The Production of Salt in China, 1644–1911

Bibliographic Data

ID8377186
AuthorsTao-Chang Chiang (Nanyang Technological University, corresponding author)
Year1976
Volume66
Issue4
Pages516-530
Publication date1976-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnnals of the Association of American Geographers (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0004-5608 • E-ISSN: 1467-8306
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-8306.1976.tb01107.x
OpenAlexW2080799983
LanguageEN
Citations received10

Ch'ing China's salt supply was widely dispersed, although more than four-fifths of the salt produced came from the seacoast. There were six sources of salt: seawater, salt lakes, brine wells, saline rock, gypsum mines and salty earth. Boiling and solar evaporation were the major production methods. The simplicity of the boiling method favored its wide use. Nevertheless, the solar evaporation eventually took the place of the boiling method, as fuels became scarcer in most salt-producing areas. A better natural resource base stimulated the production of salt along the North China seacoast to a greater extent than elsewhere in the nation. The increasing trend of salt production paralleled China's population growth. Geographical changes in salt production also reflected regional differences in this growth. Notes 1 One Chinese tael in Ch'ing times was equivalent to 37.8 grams. 2 This study is limited to China Proper, but touches upon other areas whenever necessary. 3 The number of salt bureaus here is the maximum number throughout the Ch'ing dynasty. In fact, it varied over time. Chihli, for example, had twenty in the middle seventeenth century. These were gradually reduced through amalgamation until there were only eight in the nineteenth century. 4 T'ung-tsu Ch'u, Local Government in China under the Ch'ing (Stanford, Calif., 1961), pp. 145–47. 5 Tao-chang Chiang, "The Salt Industry of Ming China,"Geographical Review, Vol. 65 (1975), pp. 93 106. 6 For the areal extent of the salt-producing regions of the T'ang (618–907) and Sung (960–1279), see Denis C. Twitchett, Financial Administration under the T'ang Dynasty, second edition (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press 1970), pp. 173–79 and Tai I-hsún, Sung-tai ch'ao-yen yen-chiu (A Study of the Salt Note System of the Sung Dynasty) (Shanghai, 1957), pp. 1–48. 7 Ch'en Cheng-siang, "Chung-kuo yen-yeh ti-li" (A Geographical Study of the Salt Industry in China), Ti-li yü ch'an-yeh (Geography and Industries), Vol. 2, No. 1 (1957), pp. 11–13. 8 Outside China Proper, deposits of pure salt were found in Hsinchiang and the Tsaidam Basin. See Yún Chien-ch'i, Hsi-pei yen-ch'an tiao-ch'a shih-lu (A Survey of Salt Resources in Northwest China) (Nanking, 1947), pp. 37–78. Recently, salt deposits were discovered in Hunan Province. See Chu Mo-lin, Fei-ch'ii yen-wu kai-k'uang (Account on Salt Administration on Mainland China) (Taipei, 1962), p. 56. 9 Sung Ying-hsing, T'ien-kung k'ai-wu: Chinese Technology in the Seventeenth Century, translated by E-tu Zen Sun and Shiou-chuan Sun (University Park, Penn., 1966), p. 122. The production of this type of salt was very small in quantity. It accounted for less than a half of one percent of the national total production. 10 Wang Yung-che, Ssu-ch'uan sheng (Szechwan Province) (Shanghai, 1956), pp. 37–38. 11 See Wu Ch'eng-lo, Chin-shih Chung-kuo shih-yeh t'ung-chih (A Survey of Industries in Modern China), Vol. 1 (Shanghai, 1929), p. 221; and Lin Chen-han, Huai-yen chi-yao (Essentials of the Salt Industry in Lianghaui Region) (Shanghai, 1928), p. 42. 12 Yún Chien-ch'i, "Yen-ch'ü ch'üi-hsiang chih ch'u-pu yen-chiu" (A Preliminary Study of the Weather and Climate of China's Salt Regions), Yen-wu yüeh-pao (Salt Administration Monthly), Vol. 6, No. 12 (1947), pp. 4–28; reference on pp. 5 and 8. 13 Yún, op. cit., footnote 12, pp. 5–6. 