The Single whip law or the "Single whip reform" () was a fiscal law first instituted during the middle

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

, in the early 16th century, and then promulgated throughout the empire in 1580 by

Zhang Juzheng Zhang Juzheng (; 26 May 1525 – 9 July 1582), courtesy name Shuda (), pseudonym Taiyue (), was a Chinese politician who served as Senior Grand Secretary () in the late Ming dynasty during the reigns of the Longqing and Wanli emperors. He rep ...

. The measure aimed primarily to simplify the complex fiscal code under Ming law, by commuting most obligations towards the central government — from land and poll taxes to the labour obligations of the peasantry and the tributes of prefectural and county officials — into a single silver payment, at a level based on the population and cultivated land in each prefecture. Therefore, by reducing complexity, the Single Whip law reduced the costs of tax collection, while also increasing the tax base. The unit of tax collection was changed from rice to

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

, which led to an increase in the import of silver into China from

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and Spanish-controlled America. The Single Whip Law led to a temporary increase in European trade, but in the long term, contributed to the overthrow of the

by destabilizing the tax system. In regions not well integrated into the network of global trade, such as along the Ming northern border, silver was more expensive, making it harder for farmers to deliver upon their tax obligations. Underfunded local governments laid off soldiers and clerks from Northern border garrisons, some of who formed rebel groups which participated in rebellions starting in the Northwest in the 1620s. In order to put down these rebellions, the Ming Court sent

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...

s to wealthy areas, such as silk-weaving

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...

, to impose new taxes. A tax on looms pushed weavers in Suzhou to revolt, spreading riots and arson to other crowded cities. With the implementation of the isolationist policy of

Sakoku was the Isolationism, isolationist Foreign policy of Japan, foreign policy of the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate under which, for a period of 265 years during the Edo period (from 1603 to 1868), relations and trade between Japan and other countri ...

in Japan in the 1630s, barring foreign traders who facilitated the import of silver into China by exchanging Chinese manufactured goods such as silk, porcelain, and cotton thread in exchange for Japanese silver, the amount of silver entering China was limited. This was further exacerbated by the 1634-1636 decrease in the Spanish shipment of silver to

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

from Spanish-controlled America, which, coupled with the Ming government's decision to

debase A debasement of coinage is the practice of lowering the intrinsic value of coins, especially when used in connection with commodity money, such as gold or silver coins. A coin is said to be debased if the quantity of gold, silver, copper or nick ...

copper coinage, greatly increased the price of silver. It was one of the factors leading to the

fall of the Ming dynasty The transition from Ming to Qing, alternatively known as Ming–Qing transition or the Manchu conquest of China, from 1618 to 1683, saw the transition between two major dynasties in Chinese history. It was a decades-long conflict between the e ...

References

Tax law Ming dynasty politics History of taxation Taxation in China Silver 16th-century economic history {{Asia-law-stub