Salt Administration in the Yüan Dynasty

There were two methods of distributing salt in the Yüan Dynasty, the Shih-yen fa 食塩法 and the Yin fa 引法. The former was equivalent to the Chüeh-yen fa 榷塩法 of the Sung dynasty and the latter to the Tung-shang fa 通商法. The Shih-yen fa was a method whereby the state distributed salt through direct sales to the people (官売法). The Yin fa was a method in which merchants were permitted to sell salt. At the beginning of the Yüan period the Yin fa was implemented, but it proved difficult to prevent salt smuggling. Also there were regions in which it was impossible to obtain salt as merchants would not go there because there was no profit to be made. Even the government in an attempt to gain for the state the profit to be derived from salt introduced the Shih-yen fa which was mainly implemented in urban areas. However they reverted back to the Yin fa because of a shortage of officials capable of the task, merchant agitation against the government, failure to realize much profit from salt sales and an increase in abuses. But merchants connived with high ranking bureaucrats and powerful families in profiteering, which resulted in a sharp rise in the price of salt and occasioned the revival of the Shih-yen fa. Afterwards the Shih-yen fa and Yin fa were repeatedly adopted and abandoned, but by the late Yüan the Yin fa had come to be permanently used.Judging from the fact that in the Yüan a huge amount of expenditure was incurred by the conquest, internal disputes over the succession to the throne and the worship of Lamaism, the salt tax was the most important source of revenue for the state. By the reign of Shih-tsu (1260-93) the salt tax already comprised eighty percent of the annual revenue. As a result the price of salt rose close to 400 wen 文, which was the highest price recorded from ancient times. This brought about the illicit sale of salt by smugglers (塩徒) and was one of the major reasons leading to the destruction of the salt administration system・Another reason was that during the Yüan the imperial family and high ranking officials were often granted large amounts of Yen-yin 塩引, and some of them engaged in the illicit trade through their contacts with salt smugglers. Great amounts of salt smuggled in this way ate into the state’s profits. Furthermore during the Yüan dynasty silver disappeared from circulation in society because a great number of Central Asian merchants (西方商人) visited China and carried large quantities of silver back to Central Asia, and because of hoarding by wealthy households (富豪). This shortage of silver caused the decline of industry and created much unemployment. The unemployed were absorbed into salt smuggling groups and the increase in the illicit sale of salt by smugglers gave impetus to the collapse of the salt administration. In the end the Yüan dynasty was overthrown by Chu Yüan-chang 朱元璋 the leader of a salt smuggling group. The salt administration, which had played an important role in the rise of the Yüan, ironically enough, by its very destruction was a major factor in the downfall of the dynasty.