Zhou Xin

A capable financial official in the early Ming Dynasty in China. A native of Jishui County, Jiangxi Province. His courtesy name was Xunru. His posthumous name was Wenxiang. He was a Jinshi in 1404. From 1430, for over 20 years, he served as the governor of Southern Zhili, responsible for ensuring tax collection from the prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Jiaxing, and Huzhou on the south bank of the lower Yangtze River, which were the most important source of revenue for the state at the time, and for maintaining order in the region. He carried out comprehensive financial reforms on many fronts based on thorough investigations of local conditions, including reducing the high land tax on the government-owned land known as kanden, which was established in large numbers in the region, correcting the unfairness of the additional land tax burden based on social status in the allocation of consumption tax, and instituting the gold and silver system, which allowed a portion of the land tax to be paid in silver.He was able to eliminate the large amount of unpaid taxes and secure the previous total amount of land tax revenue.

Zhou Si's reforms not only restored the financial crisis of the early Ming Dynasty, which had been underway since the Hongwu and Yongle emperors, but also had a major impact on financial reforms such as the Single Whip Law and the Consolidation of Land Taxes implemented from the latter half of the Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty by setting a course for standardizing land tax rates and converting taxes to silver. During his time as governor, Zhou Si was given the titles of high-ranking officials in the central government, such as Right Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Works and Minister of Housing, and in his later years after resigning from his position as governor, he served as Minister of Works.

[Masao Mori]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、明(みん)初期の有能な財政官僚。江西省吉水県の人。字(あざな)は恂如(じゅんじょ)。諡(おくりな)は文襄(ぶんじょう)。1404年の進士。1430年から20年あまり、当時の国家のもっとも重要な財源であった揚子江(ようすこう)下流南岸の蘇州(そしゅう)、松江(しょうこう)、常州(じょうしゅう)、嘉興(かこう)、湖州(こしゅう)などの諸府からの租税徴収確保、およびこの地方の治安維持にあたる南直隷巡撫(みなみちょくれいじゅんぶ)を務めた。この地方に多く設置されていた官田(かんでん)という国有地の高率土地税の切下げ、土地税の付加負担部分である加耗(かこう)割当ての社会的地位に基づく不公平の是正、土地税の一部の銀による代納を認める金花銀(きんかぎん)制の創始をはじめ、多方面にわたる総合的な財政改革を、綿密な現地事情調査に基づいて断行し、多額の滞納を一掃するとともに、従来の土地税総収入額を確保した。

　周忱の改革は、危機に瀕(ひん)していた洪武帝・永楽帝以来の明初の財政を立て直しただけでなく、土地税の税率均一化、銀納化の方向を打ち出すことによって、明朝後半期から清(しん)朝前期にかけて行われた一条鞭法(いちじょうべんぽう)、地丁併徴(ちていへいちょう)などの財政改革に大きな影響を与えた。周忱は巡撫在任当時、工部右侍郎(うじろう)、戸部(こぶ)尚書など中央政府の高官の肩書を与えられていたほか、巡撫辞任後の晩年には工部尚書を務めた。

［森　正夫］

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