Salt and State - An Annotated Translation of the Songshi Salt Monopoly Treatise (Chien Cecilia Lee-Fang)(Pevná vazba)

Salt and State is an annotated translation of a treatise on salt from Song China. From its inception in the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.), the salt monopoly was a key component in the Chinese government's financial toolkit. Salt, with its highly localized and large-scale production, was an ideal target for bureaucratic management.In the Song dynasty (960-1279), fiscal pressures on the government had intensified with increased centralization and bureaucratization. A bloated administration and an enormous standing army maintained against incursions by aggressive steppe neighbors placed tremendous strain on Song finances. Developing the salt monopoly seemed a logical and indeed urgent strategy, but each actor in this plan--the emperor, local officials, monopoly administrators, producers, merchants, and consumers--had his own interests to protect and advance. Thus attempts to
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