Chinese Salt Production and Government Power

By the year 2000 B.c.E. techniques had been developed in China for the production of salt. Archaeological evidence from northwestern China suggests that local inhabitants were by then using the technique of boiling water from saltwater lakes to extract its salt. In the region of Shansi and Shensi provinces in northern China, salt was sometimes even collected from evaporated lakebeds in the dry season. Inhabitants also learned to divert water from salt lakes into shallow holding pools, allowing the water to evaporate over a period of months. The natural salts would then be collected. Deposits of several million round-bottomed ceramic pots found in Sichuan Province in southwestern China suggest an organized system of salt processing by boiling during the same period. Scholars believe that the salt was then traded to the salt-poor regions of Hubei and Hunan. Similarly, evidence suggests that sometime prior to 2000 B.c.E. salt also began to be extracted directly from seawater. Over time, the coastal regions became the center of Chinese salt production, eventually providing roughly 80 percent of China’s annual salt output. Given the increasing scope and value of salt in China, the control of its trade became a perpetual goal of the Chinese government and administration. The first formal attempt to establish the state’s monopoly (exclusive control) over the production and distribution of salt goes back to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-221 B.c.E.). The creation of this monopoly appealed to those in power because it provided the funds necessary to create a formidable standing army.

By the time of the Ming (c.E. 1368-1644) and Qing (C.E. 1644-1911) Dynasties, the government had developed intricate systems for the control of salt production and distribution. Beginning in 1370, the Ming government administered the salt monopoly through the “certificate system.” Under this arrangement, each salt-producing household was required to provide an annual quota of salt to the government. In return the household was provided with a fixed payment to cover wages and expenses. The salt was then transported to one of over two hundred official salt depots (storage centers), which were located within fifteen salt administration regions. Salt merchants, for their part, received certificates giving them the right to transport and market salt from the government depots, but only after they had delivered grain to troops (military) serving on the northern frontier. This replaced the previous system, used by the Yuan Dynasty (c.E. 1279-1368), wherein merchants bid for the right to distribute salt. Thus, the Ming government guaranteed a supply of food for troops through the monopoly on salt. Salt was then delivered to local retailers and sold to the public. In the late Ming period, beginning in 1631, a new process known as the “syndicate system,” which eventually created a hereditary class of salt merchants, placed salt distribution into the hands of a small group of families. This system lasted until 1831.

While both the certificate and the syndicate systems directed considerable amounts of money into the government treasury, they had significant drawbacks. First, the mandatory system of wholesale depots run by the government meant that salt had to be transported long distances even when there was a local market. Thus salt might be produced in a region, transported to a depot far away, and then returned in the hands of licensed merchants to be sold to the public by local retailers. Such a process greatly elevated the cost of salt to the common buyer, and created a substantial demand for smuggling and even the raiding of vehicles transporting salt. It is estimated that anywhere from one-quarter to one-half of the salt consumed during the Ming and Qing periods was manufactured and sold on the illegal black market outside of state control, despite the continued efforts of the state to restrict such activities. The state derived considerable revenue from the control of salt, but it did so at the expense of the workers, who not only had to provide labor to the government, but who also paid elevated prices for a daily necessity of life. In turn, the people resisted the government’s control over salt by creating an underground (unofficial) economy in smuggled and stolen salt. In effect, the state encouraged the populace to undertake an illegal trade in salt.

 

 

1

By the year 2000 B.c.E. techniques had been developed in China for the production of salt. Archaeological evidence from northwestern China suggests that local inhabitants were by then using the technique of boiling water from saltwater lakes to extract its salt. In the region of Shansi and Shensi provinces in northern China, salt was sometimes even collected from evaporated lakebeds in the dry season. Inhabitants also learned to divert water from salt lakes into shallow holding pools, allowing the water to evaporate over a period of months. The natural salts would then be collected. Deposits of several million round-bottomed ceramic pots found in Sichuan Province in southwestern China suggest an organized system of salt processing by boiling during the same period. Scholars believe that the salt was then traded to the salt-poor regions of Hubei and Hunan. Similarly, evidence suggests that sometime prior to 2000 B.c.E. salt also began to be extracted directly from seawater. Over time, the coastal regions became the center of Chinese salt production, eventually providing roughly 80 percent of China’s annual salt output. Given the increasing scope and value of salt in China, the control of its trade became a perpetual goal of the Chinese government and administration. The first formal attempt to establish the state’s monopoly (exclusive control) over the production and distribution of salt goes back to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-221 B.c.E.). The creation of this monopoly appealed to those in power because it provided the funds necessary to create a formidable standing army.

