Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.2, 2014

 

The Qing Government's Raising of Military Funds in the Early Days of Taiping Revolutionary Movement                               

(Abstract)

 

Liu Zenghe

 

At the beginning of the Taiping Rebellion, the Qing Government was optimistic about the situation. In order to win the war as soon as possible, it did not begrudge using the Emperor's personal fortune and the silver vault of the Ministry of Revenue. When the Taiping army attacked Jinling, the Treasury was depleted, as were the spring and autumn allocation books. The government held a series of high-level meetings to consider how to raise funds for the war effort. Successive measures were applied with varying success. From the summer of the third year of Xianfeng, the Ministry of Revenue could no longer continue with the old system of allocating funds. To extricate itself from this quandary, the government was forced to decentralize and to reform provincial funding and the rules governing military fund raising. The changed rules allowed commanders to deal directly with the provinces on the allocation of military funds. At the time, the decentralization reform left military commanders unsupported, but it was a catalyst for a new military and political framework that lasted several decades, through the Xianfeng, Tongzhi and Guangxu reign periods.