200 years ago, why did countries rush to pay tribute to the Qing Dynasty first, and did everything they could to increase the number of tributes?

The following article comes from the history school, the author Wei Siwei

Author: Wei Siwei Editor: Lilith

The full text is total

2740

Word | Reading required

6

minute

In that era of low productivity 200 years ago, it was not easy for foreign countries to become "business" partners of the Qing Dynasty at that time.

In the Qing Dynasty 200 years ago, the main foreign trade system was tributary. In the words of Emperor Qianlong: "The Celestial Empire is rich in products and has everything, and the original goods are not from foreign countries." In addition, the strict maritime ban that continued from the early Qing Dynasty led to the only way for the ocean-going and vassal countries to do business with the "Emperor Qing" through tribute, and in the eyes of His Majesty the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the tribute of various countries was only because of the prestige of submitting to the Qing Dynasty. It is so reluctant to say it, but in fact it is far from it.

Above_ The former site of Suzhou Weaving Department, located in the urban area with the city bridge under the pond

1. Unrecognized "business partners"

In June of the 40th year of Kangxi, as the emperor's cronies, he was arranged in the south, and Li Xu, who was a weaver in Suzhou at that time, sent a secret letter to the emperor: His Majesty the emperor had issued an order in the 39th year to let Jiangning, Suzhou and Hangzhou send one of the three weaving yamen to go to the sea to the East. However, because the sea was limited by the monsoon, it was not until the end of May 46 that he set out from Shanghai.

In the compromise, he said: The original plan was to go to sea from Ningbo Port, but Ningbo "has more merchant ships and seems to be ostentatious", so it set off from Shanghai.

And for this letter to the emperor, Zhu Pi is: I know, I will report it quickly when I return to the day.

Looking at the Emperor Zhu Pi in the Forbidden City, such a trivial matter, the emperor had to know it at the first time on the return trip, which seemed to be abnormal. At the same time, the Kangxi period was the most stringent period of the Qing Dynasty's maritime ban, and the emperor secretly sent people to go abroad, which was even more suspicious.

Above_ Li Xu, Kangxi's confidant, Jiangning Weaving Cao Yin is his brother-in-law, who has been weaving in Suzhou for 30 years

In October of that year, the three weaving personnel returned to Suzhou, and Li Xu ordered them to go to the capital immediately without delay. So what is there in Japan that makes the emperor so concerned.

The answer is copper and silver.

Because the basic currency of the Qing Dynasty was still copper money, and the domestic copper mines at that time were far from being able to meet the speed of economic development, most of the early Qing Dynasty would import brass, silver, etc. from Japan. It was not until the discovery of large copper mines in Yunnan during the Qianlong period that the Yunnan copper liberation eased the demand for foreign copper.

Above_ Qianlong Tongbao was the currency in circulation during the Qianlong period

The same thing happened in the trade of Siam with the Qing Dynasty.

In the sixty-first year of Kangxi, he was ordered: "I have heard that Siamese rice is very abundant, and the price is also very cheap, if in Fujian, Guangdong, and Ningbo, each transports 100,000 stones of rice to trade here, it will be beneficial to the locality."

Of course, in order to show the spirit of the Emperor and Qing Dynasty, these transported rice were not subject to customs duties, and at the same time, on the basis of the original value of three silver coins per stone of rice, it was raised to five yuan, and Siam could also bring its own goods to trade while transporting rice.

Although the Emperor did not recognize these business partners, these de facto trade records prove that no country can be isolated from the world on its own. Even if the façade is decorated with "abundant products of the Celestial Empire", the use of items such as chiming bells and snuff stored in the Forbidden City and various gardens and palaces also proves from the side that the emperor also loved foreign gadgets.

Above_ The figure of Siam (now Thailand), a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty, is derived from the "Imperial Qing Gongtu" compiled and painted in the 16th year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty

2. Unequal "business partners"

In the face of the vast territory of the Qing Dynasty, everyone knows that this is a huge commodity consumption market, but how to break into this market and obtain the access of the Qing government is the biggest problem. In the face of the emperor's "disdainful" attitude, equal trade is not possible, but to do what he likes, to do low, to meet the spiritual needs of the emperors of "eight directions, nine lands to the king" is the only way for countries to trade with the Qing Dynasty before the Opium War.

"There are three, six, nine and so on, and the wood is divided into pears and red sandalwood"

, countries also have a rank in the tributary system. "According to the distance of the sea, it is subordinated to the border provinces, and Zongbo (Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites) is in charge." North Korea, Japan, Siam, Myanmar and other countries are the first echelon, and the Netherlands, Western countries (Portugal), England, Italy and other countries are the second echelon.

At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the time for each country to pay tribute was one tribute per year, one tribute per three years for Siam, one tribute for eight years for the Netherlands, and so on. And these tribute periods are the intervals that the emperor has set for countries to trade in China. But business didn't do that, so many countries thought of other ways to increase the number of tributes.

