| Budget Amount *help |
¥1,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000)
Fiscal Year 1995: ¥400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥400,000)
Fiscal Year 1994: ¥800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000)
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| Research Abstract |
This research aims at presenting an account of the Agreement for Simultaneous Collection of Tax and Likin (**) between the United Kingdom and China, which was implemented in 1887, in the context of the overall international struggle between super powers in the nineteenth century.
The Qing (*) Dynasty's counter-measures to cope with the situation at the time were many-fold. It investigated the possibility of a monopoly in opium by a government contractor, thereby eradicating the spread of opium in the country by total government control and enforcement of a prohibitive price. Ma Chien-chung (***) was sent to India to research into the opium situations there and to sound out its government on a reduction of its opium export to China.
The policy of Simultaneous Collection of Tax and Likin, in reality, brought about a certain increase in revenue and had a practical merit of solving the financial difficulties of the Qing Dynasty, which was its first national priority. On the other hand, it increased the power of Robert Hart, the Inspector General of Chinese Maritime Customs, since it was he who represented the U.K.government's interest and was the competent authority of the execution of tax increase under this agreement. Under these circumstances an oficial opium import-ban policy of Chinese government was not realized until the next century.
It was Robert Hart and his subordinate, D.Campbell, not the government of Qing Dynasty, that took the initiative in China's negotiations with Portugal for a treaty of amity. China's virtual cession of Macao to Portugal was a policy crafed by the U.K.government.
The government of Qing Dynasty consented to Portugal's control of Macao for the purpose of rational control of the trade in opium and to prevent smuggling and tax evasion. But the issue needs to be viewed in the context of the overall colonial power struggle in East-Asia at the time.
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