14 Yún, op. cit., footnote 12, pp. 8–10. 15 At least as early as 1746, the boiling method was employed on a saltworks in Ningteh district of Fukien Province. See Min-sheng yen-ch'ang ch'ún-t'u (A Pictorial Map of Saltworks in Fukien, dated in 1746), a manuscript of an original Chinese landscape painting on silk in color collected by the Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division. The author is indebted to Dr. Sen-dou Chang for reminding him of the existence of this painting. As late as 1830, the boiling method was still used in Fukien Province. See Fu-chien yen-fa chih (Compendium on Salt Administration of Fukien Region) (Foochow, 1930), preceding Vol. 1, p. 1 and Vol. 9, pp. 19–20. At least as early as 1886, the boiling method was no longer found in Fukien Province. See Chou Ch'ing-yün, ed., Yen-fa t'ung-chih (Treatise on the Salt Administration in China) (Peking, 1914>), Vol. 32, pp. 8–12. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the solar evaporation method was first employed at least in P'ut'ien Hsien of Fukien Province. See Hsing-hua fu-chih (Gazetteer of Hsinghua Prefecture) (1503; revised edition; 1871), Vol. 12. See also P'u-t'ien hsien-chih (Gazetteer of Puut'ien Hsien) (1758; reproduction of 1920 edition; Taipei, 1963), Vol. 2, pp. 83–84. Fukien was the first of the salt-producing provinces in humid South China to switch completely from the boiling method to full solar evaporation. Reasons for the change were the lack of fuel and the improvement of brine-gathering techniques. The salinity of brine was high enough to complete salt crystallization in a very short time under solar evaporation. 16 For example, in 1914 about forty percent of the total production of salt in Chekiang Province was produced by the boiling method. See Fan Yün-shu, "Che-chiang ch'ang-ch'an chi-hua-shu" (A Plan for the Production of Salt in Chekiang), Yen-cheng tsa-chih (Journal of Salt Administration), Vol. 2, No. 7 (August 1915), Chuan-chien III pp. 1–17; reference on pp. 4–7. Conditions remained the same as late as the twentieth century. See Joseph, E. Spencer, "Salt in China,"Geographical Review, Vol. 25 (1935), pp. 353 66; reference on p. 358. A recent report indicates that even late in 1958 there were still 801 salt-boiling stoves in use in the Huainan region. See Chu Feng, "T'an Huai-yen" (Account of the Production of Salt in Lianghuai Region), Ti-li chih-shih (Geographical Knowledge), Vol. 9, No. 8 (1958), pp. 345–48; reference on p. 348. 17 Sung, op. cit., footnote 9, pp. 110 and 115. 18 See Sung, op. cit., footnote 9, pp. 110 and 116; and Chu, op. cit., footnote 16, pp. 345–48. 19 Chou, op. cit., footnote 15, Vol. 29, pp. 4–7. 20 For a description in detail, see Shu-yen Lin, "Salt Manufacture in Hong Kong,"Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 7 (1967), pp. 138 53; reference on pp. 139–43. See also Chang Mao-chiung et al., Ch'ing yen-fa chih (Compendium on the Salt Administration of the Ch'ing Dynasty) (Peking, 1920), Vol. 215, pp. 7–11. 21 Chou, op. cit., footnote 15, Vol. 35, pp. 12–13. 22 It was reported that in 1922 there were more than 18,000 portable wooden pans owned by a salt-producing company in Lüssu. See Chang Chi-chih, "Ti-li Huai-nan ko-ch'ang t'ui-hsing pan-shai weich'ih yen-ch'ún chien-ku tsao-min shengchi an" (A Proposal for the Adoption of Portable Wooden Pans and the Consideration of the Livelihood of Salt-producing Households in Huainan), in Chang Chi-chih, Chang Chi-tzu chiu-lu (Collected Works of Chang Chi-chih) (Shanghai, 1933), Vol. 19, p. 16. In 1958, there were still 8,198 portable wooden pans in use in the Huainan region (possibly all in Lüssu). See Chu, op. cit., footnote 16, p. 345. 