MEMORANDUM TO EMPEROR XIANFENG (1852)

By Zeng Guofan

Zeng Guofan (1811-1872) was one of nineteenth-century China's truly impressive statesmen. Born into a farm family in the province of Hunan, Zeng received a Confucian education and passed the highest civil-service examination at age twenty-eight. During his career as a scholar and government official, his greatest achievement was the organization and leadership of a potent military force, the Xiang Army, which was instrumental in suppressing the Taiping Rebellion, a massive peasant revolt that raged through China between 1850 and 1864. Knowing well the problems of the regime and the unrest among the people, Zeng drew up the following memorandum on February 7, 1852, for Emperor Xianfeng (r. 1851-1861). It provides a clear and balanced assessment of China's problems at mid-century.

The danger to a nation is not so much the paucity of material wealth as the lack of coherence among its people. In the course of our history rarely was a time so prosperous as the Sui Dynasty during Wendi's reign.1 Yet the country was soon plunged into chaos, and the Sui regime during eventually came to an end. Why? Because the people had lost faith in their government despite the country’s material wealth. Conversely, seldom was the nation so poor as she was during the reign of Han Chaodi.2 Yet the country was peaceful and her people secure. Why? Because the people had faith and confidence in their own government. For a period of fifteen years, from the first to the sixteenth year of Kangxi3 during the present dynasty, the Yellow River broke its dikes every year with the exception of one, and flood damage was extremely heavy over a large region. . . . As if this were not enough, the Three Viceroys' Rebellion erupted4 and ravaged nine provinces; it took the government seven years to suppress it. By then the treasury was almost empty, emptier than it is today. Yet the dynasty remained secure and the country undisturbed. Why? Because the Saintly Progenitor5 loved the people more than he did himself, and the people, in response, continued to pledge to him their unswerving allegiance and rallied for his support. Though Your Majesty undeniably loves your subjects to the same extent as the Saintly Progenitor loved his, local officials, being indifferent to the plight of their charges, have failed in conveying your compassionate sentiments to the people and bringing to your attention their grievances. Because of this lack of communication, your humble servant wishes to take this opportunity to describe in some detail the ills from which our people suffer most.

The first ill concerns the high price of silver which affects adversely the peasants' ability to fulfill their tax obligations. The tax load in Suzhou, Songjiang, Zhangzhou, and Jinjiang6 is the heaviest in the nation, and the people in these districts also suffer most. The yield for each mou7 of land is anywhere from 15 to 20 pecks8 of polished rice, and the landowner, after dividing it with his tenant on a fifty-fifty basis, receives approximately 8 pecks as his rent. Though his regular tax is only 2 pecks per mou, he has to pay another 2 pecks as rice tribute and 2 pecks more for miscellaneous requisitions, totaling 6 pecks altogether. Thus, for each mou of land he owns, his net income is only 2 pecks of polished rice per year. If all these taxes could be paid in rice, the situation would not be so serious. But most of them have to be paid in silver... Since a farmer reaps only rice, he has to sell his harvest for standard coins9 in order to obtain the necessary cash; since the price of standard coins is high in terms of rice, he has understandable grievances. Moreover, in order to pay his taxes, he has to convert his standard coins into silver…. Formerly, selling 3 pecks of rice would bring enough silver to pay taxes for one mou of land; now, selling 6 pecks will not be enough to achieve the same purpose. While the return to the government remains the same, the burden to the people has been doubled. Besides, there are additional taxes on houses and family cemeteries, all of which have been doubled in terms of rice because they, like most of other taxes, have also to be paid in silver.

Under the circumstances it is not surprising that a large number of taxpayers have become delinquent, despite local governments' effort to enforce payment. Often special officials are assigned to help tax collections, and day and night soldiers are sent out to harass taxpayers. Sometimes corporal punishments are imposed upon tax delinquents; some of them are so badly beaten to exact the last penny that blood and flesh fly in all directions. Cruel though it is, this practice does not necessarily reflect the evil nature of local officials who, more often than not, do not believe that they have a better choice. If they fail to collect 70 percent of the amount due, not only will they be impeached and punished as a matter of routine, they may also have to pay the balance with their own money, that sometimes amounts to thousands of taels,10 and ruin their families in the process. In short, they are forced to do what they loathe....

Under the circumstances it is not surprising that the people are complaining and angry, and often the resistance to tax payment bursts forth and mushrooms into full-fledged riot....

