Provincial Finance in Early Republican China: The Fengtien Provincial Budget, 1915-1928

-11incorporate the "hinterland" in its scope. It does not follow, however, that this implied the resurgence of peasant nativism. The "littoral-hinterland" division in China was itself a creation of the new situation; no peasant rebellion in the past had to confront such a situation. 7 samir Amin, "Accumulation and Development: A Theoretical Model," Revi~of African Political Economy, 1.1 (August-November 1974), for this concept and a very stimulating discussion of problems of change in "peripheral systems." 8see M. Kesselman, "Order or Movement? The Literature of Political Development as Ideology," World Politics, 26.1 (October 1973), and Donald C. O'Brien, "Modernization, Order, and the Erosion of a Democratic Ideal: American Political Science 1960-1970," The Journal of Development Studies, 8.4 (July 1972). 9 D. Tipps, "Modernization Theory and the Comparative Study of Societies: A Critical Perspective," Comparative Studies in Society and History, 15.2 (March 1973), p. 212. * Arif Dirlik Duke University * PROVINCIAL FINANCE IN EARLY REPUBLICAN CHINA: THE FENGTIEN PROVINCIAL BUDGET, 1915-1928 I. Statistical Reporting in Early Republican China * Reliable statistics concerning the state of financial affairs in China's provinces are difficult to compile for the years of the early Republican period. During that time the Central Government issued clear procedures to the provinces outlining the method for reporting financial statistics. Those procedures directed that the Bureau of Finance in each province would on some regular basis submit to the Ministry of Finance of the Central Government a budget showing provincial income and expenditures. Based on the reported figures, the Central Government would claim certain revenues, which would then be forwarded from the provinces, while other designated sources of income would be retained in the provinces for local use. Two good source~ that outline the procedures to be followed are Shina nenkan (China Yearbook), Tokyo: Toa dobunkai, 1917, 1927; and Udaka Yasushi, Gengyo Shina gyosei (Current Administration in China), Shanghai: Fusanbo, 1926. Had the statistics from the provinces reached Peking, there is a good chance that they would have been published by the Central Govern~ent, and our knowledge of provincial affairs during this period would be much clearer th~n it is at present. Because of the political fragmentation of China into a s~ies of provinces that retained a strong sense of autonomy, neither the provincial monl:,es nor the statistics concerning them ever reached Peking. As the period wore on, the Central Government was forced to exist largely on revenues it collected itself, from foreign loans, internationally supervised customs duties, and even from taxes collected in the city of Peking. Throughout China the provincial authorities acquired revenue from taxes or profits on investments in local industries, then used those funds within the province for government administrative services, public works projects, or for the military forces stationed there. The system of reporting financial statistics broke down at the national level. It appears to have continued at the provincial level, except that China's provincial authorities made such statistics public in a very irregular manner, if at all. -12As the trend toward emphasizing research on regional or provincial areas continues in the field of early Republican studies, the need for reliable and fairly complete statistics about regional and provincial finances will become more acute. There are a number of rather basic questions about provincial affairs during this period that demand some sets of concrete statistics for their answer. For example, what was the actual level of military spending in China's provinces under the warlords, and what was the ratio of military to non-military spending? What percentage of provincial funds was invested in public works projects such as the improvement of roads or the extension of telegraph lines? What amount of funds were provincial governments willing to invest in local industries and what level of return did those investments bring? Answers to "-· questions like these will help us to reconstruct accurately provincial affairs between 1912 and 1928, and then to answer interpretive questions of a broader nature. Generally speaking,' the statistics needed to answer these questions do exist, and the only problem is one of locating and compiling them. The publication of local gazetteers (fang-chih) continued during the early Republican...