Modern Transformation of the Imperial Finance: the case of Guangdong provincial finance in the late Qing period

The finance of Guangdong province in the late Qing period showed lower proportion of Tianfu(田賦, Land Tax) but higher proportion of tax on commercial and manufacturing activities. Besides, it is note-worthy that revenue from provincial factories occupied considerable share in provincial finance. It was the Guangdong Mint that produced the biggest profit among those provincial factories. Since Guangdong was pioneering province in the modernized mintage, it could enjoy the benefits of forerunner and acquire the huge profits by transporting coinage to other provinces. Quickly, seigniorage became an important source of provincial revenue. However, their profit-seeking approach to the mintage and unchecked right of money issue in amount resulted in preferential mintage of Small money(小洋). Accordingly, there emerged unique Small money block separated from [independent of] other provinces. Small money block including mainly Guangdong and Guangxi was gradually alienated by Big money block encompassing Shanghai and most part of China. This unique isolation continued up until the Republican period and left Guangdong to lag behind in the monetary integration process during the 1930s. Provincial policies in financial modernization during the late Qing period had deep influence on the characteristics of Guangdong economy and finance. This situation shows that the imported modern factors in the finance during the late Qing period was also transformed and distorted in the local level. The other point of this paper shed light on the building of provincial factories during the late Qing and in a full scale during the 1930s. This economic building was clearly associated with the investment of overseas Cantonese. Until 1930s, the development of provincial industry allowed a significant source of local revenue to the provincial government.