The role of the Maritime Customs Service in Chinese domestic taxation and the shaping of modern China, 1858 to 1931

It helped China establish a modern taxation system, providing Chinese central government with sustainable military funding, and ultimately assisting China to transform into a modern fiscal state. At the local level, it promoted standardised taxation methods, and brought lower-class merchants into direct contact with the state through tax payments. Meanwhile, it also upheld unequal treaties, with anti-Customs movements widely employed by Chinese political parties for social mobilisation.

Especially locally, the Customs encountered resistance that it could not solve. Its colonial nature made the Customs inherently unstable, and the sinicisation of the Customs during the twentieth century made it increasingly reliant for authority on a Chinese government which remained weak after decades of foreign interference. In short, the Maritime Customs’ state-building efforts were hindered by its imperial origins and indeed by its own existence.

Nevertheless, through collecting domestic taxes, the Maritime Customs gradually integrated with the Chinese central state and embedded itself in local society. Although its domestic taxation function terminated in 1931, the influence that it had on China was profound and long-lasting.<br><br><i>Thesis is embargoed until 31 July 2028.</i>