State or Merchant - Political Economy and Political Process in 1740s China

Tables, Map, and Figures ix Weights, Measures, and Units of Currency xii Abbreviations and Citation Conventions xiii Introduction 1(14) Part I Private-Sector Stockpiling: State Versus Hoarder 1 Legal Ambiguity, Coercive Practice 15(40) What the Law Had to Say 17(14) Controlling Merchant Speculators Through Statistics 31(10) Beatings and Forced Sales 41(14) 2 The Subtler Ways of Handling Hoarders 55(36) Enter the Banner Grain Bureaus 58(11) Civility in Place of Chastisement 69(15) When the Strong Arm Menaced Landlords 84(7) 3 Interventionism Questioned 91(58) A 1748 Manifesto Against the Busybody State 95(8) Contra Price Controls and Grain Export Embargoes 103(12) "Laws Should be Obeyed" 115(13) The Speculator Vindicated 128(11) How Market-Conscious Qing Officials Thought the Market Worked 139(10) Part II Public-Sector Stockpiling: The State As Hoarder? 4 The Issues in the Ever-Normal Granaries Debate 149(42) Storage and Rotation Quotas 152(12) Granary Restocking and Grain Price Inflation 164(15) The First Extreme Opponents of Official Buying 179(8) Was There a Grain Trade Lobby? 187(4) 5 A Sage and His Advisors: 1738-43 191(53) Fanfare for an Innovation 192(14) From Zeal to Disappointment 206(6) The First Retreat 212(11) Resistance to the 1743 Retreat 223(10) The Radicals Rebuffed 233(11) 6 Overt and Covert: 1744-47 244(63) 1744 Versus 1743: The Patterns in the Reset Targets 245(6) From Obedient Modesty to Ambiguous Ambition 251(11) Studentship Sales, Once More the Panacea 262(13) The Ever-Normal System on the Brink 275(7) The Rebirth of Controversy 282(10) Examining the Figures 292(15) 7 The Grand Discussion: 1748-49 307(39) The Quest for Wisdom on the Sources of Inflation 308(4) How the Vote Went 312(8) The Granaries' Defenders 320(11) Ambivalence Where Least Expected 331(7) The Granaries' Accusers 338(8) 8 The Slashing of the Targets 346(58) The Options for Reform 347(5) Let There Be Cuts! 352(3) The Conservative Settlement of Early 1749 355(25) Why Did the Committee Cook the Books? 380(24) 9 Of Loose Ends and Parallel Developments 404(85) Knowing Where to Stop 406(8) Let Able-Bodied Famine Refugees Fend for Themselves! 414(14) Exit the Banner Grain Bureaus 428(16) The Landowners' Tax Holiday 444(8) Beat the Presumptuous to Death! 452(11) Conclusion: Political Economy ac Political Process" 463(20) Appendix: Chronology of the Granaries Debate 483(6) Reference Matter Bibliography 489(14) Character List 503(6) Index 509