What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
The overall level of social and economic development of the Ming Dynasty far exceeded that of the Song Dynasty, and the achievements of handicraft industries such as mining and metallurgy, textiles, ceramics, papermaking, printing, shipbuilding and other industries were particularly prominent. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the commodity economy developed greatly, the private handicraft industry was strong, and the emergence of capitalist business methods in the departments of silk weaving, cotton processing, mining and iron casting, porcelain making, papermaking, and oil pressing appeared. Its strength has surpassed that of the official handicraft industry and become the leading force in the development of the handicraft industry.
At the same time of the great development of the commodity economy, a large number of characteristic towns in Jiangnan have emerged, and the scale of the prosperous world has expanded unprecedentedly, Suzhou is a very prosperous city in the Jiangnan region, due to the convenient water and land transportation, the silk fabric industry has developed significantly, and Suzhou has become one of the central cities in southern Jiangsu.
During the Wanli Dynasty, hundreds of workers gathered in Suzhou, and the number of craftsmen soared. As an important town in the silk weaving industry in Jiangnan, Suzhou has the largest number of textile workers and thousands of mechanics. There is an official weaving and dyeing bureau, but more often than not, it is a family unit. The population of the city is divided into three groups. The largest scale is the handicraft industry in the city, who are engaged in the textile industry, engaged in the processing of various daily necessities and luxury goods, but this part of the people have limited profits and can only make a living; secondly, the factory owners, or transformed from the squires, or from the rich class of citizens; and finally, the students, or those who have already obtained meritorious names, in the Ming Dynasty, this part of the people is the intellectual class that enjoys some privileges.
In the 29th year of the Wanli Calendar, a large-scale weaving workers' anti-mining tax riot broke out in Suzhou, which is known in history as the "change of weaving maids". Why did the "change of weaving maid" occur? According to Marxist theory, there should be a contradiction between labor and capital, that is, factory owners and handicraft workers, but on the contrary, we see that the two are united against the government, and the main reason is that the government is too heavily taxed. This year's flood, the price is very high, weaving eunuch Sun Long added tax to the head of the weaver, one piece per machine, three dollars in tax silver. Therefore, first the domestic workers Xu Yuan, Gu Yuan and other more than 2,000 people protested, and when they saw the tax collector, they beat and killed. It is also inevitable that the squires and wealthy households who have turned to the tax supervision are also inevitable.
The campaign of protests against mining tax collectors in the cities of the rich areas during the Wanli dynasty did not actually produce a large-scale national social movement, which was inconsistent with the peasant uprisings that occurred in various parts of the late Ming Dynasty. However, it also shows from one side that it is more correct and that social contradictions are already very sharp and hidden dangers are endless, but if there is a little wind and grass, it may be transformed into a vicious group event.
During the Wanli dynasty of emperor Myōshin, once gold and silver ore and former placer mines were discovered somewhere, the emperor sent eunuchs to manage them, and the official title was "Admiral Eunuch", commonly known as "Mine Supervisor" and "Tax Supervisor".
The mining and tax supervision "mouth tianxian, holding the imperial program", called the state tax collection, is actually amassing wealth for themselves. In order to achieve their goals, they did not hesitate to demolish houses, abandon good land, and dig graves, causing panic among the people and complaining, and the anti-mining supervision and anti-tax supervision struggles of handicraft workers and merchants arose one after another.
In 1596, Chen Feng was appointed as the tax inspector of Huguang. After he took office, he levied a lot of money and collected tens of thousands of dollars, and there were more than 10 times in the middle of the people's rebellion, causing tens of thousands of citizens in Wuchang to surround the tax office, and the world was in an uproar.
In 1599, another rebellion broke out in Linqing, Shandong Province, to expel the tax supervisor Ma Tang. Ma Tang was under Chen Feng when he was the superintendent of the Linqing Mine, and every year he collected at least 15 taxes from Shandong. 60,000 taels, but only 7,8,000 taels were surrendered to the imperial court! He also hired a large number of hooligans to rob openly, and whenever there was resistance, he would be beheaded by rebellion, and I don't know how many people were destroyed by him. Wang Zuochao, a citizen of Linqing, led tens of thousands of people to set fire to his tax office and killed more than 30 of Ma's retinue.
In addition, in 1601 there was also a rebellion against the tax supervisor Pan Xiang in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, a struggle against the tax supervisor Pan Xiang in 1603, a struggle against the tax supervisor Yang Rong in Beijing in 1603, and a struggle against the tax supervisor Yang Rong in Yunnan in 1606. These struggles obviously made the entire Ming Dynasty tremble and hastened the demise of the Ming Dynasty.