Paragraph 1 mentions all of the following methods of extracting salt in ancient China EXCEPT

Ausing special pots to boil salt water from lakes

Btaking salt from dried lake bottoms during certain times of the year

Cdirecting salt water into pools and then letting the water evaporate

Dextracting deposits of salt from the ground in coastal regions

 

2

By the year 2000 B.c.E. techniques had been developed in China for the production of salt. Archaeological evidence from northwestern China suggests that local inhabitants were by then using the technique of boiling water from saltwater lakes to extract its salt. In the region of Shansi and Shensi provinces in northern China, salt was sometimes even collected from evaporated lakebeds in the dry season. Inhabitants also learned to divert water from salt lakes into shallow holding pools, allowing the water to evaporate over a period of months. The natural salts would then be collected. Deposits of several million round-bottomed ceramic pots found in Sichuan Province in southwestern China suggest an organized system of salt processing by boiling during the same period. Scholars believe that the salt was then traded to the salt-poor regions of Hubei and Hunan. Similarly, evidence suggests that sometime prior to 2000 B.c.E. salt also began to be extracted directly from seawater. Over time, the coastal regions became the center of Chinese salt production, eventually providing roughly 80 percent of China’s annual salt output. Given the increasing scope and value of salt in China, the control of its trade became a perpetual goal of the Chinese government and administration. The first formal attempt to establish the state’s monopoly (exclusive control) over the production and distribution of salt goes back to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-221 B.c.E.). The creation of this monopoly appealed to those in power because it provided the funds necessary to create a formidable standing army.

Paragraph 1 supports which of the following statements about extracting salt directly from seawater in China?

AIt was first practiced after 2000 B.C.E.

BIt required government control to be successful.

CIt was less efficient at first than extracting salt from lake water.

DIt eventually became a more important source of salt than extracting it from lake water.

 

3

By the time of the Ming (c.E. 1368-1644) and Qing (C.E. 1644-1911) Dynasties, the government had developed intricate systems for the control of salt production and distribution. Beginning in 1370, the Ming government administered the salt monopoly through the “certificate system.” Under this arrangement, each salt-producing household was required to provide an annual quota of salt to the government. In return the household was provided with a fixed payment to cover wages and expenses. The salt was then transported to one of over two hundred official salt depots (storage centers), which were located within fifteen salt administration regions. Salt merchants, for their part, received certificates giving them the right to transport and market salt from the government depots, but only after they had delivered grain to troops (military) serving on the northern frontier. This replaced the previous system, used by the Yuan Dynasty (c.E. 1279-1368), wherein merchants bid for the right to distribute salt. Thus, the Ming government guaranteed a supply of food for troops through the monopoly on salt. Salt was then delivered to local retailers and sold to the public. In the late Ming period, beginning in 1631, a new process known as the “syndicate system,” which eventually created a hereditary class of salt merchants, placed salt distribution into the hands of a small group of families. This system lasted until 1831.

The word “intricate” in the passage is closest in meaning to

Astrict

Bnew

Ccomplicated

Defficient

 

4

By the time of the Ming (c.E. 1368-1644) and Qing (C.E. 1644-1911) Dynasties, the government had developed intricate systems for the control of salt production and distribution. Beginning in 1370, the Ming government administered the salt monopoly through the “certificate system.” Under this arrangement, each salt-producing household was required to provide an annual quota of salt to the government. In return the household was provided with a fixed payment to cover wages and expenses. The salt was then transported to one of over two hundred official salt depots (storage centers), which were located within fifteen salt administration regions. Salt merchants, for their part, received certificates giving them the right to transport and market salt from the government depots, but only after they had delivered grain to troops (military) serving on the northern frontier. This replaced the previous system, used by the Yuan Dynasty (c.E. 1279-1368), wherein merchants bid for the right to distribute salt. Thus, the Ming government guaranteed a supply of food for troops through the monopoly on salt. Salt was then delivered to local retailers and sold to the public. In the late Ming period, beginning in 1631, a new process known as the “syndicate system,” which eventually created a hereditary class of salt merchants, placed salt distribution into the hands of a small group of families. This system lasted until 1831.

The word “guaranteed” in the passage is closest in meaning to

Aexpected

Boffered

Censured

Dcreated

 

5

By the time of the Ming (c.E. 1368-1644) and Qing (C.E. 1644-1911) Dynasties, the government had developed intricate systems for the control of salt production and distribution. Beginning in 1370, the Ming government administered the salt monopoly through the “certificate system.” Under this arrangement, each salt-producing household was required to provide an annual quota of salt to the government. In return the household was provided with a fixed payment to cover wages and expenses. The salt was then transported to one of over two hundred official salt depots (storage centers), which were located within fifteen salt administration regions. Salt merchants, for their part, received certificates giving them the right to transport and market salt from the government depots, but only after they had delivered grain to troops (military) serving on the northern frontier. This replaced the previous system, used by the Yuan Dynasty (c.E. 1279-1368), wherein merchants bid for the right to distribute salt. Thus, the Ming government guaranteed a supply of food for troops through the monopoly on salt. Salt was then delivered to local retailers and sold to the public. In the late Ming period, beginning in 1631, a new process known as the “syndicate system,” which eventually created a hereditary class of salt merchants, placed salt distribution into the hands of a small group of families. This system lasted until 1831.

According to paragraph 2, which of the following was a way in which the salt industry changed in the early years of the Ming government?

AThe amount of salt that retailers could sell increased.

BSalt was transported to troops in new ways.

CNew methods of salt extraction were developed in several regions.

DThe right to do business was obtained by salt merchants in a different way.

