八省土膏统捐与清末财政集权

The Unified Tax(Tong Juan)on Opium in Eight Provinces and the Concentration of Financial Power in the Late Qing Dynasty

清末鸦片税收是中央与地方争执较多的领域,地方固守与中央控制形成错综复杂的局面。八省土膏统捐是清廷在扩张财政以编练新军的背景下,将地方经营有效的联省合办统捐的权力收归中央的重大举措。地方督抚对此暗中排拒,使清廷推行财政集权的意图难以如愿贯彻。这一事件反映出清末中央与地方逐渐疏离的趋势,亦可概见练兵新政推行中政治与财政环境之纷乱。

Opium taxes were the cause of many disputes between local governments and the center in the late Qing.The situation was complicated by unyielding local protectionism and the central governments persistent efforts at control.The unified tax on opium in eight provinces was an important measure on the part of the court to seize the unified tax(previously effectively managed by provincial governments)in order to expand its revenues so as to train and equip the New Army.The measure was secretly resisted by provincial governors,frustrating the courts planned financial centralization.This reflects the gradual divergence between local governments and the center,as well as the political and financial disarray hindering the implementation of military reform in the late Qing.