23 The method innovated in the T'ang. Before the T'ang, natural salt crystals were dredged. See Chou, op. cit., footnote 15, Vol. 33, p. 11. The method existed at least as early as A.D. 808 when a famous Chinese scholar who was a native of Hotung mentioned the salt field in an essay. See Liu Tsung-yún, "Chin-wen" (Accounts on Shansi), in Liu Tsung-yún, Liu Ho-tung ch'ún-chi (Complete Works of Liu Tsung-yún) (ca. A.D. 820; reprinted edition; Shanghai, 1935), p. 188. 24 The wells were dug for the first time in 1777, when a canal overflowed. See Chou, op. cit., footnote 15, Vol. 2, p. 28. In 1727. more than four thousand metric tons of natural salt crystals were collected directly from the lake. Similar production occurred in the eighth and eleventh centuries. A logical explanation is that it was so dry in these years that salt crystals could form. See Wang Ch'ing-yün, Hsi-ch'ao chi-cheng (Collected Works on Government Affairs of Our Glorious Dynasty) (1898; reprinted edition; Taipei, 1966), Vol. 5, p. 35. 25 Sung, op. cit., fotnote 9, p. 122. 26 See Chou, op. cit., footnote 15, Vol. 3, pp. 21–22. Coal had never been a major fuel for boiling salt in Ch'ing China, as it had been in England before 1800. See C. T. Smith, An Historical Geography of Western Europe before 1800 (New York, 1967), pp. 426–566. 27 See Sung, op. cit., footnote 9, pp. 116 and 122. The use of natural gas for evaporating brine goes back certainly to the Han (206 B.C.–A.D. 220), and knowledge of it is probably even older. During the Ch'ing dynasty, however, only weak natural gas was known in the early nineteenth century. Gas was used at that time, but firewood and coal were more important fuels. In the 1850s, the use of natural gas became more popular, and since then its use has increased tremendously. See Richard C. Rudolph, "A Second-Century Chinese Illustration of Salt Mining,"ISIS, Vol. 43, No. 131 (1952), pp. 39–41. For an interesting account of the salt industry at Tzuliuching during the late nineteenth century, see Jung Li, translated with an introduction and notes by Lien-che Tu Fang, "An Account of the Salt Industry at Tzu-liu-ching,"ISIS, Vol. 39, No. 118 (1948), pp. 228–34. One source indicates that cattle dung was used also. See Lin Chen-han, Ch'uan-yen chi-yao (Essentials of the Salt Industry in Szechwan) (Shanghai, 1916; revised edition; 1919), p. 591. 28 See Chang T'ing-yü et al., Ming-shih (History of the Ming Dynasty) (1739; reprinted edition; Taipei, n.d.), p. 457; Ku Tsu-yü, Tu-shih fang-yü chi-yao (Essentials of Historical Geography of China) (1667; reprinted edition; Shanghai, 1937), p. 3506; and Ming-shih-lu (Veritable Records of the Ming Dynasty) (Nankang, Taiwan, 1964), "Ming T'ai-tsu shih-lu" (Veritable Records for the Period of the Reign of Emperor T'aitsu), p. 3527. 29 Liu Chün, "Ch'ing-tai Yün-nan ti yen-wu" (Development of the Salt Administration in Yünnan Province during the Ch'ing Dynasty), Chung-kuo chin-tai ching-chi-shih yen-chiu chi-k'an (Studies on the Economic History of Modern China), Vol. 2, No. 1 (1933), pp. 27–141. 30 Another source says that the period lasts from ten to fifteen months. See Joseph E. Spencer, "Gypsum and Salt Mining in Central Hupeh, China,"Economic Geography, Vol. 14 (1938), pp. 282 86; reference on p. 283. 31 Lin, op. cit., footnote 11, Ch'ang-ch'an p. 41. See also Spencer, op. cit., footnote 30, pp. 282–86. 32 See Sung, op. cit., footnote 9, p. 122; and Shinoda Osumu, "Shih-yen" (Salt), in Yabuuchi Kiyoshi et al., T'ien-kung k'ai-wu yen-chiu lun-wen-chi (Collected Studies on T'ien-kung k'ai-wu), translated by Chang Hsiung and Wu Chieh (Peking, 1959), pp. 92–94; and Li Shih-chen, Pen-ts'ao kang-mu (The Great Pharmacopoeia) (1596; reprinted edition; Shanghai, 1930), Vol. 10, p. 54. Saltpeter with earth salt as a byproduct was obtained frequently in many parts of China. Thus, the earth salt was certainly produced in many other areas. 33 Ping-ti Ho, Studies on the Population of China, 1368–1953 (Cambridge, Mass., 1959), pp. 277–78

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