 

6

By the time of the Ming (c.E. 1368-1644) and Qing (C.E. 1644-1911) Dynasties, the government had developed intricate systems for the control of salt production and distribution. Beginning in 1370, the Ming government administered the salt monopoly through the “certificate system.” Under this arrangement, each salt-producing household was required to provide an annual quota of salt to the government. In return the household was provided with a fixed payment to cover wages and expenses. The salt was then transported to one of over two hundred official salt depots (storage centers), which were located within fifteen salt administration regions. Salt merchants, for their part, received certificates giving them the right to transport and market salt from the government depots, but only after they had delivered grain to troops (military) serving on the northern frontier. This replaced the previous system, used by the Yuan Dynasty (c.E. 1279-1368), wherein merchants bid for the right to distribute salt. Thus, the Ming government guaranteed a supply of food for troops through the monopoly on salt. Salt was then delivered to local retailers and sold to the public. In the late Ming period, beginning in 1631, a new process known as the “syndicate system,” which eventually created a hereditary class of salt merchants, placed salt distribution into the hands of a small group of families. This system lasted until 1831.

Paragraph 2 supports all of the following statements about the syndicate system EXCEPT:

AIt was created to encourage the public to buy salt from local retailers.

BIt replaced the certificate system during the late Ming period.

CIt led to only a few families being allowed to trade in salt.

DIt was used to control the distribution of salt from 1631 to 1831.

 

7

While both the certificate and the syndicate systems directed considerable amounts of money into the government treasury, they had significant drawbacks. First, the mandatory system of wholesale depots run by the government meant that salt had to be transported long distances even when there was a local market. Thus salt might be produced in a region, transported to a depot far away, and then returned in the hands of licensed merchants to be sold to the public by local retailers. Such a process greatly elevated the cost of salt to the common buyer, and created a substantial demand for smuggling and even the raiding of vehicles transporting salt. It is estimated that anywhere from one-quarter to one-half of the salt consumed during the Ming and Qing periods was manufactured and sold on the illegal black market outside of state control, despite the continued efforts of the state to restrict such activities. The state derived considerable revenue from the control of salt, but it did so at the expense of the workers, who not only had to provide labor to the government, but who also paid elevated prices for a daily necessity of life. In turn, the people resisted the government’s control over salt by creating an underground (unofficial) economy in smuggled and stolen salt. In effect, the state encouraged the populace to undertake an illegal trade in salt.

Why does the author mention estimates that “one-quarter to one-half of the salt consumed during the Ming and Qing periods was manufactured and sold on the illegal black market”?

ATo illustrate a negative consequence of the certificate and syndicate systems

BTo help explain why the government decided to get involved in the salt trade

CTo provide evidence that the need for salt was greater than the government had believed

DTo make the claim that licensed merchants often engaged in unlawful activities

 

8

While both the certificate and the syndicate systems directed considerable amounts of money into the government treasury, they had significant drawbacks. First, the mandatory system of wholesale depots run by the government meant that salt had to be transported long distances even when there was a local market. Thus salt might be produced in a region, transported to a depot far away, and then returned in the hands of licensed merchants to be sold to the public by local retailers. Such a process greatly elevated the cost of salt to the common buyer, and created a substantial demand for smuggling and even the raiding of vehicles transporting salt. It is estimated that anywhere from one-quarter to one-half of the salt consumed during the Ming and Qing periods was manufactured and sold on the illegal black market outside of state control, despite the continued efforts of the state to restrict such activities. The state derived considerable revenue from the control of salt, but it did so at the expense of the workers, who not only had to provide labor to the government, but who also paid elevated prices for a daily necessity of life. In turn, the people resisted the government’s control over salt by creating an underground (unofficial) economy in smuggled and stolen salt. In effect, the state encouraged the populace to undertake an illegal trade in salt.

According to paragraph 3, which of the following was the main reason salt was expensive?

ASome regions were unable to produce their own salt.

BLocal retailers sold most of their salt to merchants rather than to common buyers.

CSalt had to be transported over long distances to and from government storage centers.

DSalt was frequently stolen, which limited the amount of salt available for sale.

 

9

Look at the four squaresthat indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage

Archaeological evidence of large-scale salt production from lake water was found not only in the north.

Where would the sentence best fit？Click on a square  sentence to the passage.

10

Salt has been produced in China for thousands of years.

AThe first salt was produced by evaporating diverted lake water, but as this practice resulted in lakes drying out, people began to produce salt from seawater instead.

BThe syndicate system of distributing salt was more successful than the certificate system because the syndicate system allowed families to keep more salt for themselves.

CSalt-poor regions could not obtain enough salt from trade during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which led some people to resist the government policies.

DNot only was salt used by common people on an everyday basis, but it also provided various ruling dynasties with an important source of money.

EUnder the Ming Dynasty, the government administered a large number of depots for salt storage, and merchants redistributed that salt in exchange for providing food for the troops.

FPolicies on salt forced people to work for the government and increased salt prices, which resulted in people stealing and smuggling large amounts of the product.

 

答案请付费后查阅：