Substitute Silver for Labor Service
Inscriptions: 郿縣/差徭
Mei County (in Shaansi Province), Labor Service
In ancient times there were two forms of tax payment
in China: grains and crop, and the labor service of adult males. The former
was used to pay for the Land Tax, and the latter was for the Poll Tax.
Monetary payment of the Land Tax began to replace agricultural products during
the Tang or Sung Dynasties, since the new form of payment was far easier to
store and transport.
In the 9th year of the Wan-Li reign of the Ming Dynasty
(1581 AD), the premier Chang Chu Zhen enacted a series of reforms to China's
tax system; one of them was to collect the Poll Tax based on the amount of
land owned by each taxpayer. This resulted in the Land Tax and Poll Tax
being applied to the same base, and the system was further simplified to allow
both taxes to be satisfied by monetary payment.
The tax reform progressed even further in the Ching
Dynasty, when the Land and Poll Taxes were merged during the 2nd year of the
Yong Zhen reign (1724 AD). From then on, the two taxes could only be
differentiated by name and were levied collectively. Silver from such tax levy
was recast by the government and titled "Di Ding"
(地丁), which means
the "Land-and-Poll Tax".
Despite these reforms, there were a few local governments in remote regions
which did not implement the merger of the two taxes and continued to collect
them separately.
The specimen shown above is an example of
a Poll Tax sycee of the Ching Dynasty cast from the substitute silver for
labor service. This was cast in one of those districts which did not combine
the Poll and Land tax payments.
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