Revenue, finance, and the command economy under the Nationalist government during the Anti-Japanese War

Abstract

The prolonged Anti-Japanese War caused unprecedented difficulties for revenue, finance, and the national economy, but the Nationalist government was still able to maintain its revenue and to reinforce its banking system. Under the rule of the Nationalist government, order in the financial market was maintained and industry, mining, and agriculture were able to continue during wartime. The main reason for all this was the government's effective implementation of financial and economic policies within a highly centralized system of command economy, which laid the economic foundation for the final victory of China against Japan.

Keywords:

• Anti-Japanese War
• Nationalist government
• command economy

Notes

¹ Chen Shiqi, Zhongguo jindai haiguan shi (minguo bufen) [A History of the Modern Chinese Customs (Republican China)] (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 1999), 448–49.

² Ding Changqing, ed., Minguo yanwu shigao [Draft History of the Salt Industry in Republican China] (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 1990), 402.

³ Yang Yinpu, Minguo caizheng shi [A History of Finance in Republican China] (Beijing: Zhongguo caizheng jingji chubanshe, 1985), 109.

⁴ Zhongguo di'er lishi dang'an guan [The Second Historical Archives of China], ed., Zhonghua minguo shi dang'an ziliao huibian [Archival Materials of the History of the Republic of China], vol. 5, no. 2, Finance and Economy II (Nanjing: Jiangsu guji chubanshe, 1997), 2, 3.

⁵ Qin Xiaoyi, ed., Zhonghua minguo zhongyao shiliao chubian [Important Source Materials on the History of the Republic of China], vol. 4, Wartime Construction (III) (Taipei: Zhongguo guomindang dangshi weiyuanhui, 1988), 316–17.

⁶ The Nationalist government offered unification bonds of 1.46 billion yuan in 1936. These were not a new issue but instead a reorganization of existing bonds.

⁷ Qian Jiaju, ed., Jiu zhongguo gongzhai shiliao [Historical Source Materials on the History of Chinese Government Bonds] (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1984), 32–33.

⁸ Ibid.

⁹ Caizhengbu caizheng kexue yanjiusuo [Research Institute for Fiscal Science, Ministry of Finance] and Zhongguo di'er lishi dang'an guan, eds., Mingguo waizhai dang'an shiliao [Archival Materials concerning the Foreign Debts of Republican China], vol. 2 (Beijing: Dang'an chubanshe, 1990), 272. Also see page 232 for the Central Government Balance of Payments Statement of the year 1937.

¹⁰ Talk given by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Finance to foreign journalists, in Dongfang zazhi [The Eastern Miscellany] 36, no. 5.

¹¹ Zhongguo di'er lishi dang'an guan, ed., Zhonghua minguo shi dang'an ziliao huibian, vol. 5, no. 2, Finance and Economy II, 810.

¹² Caizheng kexue yanjiusuo and Zhongguo di'er lishi dang'an guan, eds., Minguo waizhai dang'an shiliao, vol. 2, 296–98.

¹³ Yang Yinpu, Minguo caizheng shi, 43, 102.

¹⁴ Zhongguo renmin yinhang zonghang canshi shi [Office of Senior Advisors, The People's Bank of China], ed., Zhonghua minguo huobi shi ziliao [Source Materials on Currency in Republican China], vol. 2 (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 1991), 290–91.

¹⁵ Ibid., 353–54.

¹⁶ For the change in the consumer price index in Chongqing, Chengdu, and Guiyang from 1937 to 1945, see Zhang Gongquan, Zhongguo tonghuo pengzhang shi, 1937–1949 [Chinese Inflation, 1937–1949], trans. Yang Zhixin (Beijing: Wenshi ziliao chubanshe, 1986), 242.

¹⁷ Zhongguo renmin yinhang zonghang canshi shi, ed., Zhonghua minguo huobi shi ziliao, vol. 2, 360.

¹⁸ Zhongguo di'er lishi dang'an guan, ed., Zhonghua minguo jinrong fagui dang'an ziliao xuanbian [Selected Archival Materials Concerning the Financial Laws and Regulations of the Republic of China], vol. 1 (Beijing: Dang'an chubanshe, 1989), 627.

¹⁹ Zhang Gongquan, Zhongguo tonghuo pengzhang shi, 1937–1949, 183.

²⁰ Zhongguo renmin yinhang zonghang canshi shi, ed., Zhonghua minguo huobi shi ziliao, vol. 2, 445–49.

²¹ Ibid., 481.

²² Zhongguo di'er lishi dang'an guan, ed., Zhonghua minguo shi dang'an ziliao huibian, vol. 5, no. 2, Finance and Economy III, 151.

