Land Taxation in Imperial China, 1750–1911

Harvard University Press has partnered with De Gruyter to make available for sale worldwide virtually all in-copyright HUP books that had become unavailable since their original publication. The 2,800 titles in the “e-ditions” program can be purchased individually as PDF eBooks or as hardcover reprint (“print-on-demand”) editions via the “Available from De Gruyter” link above. They are also available to institutions in ten separate subject-area packages that reflect the entire spectrum of the Press’s catalog. More about the E-ditions Program »

Imperial China cannot be understood without an examination of its fiscal base. In his pioneering study, Yeh-chien Wang for the first time provides a reliable estimate and an in-depth analysis of China’s principal source of public revenue—the land tax—in the Ch’ing period. The purpose of this study is to inquire how the land-tax system worked and how much revenue was produced from this source. Hence the approach adopted by the author is both institutional and quantitative.