The second ill of our nation is the great number of bandits which threaten the security of our law-abiding citizens. Lately your humble servant has heard that the bandits have become bolder and more numerous, robbed and raped in broad daylight, and kidnapped people for ransom. Whenever an act of banditry is reported to the government, the local official announces in advance his intention to send troops against the bandits and advertises it in public proclamations, so as to make sure that the bandits know the soldiers are coming. Upon arriving at the village where the banditry took place, the official-in-charge expects to learn from the village chiefs, who are afraid of the bandits, that the offenders have already fled. Without anything worthwhile to do, he orders the burning of some of the houses in the village before his departure, so as to impress the villagers with the power of his office. Meanwhile his soldiers use a variety of excuses to exact payment from the bandits' victim, who by then is only too regretful that he reported the banditry to the government in the first place. While the soldiers are busy taking away from his house whatever they can carry, the bandits are still at large, hiding somewhere in the village. Sometimes the official announces that the responsible bandit has in fact been killed and that the case is therefore closed; then he proceeds to show off the bandit's body, after killing some prisoner in his jail who has nothing to do with this particular crime. Not only does the bandits' victim fail to get his grievances redressed and his stolen properties restored; he may also lose everything he has and go bankrupt. After all this, he will probably swallow his tears in silence and make no more complaint, since by then he is no longer financially able to make any appeals.

Suppose he does appeal and that the government responds by mobilizing a large force in its attempt to arrest the bandits. Since these soldiers have always been in collusion with the bandits, they will release the offenders soon after their capture, in return for a handsome bribe, and the offenders will quickly disappear without leaving a trace. Sometimes the soldiers use the reported presence of bandits as an excuse to blackmail the villagers; if the latter refuse to pay the bribes they demand, they will accuse them as the bandits' accomplices, burn their houses, and bring them to the city in chains....

The third ill which your humble servant wishes to stress is the great number of cases in which innocent men are condemned and the inability on the part of the people to have a wrong redressed. Since his appointment at the Ministry of Justice, your humble servant has reviewed several hundred cases of appeal.... In most cases, . . . it was the plaintiffs who received punishment in the end, on the ground that they had made false accusations, while the defendants went through the whole litigation unscathed and free. Generally speaking, the officials-in-charge invoke the following rules in the law as legitimate ground to impose heavy penalties upon the plaintiffs. First, the plaintiff has failed to present the truth in his petition, and for such failure he is to receive one hundred blows by a striking rod. Second, the case he presents is not serious enough for him to bypass the local courts and to go straight to the nation's capital, and for such offense he is to be punished by banishment to the frontier as a soldier. Third, he intimidates the government under the pretense of offering constructive suggestions, and for such offense he is to be punished by banishment to a nearby area as a soldier. Fourth, he harbors personal grudges against the official under whose jurisdiction he lives and falsely accuses him of wrongdoing before the latter's superior. For this offense he is to be punished by banishment to the malarious regions as a soldier...

Who can believe that when an ordinary citizen is a plaintiff and a government official a defendant, the defendant is always right and the plaintiff always wrong? The answer to both questions would have to be a clear "No one" if we had conscientious, enlightened officials sitting on the bench as judges....

These three ills are the most serious the nation faces today, and the search for their cure is our most urgent task. Insofar as the second and the third ills - the widespread banditry and the condemnation of innocent men - are concerned, Your Majesty is hereby requested to issue a strict order to all the governors-general and governors to think carefully about them and to devise ways for their cure. As for the first ill or the increasingly higher price of silver, we should find remedies in terms of stabilizing the existing price. Your humble servant is at present drafting a proposal aimed at the attainment of this goal, which, when completed, will be presented to Your Majesty for reference purposes.

 

1.Wendi, the founder of the Sui Dynasty, reigned from 589 to 604 C.E.

2.Han Chaocii reigned from 86 to 74 B.C.E.

3.1662-1677.

4.Also known as the Revolt of the Three Feudatories, 1673-1681.

5.Emperor Kangxi, who ruled from 1662 to 1722 (see source 56).

6.All are located in the south-central region of China.

7.One sixth of an acre.

8.One peck equals one-quarter of a bushel.

9.Coins made of copper.

10.Chinese silver coins, each weighing approximately 1.25 ounces.

 

 

Questions:

1. According to Zeng, what is the key to keeping China peaceful and secure?
2. Which aspects of the government’s tax policies does Zeng deplore?
3. How, according to Zeng, does the behavior of local officials, soldiers, and magistrates affect the lives of the Chinese people?
4. Zeng states at the end of his memorandum that he will draft a plan to address the shortcomings of the tax system.  What do you guess he will propose? 
5. How does Zeng propose to remedy the problem of corruption?  Does his solution have a reasonable chance of success?  Why or why not?