...前來 - quhou...qianlai - (quotation signposts indicating a completed documentary exchange)

*A superior ends a quote of his command to an inferior or equal by "quhou", and the reply by "qianlai". The corresponding form for an inferior quoting an exchange with a superior is "zai'an 在案 ... fengci 奉此 or qinci in the case of the emperor

徵收 - zhengshou - collect (a tax)

實帳 - shizhang - true accounts

茲 - zi - now

稟賫 - bingji - presented in a report

徵收...用帳 - zhengshou...yongzhang - an account of expenses connected with collecting the "southern rice" tribute-grain (the subject of the Chong-yang magistrate's report. "Southern rice" (nanmi) was a category of tribute-grain allocated to government garrisons within Hu-bei. See Reference Notes 6.1)

Omitted text: there follows a detailed account of the surtaxes levied on the Chong-yang tribute-grain tax. A limit of 4000 copper coins is then imposed as a uniform surtax on every picul of tribute-grain collected. Of this surtax, part is to be retained for the actual expenses of tax collection, and part to be remitted to the Wu-chang prefect for forwarding to Hu Lin-yi’s army

自...後 - zi...hou - from...onwards...

如敢 - rugan - if they dare

格外 - gewai - beyond the stipulated standard

多索 - duosuo - further extort

一經訪聞 - yijing fangwen - as soon as it is found out

被告發 - bei gaofa - accused in a complaint

丁胥 - dingxu - grain-tribute troops or yamen-clerks

杖斃 - zhangbi - beaten to death

官則... - guanze... - in the case of an official, ...

專案嚴參 - zhuan'an yancan - specially impeached

懲辦 - chengban - punished

除...外 - chu...wai - besides...(the second item on the agenda begins with hexing … )

詳明 - xiangming - to report in detail

院憲 - yuanxian - the provincial governor

一面 - yimian - on the one hand (refers to the prefect's ordering Chong-yang to comply)

合行 - hexing - it is appropriate that...

臚列 - lulie - to list

剴切 - kaiqie - clearly

為此示 - weici shi - for these reasons, we are proclaiming...

仰...知悉 - yang...zhixi - in the expectation that … will take notice

紳衿士庶 - shenjin shishu - upper gentry, lower gentry, scholars, and commoners

知悉 - zhixi - fully understand (goes with shiyang, above)

爾等 - erdeng - you (plural, to inferiors or children)

須知...苦衷 - xuzhi...kuzhong - should understand how hard this is (for us) i.e., it has taken a lot of effort on our part to put these reforms into place

體恤民艱 - tixu minjian - having sympathy for the people's distressful plea to...

痛裁 - tongcai - thoroughly reduce

足錢 - zuqian - full-value cash (probably to obviate payment in coins that have been "clipped" or shaved to obtain bronze)

一律 - yi-lü - without exception

折收 - zheshou - collect in commuted (money) payment

耗米...票費 - haomi...piaofei - fees for "wastage", freight, and paperwork

一併在內 - yibing zainei - all amalgamate within (the 4000 cash unified surtax)

分文 - fenwen - one copper cash

紳民 - shenmin - gentry and commoners (where does that leave shengyuan?)

激發天良 - jifa tianliang - rouse your natural goodness

踴躍 - yongyue - enthusiastically, eagerly

輸將 - shujiang - pay (taxes)

務將 - wujiang - you must (the verb to which jiang refers is quan-wan; what intervenes is the object.)

應完 - yingwan - ought to pay in full

趕緊 - ganjin - speedily, forthwith

掃數 - saoshu - entirely

不知自愛 - buzhi zi'ai - not know self-respect (i.e., right conduct)

有意 - youyi - intentionally

抗違 - kangwei - disobey

決不寬貸 - juebu kuandai - absolutely no commutation (of the sentence)

切切 - qieqie - for your urgent attention

特示 - teshi - special proclamation