Above_ Detail of the coming of all nations

As mentioned above, Siam can trade more once a year through Fujian and other places because of the reason for transporting rice to the emperor, and at the same time, Siam will also pay tribute through the new emperor to ascend the throne and ask for canonization, or because there are tribute ships in distress at the time of the tribute, the tribute is not enough, so as to increase the number of trade.

The Netherlands is even more powerful, and they do not hesitate to do it for the sake of trade. In the second year of Kangxi, the king sent ministers to the Fujian sea area to help the Qing Dynasty exterminate the "sea rebellion", and was specially approved by the emperor to pay tribute once every two years. The Dutch, who tasted the sweetness, were in Kangxi for three years, and assisted the Qing army in pursuing and suppressing the Zheng clan in Taiwan, recovering Kinmen and other places, and received many rewards such as silver and brocade.

Above_ Emperor Kangxi, Aixin Jueluo Xuanye (May 4, 1654 – December 20, 1722)

3. "Business partners" who make a lot of money

Why would these countries prefer to bow low and be small to trade with the Qing State? In addition to the large market, the reason why people are eager to gain far more than they pay is also the reason why people are eager to do so. For example, the Qing Dynasty stipulated that the items to be paid by Siam each time included "elephant taming (for the use of Luan Yiwei), ambergris, rhino horn, ivory, borneol, rose dew" and other items.

The list of rewards given by the Qing State was: "King, eight horses of brocade, eight horses of woven gold satin, eight horses of woven gold yarn, eight horses of golden luo, twelve horses of yarn" and so on. Other rewards, as well as additional rewards, were not counted, and the princesses, envoys, and entourage of Siam were also rewarded according to their ranks.

We can't estimate the specific value geometry, but compared with the Qing Dynasty's "Current Rules in the Imperial Palace", the queen is divided into one item in the palace every year, and the queen is divided into "two Jiang silk (the same as "horses"), four satin, and two gold satin... Yarn Eight Boils..." shows how great the reward is. At the same time, the jade, enamel, and porcelain are even more valuable.

As for the Dutch and English tributes, most of them are portraits of kings, armor, swords, Western horses, jewelry and spices, Western mirrors, serge satin, dobores, and chiming bells. In the 58th year of Qianlong, there were a total of 29 kinds of tributes from the English people, and the emperor rewarded the English king with a full 100 kinds of gifts, and the envoys were also quite rich.

Above_ Qing Dynasty iron tire painting enamel yellow ground flower three-legged bowl

4. Dishonest "business partners"

However, the countries that were engaged in business would not be satisfied with such a reward, so they also tried their best to bring private goods to trade.

Taking Siam as an example, every time I came to China, the waves were dangerous, and in order to ensure that the tribute was not lost and the hull was stable, I carried a large number of "ballast" things. And the emperor allowed these ballast goods to be purchased in Guangdong, and at the same time exempted from taxes and silver. You must know that the Qing Emperor stipulated that the base number of tribute items for Siamese ships was only 26 at a time, and the tribute items were counted separately.

However, these things were transported by three ships nine feet long, two feet five feet three inches wide, and one foot five feet four inches deep, and the elephants were transported by other ships eight feet two feet four inches long. Even the Siamese Congress handed over the tributary ships to the merchants of the Qing Dynasty to carry goods to Guangzhou for trade.

Above_ Emperor Qianlong (reigned 1736-1796)

Therefore, in the face of this kind of "cargo party" who tried every means to evade taxes, the imperial court ordered that only the two ships of the principal and deputy tribute envoys could be exempted from taxes, and the other ships were taxed as usual and could not be reduced or reduced.

As for the idea that in 1793, English merchants wanted to leave some foreigners in the capital to "take care of the trade", but Qianlong rejected it.

What made the English vomit even more blood was the emperor's reply: the system of the Celestial Empire could not be changed because of the little English, and it was okay to keep people, but "they will never be allowed to return to their own country".

Such an arrogant attitude naturally made the English envoy unhappy and disgraced. But the emperor never expected it

In less than 50 years, the trade barriers erected by the Qing Dynasty were shattered by the small English strike.

Resources:

[1] "Li Xu's Recital", edited by the Ming and Qing Archives Department of the Palace Museum

[2] "Four Sayings of the Sea Kingdom", Zhonghua Book Company

[3] "The Current Rules in the King James Palace", Yunhai Publishing House

[4] "Lang Qian's Chronicles and Four Strokes", Zhonghua Book Company

[5] "Qing Historical Manuscript", Zhonghua Book Company

The text was created by the History University Hall team, and the pictures came from the Internet, and the copyright belongs to the original author

‍

(This article only represents the author's point of view and does not represent the position of this number)

div.autoTypeSetting24psection > p,div.autoTypeSetting24psection > section{margin-bottom: 24px;}