²³ Qin Xiaoyi, ed., Zhonghua minguo zhongyao shiliao chubian, vol. 6, Puppet Organizations IV (Taipei: Zhongguo guomindang dangshi weiyuanhui, 1981), 1007–8.

²⁴ Zhongguo yinhang zonghang [The Head Office of the Bank of China] and Zhongguo di'er lishi dang'an guan, eds., Zhongguo yinhang hangshi ziliao huibian [Collected Source Materials of the History of the Bank of China], vol. 1, I (Beijing: Dang'an chubanshe, 1991), 424–25.

²⁵ Zhongguo di'er lishi dang'an guan, ed., Zhonghua minguo jinrong fagui dang'an ziliao xuanbian, vol. 1, 634–35.

²⁶ Chongqing shi dang'an guan [Chongqing Municipal Archives] et al., eds., Silian zongchu shiliao [Historical Source Materials of the Four-Bank Joint Head Office], vol. 1 (Beijing: Dang'an chubanshe, 1993), 70.

²⁷ Ibid., 127.

²⁸ Zhongguo yinhang jingji yanjiushi [The Economics Research Office of the Bank of China], ed., Quanguo yinhang nianjian (minguo ershiliu nian) [The Yearbook of Chinese Banks, 1937] (Shanghai: Zhongguo yinhang jingji yanjiushi, 1937), A9.

²⁹ Qin Xiaoyi, ed., Zhonghua minguo zhongyao shiliao chubian, vol. 4, Wartime Construction I, 50.

³⁰ Ibid.

³¹ Chongqing shi dang'an guan [Chongqing Municipal Archives], ed., Kangri zhanzheng shiqi guomin zhengfu jingji fagui [Nationalist Government's Economic Laws and Regulations during the Anti-Japanese War], vol. 1 (Beijing: Dang'an chubanshe, 1992), 80.

³² “Xibu gesheng shengchan jianshe yu tongzhi an” [Act of Production, Construction and Monopoly in the Western Chinese Provinces], in Zhonghua minguo shi dang'an ziliao huibian, vol. 5, no. 2, Finance and Economy V, 36–37.

³³ “Gonggu qianfang jingji jichu fang'an an” [Act of Consolidating the Economic Foundations on the Front], ibid., 38–39.This act was passed by the Fifth Plenum of the Fifth Congress of the Nationalist Party in January 1939.

³⁴ “Guofang zuigao huiyi zuzhi tiaoli” [Organizational Bylaws of the Supreme National Defense Conference], in Zhongguo di'er lishi dang'an'guan, “Guomindang zhengfu guofang huiyi deng si jigou zuzhi shiliao xuan” [Selected historical materials on the organizations of the Defense Conference and other three institutions of the Nationalist government], Minguo dang'an [Republican Archives], no. 1 (1985), 59–60.

³⁵ Zhongguo di'er lishi dang'an guan, ed., Zhonghua minguo shi dang'an ziliao huibian, vol. 5, no. 2, Finance and Economy V, 55–56.

³⁶ “Jingji bu zuzhifa” [Organizational Law of the Economics Ministry], in Kangri zhanzheng shiqi guomin zhengfu jingji fagui, vol. 1, 1.

³⁷ “Guofang zuigao weiyuanhui zuzhi dagang” [Organizational Bylaws of the Supreme National Defense Commission], in Zhongguo di'er lishi dang'an'guan, “Guomindang zhengfu guofang huiyi deng si jigou zuzhi shiliao xuan”, Minguo dang'an, no. 1 (1985), 60–61.

³⁸ Zhongguo di'er lishi dang'an guan, ed., Zhonghua minguo shi dang'an ziliao huibian, vol. 5, no. 2, Finance and Economy V, 43–45.

³⁹ Rong Mengyuan and Sun Caixia, eds., Zhongguo guomindang lici daibiao dahui ji zhongyang quanhui ziliao [Source Materials of All Congresses and Plenums of the Chinese Nationalist Party], vol. 2 (Beijing: Guangming ribao chubanshe, 1986), 746–47.

WU Jingping is a professor at the History Department of Fudan University, Shanghai. His primary research interests include the history of the Republican period and financial history. He is the author of T.V. Soong: A Critical Biography (Fuzhou: Fujian People's Publishing House, 1992) and co-author of The Banking Industry in Shanghai and the KMT Government, 1927–1937 (Shanghai: Shanghai University of Finance and Economics Press, 2002). He is also co-editor of The Evolution of the Chinese Financial System (Shanghai: Fudan University Press, 2008).