Tao Zhu or Tao Shu (; 17 January 1779 – 12 July 1839) was a Chinese scholar-official of the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
who played a key role a broad movement toward institutional reform in the early 19th century. He is especially known for his role as Governor-General in making changes in the
salt monopoly of the Qing dynasty.
Career
Tao was trained first by his father, a scholar and teacher, and then in the
Yuelu Academy
The Yuelu Academy (also as known as the ''Yuelu Academy of Classical Learning'', ) is on the east side of Yuelu Mountain in Changsha, Hunan province, on the west bank of the Xiang River. As one of the four most prestigious academies over the last ...
, in the city of
Changsha
Changsha (; ; ; Changshanese pronunciation: (), Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is the capital and the largest city of Hunan Province of China. Changsha is the 17th most populous city in China with a population of over 10 million, an ...
in the conservative inland province of
Hunan
Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...
. The Academy inculcated an ascetic philosophy of self-examination and dedication to rescuing the world from the decadence of recent times. Graduates formed what one historian called a "network of messianic alumni."
Tao received his ''
jinshi
''Jinshi'' () was the highest and final degree in the imperial examination in Imperial China. The examination was usually taken in the imperial capital in the palace, and was also called the Metropolitan Exam. Recipients are sometimes referre ...
'' degree in 1802, and joined the
Hanlin Academy
The Hanlin Academy was an academic and administrative institution of higher learning founded in the 8th century Tang China by Emperor Xuanzong in Chang'an.
Membership in the academy was confined to an elite group of scholars, who performed sec ...
in 1805. After posts in
Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
,
Shanxi
Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...
, and
Anhui
Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...
, he was appointed governor of
Anhui
Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...
and then
Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...
. When the
Grand Canal was blocked by floods, in 1826, as governor of Jiangsu, he took the dangerous course of shipping tribute grain by sea, using some 1,562 junks on the route from Shanghai to Tianjin. The strategy was successful but roused the opposition of officials who profited from the use of the Canal.
In the 1820s, reform officials under the
Daoguang Emperor
The Daoguang Emperor (; 16 September 1782 – 26 February 1850), also known by his temple name Emperor Xuanxong of Qing, born Mianning, was the seventh Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the sixth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning ...
proposed restructuring and renewed oversight of the bureaucracy. The Qing government inherited a Salt Administration divided geographically into districts, the largest and most central of which was Liang-Huai, on the north coast of Jiangsu, with its headquarters in
Yangzhou
Yangzhou, postal romanization Yangchow, is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province (Suzhong), East China. Sitting on the north bank of the Yangtze, it borders the provincial capital Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yan ...
, which shipped salt to seven provinces: Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, and Guizhou. The rights to salt produced along the coast was controlled by some 200 private merchants who held hereditary franchises for distribution in specific inland areas. These merchants combined official status and private function, but by the early 19th century failed to deliver the massive amounts of salt they had contracted but instead raised prices. Smuggled and black market sales then outweighed official sales, and government revenues fell.
In 1832, Tao was tasked by the Daoguang Emperor with fixing the problem, which was deemed especially acute in light of the outflow of silver in the years leading up to the
First Opium War
The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...
. Acting on the advice of his classmates
Wei Yuan
Wei Yuan (; April23, 1794March26, 1857), born Wei Yuanda (), courtesy names Moshen () and Hanshi (), was a Chinese scholar from Shaoyang, Hunan. He moved to Yangzhou, Jiangsu in 1831, where he remained for the rest of his life. Wei obtained the ...
and
Bao Shichen
Bao Shichen (; 1775—1855) was a calligrapher and reformist scholar in the early nineteenth century. Under the Qing administration, Bao made numerous important suggestions regarding the areas of military affairs, laws and politics, the grain tribu ...
, two other officials in the reform group,
Tao took immediate action to end the Ming franchise system in favor of a relatively open market. Any merchant of good standing could buy salt distribution tickets for the purchase of single shipments of large or small amounts which could be retailed anyplace the merchant wished. The tickets themselves could be bought and sold.
William T. Rowe
William T. Rowe (b. Brooklyn, New York, 24 July 1947) is a historian of China, and John and Diane Cooke Professor of Chinese History, Department of History, Johns Hopkins University. He considers himself a social historian of modern China, with bot ...
. ''China's Last Empire: The Great Qing.'' (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, History of Imperial China, 2009; )
p. 162-163
/ref> Tao's reforms opened the system up to small scale traders, depriving the hereditary merchants and the smugglers of their profits and lowering costs to the consumer. However, Tao could not meet the optimistic commitments he had made to the emperor.[Thomas Metzger, "The Organizational Capabilities of the Ch'ing State in Commerce.]
pp. 42-43
in William E Willmott, ed., ''Economic Organization in Chinese Society'' (Stanford University Press, 1972).
Tao resigned in March 1839, giving illness as the reason, and died four months later. A temple was erected in his memory in Banpu
Banpu Public Company Limited is an energy company based in Thailand. Its three core businesses are energy resources (coal and gas); energy generation (conventional and renewable); and energy technology (wind and solar solutions, storage systems, a ...
(now Guanyun), Jiangsu, a city in the salt region.
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tao, Zhu
1779 births
1839 deaths
Chinese scholars
Qing dynasty politicians from Hunan
Political office-holders in Jiangsu
Poets from Hunan
Qing dynasty poets
Qing dynasty calligraphers
Artists from Hunan
Politicians from Yiyang
Viceroys of Liangjiang