Glen
June 23rd, 2007, 08:15 PM
Ah, will we never get this timeline straightened out?
1496:
China:
Of the 700 bureaucrats who lost their jobs in the imperial bureaucracy a year before, 200 made their way to port cities and began to set themselves up as business owners, mainly sea trade and the buying of commodities making their way into the cities via the inland river routes. Thanks to their intimate knowledge of the bureaucratic system of business taxation, many of the former bureaucrats turned businessmen were able to hide a large portion of their yearly revenue from the tax collectors.
The tax reforms imposed the year before by the Hongzhi Emperor were beginning to take shape. Land taxes on the middle class were lowered 15%, while taxation of the upper crust gentry was increased 20% to balance out the revenue imbalance, and bring in extra revenue for the imperial government. Along with that, a more uniform system of business taxation was imposed, taxing the yearly revenue of the businesses that was liquid capital, while failing to mention the static capital (commodities) gained during the year.
This is the first post that starts our problems. As of the year this is written, shipbuilding is illegal, merchants are looked down upon, pirates are about the only Chinese going to sea.
From wikipedia:
"By the end of the 15th century, Imperial subjects were forbidden to build oceangoing ships or leave the country. Some historians speculate that this measure was taken in response to piracy. But during the mid-1500s, trade started again...."
Bureaucrats kicked out and turning merchant would be a serious mark of shame under these circumstances.
So, what to do, what to do, what to do....
By the mid 1500s, trade would have started up again in China, but poorly. Maybe remove these early events but start planting small ones so when the time comes for the Chinese Dragon to reemerge, it will be plausible.
1496:
China:
Of the 700 bureaucrats who lost their jobs in the imperial bureaucracy a year before, 200 made their way to port cities and began to set themselves up as business owners, mainly sea trade and the buying of commodities making their way into the cities via the inland river routes. Thanks to their intimate knowledge of the bureaucratic system of business taxation, many of the former bureaucrats turned businessmen were able to hide a large portion of their yearly revenue from the tax collectors.
The tax reforms imposed the year before by the Hongzhi Emperor were beginning to take shape. Land taxes on the middle class were lowered 15%, while taxation of the upper crust gentry was increased 20% to balance out the revenue imbalance, and bring in extra revenue for the imperial government. Along with that, a more uniform system of business taxation was imposed, taxing the yearly revenue of the businesses that was liquid capital, while failing to mention the static capital (commodities) gained during the year.
This is the first post that starts our problems. As of the year this is written, shipbuilding is illegal, merchants are looked down upon, pirates are about the only Chinese going to sea.
From wikipedia:
"By the end of the 15th century, Imperial subjects were forbidden to build oceangoing ships or leave the country. Some historians speculate that this measure was taken in response to piracy. But during the mid-1500s, trade started again...."
Bureaucrats kicked out and turning merchant would be a serious mark of shame under these circumstances.
So, what to do, what to do, what to do....
By the mid 1500s, trade would have started up again in China, but poorly. Maybe remove these early events but start planting small ones so when the time comes for the Chinese Dragon to reemerge, it will be plausible.