Gold and silver

This refers to the silver paid to the state as tax from central and southern China during the Ming Dynasty. The term was first used in 1433 when Zhou Si, the governor of Yingtian who governed the area of ​​the lower Yangtze River, implemented tax reform in the Suzhou and Songjiang regions. Zhou Si allowed land taxes, which had previously been paid in rice, to be paid in silver or cotton cloth for land with particularly high tax rates, such as some of the government-owned fields. This silver was called jinhua gin (gold and silver in silver) at the time. Soon after, in 1436, when military officers' salaries were switched from rice to silver, the Ming Dynasty officially allowed part of the land tax to be paid in silver, and expanded the area of ​​application to all of central and southern China. This substitution system, which was based on the recovery and development of commodity production and the monetary economy, spread rapidly due to the overlapping interests of bureaucrats who wanted to obtain silver for convenience and farmers who preferred to pay in silver, which was a lighter tax burden than rice. The official name for this type of silver in the tax system was setsuryogin, meaning substitution silver, but after the 16th century nationwide reform, known as the Ichijobenpo, which changed taxes and extortion into silver and simplified the display of collected amounts, the name kinkagin gradually came to be used.

[Masao Mori]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、明(みん)代の華中・華南から租税として国家に納入された銀をさす。この名称は、1433年、揚子江(ようすこう)下流域一帯を統治する応天巡撫(じゅんぶ)であった周忱(しゅうしん)が蘇州(そしゅう)・松江(しょうこう)地方で租税改革を実施したとき、初めて用いられた。周忱は、従来、現物の米で納入する決まりであった土地税のうち、官田の一部など、とくに税率の高い土地からの納入分については、銀や綿布で代納することを認めた。この代納された銀が当時金花銀とよばれた。まもなく1436年、武官の俸給を米から銀に切り換えるにあたって、明朝は土地税の一部の銀による代納を公式に認め、その適用地域を、華中・華南全体に拡大した。商品生産と貨幣経済の回復・発展を背景にもつこの代納制は、便利な銀の入手を求める官僚と、米に比べて実質負担の軽い銀納を好む農民との利害の一致もあって急速に普及していった。この種の銀の租税制度上の正式呼称は、代納銀を意味する折糧銀(せつりょうぎん)であったが、租税、徭役(ようえき)それぞれの銀納化と徴収額表示の簡明化を内容とする16世紀の全国的改革、すなわち一条鞭法(いちじょうべんぽう)の時代以後、しだいに金花銀の名が一般化した。

［森　正夫］

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